Harlem Globetrotters - Harlem Globetrotters in Films and Television

Harlem Globetrotters in Films and Television

The Harlem Globetrotters have been featured in several of their own films and television series over the years:

• The Harlem Globetrotters, a 1951 feature film starring Marques Haynes and other Globetrotters, also featuring Thomas Gomez, Dorothy Dandridge, Bill Walker, and Angela Clarke. Young Bill Townsend drops out of college to join the famous independent Trotter team. He also finds romance along the way. "Goose" Tatum and fancy dribbler Haynes were the star players of the Globetrotters at the time and Saperstein was the owner. Tatum, Haynes, Babe Presley, Ermer Robinson, Duke Cumberland, Clarence Wilson, Pop Gates, Frank Washington, Ted Strong and other current team members appear in the film as themselves. Also featured is a lot of actual game footage (three times against the Celtics with Tony Lavelli and Big Bob Hahn), including their famous "Sweet Georgia Brown" warm-up routine. (Along with making the film, the team toured Major League Baseball stadiums that year and went on their first tour of South America).

• Go, Man, Go!, a 1954 sequel, starring Dane Clark as Abe Saperstein and Sidney Poitier as Inman Jackson.

• In 1958, as captain of the Globetrotters, Clarence Wilson appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show What's My Line?.

• Harlem Globetrotters, a Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon, broadcast from September 12, 1970 to May 1973. Originally broadcast on CBS, and later re-run on NBC as The Go-Go Globetrotters. The cartoon Globetrotters also guest-starred three times on The New Scooby Doo Movies.

• Coach Reeves of the 1970s TV series The White Shadow persuades the Harlem Globetrotters to prevent his team's winning streak from going to their heads. This is one of the few TV appearances of the Globetrotters where they outscored their opponents in the first half, as the game was mostly a life lesson and not a contest. The team fails to see that they are playing the Globetrotters as all they see are men in ordinary T-shirts, until the second half where they don their famous team jerseys. The Globetrotters would return in season 3 when star player Warren Coolidge, convinced that his basketball ability will preclude his need to finish high school, considers dropping out of school and trying out for the Globetrotters. After failing miserably in his tryout, Coolidge is convinced to finish his education before giving any thought to a basketball career. The Globetrotters reinforce his decision by each introducing themselves to him by name and adding their college alma maters to their introductions.

• The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, a 1974 live-action Saturday morning variety show starring the Globetrotters which featured comedy skits, blackout gags, and educational segments. The show was produced by Funhouse Productions and Yongestreet Productions for CBS.

• The Super Globetrotters, a second animated series created by Hanna-Barbera for NBC in 1979. It featured the Globetrotters (now including new squad members James "Twiggy" Sanders, Nate Branch and Louis "Sweet Lou" Dunbar) as undercover superheroes, who would transform from their regular forms by entering magic portable lockers carried in "Sweet Lou" Dunbar's afro, or in a basketball-shaped medallion. Although the Super Globetrotters would first attempt to take on the villain with standard comical heroics, things would almost always be settled with a basketball game.

• The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, a 1981 made-for-TV film featured the Globetrotters alongside Bob (Gilligan) Denver and the rest of the cast of Gilligan's Island. The film's plot follows the first animated series' formula to a degree with a conflict that ends with an unusual basketball game against an opposing team made up of robots. The Globetrotters decide to play with standard moves in the first half, which the robots are able to counter, until Gilligan unwittingly comments that they have not done any fancy tricks, which make the Professor advise the team to use their comedic style of play to win, which hopelessly confuses the machines. However, a couple of Globetrotters suffer injuries, and the team needs the help of Gilligan and Skipper to substitute.

• The Love Boat "Hoopla", The Globetrotters were on a cruise and challenged the crew to a game in the dining room.

• The Simpsons episode 2F12 "Homer the Clown", Krusty the Clown uses all the money he made franchising his name to bet against the Harlem Globetrotters, stating that he "thought the Generals were due!".

• Harlem Globetrotters: The Team that Changed the World, a 2005 documentary featuring interviews with the Globetrotters, NBA coaches and fans such as Bill Cosby, Samuel L. Jackson, Barack Obama, Phil Jackson and Henry Kissinger — himself an honorary Globetrotter — and including photos of the Globetrotters with Pope John Paul II.

• The animated television series Futurama features several episodes in which the Harlem Globetrotters appear as brilliant scientists as well as basketball players. They live on another planet, The Globetrotter Homeworld. Ironically, the Harlem Globetrotters react harshly to anyone who "laughs at their antics" as evidenced in the episode "Time Keeps On Slippin'".

• The Globetrotters appeared in the 2000 comedy Little Nicky with Adam Sandler, where they are shown losing to the Washington Generals, which is caused by one of Nicky's demonic brothers.

• On September 27, 2009, Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nate "Big Easy" Lofton participated in the 15th season of The Amazing Race, finishing fourth out of twelve teams, having forfeited a task in the penultimate leg. They returned for the show's 18th season which is subtitled "Unfinished Business", featuring fan favorite teams who lost the competition due to various circumstances. The pair finished 2nd overall, narrowly failing 1st place.

• As part of the cross-promotion of the show, Lang and Lofton also appeared on CBS Daytime's game show The Price Is Right to model prizes (a Sport Court basketball court) and present a Showcase.

• On an episode of the television show 30 Rock, Tracy Morgan's character lies to other characters that the Globetrotters will make an appearance at a party. Despite the fact that it was a lie, apparently one Globetrotter does indeed attend the party.

• In October 2009 it was announced that a new Harlem Globetrotters animated series was to be produced.

• In 2009 and 2010, members of the Harlem Globetrotters appeared on the nationally-televised McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, IL.

• In 2010 five members of the Globetrotters appeared on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? raising money for charity.

• On December 5, 2010 in a game televised on ESPN2 against the Washington Generals from HP Field House at Disney World in Orlando, the game saw several landmark events occur. A 4-point shot may be scored from the four point circle 35 feet away from the basket, with three minutes or less in any quarter. A penalty box was introduced as the price to be paid for any 'funny business' by a player. The Globetrotters made the first and most of the four-point shots in the game. All of the penalties in this game were assessed to the Globetrotters. The visiting Globetrotters went on to beat the Generals 104-98 in this historical game of firsts.

• The Globetrotters appeared in the second episode of the ninth season of Family Guy.

• in 2012, The Harlem Globetrotters made a special guest appearance on Disney XD's Kickin' It.

• Three members of the Globetrotters appear in the Harlem episode of Man v. Food Nation, in which they have to defeat a spicy two pound barbecue sandwich in 15 minutes.

• Special K Daley, Ant Atkinson and Blenda Rodriguez of the Globetrotters made a guest appearance in the October 18, 2011 episode of Sesame Street, in which they and Elmo talked about the number 3.

• Three members of the Globetrotters appeared in a February 28, 2012 episode of the Blendtec online video series Will It Blend?, where they helped Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson and his Uncle Floyd blend miniature basketballs, glitter dust, a whistle and a bottle of Gatorade. The team then poured the mixture into a bucket, magically turning it into confetti they throw on Dickson.

• Globetrotter Bull Bullard competed on the fourth season of American Ninja Warrior. He advanced to the finals, but timed out on the first stage of the finals.