Songs of America Special
In 1969, the duo was invited to perform on the Bell Telephone Hour, but could not due to scheduling issues. Sponsor American Telephone & Telegraph (AT & T) proposed an one-hour US$600,000 show, and Life commentator and documentary producer Robert Drew developed the concept. One week before their appearance, the duo produced, with the help of actor Charles Grodin, the TV special Songs of America, which was intended to be played during their performance on November 30, 1969. Songs of America is a mixture of scenes featuring notable political events and leaders concerning the USA, such as the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy's funeral procession, Cesar Chavez and the Poor People's March. In addition, the film shows American heroic figures such as the Lone Ranger, Dick Clark, baseball player Mickey Mantle, comedian Lenny Bruce and politician Eugene McCarthy. After many disputes due to controversial scenes between the various parties involved, the film was disowned by the sponsor. Simon and Garfunkel were furious about this decision and they both returned to CBS studios to talk with the censors. One of the censors was of the opinion that the director had used the sponsor's money to promote his humanistic ideology. After Grodin asked "You mean there are people who are against the humanistic approach in America?", the representative answered "You're goddam right there are – the southern affiliates of AT&T are not going to appreciate seeing black and white kids going to school together". While the new backer, shampoo manufacturer Alberto Culver, agreed to broadcast their show for $55,000, AT & T replaced the duo with the rock bands Yellow Payges, Jefferson Airplane and the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble.
Read more about this topic: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Famous quotes containing the words songs of, songs, america and/or special:
“People fall out of windows, trees tumble down,
Summer is changed to winter, the young grow old
The air is full of children, statues, roofs
And snow. The theatre is spinning round,
Colliding with deaf-mute churches and optical trains.
The most massive sopranos are singing songs of scales.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope.”
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“The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“O my Brothers! love your Country. Our Country is our home, the home which God has given us, placing therein a numerous family which we love and are loved by, and with which we have a more intimate and quicker communion of feeling and thought than with others; a family which by its concentration upon a given spot, and by the homogeneous nature of its elements, is destined for a special kind of activity.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)