At the Nate Holden Theater last night in Los Angeles, California, politicians like U.S. Representative Maxine Waters rubbed elbows with celebrity actors, film directors, and executives to support the efforts of Melissa Haizlip and J. Kevin Swain (pictured above), directors of the forthcoming documentary, Mr. SOUL!
Mr. SOUL! showcases the talents of Ellis Haizlip, host of the 1960s innovative, groundbreaking efforts of the PBS-produced show, SOUL!, one of the first completely black-run shows, with an all-black roster of guests.
The event was a fundraiser for the documentary which is in production with a targeted release date for 2012. A 20-minute trailer was shown including outstanding never-before-seen footage of guests like a youthful, earnest Nikki Giovanni interviewing James Baldwin, an hour-long set featuring the Afrocentric stylings of a young Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder playing a live 10-minute rendition of "Superstition," and an always irreverent Muhammad Ali telling it like he always does. And that's just a taste of what's to come.
The show which ran from 1968-1973, from the efforts of its producer, Christopher Lukas, and Haizlip as host, was the first of its kind to host unapologetic black-oriented programming. The show was one of the first productions for legendary producer Stan Lathan.
On one show, Stokely Carmichael inspires a rapt audience full of young people to go to college and bring the message and lessons learned back to their community. On another, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Haizlip, sit and debate the historical significance of black actors that came before them. Still another had clips of Louis Farrakhan answering questions to an audience full of Nation of Islam members.
The show came about as a result of findings from the Kerner Commission. In 1967, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed a committee led by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner to investigate civil disorders that destroyed cities and dreams from 1964 to 1968.
The resulting report found, unsurprisingly, that the uprisings were a result of poor living conditions and lack of upward mobility opportunities for blacks. The media was criticized for sensationalizing the riots, not examining their causes, and not reporting on it from an insider's view because of a lack of blacks in the media.
After the Kerner Commission report came out, many networks looked around at their largely all-white staff and realized they needed a change. SOUL! was one of the shows born in this era.
This is just one of the reasons that Melissa Haizlip, a renowned Broadway performer and actress and niece to Ellis Haizlip, decided she had to tell her uncle's story.
The fundraiser and showcase yesterday looked to help raise awareness for what will be a 90-minute documentary. The documentary is being produced by a host of talent, including executive producer Peter Anthony Andrews, editor Sam Pollard, and director J. Kevin Swain.
Actor Leon, best known for his portrayal of David Ruffin in the NBC miniseries about the Temptations, was fascinated by the trailer: "You look at this show and how strong it was and how it showed black culture at that time, but we have black owned networks right now that don't have shows that strong," he said.
Representative Waters was equally impressed: "I'm sitting here and it just brought back so many memories about the time, about the era. I knew a lot of the people in it and just to hear those voices reminds me of the regression," she said. "That we don't express ourselves openly anymore. It's not politically correct to do, it's not acceptable. I just had visions that a movie like this will inspire young people. They have to see this so they can begin to understand that there is power in telling the truth."
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