Editing The Black and White Minstrel Show

{{Short description|British BBC TV light entertainment show (1958–1978)}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox television
| image         = Black and White Minstrel Show.jpg
| caption       =
| runtime       = 
| location      = London, England
| creator       = [[George Mitchell (Scottish musician)|George Mitchell]]
| starring      = {{ubl|[[George Chisholm (musician)|George Chisholm]]|[[Stan Stennett]]|[[Leslie Crowther]]}}
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      = English
| network       = [[BBC]]
| first_aired   = {{Start date|1958|6|14|df=y}}
| last_aired    = {{End date|1978|7|21|df=y}}
| num_series    = 
| list_episodes = 
| num_episodes  = 
| related       =  
}}
'''''The Black and White Minstrel Show''''' is a British [[light entertainment]] show on [[BBC]] prime-time television that ran from 1958 to 1978. The weekly [[variety show]] presented traditional American [[Minstrel show|minstrel]] and country songs, as well as show tunes and [[music hall]] numbers, lavishly costumed and often presented with cast members in [[blackface]]. A popular stage show, based on the TV show with the same title, ran from 1962 to 1972 at the [[Victoria Palace Theatre]], London. This was followed by tours of UK seaside resorts until 1989, and tours in Australia and New Zealand. From early in its history, and increasingly throughout its run, the show received criticism for its racist premise and content.

== History ==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}
{{see also|Minstrel show#History{{!}}History of American minstrel shows}}
Minstrel shows had become a long-established feature of British music halls and seaside entertainment since the success of acts such as the [[Virginia Minstrels]] in Liverpool in the 1840s and [[Christy's Minstrels]] in London in the 1850s. These led directly to many British imitators, such as Hamilton's Black and White Minstrels in the 1880s and many others, with Uncle Mac's Minstrels becoming such a popular mainstay in [[Broadstairs]], [[Kent]], from the 1890s to the 1940s that a plaque was erected to honour their memory.<ref>{{cite news |last=Robinson |first=Andy |date=14 January 2018 |title=The story behind the controversy surrounding Broadstairs entertainment troupe Uncle Mack's Minstrels has been revealed in a local historian's new book |url=https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/story-behind-controversy-surrounding-broadstairs-947674 |work=Kentlive.news |location=Kent |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref> Though any development in the performance of such acts may have ended before the [[World War I|First World War]], the "old-time" minstrel theme remained a consistently popular form of entertainment in the UK well into the 1950s.

''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' was created by [[BBC]] producer George Inns, working with [[George Mitchell (Scottish musician)|George Mitchell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/aug/29/broadcasting2|title=Black And White Minstrels creator dies|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=29 August 2002|website=The Guardian}}</ref> It began as a one-off special in 1957 called ''The 1957 Television Minstrels'', featuring the male Mitchell Minstrels (Mitchell was the musical director) and the female [[The Television Toppers|Television Toppers]] dancers. The show was first broadcast on the BBC on 14 June 1958. It developed into a regular 45-minute show on Saturday evening prime-time television in a [[sing-along]] format, with both solo and [[minstrel show|minstrel]] pieces (often with extended [[Segue (music)|segueing]]), some [[country and western]] numbers, and music derived from other foreign folk cultures. The male minstrels performed in [[blackface]]; the female dancers and other supporting artists did not. The show included comedy interludes performed by [[Leslie Crowther]], [[George Chisholm (musician)|George Chisholm]] and [[Stan Stennett]]. It was initially produced by George Inns with George Mitchell. The minstrels' main soloists were [[baritone]] [[Dai Francis (singer)|Dai Francis]], [[tenor]] [[John Boulter]], and [[Bass (voice type)|bass]] [[Tony Mercer]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/minstrel.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205031623/http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/minstrel.htm|url-status=dead|title=Television Heaven|archive-date=5 December 2008|access-date=26 August 2024}}</ref> During the nine years that the show was broadcast in [[black-and-white|black and white]], the blackface makeup was actually red, as black did not register as well.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} 

The series gained considerable international regard and was sold to over thirty countries;{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} in 1961 the show won a [[Golden Rose of Montreux|Golden Rose]] at [[Montreux]] for best light entertainment programme, and its first three albums of recordings (1960–1962) were all hits, the first two being long-running number 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.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book| first= David| last= Roberts| year= 2006| title= British Hit Singles & Albums| edition= 19th| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London| isbn= 1-904994-10-5| page= 170}}</ref> By 1964, ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' was achieving audience figures of 21 million.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}}

In the spring of 1962, the BBC musical [[variety show]] ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' opened at the  [[Victoria Palace Theatre]]. The three lead singers of the TV show, Mercer, Boulter and Francis, appeared simultaneouslly in the theatrical version, but the chorus singers and dancers would be different groups in the theatre and on TV. The stage show was produced by [[Robert Luff]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4788794/Robert-Luff.html |title=Robert Luff – Telegraph |access-date=2009-03-01 |date=23 February 2009 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location= London}}</ref> and ran for 6,477 performances from 1962 to 1972; ''[[Guinness World Records|The Guinness Book of Records]]'' listed it as the stage show seen by the largest number of people.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} In [[Melbourne]] in 1962, a production of the show ran for three years,{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} and set Australian and New Zealand box office records.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

While it started off being broadcast in black and white, the TV show was first shown in colour on [[BBC Two|BBC2]] in 1967. Several personalities guested on the show, whilst others started their careers on it. Comedian [[Lenny Henry]], then in his teens, became the first black performer to appear on it in 1975.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/profiles/lenny_henry.shtml Lenny Henry profile] BBC Comedy pages</ref> In July 2009, Henry explained that he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8156190.stm Five Minutes With: Lenny Henry] BBC News Website</ref> telling ''[[The Times]]'' in 2015 that his appearance on the show led to a profound "wormhole of depression", and that he regretted his family not intervening to prevent him from continuing in the show.<ref name="MidgleyJun16">{{cite news |last1=Midgley |first1=Carol |title=Lenny Henry on racism and regret |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/lenny-henry-on-racism-and-regret-673j707tckk |access-date=24 September 2018 |work=[[The Times]] |date=6 June 2015 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Denunciation as racist ==
Within five years of the show's premiere on UK television, its portrayal of [[blackface|blacked-up]] characters behaving with stereotypical [[African Americans|African-American]] manners was already being observed by some as offensive and [[racist]]. After the 1963 murder of 35-year-old white postal worker [[William Lewis Moore]] in [[Alabama]], who marched from [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], to [[Jackson, Mississippi]], to protest against segregation in the [[American South]], the satirical show ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]'' parodied ''The Black and White Minstrel Show''{{'}}s trivialisation of the systemic racism in [[Racial segregation in the United States|the Southern American states]] with a sketch in which [[Millicent Martin]] dressed as [[Uncle Sam]] and sang a parody of "I Wanna Go Back to Mississippi" ("Where the [[Mississippi]] mud / Kind of mingles with the blood / Of the niggers that are hanging from the branches of the trees").<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=David |title=These are the men who were |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3586814/These-are-the-men-who-were.html |access-date=1 October 2018 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=7 December 2002}}</ref> accompanied by [[Minstrel show|minstrel]] singers in blackface ("Mississippi, it's the state you've gotta choose / Where we hate all the darkies and the Catholics and the Jews / Where we welcome any man / Who is strong and white and belongs to the [[Ku Klux Klan]]").<ref>{{cite book|last=Hegarty|first=Neil|title=Frost – That Was the Life That Was: The Authorised Biography|url={{Google books|telFDAAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}}|year=2016|publisher=Ebury Publishing|isbn=978-0-7535-5672-6|page=65}}</ref><ref name="StrinatiWagg2004">{{cite book|last1=Strinati|first1=Dominic|last2=Wagg|first2=Stephen|title=Come on Down?: Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain|url={{Google books|T0lPwK1Q4koC|plainurl=y}}|date=24 February 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-92368-7|page=267}}</ref>
  
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". He continued: "If black faces are to be shown, for heaven’s sake let coloured artists be employed and with dignity".<ref name="Hendy">{{cite web|last=Hendy|first=David|url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/people-nation-empire/make-yourself-at-home/the-black-and-white-minstrel-show|title=The Black and White Minstrel Show|work=[[BBC]] 100|access-date=4 January 2022}}</ref> Thorne raised the issue again in 1967 with [[Oliver Whitley]], Chief Assistant to the BBC's director general, Sir [[Hugh Greene]]. Whitley responded: "The best advice that could be given to coloured people by their friends would be: 'On this issue, we can see your point, but in your own best interests, for heaven's sake, shut up.{{'"}}<ref name="Hendy" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Ward|first=Victoria|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/03/offensive-black-white-minstrel-show-features-bbc-commemoration/|title='Offensive' Black and White Minstrel Show features in BBC commemoration|work=The Telegraph|date=3 January 2022|access-date=4 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kanter|first=Jake|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/bbc-rancour-black-and-white-minstrels-racism-lenny-henry-5kgs7ndxg|title=BBC rancour over Black and White Minstrels |work=[[The Times]]|date=4 January 2022|access-date=4 January 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 1967, the [[Campaign Against Racial Discrimination]] presented a petition to the BBC calling for the show to be cancelled.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2223239.stm|title=Minstrels founder Mitchell dies|publisher=BBC|date=29 August 2002|access-date=2 February 2008}}</ref> The following year, the BBC experimented with a version of the show called ''Masquerade'', in which the main singers appeared without blackface, and the black singers wore [[Whiteface (performance)|whiteface]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=15 May 1968|page=1|title=Colored Singers in Whiteface For Brit. TV Minstrels}}</ref> 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''. However, after one series, ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' returned.

Since its cancellation in 1978, ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' has come to be regarded with disdain. BBC writer Kate Broome states, "That an innocently-intentioned show could, in just a generation, become such a screen pariah is one of the most extraordinary episodes in television history".<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC – BBC Four Time Shift – Black and White Minstrel Show Revisited |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/timeshift/minstrels.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314150017/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/timeshift/minstrels.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-03-14 |date=14 March 2010}}</ref>

== Final years ==
The [[BBC1]] television programme was cancelled in 1977 as part of a reduction in variety programming, though a series of specials were broadcast in 1978, after which the series was taken off the air for good.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2223239.stm | work=BBC News | title=Minstrels founder Mitchell dies | date=29 August 2002 | access-date=2010-05-25}}</ref> The stage 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} Having left the Victoria Palace Theatre, where the stage show played from 1962 to 1972, a second show toured almost every year to various big city and seaside resort theatres around the UK, including the [[Futurist Theatre|Futurist]] in [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], the [[Morecambe Winter Gardens|Winter Gardens]] in [[Morecambe]], the [[Festival Theatre, Paignton|Festival Theatre]] in [[Paignton]], the [[Congress Theatre (Eastbourne)|Congress Theatre]] in [[Eastbourne]] and the [[Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth|Pavilion Theatre]] in [[Bournemouth]].{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} This continued every year until 1989, when a final tour of three [[Butlins]] resorts ([[Minehead]], [[Bognor Regis]], and [[Barry Island]]) saw the last official ''Black and White Minstrel Show'' staged.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

==Legacy==
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.<ref>{{cite web |author=TV.com |url=http://www.tv.com/the-two-ronnies/series-1-episode-7/episode/378123/summary.html?tag=episode_header;summary |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205140227/http://www.tv.com/the-two-ronnies/series-1-episode-7/episode/378123/summary.html?tag=episode_header;summary |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 February 2013 |title=The Two Ronnies – Season 1, Episode 7: Series 1, Episode 7 |publisher=TV.com |date=22 May 1971 |access-date=2012-04-08 }}</ref> An episode of the BBC comedy series ''[[The Goodies (TV 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 makeup.<ref>{{cite episode| title = Alternative Roots| episode-link = Alternative Roots| series = The Goodies| series-link = The Goodies| airdate = 2008-11-01| series-no = 7| number = 1}}</ref>
The ''[[Are You Being Served?]]'' episode "Roots" featured a storyline in which Mr. Grace's lineage was traced in order to perform an appropriate song and dance for his 90th birthday. The result was a number that parodied ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' by having the male performers in blackface, while the females (excluding Mrs. Slocombe) were not.

In 2023 the BBC broadcast a documentary presented by the actor [[David Harewood]] and the historian [[David Olusoga]] about the pernicious influence of [[blackface]] [[Minstrel show|minstrelsy]] in pervading racial stereotypes and anti-black racism in Great Britain. The documentary was framed around, and heavily critical of, the BBC’s own ''The Black and White Minstrel Show''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001p474 | title=David Harewood on Blackface|website=Bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

==Discography==
===''The Black and White Minstrel Show''===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart
!Year
!Peak<br />position
|-
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:left;"|[[UK Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/archive/official-albums-chart/|title=The Official Charts Company – George Mitchell Minstrels – The Black and White Minstrel Show|work=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=2 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1961.php |title=1961 |last=Mawer |first=Sharon |year=2007 |work=Album Chart History |publisher=The Official UK Charts Company|access-date=2008-10-05 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080619151201/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1961.php |archivedate = 2008-06-19}}</ref>
|align="left"|1961
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:left;"|1
|-
|align="left"|1962
|-
|align="left"|1963
|}

{{S-start}}
{{S-bef|before = ''[[South Pacific (1958 film)#Soundtrack|South Pacific]]'' by Original Soundtrack<br />''South Pacific'' by Original Soundtrack<br />''South Pacific'' by Original Soundtrack<br />''The Shadows'' by The Shadows<br />''[[Out of the Shadows (The Shadows album)|Out of the Shadows]]'' by The Shadows}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[UK Albums Chart]] [[List of number-one albums from the 1960s (UK)|number-one album]]| years  = 29 July 1961 – 26 August 1961<br/>2 September 1961 – 9 September 1961<br />16 September 1961 – 23 September 1961<br />21 October 1961 – 28 October 1961<br />29 December 1962 – 12 January 1963}}
{{S-aft|after = ''South Pacific'' by Original Soundtrack<br />''South Pacific'' by Original Soundtrack<br />''[[The Shadows (album)|The Shadows]]'' by [[The Shadows]]<br/>''The Shadows'' by The Shadows<br />''[[West Side Story (1961 soundtrack)|West Side Story]]'' by Original Soundtrack}}
{{S-end}}

===''Another Black and White Minstrel Show''===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart
!Year
!Peak<br />position
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[UK Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/archive/official-albums-chart/|title=The Official Charts Company – George Mitchell Minstrels – Another Black and White Minstrel Show|work=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=2 June 2011}}</ref>
|align="left"|1961
|rowspan="2"|1
|-
|align="left"|1962
|}

{{S-start}}
{{S-bef|before = ''[[21 Today]]'' by [[Cliff Richard]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[UK Albums Chart]] [[List of number-one albums from the 1960s (UK)|number-one album]]| years  = 11 November 1961 – 6 January 1962}}
{{S-aft|after = ''[[Blue Hawaii (soundtrack)|Blue Hawaii]]'' by [[Elvis Presley]]}}
{{S-end}}

===''On Stage with the George Mitchell Minstrels''===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart
!Year
!Peak<br />position
|-
|align="left"|[[UK Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/archive/official-albums-chart/|title=The Official Charts Company – George Mitchell Minstrels – On Stage with the George Mitchell Minstrels|work=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=2 June 2011}}</ref>
|align="left"|1962
|align="left"|1
|}

{{S-start}}
{{S-bef|before = ''Out of the Shadows'' by The Shadows}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[UK Albums Chart]] [[List of number-one albums from the 1960s (UK)|number-one album]]| years  = 1 December 1962 – 15 December 1962}}
{{S-aft|after = ''West Side Story'' by Original Soundtrack}}
{{S-end}}

===Other albums===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Title
!Year
!UK<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/george%20mitchell%20minstrels|title=The Official Charts Company – The Black and White Minstrel Show|date=5 May 2013|publisher=The Official Charts Company}}</ref>
|-
|align="left"|''On Tour with the George Mitchell Minstrels''
|align="left"|1963
|align="left"|6
|-
|align="left"|''Spotlight on the George Mitchell Minstrels''
|align="left"|1964
|align="left"|6
|-
|align="left"|''Magic of the Minstrels''
|align="left"|1965
|align="left"|9
|-
|align="left"|''Here Come the Minstrels''
|align="left"|1966
|align="left"|11
|-
|align="left"|''Showtime Special''
|align="left"|1967
|align="left"|26
|-
|align="left"|''The Irving Berlin Songbook''
|align="left"|1968
|align="left"|33
|-
|align="left"|''The Magic of Christmas''
|align="left"|1970
|align="left"|32
|-
|align="left"|''The Black and White Minstrels With the Joe Loss Orchestra – 30 Golden Greats''
|align="left"|1977
|align="left"|10
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0198065}}

{{UK Christmas No. 1 albums in the 1960s}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black and White Minstrel Show, The}}
[[Category:1958 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1978 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1950s British television series]]
[[Category:1960s British television series]]
[[Category:1970s British television series]]
[[Category:Blackface minstrel shows and films]]
[[Category:British variety television shows]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in television]]
[[Category:BBC variety television shows]]
[[Category:BBC Television Service (TV network) original programming]]
[[Category:BBC One original programming]]