BOOTLEG FILES 856: “The Strollin’ 20s” (1966 all-star television special).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There is most likely a rights clearance issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Black entertainers have been part of the American television experience since the medium’s beginning, with no less a figure than the legendary Ethel Waters starring in an eponymous special in 1939 when television was still mostly experimental and extremely limited in its reach. Once television became more prominent in American living rooms, Hazel Scott and Billy Daniels briefly had their own programs, while in the mid-1950s NBC’s decision to have Nat King Cole host his own variety show created unexpected controversy when no national sponsor was willing to back the program. Harry Belafonte headlined a 1959 special that was sponsored by Revlon, but he rejected further productions backed by the company when he was ordered not to integrate his song and dance ensemble.
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