The Black and White Minstrel Show

The 'Black and White Minstrel Show' achieved a definitive standard of excellence in TV entertainment that was never surpassed during its record breaking run on BBC TV and in theatres in London, all over Britain, and throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The show's success was very much a reflection of he love that ran through the backbone of the show, the George Mitchell Choirs - love for the songs, love for the spectacular productions, and love for the group's immaculate vocal arrangements, all of them by their supportive and very talented leader, George Mitchell himself.

George arranged an endless succession of songs from the cream of popular music from most of the twentieth century and audiences love it - everybody enjoyed some of their favourite melodies. No wonder it achieved audience figures of 21 million, won a Golden Globe at Montreux, and was sold to over 30 countries.

The 'Black and White Minstrel Show' entertained a worldwide audience of millions between 1958 and 1978. It was a celebration of black music, featuring the music of the great blues composers like W C Handy (St Louis Blues), Spencer Williams (Basin Street Blues), and other popular music composers who have given the world some of its best loved melodies.

They included 'Memories of You' (Eubie Blake), 'Isn't She Lovely' (Stevie Wonder),'Soul Boss Nova' (Quincy Jones),' 'Take The A Train' (Billy Strayhorn), 'Aint Misbehavin' (Fats Waller), 'I'm Beginning To See The Light' (Duke Ellington), and Sy Oliver (Opus One).

George also arranged negro spirituals like 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot', 'Beautiful Dreamer', 'Carry Me Back To Green Pastures' - and folksy favourites set in America's south like 'Camptown Races' and 'Swanee River'.'The 'Black and White Minstrel Show' featured music that touched the hearts of millions, black or white, as the title suggests.

When it won a Golden Rose at Montreux in 1961, it was regarded as the best light entertainment production in the world. I bet there are many who feel that it still is.

The Black and White Minstrel show was shown at prime time on the BBC from the mid sixties onwards. It was a song and dance show that predominately had white men wearing black make up and dressed like kentucky minstrels. Eventually this got banned because of connections to the slave trade and the fact it was white people, mainly welsh, doing the singing and dancing. I remember my mother used to enjoy watching this. We lived more in an age of innocence in those days before the politically correct brigade had got hold of everything. When I asked my mother why she enjoyed it she said she liked the music and dancing. Who actually takes offence to this and why ?

Let's set aside the undoubted singing, dancing and comedic talents of the performers on this show. The Black and White Minstrel Show was based on American 'minstrelsy' which is nothing but a racist early United States using stereotypes of black people for humour. Such humour is agreed by EVERYONE to have stunted the growth of civil rights for African Americans for decades. Let's remember that slavery was roundly approved of by the England of the 19th century, and not use 'oh we just borrowed it from America' as an excuse.

Secondly, just because 18 million people watched it every week does not negate its stereotyping of black people. England was just as racist in the '60s as America; and my parents, who grew up in the Depression and thus with all these minstrel types, were just as prejudiced as the other 17.999 million. We see how the economics of a popular show outlasted the 'liberal' outcry (god forbid we ask people to have respect for each other!); thankfully we have moved on thirty years and most people have no excuse to defend a programme just because its writers happen to be good.

Oh, the other great excuse I read here is that 'they had to perform in blackface because there weren't many black performers around at the time.' OH PLEASE. Please please please. Tell that to Sidney Poitier.

In case anyone's wondering, I'm white and I hate reality TV too.

Having vaguely remembered these from clip shows with smug right-on celebrities tut tutting on 'How terrible we were back then' type thing. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about when they started to be sneaked onto the internet. I have to say I was astonished on how beautiful they looked and how lovely they sounded. These were incredibly slick productions for both even now or then and you can see everyone involved from cast, costume to cameras were giving it 110% to entertain.

Now to address the elephant in the room,it is probably fair to say that many forms of entertainment has its origins in something unpleasant, just as the 'whiteface' of a clown goes back to sick people with the plague..no white person looks like that if they are healthy, just as no black person looks like a minstrel in real life.

The older generation that watched these shows were enjoying a homage to Americana and British vaudeville that they remembered and people like Al Jolson that had given them comfort through very hard times. It was an escapement fantasy and thinking about the mockery of a race never came into it.

The Black and White Minstrel show may well have been hated and considered racist by the "liberal thinking elite" but there were 55 million people in this country during its near 30 years run and the vast majority of those that had TVs enjoyed it immensely (It began in 1957, so not everyone had a TV). It was always entertaining. It neither set out to be, nor was, racist. It simply copied that which started in America (probably in the speakeasies) where black singers entertained the customers. They were very popular there from prohibition onwards and when the BBC imported the idea to Britain they naturally "blacked up" to copy the genre more closely because they could not get famous black singers, after all, there weren't that many blacks in this country at the time. Don't forget, Al Jolson was white and loved equally by both blacks and whites - not because he "blacked up" but because he had a wonderful voice. Similarly, the BBC's Black and White Minstrel Show had singers with good voices. It may be off the air now but that is more because "variety acts" are out of favour generally than because the B&WMS was racist.