The Black And White Minstrel Show

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Prior to the creation of the television show in 1957, the BBC Television Toppers had performed on air since February 1953. However, the second part of the rationale put forward in 1967 – that blacking up was not about race – demands closer examination. What’s harder to fathom is why, in an era in which tens of thousands of black people had long been settled in Britain or were trying to make it their home, a BBC which had already managed to reflect something of the reality of black British life in documentaries such as 1955’s Has Britain a Colour Bar? Unless stated otherwise in the description above, all items are in at least excellent condition - so please read our descriptions carefully.

David Hendy, Professor of Media and Cultural History at the University of Sussex, comments that Barrie Thorne, the corporation's chief accountant, described the series in an internal memo to Director of Television Kenneth Adam in 1962 as being "a disgrace and an insult to coloured people".In some cases tickets will be left in the auction winner's name for pick up at the ticket office of the event location. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Kenneth Lamb, Director of Public Affairs, wrote to CARD’s Chairman, David Pitt, arguing that ‘black-faced minstrels performing a song and dance act have been a traditional form of entertainment in the British Isles for a great many years.

The minutes of a BBC Board of Management meeting record the Corporation’s head of publicity turning to the letters page of the Daily Mail to gauge the public’s “general view”, and, having adopted this methodology, rather predictably coming to the conclusion that “the programme was not racially offensive”. Running from 1958 to 1978, it was a weekly variety show that presented traditional American minstrel and country songs, as well as show tunes and music hall numbers, lavishly costumed. Earlier criticism had been voiced in Flamingo , a magazine aimed at Black and Asian readers, which argued in 1961 that the show was trading in harmful stereotypes. Many 7" Vinyl Singles are sold in generic card or paper sleeves and not in the picture sleeves which are shown - these will be described as 'Generic' or 'Not Graded' in the condition descriptions above.The West Indian businessman Lloyd Squires was recorded in Flamingo stating, ‘No one whom I know likes it. vague] The show continued for three years, [ citation needed] and the Australian and New Zealand box office records it set have never been broken. The Black and White Minstrel Show, which ran from 1958 to 1978 was arguably the BBC’s most glaring failure to understand the damage it could do when it traded in out-dated stereotypes. From 1958 to 1978, British audiences became used to a familiar sight on their television screens: white singers and actors performing in blackface on the BBC’s variety programme, The Black and White Minstrel Show .

The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran for twenty years on BBC prime-time television. For the best part of the next twenty years it didn’t seem to occur to anyone in a position of authority at the BBC that the series really was offensive to more than just a few “killjoys”. If you are looking for a very specific version/pressing/variant please check with us first and we can send pictures.

The theatrical tradition of the show could then be measured against the histicial background and the continued fight against segregation going on in the United States, here, and elsewhere in the world.

The documentary was largely centred on, and heavily critical of, the BBC’s own Black and White Minstrel Show.It seems to be absurd to imagine that people who are not already racially prejudiced could possible be in the some way contaminated by the Minstrels. An episode of the BBC comedy series The Goodies (" Alternative Roots"), spoofed the positive reception of The Black and White Minstrel Show, suggesting that any programme could double its viewing figures by being performed in blackface, and mentioning that a series of The Black and White Minstrel Show had been tried without make up. I still like the soft side of a more simpler times with a pop standard style often referred to as "Dance Hall Light Entertainment". A touring version toured continuously from 1960 until 1987, with a second company touring Australia and New Zealand from 1962 to 1965, 1969 to 1971, and 1978 to 1979. In a 1971 episode of The Two Ronnies, a musical sketch, "The Short and Fat Minstrel Show", was performed as a parody of The Black and White Minstrel Show, featuring spoofs of various songs.