Petula Clark,Harry Belafonte,The Supremes and Bobby Darin

[mowsville]

Hi guys...I couldn't believe it when I read what a stir the Petula Clark special caused in 1968 when she "touched" Harry Belafonte at the end of a duet...apparently it was the first time on tv that 2 people of different races had actually done this on tv...then I watched the Supremes and Bobby Darin clip and he actually holds Diana's hand and links arms with her and Flo..was there controversy over that too as it pre-dates the Petula Clark special by nearly 2 years...thank god times have changed such nonsense for the better.

[reese]

I think the stir against the Petula / Harry duet actually originated from the sponsor of the show before it even aired. After seeing Petula touch Harry's arm during the taping, the sponsor wanted them to record the song again standing further apart for fear of alienating Southern audiences. They did so, but that take was erased after they found why they were asked to redo it.

But it wasn't the first time people of two different races touched each other on tv. I've seen a photo of Ed Sullivan holding Dorothy Dandridge's hand in the 50s. Diana Ross kissed Ed Sullivan on tv in 1966. I'm sure there are other examples.

[Kamasu_Jr]

I don't understand what the fuss was about. Dinah Shore had Pearl Bailey and Mahalia Jackson on her variety shows and she touched them. Of course people started rumors that Dinah was really black and passing as white. I guess having black guests on your TV show IN THE 1950s did indicate a white entertainer was sympathetic to Blacks or supportive of Civil Rights. But it was sexually threatening if a Black man touched a white female. I saw a picture of Bobby Darin kissing one of the Supremes on her cheek at a party he gave for them during their first visit to Hollywood. It was published in a Hollywood movie magazine. Darin was considered a hippie freak or a liberal subversive.

[mowsville]

thanks for the info guys..i was sure the guy who wrote the piece on youtube about it being the first time on tv had got it wrong....things were definitely changing but at a steady pace.

[marv2]

thanks for the info guys..i was sure the guy who wrote the piece on youtube about it being the first time on tv had got it wrong....things were definitely changing but at a steady pace.

It wasn' t the first time it's just that they made a big assed deal about it in the press during the time.

[smark21]

Perhaps the reason why there was more of a fuss about Clark and Belafonte making physical contact was because it involved a Black man and a white woman. That sets off a whole different set of alarms in a racist, white supremacist society such as the US.

[marv2]

Perhaps the reason why there was more of a fuss about Clark and Belafonte making physical contact was because it involved a Black man and a white woman. That sets off a whole different set of alarms in a racist, white supremacist society such as the US.

Yeah but there were films starring Sidney Poitier that were in wide release prior to 1968 that depicted him in various situations with "white females" such as "A Patch of Blue", "The Long Ships, "Edge of the City" and even "Lillies of the Field" and not a lot were made of it.

This had more to do with the fact that Harry Belafonte was considered a "sex symbol" in the Black Community of the 60's and if you viewed any clips of the program in question, Petula Clark was giving him several "meaningful" looks during their song. This is what pissed racists off at the time and the media just ate it up and spread it all over the place. A big deal over nothing!

[Methuselah2]

Marv - In A PATCH OF BLUE, a lot was made of it--in the movie itself! It was a pivotal point of Shelley Winters' behavior toward Elizabeth Hartman as her daughter. The film showed the racist attitude that was so prevalent.

[BigAl]

Perhaps the reason why there was more of a fuss about Clark and Belafonte making physical contact was because it involved a Black man and a white woman. That sets off a whole different set of alarms in a racist, white supremacist society such as the US.

Definitely. I grew up in the segregated south and my grandma and her sister used to cluck and cluck over their firmly-held conviction that, "They lust after white women." It was beyond ridiculous but that's how it was back then.

[supremester]

I grew up in Oregon - a very liberal state to be sure, but no one ever mentioned anything racial about A Patch Of Blue at all that I can recall. I didn't know about the Clark/Belafonte thing until I was in my 40's.
Marv - In A PATCH OF BLUE, a lot was made of it--in the movie itself! It was a pivotal point of Shelley Winters' behavior toward Elizabeth Hartman as her daughter. The film showed the racist attitude that was so prevalent.