When Newman appeared as a guest during a special week of “The Tonight Show” in 1968, he explained that, as a citizen, he was as entitled to political action as any American. It was a week when singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte replaced the affable Iowa-born, Nebraska-raised Johnny Carson as the late-night host America went to bed with. Carson, with his everyman entrée, realized that while he was not the man for that moment, it was important that he open his show to different points of view. “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts ‘The Tonight Show,’” a documentary available on the Peacock streaming service that also includes the voice of the now-93-year-old Belafonte, revisits that momentous week.
Though everyone watched “The Tonight Show,” it was from segregated homes in segregated neighborhoods, with little exposure to what was going on across town or across the country. Civil rights and anti-war protests divided the country — similar to how the country is divided today. 1968 was a year of social, cultural and political upheaval, when segregationist George Wallace and pro-war politician Richard Nixon were running for president. So, when screen idol Newman sat on the “couch,” between blacklisted singer Leon Bibb and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in the minority for a change, it was a novelty and a revelation for those who had been content in a bubble.
Carson knew that people who may never have had social contact needed to hear and see one another — though it seems like a long time ago when having just three networks meant culture provided unifying touchstones, from “The Tonight Show” to Ed Sullivan to Carol Burnett and her crew. A pre-conviction Bill Cosby was one of the spies in “I Spy” and the dad in family shows that broadened Americans’ perspectives, as did Carroll’s nurse character in “Julia” and, some years later, “Will & Grace,” as corny as it seems.
That was when all of America joined one another looking at little boxes in a communal living room experience, something that happens less and less these days when an endless list of viewing options for news and entertainment allows Americans to remain in selected silos.
Equal treatment
The “Sit-In” documentary is worth a look, not only because it’s fun to see King display a sense of fun and humor while delivering his message. Robert F. Kennedy, who later was to announce his own presidential bid, talked about visiting pockets of poverty in affluent America. “There are speeches made about the fact that we’re going to treat everybody equally. And yet we don’t treat everybody equally,” Kennedy said.
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