The Ethel Waters Show was a one-hour American television variety special that ran in the earliest days of NBC, on June 14, 1939, and was hosted by actress and singer Ethel Waters.[1] Waters was the first black performer, male or female, to have her own TV show and may very well have been the first black person to appear on television.[2][3]
The special was transmitted from the NBC Studios in New York[4] over W2XBS.[5]
The special included Waters performing a dramatic sequence from her most recent Broadway play Mamba's Daughters, along with two actresses from the production, Georgette Harvey and Fredi Washington. The cast also included Joey Faye and Philip Loeb, performing skits.
References
- ^ The Ethel Waters Show
- ^ Bogle, Donald. Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television excerpt via The New York Times
- ^ "First Black Seen on Television". Retrieved 2018-02-17.
- ^ Bourne, Stephen (2007). Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather.
- ^ Robertson, Patrick (2011). Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time
External links
