In 1968 Harry Belafonte and Petula Clark sang together her song On the Path Of Glory for this special on NBC. Not such a remarkable event in itself, but Petula touched Harry's forearm during the duet and made TV history. It was the first time a white woman had touched a black man on US television. The sponsor insisted the touch be cut from the programme, the programme makers refused. In the decade’s “year of revolt”, Clark found herself at the centre of a media controversy involving race, censorship and endemic bigotry in a newly desegregated yet depressingly divided US.
Acting
Clark and Belafonte radiate effortless chemistry under manufactured pressure.
Direction
Binder captures the tension of a performance becoming a protest.
Director
Steve Binder
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This aired months after MLK's assassination, making the sponsor's panic even more cowardly.
Chrysler's president personally intervened to demand the cut; the director secretly preserved the original tape.
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