Circa1967

[Coexist]

I was learning how to walk, and a movie was released that shocked the country. It was called Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. If you don't know what its about, I suggest stopping here for a quick primer. It was on tv this morning and several quotes struck me - here they are:

Matt Drayton: Have you given any thought to the problems your children will have?

Dr. John Wade Prentice: Yes, and they’ll have some. And we’ll have the children. Otherwise, you couldn’t call it a marriage.

Matt Drayton: Is that the way Joey feels?

Dr. John Wade Prentice: She feels that all of our children will be president of the United States... and they’ll all have colorful administrations.



…………………………

Tillie: Civil rights is one thing. This here is somethin' else

...........

Tillie: I don't care to see a member of my own race getting above himself.

…………………………


Dr. John Wade Prentice: You are years older than I am. You and your whole lousy generation believes the way it was for you is the way it's got to be! And not until your whole generation has lain down and died will the deadweight of you be off our backs!

…………………………

Matt Drayton: I happen to believe they wouldn’t have a dog's chance... not in this country, not in the whole, stinking world.

Monsignor Ryan: They are this country. They’ll change this stinking world.

Well, dammit - looks like those reactionaries did indeed change this stinking world!

[Faygo Kid]

1. Spencer Tracy's last movie. Sidney Poitier is the cover story of AARP the Magazine this month.

Really interesting stuff, from a reticent gentleman. Not posted online, unfortunately (maybe a search would find it).

[Coexist]

2. thank you so much for the heads up - I found it:

http://www.aarp.org/research/press-center/presscurrentnews/exclusive_hollywood_legend_sidney_poitier_opens_up.html

some snips:


On Experiencing Racism Firsthand… “I didn’t run into racism until we moved to Nassau when I was ten and a half, but it was vastly different from the kind of horrendous oppression that black people in Miami were under when I moved there at 15. I found Florida an antihuman place. But by the time I got there, I already had a sense of myself – I knew who I was. And I was of value. So when Florida said to me, ‘You are not who you think you are,’ I said, ‘Oh, yes I am. I am who I think I am. I am not who you think I am.’”


On A Black Man as the Presidential Nominee… “I imagined it. I was always aware that it might not come in my life. It just goes to show you how far we have indeed come. We are not home yet, by quite a bit. But we have to acknowledge, by our own efforts and the collaborative efforts of friends and fellow human beings, that we have come a long way.”


“My father was a certain kind of man – I saw how he treated my mother and his family and how he treated strangers. And I vowed I would never make a film that would not reflect properly on my father’s name.”


“We were in the dead center of the civil rights movement. But if you look at the history of blacks in films – from the inception of American films until then – those movies were revolutionary. And they were largely brought about by people in the film industry who were not black – but who were humanist and who believed in the brotherhood of mankind and wanted to make films that spoke to that sense of brotherhood in themselves.”

[jaysunb]

3. I suddenly feel very old. LOL

I took my then-wife and parents to see the movie opening weekend. It was quite an experience as the wife was/is white and me and the parents Black.

It's the first and only time I have been to the movies w/ any of them. Also, it was the first time we had let anyone babysit our infant daughter.

Ah, the memories......