Quote Originally Posted by Gofer Blue View Post
Being of that "certain age" myself, I well remember the Black & White Minstrel Show. Like you I hardly ever watched it unless my grandmother had it on the TV when I called there. She loved the programme because it always consisted of those gentle sing-along type songs which she enjoyed very much. The fact that the blokes were blacked up was irrelevant to her and to imagine that she was some kind of extreme right wing Neo-Nazi type is simply laughable!
If that last sentence was directed at me then you've completely missed the point I was trying to make. My parents used to regularly watch the Black and White Minstrel Show and there is no way on earth that my mum was a racist, but my dad was like so many around then in that he would say things that would probably get him into arguments these days, but he was an example of the point I wanted to make, he was a product of his time and, as such, it was no surprise that he was like he was.

As part of the generation that came after my father's, I had no problem as such with the Black and White Minstrel Show and I still rate Fawlty Towers as the funniest comedy series I've ever seen, I used to enjoy watching Alf Garnett ranting away in Till Death Us Do Part as well, but drew the line at Love my Neighbour which, besides being plain not funny, went the wrong side of the line for me, while I'd watch a show like Mind Your Language while thinking what am I doing watching this - for me, John Cleese and Warren Mitchell's characters worked because they were the target of the humour.

Coming back to the Black and White Minstrel Show, if the only reason it was popular was, as you imply, the songs that were being sung, the obvious questions that arise is why was there any need for the singers to be blacked up and, if the songs that were being sung were of a traditional negro spiritual type, why not have black performers singing them? The only possible answer I can come up with is that the makers of the show believed that the audience they got would be smaller if black performers were used.

My point is that in the time the show was being broadcast, I don't think there was too much controversy around about its format. I daresay there were some in the white community who found it offensive, but nowhere remotely close to a majority - youngsters who label the show racist now need to realise that if there was racism, it was of an unconscious type on most people's part, but I accept that the critical feelings of any non whites about the show were, basically, just ignored.

That show would never be broadcast today and I think Fawlty Towers and Till Death Us Do Part would have had to be "toned down" somewhat if they were to make it onto the screens now. I repeat, maybe our generation needs to question sometimes whether those that come after us have got things more right than we did?