Did it really happen or is it a show biz urban legend like Uncle Don’s infamous sign-off?
For those of you who didn’t see the “Live from New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live” special on February 20th, there’s a sketch from the first season of the show that featured guest hosts Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as directors trying to cast a prison production of “Gigi”. One of the auditioning prisoners is Garrett Morris who, after calmly introducing himself and stating he’ll be singing a song he wrote, suddenly launches into:
“I’m gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see …”
In describing how this part of the sketch came about, Morris says it was based on a supposedly real-life incident that happened on a live TV broadcast of “Truth or Consequences” in the early 50’s. “TOQ” had an amateur night portion of the show where ordinary people would come forward and perform their special talents. One such person was a genteel-looking white North Carolina woman and aspiring song-writer who said she had written hundreds of songs and wanted to perform one of her compositions in front of a national TV audience. She then sits down at the piano and begins to sing the same song Morris sang in the later SNL sketch except, of course, with a different derogatory racial reference. However, she only gets one line in before TV screens across the country suddenly go blank and, for the next three minutes, there’s nothing but dead air. When “TOQ” returns, the North Carolina woman gone from the set and no further mention is made during the remainder of the broadcast of her ever being on.
So, does anybody in the Doper community know if this incident really happened on “TOQ” or, perhaps, even remember actually seeing it?
Secondly, I must comment that Googling failed to find the ancedote in question.
Thirdly, and finally, it must be noted that Truth or Consequences, as far as the references I’ve found to it, did not have talent spotting as part of their program, which makes it highly unlikely that this happened on that program.
I was pointing out that what Garrett Morris (apparently, I missed the special) claimed on the broadcast is different than what he told the Washington Post.
Unfortunately, this story is true and yes I did see it and to the shock of everyone, it was not in the 50s, but around 65-66.
When the lady spoken of sat down at the piano, and began to play, I was sitting watching with my mother, she instantly turned beet red, and had this nervous laugh, when I looked at her she was more embarrassed, later that evening my father came home so I related to him what I saw, he turned white and said “they can’t do that!” I thought I was in trouble, I was about 12 years old, then mom and dad had a discussion and I thought I would be grounded from the television, but Dad’s anger subsided and we never spoke of it again, but prior to that Dad told me of a racial story he had witnessed in Florida during WW2, and used it as a teaching moment.
I had seen Garrett Morris sing the song and laughed but sometime later I saw his interview and instantly recalled the show, which was Truth or Consequences and Bob Barker not Art Linkletter was hosting, Art was red, which I could see even on my black and white TV, and just prior to going black, the cameraman panned the audience and showed 2 black women, they were not amused.
“Truth Or Consequences” was recorded before a live audience, which casts a bit of doubt that anyone not in the studio audience saw this happen…if it happened at all. Also, as has been previously mentioned, it was NOT a variety show, so the piano scene seems very unlikely unless this lady had the piano residing in the seat beside her.
Maybe the event did happen, but it wasn’t on Truth or Consequences; that show had no reason to be showcasing some amateur’s music. I would also imagine that by the mid 60s that all television programs would be recorded, not filmed live. It makes sense set in the early 50s when there wasn’t the technology or it was just starting, but makes less sense in the 60s. The best bet I have is that both you and the SNL guy saw some local TV production that no one would remember the name of and was transmitting live because of budget reasons, and the haziness of memories has caused the details to change.
If anyone out there still doubts this story is fake, this clip pretty much finishes it off. About 12:35, “Truth or Consequences” creator Ralph Edwards discusses how the show was filmed almost from the start. So even if the claimed incident was seen by the audience, it never would have been aired.
Of course, it’s still possible for the memories of this incident to be almost perfectly accurate, like glowacks described: Someone went on a live variety show, to play some songs she had written, with one of them being the song described, and the producers quickly cutting off the feed. The only detail that need be changed is just what show it was.
