The Black and White Minstrel Show
Encyclopedia
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
.
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. 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.
produced by Robert Luff
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.
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. In July 2009, Lenny Henry explained that he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show.
characters behaving in a stereotypical manner and a petition against it was received by the BBC in 1967. 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.
, 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.
, 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. "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.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
light entertainment show that ran on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television from 1958-1978 and was a popular stage show. It was a weekly light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
and variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
presenting traditional American minstrel
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
and Country songs, as well as show and music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
numbers, usually performed in blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
, and with lavish costumes. The show was created by George Mitchell
George Mitchell (musician)
George Mitchell, was a Scottish musician, best known for having devised the long-running The Black and White Minstrel Show....
.
History
The show was first broadcast on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
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
George Mitchell (musician)
George Mitchell, was a Scottish musician, best known for having devised the long-running The Black and White Minstrel Show....
, 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
Sing-along
Sing-along, community singing, group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, hymns and drinking songs...
format with both solo and minstrel
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
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
Leslie Crowther
Leslie Crowther, CBE was an English comedian, actor and gameshow host.-Biography:Crowther was born in West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire. At the end of 1944 he moved to London with his parents, but was evacuated for a few months to Bute until just after the war ended.His father, Leslie Frederick...
, George Chisholm
George Chisholm (musician)
George Chisholm OBE was a Scottish jazz trombonist.Born in Glasgow to a family of musicians, Chisholm's musical career began in the Glasgow Playhouse orchestra. In the late 1930s he moved to London, where he played in dance bands led by Bert Ambrose and Teddy Joyce...
and Stan Stennett
Stan Stennett
Stan Stennett is a Welsh comedian, actor and jazz musician.Stennett was born in Cardiff. During World War II, he served in the army and also worked as an entertainer. He made his professional stage debut with a group called the Harmaniacs...
. It was initially produced by George Inns with George Mitchell. The Minstrels' main soloists were bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
Dai Francis
Dai Francis (singer)
Dai Francis , was a Welsh singer, best known for his performances with the Black and White Minstrels.Francis was born in Swansea, the son of a music hall entertainer. Dai himself began performing at the age of ten, "blacking up" to sing Dixieland-style numbers...
, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
John Boulter
John Boulter
John Boulter is a British tenor best known for his appearances as a soloist in the BBC's long-running variety series The Black and White Minstrel Show...
and baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Tony Mercer. During the nine years that the show was broadcast in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
, the black-face makeup was actually red as black did not film very well.
Popularity
By 1964, audiences were regularly exceeding 18 million. The Minstrels also had a theatrical showRevue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
produced by Robert Luff
Robert Luff
Robert Charles William Luff, CBE was a theatrical agent and producer. He was most notable for producing the stage version of The Black and White Minstrel Show and being the former agent of Lenny Henry, the Tiller Girls and Beryl Reid...
which ran for 6,477 performances from 1960–1972 and established itself in The Guinness Book of Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
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
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
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
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. The first of these became the first album in UK album sales history to pass 100,000 sales.
While the show started off being broadcast in (genuine) black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
, the show was one of the very first to be shown in colour on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in 1967.
Several famous personalities guested on the show, while others started their careers there. Comedian Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
was one such star, being the first black comedian to appear, in 1975. In July 2009, Lenny Henry explained that he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show.
Controversy
The show's premise began to be seen as offensive on account of its portrayal of blacked-upBlackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
characters behaving in a stereotypical manner and a petition against it was received by the BBC in 1967. 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.
Post-TV
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), while the stage show continued. Having left the Victoria Palace TheatreVictoria Palace Theatre
Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station.-Origins:The theatre began life as a small concert room above the stables of the Royal Standard Hotel, a small hotel and tavern built in 1832 at what was then 522 Stockbridge...
, 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
Paignton
Paignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251. It has...
and The Pavilion Theatre in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
. This continued each summer until 1987, when a final tour of three Butlins
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
resorts (Minehead
Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the border with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park...
, Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...
and Barry Island
Barry Island
Barry Island may refer to:*Barry Island , Wales*Barry Island , Antarctica...
) saw the last official Black and White Minstrel Show on stage.
Cultural impact
In the late 1960s, Music Music Music, a "whiteface" version of the show, had been tried, only to lose viewers. In a 1973 episode of The Two RonniesThe Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...
, 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. "Alternative Roots
Alternative Roots
Alternative Roots is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies — a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme....
", an episode of the BBC comedy series The Goodies
The Goodies
The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
, 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.
Chart positions
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1961 | 1 |
| 1962 | ||
| 1963 | ||
Chart positions
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1961 | 1 |
| 1962 | ||
Chart positions
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1962 | 1 |
External links
- The Black and White Minstrel Show at museum.tv