| The Black and White Minstrel Show | |
|---|---|
| Format | Variety show |
| Created by | George Mitchell |
| Starring | George Chisholm Stan Stennett Leslie Crowther |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | London, England |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | 14 June 1958 – 21 July 1978 |
The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran on BBC television from 1958-1978 and was a popular stage show. It was a weekly light entertainment and variety show presenting traditional American minstrel and Country songs, as well as show and music hall numbers, usually performed in blackface, and with lavish costumes. The show was created by George Mitchell.[1]
Contents |
The show was first broadcast on the BBC on 14 June 1958. It began as a one-off special in 1957 called The 1957 Television Minstrels featuring the male Mitchell Minstrels (after George Mitchell, the Musical Director) and the female Television Toppers dancers. It was popular and soon developed into a regular 45-minute show on Saturday evening prime time television, featuring a Sing-along format with both solo and minstrel pieces (often with extended segueing), some Country and Western and music derived from other foreign folk cultures. The show included "comedy interludes" performed by Leslie Crowther, George Chisholm and Stan Stennett. It was initially produced by George Inns with George Mitchell. The Minstrels' main soloists were bass Dai Francis, tenor John Boulter and baritone Tony Mercer.[2] During the nine years that the show was broadcast in black-and-white, the black-face makeup was actually red as black did not film very well.
By 1964, audiences were regularly exceeding 18 million. The Minstrels also had a theatrical show produced by Robert Luff[3] which ran for 6,477 performances from 1960–1972 and established itself in The Guinness Book of Records as the stage show seen by the largest number of people. At this time, the creation gained considerable international kudos; in 1961 the show won a Golden Rose at Montreux for best light entertainment programme and the first three albums of songs (1960–1962) all did extremely well, the first two being long-running #1 albums in the UK Albums Chart. The first of these became the first album in UK album sales history to pass 100,000 sales.[4]
While the show started off being broadcast in (genuine) black-and-white, the show was one of the very first to be shown in colour on BBC Two in 1967.
Several famous personalities guested on the show, while others started their careers there. Comedian Lenny Henry was one such star, being the first black comedian to appear, in 1975.[5] In July 2009, Lenny Henry explained that he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show.[6]
The show's premise began to be seen as offensive on account of its portrayal of blacked-up characters behaving in a stereotypical manner and a petition against it was received by the BBC in 1967.[7] In 1969, due to continuing accusations of racism, Music Music Music, a spin-off series in which the minstrels appeared without their blackface make-up, replaced the Black and White Minstrel Show. It failed badly, was cancelled after 10 episodes and the Black and White Minstrel Show returned to win back viewers.
Since cancellation Black and White Minstrel Show has come to be seen more widely as an embarrassment, despite its huge popularity at the time.[8][9]
The BBC1 TV show was cancelled in 1978 as part of a reduction in variety programming (by this point the blackface element had been reduced), [10] while the stage show continued. Having left the Victoria Palace Theatre, where the stage show played from 1962 to 1972, the show toured almost every year to various big city and seaside resort theatres around the UK, including The Futurist in Scarborough, The Festival Hall in Paignton and The Pavilion Theatre in Bournemouth. This continued each summer until 1987, when a final tour of three Butlins resorts (Minehead, Bognor Regis and Barry Island) saw the last official Black and White Minstrel Show on stage.
In the late 1960s, Music Music Music, a "whiteface" version of the show, had been tried, only to lose viewers.[11] In a 1973 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.[12] "Alternative Roots", an episode of the BBC comedy series The Goodies, spoofed the popularity 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.[13]
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart[14] | 1961 | 1 |
| 1962 | ||
| 1963 |
| Preceded by South Pacific by Original Soundtrack South Pacific by Original Soundtrack South Pacific by Original Soundtrack The Shadows by The Shadows Out of the Shadows by The Shadows |
UK Albums Chart number-one album 29 July 1961 - 26 August 1961 2 September 1961 - 9 September 1961 16 September 1961 - 23 September 1961 21 October 1961 - 28 October 1961 29 December 1962 - 12 January 1963 |
Succeeded by South Pacific by Original Soundtrack South Pacific by Original Soundtrack The Shadows by The Shadows The Shadows by The Shadows West Side Story by Original Soundtrack |
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart[15] | 1961 | 1 |
| 1962 |
| Preceded by 21 Today by Cliff Richard |
UK Albums Chart number-one album 11 November 1961 - 6 January 1962 |
Succeeded by Blue Hawaii by Elvis Presley |
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart[16] | 1962 | 1 |
| Preceded by Out of the Shadows by The Shadows |
UK Albums Chart number-one album 1 December 1962 - 15 December 1962 |
Succeeded by West Side Story by Original Soundtrack |