Post by markdixon on Feb 3, 2019 9:58:06 GMT
This is a bit obscure, but maybe somebody will have some further information.
A while ago I saw a copy of the ‘Mersey Beat’ paper (dated 27 February 1965) which contained a review of an unusual event called ‘The Black and White Show’. It was staged at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, on 15 February 1965. According to the review, the event was filmed by Denis Mitchell Productions for BBC Television. The director was Francis MacGahay.
There’s no mention of this film on BBC Genome. Was it broadcast as a segment in a magazine show, such as ‘Tonight’ or 'Late Night Line-Up’? Does it still exist?
Here are some details about the event itself. “The Black and White Show” was an artistic ‘happening’ devised by Adrian Henri and Brian Patten. It was an anti-apartheid event. Audience members were separated randomly into ‘black’ and ‘white’ groups as they entered the club. Then, throughout the course of the evening a wall of cardboard boxes was erected in the middle of the club to keep the ‘black’ and ‘white’ groups apart. At the end of the show, the audience were encouraged to knock down the wall, and people danced to celebrate the end of the 'segregation'. Participants in these proceedings included Cavern DJs Bob Wooler and Billy Butler, and the club’s owner, Ray McFall.
Poetry was performed by Henri and Patten, sometimes with musical accompaniment. Norman Beaton, a calypso singer from Guyana, performed his song “Immigrant Blues”. The other musical acts were Ken Wilson (a Mancunian folk-singer), and two Liverpool groups – The Excelles and The Clayton Squares.
I hope this film exists somewhere. It would be interesting to see footage of Norman Beaton filmed years before his successful acting career.
A while ago I saw a copy of the ‘Mersey Beat’ paper (dated 27 February 1965) which contained a review of an unusual event called ‘The Black and White Show’. It was staged at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, on 15 February 1965. According to the review, the event was filmed by Denis Mitchell Productions for BBC Television. The director was Francis MacGahay.
There’s no mention of this film on BBC Genome. Was it broadcast as a segment in a magazine show, such as ‘Tonight’ or 'Late Night Line-Up’? Does it still exist?
Here are some details about the event itself. “The Black and White Show” was an artistic ‘happening’ devised by Adrian Henri and Brian Patten. It was an anti-apartheid event. Audience members were separated randomly into ‘black’ and ‘white’ groups as they entered the club. Then, throughout the course of the evening a wall of cardboard boxes was erected in the middle of the club to keep the ‘black’ and ‘white’ groups apart. At the end of the show, the audience were encouraged to knock down the wall, and people danced to celebrate the end of the 'segregation'. Participants in these proceedings included Cavern DJs Bob Wooler and Billy Butler, and the club’s owner, Ray McFall.
Poetry was performed by Henri and Patten, sometimes with musical accompaniment. Norman Beaton, a calypso singer from Guyana, performed his song “Immigrant Blues”. The other musical acts were Ken Wilson (a Mancunian folk-singer), and two Liverpool groups – The Excelles and The Clayton Squares.
I hope this film exists somewhere. It would be interesting to see footage of Norman Beaton filmed years before his successful acting career.