Harry Belafonte: The Real Deal | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey yo and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. here too which is appropriate cuz this. is a barn burner of an episode if you. ask me did you say heyo I did very nice. I got to freshen it up here or there. sometimes it's starting to get a little. stale no you don't think so no I mean.

you can freshen it up but it's not stale. okay all right okay I like that if you. have any ideas to freshen it up ever you. know lay them on me all. right uh let's see we're coming up on. year 17 just want to point that out yeah. what what is it in April yeah pretty. cool yeah uh and uh today also we are. talking about Harry bellante and uh part.

of the reason why but not the full. reason why because this is he was a. perennial man a man of All Seasons but. it's black history month so we wanted to. profile him at least in part for Black. History Month yeah uh and he's awesome. and um you know I watched that we are. the world documentary not too long ago. oh yeah is it good yeah it's really good. I think you would enjoy it okay I. probably would then if you think I would. yeah it's actually really really good.

and you walk away from it thinking uh. well thinking like Harry Bellon is. awesome along with a lot of other people. but you walk away thinking man I just. want to be friends with liono Richie oh. yeah I I can imagine he's just the. coolest and he tells really great story. he's a great Storyteller and funny and. like I was like man Lio Richie is. awesome and fun that's pretty cool man. that's awesome yeah there's a rumor that. seems fairly substantiated that he's. Kylie Jenner's real father oh really. yeah apparently there's a lot of lot of.

swinging going on out in that. neighborhood back in the day I don't. know what Kylie Jenner looks like does. she look like is it sort of like um uh. Frank Sinatra son uh Ronin Pharaoh uh no. nothing like that and actually I'm not. sure any living human knows exactly what. Kylie Jenner looks like so who just. say well let's talk about Harry be then. the guy I love this guy yeah so Harry. bani trying to figure out how we can.

name this and we might just say Harry. bellani or something like that but we. could also say um the thinking person SN. yeah that's good the real deal yeah or a. genuinely great person yeah uh act. Entertainer. activist yeah like he he did it all he. was just one of these people who you. know when you when you approach an. iconic clast especially one who's just. revered universally and you start.

picking at the edges you're like oh my. God I hope it's not like garbage right. and you I we you just don't get to that. point um like he was through and through. a genuinely good person and one of the. reasons why you don't get to like pick. off the outer coating and find garbage. underneath because he was just pretty. much fully transparent his whole life. and um he just he was who he was and he. wasn't apologetic for it and he just put. it all out there based on his his. beliefs and beliefs tended to um.

coincide with the right side of History. typically he saw people who were. downtrodden being being taken advantage. of um being discriminated against and he. wanted to go help make that better yeah. yeah and as you'll see you know. throughout his career he he missed. opportunities because he refused to Cave. um lost opportunities uh had. opportunities taken away from him uh and. he was just like you know I'm I'm going. to be Harry bellonte.

and no one is going to change that yeah. career be damned let's kick the whole. thing off right because uh for those of. you who don't know we should probably. say Harry Bon is a legendary Entertainer. that's what he's most widely known for. and most widely known for the song Deo. which is why I said heyo come full. circle now in this Banana Boat Song yeah. um and if you don't know what we're. talking about still just pause this go. on YouTube Type in Deo look for the. original version and listen to it and. come back and you will be pretty much as.

versed as you need to be going into this. episode yeah uh you know actor stage. performer Broadway star egot winner yeah. uh if you don't know an egot that's if. if you have won the Emmy Grammy Oscar. and Tony uh in your lifetime which Mr. bellante did uh it's a rare feat indeed. but he was born uh to you know a very. humble upbringing uh in March of. 1927 um Harold George bellafonte Jr in. Harlem New York City.

uh to Caribbean parents his father. Harold who was actually a cook on a. Banana Boat uh was from Martinique and. his mother uh meline was from Jamaica. and he was raised in Harlem until he was. eight uh at which time his mom said you. and your little brother Dennis are going. to live um near in my hometown in. Jamaica and so from the ages of 8 to. what like 12ish he lived in Jamaica and. that's where he really um sort of saw.

the light as far as this you know. Caribbean folk music that would become. his staple yeah and he was raised by his. grandmother there uh his maternal. grandmother Melvin's mom was a white. woman uh a Jamaican white woman and she. really raised him to kind of love all. people which is a big early influence. and then another influence of living in. Jamaica at the time was he saw black. professionals he saw black doctors black. lawyers completely competent completely. normal there wasn't anything wrong with. them they were just black doctors and.

black lawyers and Etc and it really kind. of served as a foil to him uh to how how. things were back in America right which. was very discriminatory at the time uh. he was smack dab in the middle of the. the Jim Crow era in the United States. yeah so um he hears this music down. there the the sort of call and response. work songs that um I mean that's where. the song should we talk about Deo real. quick I mean as we're getting going yeah.

that's yeah because if if you've heard. the song you might be thinking and you. never like did any research you wondered. what in the heck is he singing about. right you know uh come Mr tally man. tally Me banana daylight comes and we. want to go home yeah uh it's it's it was. a work song and it was a Callin response. song of these guys who worked on banana. boats and and you know they would work. through the night and the morning is. when they were allowed to leave if the. tally man the person who counted the. bananas uh tallied that they had enough. bananas to to you know T the end of.

their workday yeah and that's what they. would get paid based on how much they. had loaded overnight so you couldn't. leave until the guy came along and said. you loaded 5 million tons of bananas. here's your $50 or whatever then you. could go home I had no idea that's what. that song was about yeah I I mean I. didn't know what a tally man was but it. makes perfect sense it's someone who. tallies exactly and I love that song. even more now and I just it it just. really kind of buttoned some stuff up. because up to that point like I had. never looked up the lyrics and I was.

just going by ear my ear's not super. good at picking out lyrics so what were. you singing um I don't even remember. what I I was I was just listening and it. was all just kind of like vocal sounds. it was like the to Twins or. something like that um he was just. making sounds not actually saying. anything or saying words so now that I. know there's a story behind it I love it. yeah pretty cool um so he ends up back. in Harlem though uh supposedly had. dyslexia so he wasn't a great student um.

so at 17 years old he quit school he. joined the Navy in. 1944 and this was another sort of eye. openening experience because he served. in World War II in an all black unit and. at first was like you know I don't like. the the segregation of the army here uh. but he met a lot of guys in that unit. that turned him on to a lot of stuff. that kind of laid the groundwork for. what would be his social awareness and. activism yeah they turned him on books. like the soul of Black Folk The Souls of.

black folks by WB duboyce and like that. combined with his early upbringing where. he was able to ju supposed Society in. Jamaica and Society in America like this. really kind of got things started so by. the time he met his wife his first wife. margarite bird he was radicalized at. this point I saw it described as like he. was fullon like Civil Rights Movement. guy and uh this is the 40s so this is. before the Civil Rights Movement had. really kind of of started in Earnest the.

at least the version that we're you know. we think of and we think of it. historically and margarite was not that. way at all she was from a upper middle. class black family um she was a sorority. girl in Virginia she was just raised in. the type of conservative household where. it's like you just trust the system you. trust Society if the News tells you. something that's true and she and Harry. were almost like foils to to an extent. he saw her role as taking care of this.

misguided like angry man and trying to. help him through life and uh I'm sure he. saw his role in part as like opening her. eyes but the big thing that came out of. their Union with was his first two kids. yeah he had two daughters with margarit. Adrien and of course uh Sherry who went. on to become a successful actor. herself uh and then served his time in. the Navy they eventually um lived in. Harlem you know as a family and he. worked as a janitor's assistant at an.

apartment building and that's when. another sort of uh Monumental moment in. his life happened he he fixed the the. blinds in someone's apartment in ATT. tenant's apartment there and uh just as. a thank you they gave him they gied him. some tickets to the theater uh to the. American Negro Theater which he had. never seen life theater before like that. never seen you know black actors on. stage performing and to say he caught. the bug is an understatement he. immediately uh tried to get a job there.

applied to be a stage hand uh at that. theater and this is one of those life. things where you're just like are you. kidding me this really happened he got. that job and another young janitor there. uh his name was Sydney porier and it's. just incredible like what are the odds. that these two incredible talented. performers you know uh get jobs as like. stage hands and janitors at this theater. when they were just in their I guess ear. 20s yeah and they both did so because.

they wanted to do whatever they could to. get their foot in the door into theater. the world of theater I saw somewhere it. mentioned that um when they were just. two broke stage hands they loved the. theater so much that they would pull. their money together to buy a single. ticket to Broadway shows and then one. would see one act and then they would. switch off and the other would see the. second act or whatever amazing yeah I. mean that's that you really love the. theater like you said he caught the bug. if you're doing stuff like that he also. enrolled in a really um that's the.

measuring stick by the way for whether. you love theater or not oh if you you. just go to one act and split split it. with your friend right all right he also. enrolled in a a legendary acting. Workshop um that was held at the new. school for years some of his classmates. were Walter. mathau have you seen did you see the. documentary sing your song about him not. Walter mat but. abouton I didn't know matth was a singer.

uh no I didn't see that yet it's good. I'm going to it's good but they show. like some stills from that workshop and. there's young Walter math he looks like. some doofy 20-year-old Walter math it's. pretty great except he looked 50 yeah. pretty much already yeah but he has like. a cck and he's wearing like a heavy. flannel shirt like he just walked out of. the woods of Minnesota or something I. love it he was also in class with Tony. Curtis Marlon Brando and then the future. Dorothy patros borack ALS Al known as B.

Arthur oh then there's mod can you. imagine you go to class and that's who. you're in class with but they don't mean. anything yet they're all just acting. students yeah and I'm sure Bellon was. like this Brando guy's got some promise. yeah they they actually became pretty. good friends yeah Brando he's worth a an. episode at some point to say the least I. think we could do just one episode on. Don Juan DeMarco. right so Harry bellante's in the new. school he's you know doing what you do.

in theater school like that you're. you're doing movement and voice and. eventually like some singing and he was. like oh wait a minute I can sing pretty. good too and everyone else said yeah you. can sing pretty good and you're handsome. to a fault so you've kind of got it all. going on um there weren't a ton of roles. for uh black men in the theater at the. time or at least and this is something. that we'll see he did throughout his. career not the kind of roles that he. wanted to take that he thought were um. you know dignified I guess is the right.

word yeah uh so he's like I'm not going. to play the parts that are available to. me I'm going to start singing so he went. to uh jazz clubs like the you know the. legendary blue note uh would sing Jazz. standards on stage uh and then in the. 1940s uh spurred by the interest in uh. it was like a renewed interest in square. dancing and folk dancing at the time. that led to uh what was called the folk. music Revival uh this was in the early. 1940s in grwi v which uh you know would.

eventually culminate in the uh sort of. the peak of that movement in the mid-60s. with people like uh Pete Seager and Bob. Dylan uh it all started in the early. 1940s uh with people like Harry bellonte. going to the Village Vanguard this. legendary folk music club and seeing. Leadbelly perform and was like all right. well now now we're on to something here. um it's it's it's it's all happening and. I'm right in the epicenter of it yeah. because like you said he wasn't happy. with um singing jazz standards or pop.

music despite the fact that I saw that. he was backed at some points by Charlie. Parker the famous drummer Max Roach and. Miles Davis all his young musicians and. he was like nah let me go on to folk. music and he got so heavy into folk. music that he spent his time researching. folk songs at the Library of Congress to. expand his repertoire that's how into. folk music he got and he was so broke. that he would find somebody to split a. ticket into the library of congress's. archives and would research for an hour.

and then they trade off and do the next. hour and that means you're really into. folk music uh that's how we do our. research right that's right we just. straight off uh it was around this time. that he met a pretty Monumental figure. in his life it was one of his idols it. was an actor and singer named uh Paul. Robison and he was most famous probably. at the time at least for uh his his. version of Old Man River from Showboat. from the musical Showboat MH and Harry. was like yeah nuts with this Jazz stuff.

I'm into the traditional music I'm into. folk I can you know I'm trying to find. my own voice and he found that in what. ended up being um sort of like the the. Calypso folk music of the Caribbean um. you know going back to his roots right. um and we'll get up into that a little. more in a minute but just kind of. progressing on with his early career um. he essentially his not just his singing. voice but his stage presence his.

presence was Monumental but also he used. it his movements and sometimes props and. stuff on the stage to um kind of tell. the story that this folk song was trying. to tell so his act was just a sensation. like basically out of the gate and he. very quickly got picked up and put on. the Broadway this time from the stage um. and the first thing I think he was in. was John Murray Anderson's Almanac which. was a musical review in. 1953 and he did such a good job that. that his first time out he wins a Tony.

not only does he win a Tony he's the. first black man to win a Tony yeah 1954. best featured actor in a musical uh and. not only that but around the same time. in 53 he made his first two. movies um with Dorothy Dandridge and the. second of those Carmen Jones um Dorothy. Dandridge became the first. African-American woman nominated for a. Best Actress Oscar so he's he's among. this group of young African-American.

entertainers that are just knocking. doors down left and right and getting um. you know real recognition kind of for. the first time yeah and this is the. early 50s that's right let's take a. little break and we'll come back and. talk a little more about his Calypso. stuff yeah and we should mention uh. before we break here that uh his. marriage to margarite uh was dissolving. at the time but he would go on to marry. again as we'll see but uh maybe we. should take that break you want to take. a break yeah let's take a break we'll be.

right back we. will Stu you should. [Music]. okay Chuck so uh we're talking Calypso.

now um it's really really difficult to. understate. like how big of a star Harry bellonte. became thanks to Calypso music calypso. music is like this traditional Caribbean. music typically folk songs work songs. call and response is a big one so the. people in the chorus seeing like. daylight come and me want to go home. that's like the response where H Harry. bellafante is singing the call part. right it's just traditional work song.

stuff come on um so he starts out this. whole Jam where he he is in playing folk. music at the Village Vanguard goes on to. Broadway starts singing some of this. folk like Caribbean folk music and. within a couple of years he's on a um. NBC show doing the same thing and um. Dave helped us out with this and he. makes a point that had it not been for a. guy an artist who went by Lord Burgess. but his real name was Irving Bergie. Irving perie um who was also a Caribbean.

American uh who was raised in New York. um also being into Calypso at the same. exact time and then meeting Harry. bellonte and them. collaborating it probably would not have. taken off but thanks to Lord Burgess and. then a playwright friend of Harry Bellon. named William AdAway working together. rewriting some of these traditional. songs rearranging them to make them. peier a little poppier like they made. Calypso like they just they made it way.

more palatable to Americans way more. dancing and just way more infectious. than other people who'd recorded some of. these same songs previously had yeah and. you know banana butat was a a cover song. it's an old school song that had been. around since the turn of the 20th. century and uh like you said they they. had a more upbeat version and it was a a. huge huge hit um he got a little you. know as we'll see there are people. uh within some of the communities he.

even admired and worked with it often. didn't love him back as much um Calypso. was one of them some traditional Calypso. uh purist um apparently especially like. in Trinidad uh where Calypso was born. we're like hey this guy's coming in he's. in New York he's not a real. calypsonian uh and you know he's kind of. changing it up adding like American folk. um sort of interest to it and he was. like you know what he I think in 1959 in.

a New York Times interview he said. purism is the best cover up for. mediocrity there's no change we might as. well just go back to the first o which. may have been the first song or which. must have been the first song uh and I. think at which time Tuk tuck a tear. rolled down his cheek yeah and he went. back to the fire he said that was my. number one song yeah but Harry was like. you know I'm taking it I'm making it. popular I'm making it my own I'm finding. my own voice and it's you know it's my. version of calypso folk music yeah um I.

think also he was criticized by. trinidadians for being known as the king. of calypso they're like we have our own. king of calypso competition every year. and you ain't it he's like so and they. just couldn't come back with anything. after that so the whole the whole beef. ended right. there uh his 1956 album calyo came out. after that TV special uh it was a huge. huge hit it was stayed number one for 38. weeks uh knocked Elvis out of the number.

one spot at the time and became the very. first record in history to sell 1. million copies in its first year out yes. that was just in the us alone it did the. same thing in the UK and Chuck one of. the songs on this album was Deo right. yeah Deo itself s sold a million copies. just of the 45 so just the single right. I can see the single selling a million.

copies and then the album suffering. because of that the album continued to. sell as well it's crazy how nuts for. Harry bellafonte the United States and. other a lot of other parts of the world. too were at that time like he just blew. up you said it was number one on the. charts for 38 weeks not on the charts. for 38 weeks the number one album in the. United States for for all like the. better half of a year that's no one does. that that's crazy yeah it was incredible.

he was he was one of the biggest. performers in America all of a sudden uh. one of the biggest singing stars uh big. crossover success uh obviously and for. um for all of that uh this is how he was. treated uh on the road he would uh not. be allowed to stay in the hotels when he. performed in Vegas uh because of. segregation uh when he was touring the. South with a Broadway show Almanac a. State Trooper threatened to shoot him in.

a Whit's only. bathroom uh in La he was stopped by the. cops for just taking a walk through. Beverly Hills at night so these are the. kinds of this this was the world he was. living in even one of the biggest stars. in the world was not immune to the just. blatant racism that was going on yes. absolutely um that didn't stop him. though it didn't um discourage him like. he found ITF personally discouraging but. he didn't.

behave um he didn't acquas basically. yeah um one of the things he did was he. took a role and this was very much in. line with um his his decision-making as. far as his career went which we'll talk. about a little more in a second but he. um he took a role called um or in a. movie called Island in Island in the Sun. from 1957 and in it he has. an an insinuated. um romance with a white woman Joan.

Fontaine and they don't touch they don't. kiss there's nothing like that the. closest to a kiss that that happens is. they share um a sip from a coconut like. one of them takes a sip hands it to the. other one and then she takes a sip. that's the closest thing to an on-screen. kiss that there was not close to a kiss. no but it was so groundbreaking that the. South Carolina. legislature introduced a bill I don't. know if they passed it that would find.

any theater in South Carolina that. showed Island in the Sun that's how. controversial that movie was and it. sounds so tame that it's actually. Preposterous and like embarrassing now. but that was at the Forefront of pushing. the envelope as far as race relations in. America went and that's why har Harry. Bellon was like yes give me that role I. will totally take that role yeah for. sure uh in real life IRL he married uh.

his second wife around the same time uh. her name was Julie Robinson she was a. dancer and she was white and they were. probably I would not even say one of the. most they were probably the most. prominent uh interracial couple in. America at the time for sure it was she. was also um Brando's girlfriend when. they. met look out Marlin Harry pilante pretty. handsome guy talented Beyond handsome. yeah so um Chuck when we were just.

talking about islands in the sun I was. saying that Harry bellonte would totally. choose a role that pushed the envelope. for race relations not to stick it in. the eye of White America but to push. things forward and just basically say. black people are people to Let's P. portray them as such on the screen okay. yeah in doing that he had to choose over. and over and over again between. advancing his career and standing by his. values and without uh missing a single. opportunity he stood by his values every.

time yeah I mean he was offered uh and. that's just kind of what I was alluding. to earlier he was offered rolls he. called them uh Uncle Tom rolls and he. said that's about all you could get at. you know at one point in Hollywood or on. stage and he just wouldn't play those. roles uh he you know it depends on who. you are and where where you draw the. line. and I mean that's where he drew his line. um his his good friend Sydney porier. would take. um not necessarily those roles but other.

roles that um Harry Balon didn't think. had enough sort of uh Nuance for a black. actor um or or spoke to his Truth uh. sometimes his friend Sydney parier would. take those roles not in any way like a. sellout or anything like that um he had. his own ideas of how to you know Advance. the cause and Advance his career and. stay in the Limelight so he could do his. good work as well um but you know they. were rivals in a way but also best. friends yeah exactly but certainly. professional Rivals because almost.

invariably the roles that balaan passed. on would go to Pier because like you. said he would take these roles and he. was he became as a result the ambassador. of Black America to White America. because these roles he was taking in the. early 60s these these films were written. to uh Advance the the cause of of black. civil rights in the United States and. Sydney p is like yes put me out there. tell me what we need to do and let let's. show these Americans that black people.

are people too and like you said bellani. was like there's just it's still missing. some stuff and like Liles of the field. is a good example it's from. 1963 um it starred Sydney podia he went. on to win an Oscar for it um and he. plays a black man who is helping Nazi. nuns hide from the Communists and the. reason bellan passed on it is because he. said that this black man has like no. background no history he's not really. he said Henry Lewis Gates J 1996 in the.

New Yorker it's a really good article he. said he didn't kiss anybody he didn't. touch anybody he had no culture he had. no history he had no family he had. nothing so he was like a not even a. caricature of a black person he was like. human being happens to be black go you. know and that just was not nearly enough. for what Harry bellani was willing to. take on as a actor so he would just let. these things come come and go and pass. on him uh or else he would try it push.

the envelope that thing would get. cancelled and he'd just move on he never. ever went to Hollywood you know on his. knees or asking like they came to him. and he would either pass or not based on. what kind of how what how willing they. were to portray black people in that. film yeah uh highly principled. decision-making career-wise yes that's. very which is tough to do period but. very stuff to do trying to make it in a.

Cutthroat business like Hollywood you. know for sure man so uh in 56 this was. you know kind of right around the time. he had gotten married and that uh Island. in the Sun had come out um just before. that he uh got a phone call from uh. Martin Luther King Jr and they ended up. meeting in person and having a 4-Hour. meeting on their their first meeting and. uh this is this is sort of what lit the. fire for bellonte to really really get. into. uh very public civil rights work it was.

his his Awakening in a lot of ways uh. and he wasn't just like yeah you know. I'll show up and I'll be a celebrity. face here and there he was bailing civil. rights leaders out of jail uh he and. Sydney porier were smuggling cash 70. grand into Mississippi uh during the. freedom rides uh and the you know when. with the freedom schools we we I think. we did a whole episode on the freedom. schools at one point uh he helped he. didn't just show up at the March on. Washington he was one of the organizers.

uh so he was he was in deep doing the. the hard work yeah he he um he looked. out for MLK's family during MLK's life. but also like he he um funded his. children's education yeah he took out a. huge Insurance life insurance policy. against MLK um and then he just was. there for the family afterward like he. he um kind of stepped in when MLK was. assassinated so he certainly walked the.

walk um he was at all these you know. stins and um rallies and marches and he. he just was there he was like you said. he wasn't just a figurehead he didn't. just show up for the Press he didn't. just write checks behind the scenes he. did it all and again it just goes right. back to the upbringing from his mom who. taught him like not only just wherever. you see Injustice in the world go go. fight it and try to fix it like actively. search every day for Injustice that you.

can go help and you know there was. nothing more unjust and right in your. face for an American a black American. particular at the time than the Civil. Rights Movement yeah absolutely um so. his his you know entertaining uh or. entertainment career kept blossoming as. well kind of in conjunction uh with this. and he would use that to sort of you. know help subtly raise awareness just. about. um his community and and what he's like.

and what his people are like um and The. Tonight Show is a big example in. 1968 uh Johnny Carson invited him to. host for a week to host the Tonight Show. you know take Johnny seat uh first black. guest host in the history of the show. and this is in 1968 you know everything. going on in 1968 seems fraught uh and. race relations certainly were a part of. that and he wasn't like all right I'll. go host the show and I'll get in and um. just kind of tried out the the usual.

guest that Johnny might have he said no. I'm going to have Bobby Kennedy and. Martin Luther King Jr and artha Franklin. and Deon Warwick and um you know Paul. Newman and nipy Russell and all these. people who had these Progressive causes. or were just famous black entertainers. who didn't get that kind of stage very. often and open every night with a song. um obviously Johnny didn't do anything. like that uh so it was it was still fun. and entertaining uh but it was also.

educating people and talking about. serious issues in these interviews yes. so that was just huge I mean also you. got to credit Johnny Carson too he did. that on purpose he wasn't like I'm going. on vacation for a week just call whoever. like he did that on purpose because he. was trying to advance race relations as. well so hats off to him for that as well. they also had really high ratings that. was another thing too Harry bellani when. he did something on TV it drew viewers. and even still it didn't matter because.

there were so many angry white racists. in America that would call up these. sponsors and be like you're sponsoring. this this black guy on this show you. better stop they'd go to the producers. The Producers would come to Bellon and. be like hey you know how you have white. people and black people dancing together. what if we just did white or just did. Black bellani wouldn't blink and it. would get cancelled despite all of the. crazy great reviews and and viewership. it had and you know that would be that. and he would just kind of move on but of.

course he developed like this distrust. and distaste oh yeah sure for the. entertainment industry and I saw that he. initially thought that he would be able. to help change America through Hollywood. and then he quickly came to see like no. Hollywood is just one more facet of this. machine that keeps things going exactly. as they are so he he got really. disgusted by that um kind of fortunately. for us because he really kind of started. to throw more and more of his energy.

into being an activist not just in the. United States but around the world and. in particular Paul Robison like you said. was one of his idols uh who was also. just one of the early civil rights. Crusaders around the world uh and then. Elanor Roosevelt FDR's wife first lady. uh introduced him to to the plight of. different countries in Africa which was. decolonizing at the time and he he. really kind of turned his attention. toward that continent for a while yeah. for sure um I mean all of the major. causes that you've heard from you know.

basically starting then even uh and. especially through the'80s uh with uh. apartheid in South AF South Africa uh. Kenyan Independence um and you know I. mentioned early on We Are the World um. Ethiopia and the famines there he was he. was the the guy that you know called up. Quincy Jones and was like hey we need to. we need to do something here and we are. the world was a huge huge hit that sold. uh I think um 20 million copies and.

raised 65 million bucks for f and relief. mhm and if you were a kid in. 1985 um we are the world was like that. and live a were were two of the biggest. deals in music history and uh you know I. was 14 years old at the time and it was. just like it was incredible to see all. these people together and like even as a. kid even as a like little snot NOS. 14-year-old white kid from the south I. knew what that I was watching was. important I didn't maybe fully.

understand it uh I had seen stuff about. the famine on television but it was it. was Raising awareness for everybody. including little white Suburban kids. from Georgia yeah which was you know. exactly part of the point in addition to. raising money too yeah one of the cool. things I saw about it was I'm not sure. if it was his idea or if he kind of. headed up the push to do this or both. but um Harry bellani is credited with. talking radio stations around the world. into playing We are the world at the.

same time on the same day it was I think. March 28th uh. 1986 I remember there was something like. do you remember that oh yeah cool um. there was like 5,000 radio stations. around the world and they all played it. at the same time I think 10:50 a.m. eastern standard time and um musac. actually played it as well and it was. only the second time in the history of. musac that they played voices over their. service which by the way at the time. reached like 80 million Americans um so.

that's a lot of people listening to We. are the world at the at that same moment. which is neat that's. right including just I I accounted for. one of those I don't remember listening. to it on the radio but I do remember my. family sitting around listening to the. record yeah so funny uh all right maybe. we should take our second break and come. up and talk some more about Harry. bellonte okay learning stuff with josua. Stu you.

[Music]. should all right so Harry's uh doing his. activism he is still an Entertainer uh. he never you know you know sort of fully. left that behind and you know he started.

doing less and less of that as like. through the sort of 80s and 90s when his. activism was um I think at its peak um. but he was still doing his thing uh 1960. he became the first uh Black American to. win an Emmy uh for tonight with bellonte. one of his tv specials uh again which. they were all super big hits even though. people loved them and the ratings were. through the roof uh it was that silent. majority complaining about p CLK holding. his arm a white woman holding his arm in. a special that drove away some.

advertisers which is just you know very. sad uh to say the least but uh he was he. was still serving up this sort of. Caribbean tinge folk music to people uh. CBS ordered five more episodes um after. tonight with bellonte was such a big. success uh but of course uh that was one. of the ones where sponsorship was pulled. because he had black people and white. people dancing and singing together and. said no no no no cannot do that right um.

and so he would just leave show business. for you know years at a time or at least. um like TV or movies or something like. that but he got pulled back into it in. the early 70s because his buddy Sydney. potier was like Hey I want to start. directing black ploitation movies let's. do this and um they may bucking the. preacher which I have not seen I think. it was from. 1972 uh everything I've read about it. makes me want to see it basically. immediately um Sydney poier directed it. but he also plays Buck who's this um ex.

civil war soldier who helps ensure safe. passage for African Americans moving out. of Louisiana out west after the Civil. War and uh the preacher is Harry. bellante who's this con artist dressed. as a preacher it just sounds awesome um. and then Uptown Saturday Night haven't. seen that one either it sounds pretty. great except it's so hard now to get. past anything with Bill Cosby yeah it's. so hard not just because of the horrible.

stuff he did um sexually assaulting. women but also because he was so prachy. leading up to it he was so holier than. how and it makes the whole thing so much. worse if you ask me yeah I mean and this. he was doing those things back then too. uh the CNN documentary that uh uh Cal. Bell did was um very upsetting to see. but the way he they did it I think I. mentioned it before was um it was they. were just sort of tracking his career.

and uh like and he was the biggest star. and on TV at the time and this was 1960. something then it was like and in 1960. whatever he sexually assaulted this. woman right and it was it was happening. the whole. time H so I'm with you um impossible to. watch that stuff but um you can watch. buck and the preacher though right he's. not in that that's right um so hearing. all this you're like wow Harry bellante. was a Superman and he um never got in a. bad mood and he never got tired and he.

was never frustrated and it was just uh. Wine and Roses all the time for Harry. bellonte and that is not the case um it. was a a serious fatigue on his life um. to to do what he did was hard work um. emotionally hard work physically. demanding um going all all over the. place doing his thing while also being. an Entertainer um and you know in 1968 I. think this is a little bit after U.

Martin Luther King Jr was was murdered. he was um bellonte was asked what it's. like being such a prominent civil rights. leader and he was pretty testy he said. you know I'd like to take my family and. go live in Africa and be able to stop. answering questions as though I were a. spokesman for my people I hate marching. and getting called at 3:00 a.m. to bail. some cats out of jail and this is just. the toll that that takes on anybody even. like a Superman like Harry B. yeah also a human yeah but he had he had.

a really great inspiration uh in the. form of Paul Robison who kind of guided. things you mentioned him before he was. an idol of his and a real inspiration he. was the guy who's saying old M River. among other things but he was this this. he was a model for Harry bellafonte Paul. Robinson was running around the world he. took his Fame and he used it to. highlight you know plights around the. around the world but um he was also like. a huge. um he he protested for peace and he ran.

around the world trying to make peace I. mean between the the US and the USSR at. the at the beginning of the Cold War. this guy was going back and forth trying. to like create friendships where there. there was nothing but animosity he um. did the same thing with uh communist. China um and and he was also not afraid. to criticize the United States and like. its racist policies too at the time so. you put all that together this guy was. Prime meet for the McCarthy trials and. he got blacklisted but he refused to be.

cow he would not name names he would not. renounce his work um he would not take. back anything that they demanded he take. back and um he really served as this. model for her Harry bellafante um. despite I mean Robison had it hard he. fell hard um the state department he was. doing all this traveling to to promote. peace the state department suspended his. passport from 1950 to 1958 kind of hard. to run around the world pre- internet. phones are still relatively expensive to.

use um trying to to organize peace when. you can't travel outside of the US but. um he was a really like he deserves I. think an episode himself but he stood as. this inspiration and model for Harry. bellonte so even when he would get. downtrod and defeated he had Paul. Robison to look to and be like this guy. this guy went through even even worse. than me yeah for sure um and it wasn't. always uh a love affair with within the. black community with Harry bellonte he.

uh he was criticized um at various times. for marrying white women uh he married. two white women uh after splitting up. with Julie Robinson in 2004 he married. Pamela Frank in. 2008 uh he don't he doesn't think you. know uh he was of mixed race himself so. he didn't feel like uh at times he was. always fully accepted by the black. community um and he would you know be. critical of that uh in 1996 in the New. Yorker he said um and again that's a.

great great read uh he said let me tell. you something I don't know of any. artists at my level who has ever been as. much on the line for Black Liberation as. I have and has as few black people in. attendance at anything he does as I do. uh and he described one of his typical. concerts um I never saw so many white. people in my life so he never felt like. he got the. support uh from the black community that. he thought he deserved and he thought he. earned. uh and when it came to who he married he. said you know uh I I didn't marry anyone.

to further an integration C like I. married who I fell in love with and they. married me because they fell in love. with me y for sure yeah yeah so uh we've. kind of talked about some of the stuff. some of the causes he took up um that. he's best known for like civil rights um. did you mention Anthony. apartheid yeah um he uh performed at a. rally a no nuke rally in the early 80s. in. Germany um he saw to broker peace. between the Crips and the Bloods and La.

back in the late 80s he protested the. Iraq war in the early 2000s and then um. the the cause that he uh he kind of got. behind toward the very end of his life. was incarceration in general he was I. think the first performer to play. Riker's Island James Brown famously did. in 1972 Harry Bella finally did it a. couple months before James Brown um and. then throughout the rest of his career. he would he would visit prisons and hang. out with the inmates but he also really.

focused on child. incarceration um and just found that. totally amoral and immoral um and un un. inexcusable so he really started a whole. generation of like activists and that. right before he died was just one more. thing he did you know yeah uh he passed. away just a couple years ago in April uh. April 25th of 2023 at 96 so just a a. very full long life. uh and received lots of accolades during.

that lifetime I mentioned the egot part. of that included um the um Oscar was the. Jean herel humanitarian award in 2014. and a lifetime achievement Grammy in. 2000 uh you can add the Kennedy Center. Honor in 1989 to that list and the. national medal of the Arts uh Billy. Clinton gave him that one in. 1994 and uh what else in in Harlem he. had a Library named after him in 2017 um. near his childhood home um it was.

renamed the Harry bellante 115th Street. Library yeah uh I also saw he was. inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of. Fame in. 2022 and the bio almost defiantly dares. you to be like he's not rock and roll. they said that basically every every. artist who's mixed politics with their. music from Bob Dylan and Bono to Rage. Against the Machine and Public Enemy. they quote stand on his broad shoulders. um which I mean that's absolutely true.

yeah and there are plenty of non quote. unquote rock and roll bands in that Hall. of Fame sure but they were like say. something and then you know you did and. then you felt like a jackass yeah like. is anyone gonna really protest that I. don't know I could see Jean Simmons. saying something about it. right uh there was also a really great. appearance on the Muppet Show where he. sings Deo with some of the Muppets and. it's just sweet and wholesome and just.

great yeah good stuff um one more thing. we we cannot not mention Beetlejuice. dud oh was he uh did he have something. to do with. Beetlejuice yeah obviously uh people. were already typing their emails um. Beetlejuice featured uh not only the. Banana Boat Song but uh jump in the line. which I I like more than the ban boat S. I love that song uh to great effect I. think Tim Burton apparently uh wasn't. super Keeny didn't think it was funny. enough and I'm like dude it's not funny.

it's fun you you added two extra letters. it's it's not supposed to be like slap. your knee funny um but it is certainly. fun and uh the the little dance routines. um they're almost like apart from the. movie itself like additional like an. additional music video or something like. in the movie uh but they are part one. small part or I guess a large part. really of what makes that movie so great. were those two numbers yeah and the. whole I mean the whole thing's just. amazing but for some reason Katherine.

O'Hara is just you just see she is so. cool when she's doing this like it's. just perfect and she's supposedly the. one who suggested Calypso for the music. that they use oh that's funny yeah Harry. B not funny no it's not funny at all. Chuck you're absolutely right it's fun. but apparently Harry bellan said that. about a year after Beetle Juice he um he. became popular with kids apparently Deo. and jump the line um but or jump in line. sorry they both ended up on the. billboard 200 after Beetlejuice for a.

little while um and he said that um all. sorts of kids would come up to him after. after they saw Beetle Juice and he said. that they would wipe their hands full of. tomato ketchup and mustard on my clothes. and I enjoyed the whole. Excursion yeah go listen to some of his. stuff I've been listening to it for two. days Harry Balon and the Bellon folk. singers and uh it's some of it's uh. maybe unusual to Modern ears but it's. like really good stuff yeah and it's. even better if you watch like footage of.

him singing it too like you really his. stage presence really comes across even. on video years later that's right did we. mention he was handsome he was easy on. the eyes not hard to look at no for sure. he could really wear a shirt unbuttoned. down to his Naval too man oh boy I never. could get away with that I can't either. all right well uh that's Harry bellan. everybody um. rip Harry rip uh and uh if you want to. know more about Harry bellani like Chuck. said go look him up and start listening.

to him and watching some videos and in. the meantime I think that means it's. time for listener. mail uh this is just a little quickie um. hey guys I heard on a recent Christmas. episode that you're desperate for new. Christmas material a few months ago I. sent in a show idea about the Halifax. Explosion uh did you know that this has. a Christmas Connection uh Halifax was so. thankful for the help from the city of. Boston that we continue to send Halifax. their City's Christmas tree to this very.

day pretty cool Boston does or Halifax. does. Boston uh sends oh no no Halifax sends. Boston the tree I guess yeah now the. story is delightful yeah yeah it is all. the best from your neighbors in Canada. uh that is Matias dford that's a great. one we should have done that as like a. segment but now we can't cuz everybody. knows it yeah I mean we did a whole. episode on it but this is a nice addenda. did you say Mias or. Matias well I mean there's an H in there.

I don't know if it's pronounced though. Maas I said mathas good uh well if you. want to be like Maas and have us debate. how to say your name love that kind of. thing you can send us an email too to. stuff podcast at iheartradio.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts my heart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].