WEBVTT - The Soul Train Episode 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.600 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.640 I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there, 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:23.000 and this is stuff you should know. Not bad. Let's 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:27.240 hear yours. I know you can do it. The Soul Train, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.080 it's so much higher than that. That was good though, 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.880 but you you, you dropped it down into your range 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.319 and it still was. You made it your own, I think, 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.199 is what I'm trying to say. And I like it, 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.400 which is old white guy version. So you're not old, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.680 You're just middle aged now, okay, sure, uh well let 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.320 me ask you this, Chuck. Were you aware of Soul 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.680 Train while it was on? Oh? Yeah, okay, then your 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:55.560 super rowl. I love Soul Train. Sure. So I was 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.400 a solid Gold man myself, but I can get on 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:02.320 some Soul Train for sure, especially like vintage stuff these days. Yeah, 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.440 I mean I've watched Solid Gold to be sure. Uh 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.600 an American bandstand. But I was just a uh a 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:15.119 rapid consumer of popular culture and television and music growing up, 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:20.400 so before MTV came along and completely changed my life, 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.600 because that's all I watched was shows like soul Train. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.520 We're where I could because you know, often I couldn't 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.000 stay up to watch um late night te uh talk 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.319 shows where you see performances like this is where I 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.080 got to see live music before I could start go 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.560 seeing live music. Right, Oh yeah, that was and that 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:41.760 was a huge draw of it for sure. Like the 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.200 idea of just being able to tune in on Saturday 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.240 at eleven am, depending on where you were and and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.559 seeing like a somebody like Marvin Gay or Stevie Wonder 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.680 perform like that was that was a big deal, especially 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:55.559 like you're saying, if you're too young and fell asleep 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.720 too early to go to a proper show. Um, but 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.120 even more than that, and like that was a huge, 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.080 huge mark that Soul Train left was was just presenting that. 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.400 But that had been done before. There was American band 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.280 stay and there are all sorts of like kind of 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.200 dance party TV shows. UM. So it didn't exactly pioneer 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:16.040 in that sense. But what it did pioneer and is 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:22.200 that the people that was presenting African Americans teenagers um, 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.960 who were hip and their own people and part of 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.720 black culture and presenting it in a way that like 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:34.160 was an apologetic that wasn't um critical, that didn't didn't 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.200 portray it in some sort of negative light or in 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.120 a way that you know, I was trying to get 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.359 white people to understand it. Just presenting it as it 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:46.200 was and celebrating it. That's where Soul Train like really 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:51.040 broke through. And it's very very difficult to overstate how 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:56.480 revolutionary and groundbreaking Soul Train was, especially for how simple 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.880 the show format was. Basically, I mean, like you said, 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.960 bandstand had been around since nineteen two and this uh 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.919 you know kind of was known as the Black American Bandstand, 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.000 and it followed that format. It was you know, people, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:16.280 a live music performance, UM, a host interviewing and talking 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:20.600 to these people, uh, these musicians afterward briefly, and then 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:27.080 beyond that just awesome music spinning on the turntable and 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:33.680 amazing dancing, amazing outfits, amazing hairstyles, and just a celebration 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.119 of black culture. It was really really cool, and um, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.880 the point is made in in this uh in this 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.400 article that they put together for us, but um, it 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.600 was it was definitely um by black people and four 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.800 black people, but it was an introduction to black culture 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.240 to white kids like me, a little eight year old 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.880 Chuck in Stone Mountain, Georgia sitting around watching the Soul 0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:02.200 Train dance line. Yeah, I can't imagine it was mind blowing, Chuck, Like, um, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:04.480 I think it wasn't just you know, it wasn't like 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.800 you were necessarily sheltered where you were growing up. Whether 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:09.640 you were or not, it kind of doesn't matter. It 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.520 was that there there was no place for you to 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.360 be exposed to this prior to Soul Train, that if 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.960 you saw a black guy on TV, it was say 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.279 on the news and he was being arrested for something 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.960 or they you know, he was involved in a protest 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.680 and the protest was kind of presented in a particularly negative, 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:34.960 agitated light um or he was a sidekick on on 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.239 TV or a servant or in some kind of goofy 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.240 comedy or something like that. Like the un soul Training 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.600 into that, there was no there was no subscribing to 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.559 all like the preconceived notions that there have been before. 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.320 It was just its own thing. It was like, hey, 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.560 by the way we've been you know, we have our 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.000 own culture over here. You guys have ignored all this time. 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.040 We're gonna put it on TV and show it off. 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.080 And if you like it awesome if you don't get lost. Yeah, 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.400 And Dave um I thought it was kind of astute 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:05.320 that he said it was kind of like a lifestyle 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.719 brand before that was such a thing because these people 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.960 were influencers, uh what you saw and on soul Train, 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.120 you you wanted to dance like that, you wanted to 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:21.160 wear those clothes. If someone debuted of sweet move, then 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:25.040 you saw on Saturday morning, you would uh practice that 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.320 move in your living room and then debut it at 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.400 your club that night. And there were like some pretty 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.440 sweet moves that were debuted on Unsoul Trained. The Sweetest 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.320 We did an entire episode on the Moonwalk, if you 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:40.000 remember correctly, and that was originally called the Backslide that 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.760 was created on Soul Train. The Robot the rerun. Dam it, man, 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.240 there's so much sweet robot ing. Yes, yeah, and that's 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.280 where he came from. Apparently no one did the robot 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.680 And like these were like basically club kids who who 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.840 now had a place to do their club stuff on 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.359 TV and then go out to the club's later that 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.880 night and do some more and like come up with 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:04.920 more stuff and they come bring it to Soul Train 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.960 again and then kids would watch that kids, college kids, 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.280 adults would watch this and be like, this is the 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.640 coolest thing that's on TV right now, and I want 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.599 to do those dance moves too. Yeah. Let's read a 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.320 couple of these quotes that kind of encapsulate how important 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:24.360 of a show this was. One is from philosopher, activists 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.760 and Harvard professor Cornell West. He said, I never missed 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.680 it Saturday morning as a graduate, as a student at Princeton, 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.000 I would see it wherever I was. It made available 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.320 to the world one of the great traditions in American history, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.880 which is a history of soul music. Soul music at 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.640 its best, taught America, especially young Americans, about color, how 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:45.320 to be free, and how to love in a deeper 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.680 and better way. Uh. And this from common the actor 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.160 and rapper. Watching my babysitter get the opportunity to go 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.520 on Soul Train was like a dream come true for 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.599 her because Soul Train was the biggest thing then for 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.480 the black community. It gave ordinary, everyday people an opportunity 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.359 to express themselves. It showed us that we two have 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:10.200 a place on TV. Yeah, and I can't imagine what 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.680 commons babysitter, how excited she must have been to get 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.480 to be on Soul Train, like that must have been 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.800 the biggest thing possible, Like they said it was the 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.080 hippest trip on television, and like that was not much 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.080 of an exaggeration, especially at the time, especially when you 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.960 compared it to like American Bandstand at the time, which 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.600 when when Soul Train came along, you said Bandstand had 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.080 been on since nineteen fifty two, almost two decades by 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.160 this time. Um Soul Train comes along, And there was 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.680 a TV critic in nineteen seventy three who wrote, I 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.840 believe for the New York Times that comparing Um Soul 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:47.280 Train to the old American Bandstand is like comparing Champagne 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.480 to seltzer Burns. That had to that had to hurt 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.000 Dick Clark. Oh, he did fun well as far as 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.160 I could tell. Everything I've ever heard about him. He 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.040 was literate, so we very well could have read that, 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.520 and if not, somebody may have read it to him 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.680 and it hurt his feelings. There's no way it didn't. 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.480 So we can't talk about Soul Train without talking about 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.440 Don Cornelius. Uh. Don Cornelius was the host and creator 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.720 of Soul Train and owner and Owner, which is huge, 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.680 like this guy owned his own TV show, which was 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.280 not a very common thing to happen, still a comment thing. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.080 They usually put him in league with Desi ar Nez, 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.840 who owned I Love Lucy, and Mike Douglas who owned 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.520 the Mike Douglas Show. Most of even like the creators 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.160 of a show, you didn't own the show that you created, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.040 like you like have some sort of deal with somebody 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.760 to help produce it, or a network has exclusive rights 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.680 to it, or somebody else at least own some other 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:47.360 piece of it. This was a hundred percent Don Cornelius's 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:51.400 jam And there's a legend um that kind of goes 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.080 along with that that James Brown came on very early 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.040 on in like nineteen seventy two or three, and he 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.439 was like, so, who's backing you on this? Man and 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.560 dot thank you. I can't do a very good James 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.400 Brown um, and Don Cornelius says, it's just me James. 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.320 And apparently James Brown thought that he didn't fully understand 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.640 the question, so he kind of asked it again, didn't 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.480 think to rephrase it in different words, just asked the 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.560 same question. Don Cornelius answers in the same way He says, 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.560 it's just me. James, like he got what he's saying, 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.880 and he was telling him this is mine, a percent mine. 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.480 Nobody else owns it. It's totally my show. And I 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.840 don't think anybody else could have done it like Don 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:35.120 Cornelius did. He was perfect for Soul Train, and I 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.520 think the reason why is because it came from him, 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.640 like it was his creation and his baby. Should we 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.360 take a break, I'm a little worked up, so yeah 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.160 maybe so all right, Uh, you're gonna work on your 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.000 rerun dance. We're gonna take a little break and we'll 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.040 go back and uh talk about young Don Cornelius right 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.520 after this. I want to learn about how to take 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:00.040 a perfect but about kiscon murders that they kind of 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:04.200 all runs on the plane every day. We should know 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:29.080 warred up Jerry. Alright, So Young Don was born in 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.600 Chicago on the South Side, in the neighborhood of Bronzeville, 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.080 known as the Black Metropolis. He was the son of 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.400 a postal worker and it was a marine. He joined 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.360 the Marines after high school. Uh fought in South Korea. 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.880 After that, comes home to Chicago, tells cars for a 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.000 little while, sells insurance for a little while and then says, 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.400 I want to be a cop. I want to be 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.280 a popo. Yep, And he was a popo also in 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.960 there somewhere. He married, I believe, his high school sweetheart 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.000 and has two kids. So by the time he's a cop, 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.400 he's he's married with with two kids at home, two 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.680 sons and one day. Um, there's a story and urban legend, 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.600 as far as I know, is true. Let me smell it. Well, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.440 then it's not an urban legend. It's just a story. 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.640 It could be a true urban legend. We're gonna come 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.880 up with an entirely different category right now, Chuck. So 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.400 Don Cornelius, Officer Cornelius pulls the guy over, and that 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.120 guy happened to be the news director, Roy Wood for 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.240 a local UM a M radio station, w v O N. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.720 And as Roy Wood is getting this ticket written up 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:35.559 by Officer Cornelius, he's like, hey man, your voice is astounding, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.880 because if you've never heard Don Cornelius's voice, press pause 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.160 right now and go on to YouTube. Just listen to 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.840 some soul train intros from him. He was an amazingly 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.640 hip cat with one of the best voices of all time. 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:51.679 Ry white. He also pulled over the guy and said 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.760 license and registration. Baby, Yeah, so that helped. Yeah, do 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.600 it as Sammy Davis Jr. Pulling him over. Now, hey bad, 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:05.120 give me your license and registration. That was that was 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.400 so good? So um, anyway, the guy like is like, 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.439 you have a really great voice. Have you ever considered 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:15.640 going into radio? And Don Cornelius says, I haven't until now, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:17.120 but I'm going to give it some thought. And not 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.880 only does he give it some thought, it's not clear 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.920 whether he actually gave Roy Wood the ticket or not. Um, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.600 but he actually quits being a cop, goes and takes 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.440 a three month broadcasting course with a wife and two 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.320 sons at home, so this is a pretty big risk 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.200 on his part, and tries out for a part as 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.360 a radio announcer at w v WIN and gets hired 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.160 after a three month course because his voice was that 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:47.920 great and because his persona was that hip too. So yes, 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:53.560 Don Cornelius, Uh, the voice of gold the Golden Tonsils? 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.679 Is that what they called the velvet fog? That was melt? 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.079 Or may? Okay? I always get this too confused and 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.920 nol on movie Crush. His nickname is Smokey vellet. Oh 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:06.880 that's nice. I'm not sure where that came from. Maybe 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.360 I made it up. Smokey gullet, smokey velfit. I was 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:16.640 smokey vell smokey gullet. That's really gross. So uh. He 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.440 becomes a DJ at the radio station, like you said, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.720 and then as hired as a reporter, a news reporter 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.960 on TV for w c i U t V. He 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.120 covered sports, he covered covered civil rights stuff. He had 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.640 a show for the news program called a Black's View 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.800 of the News, which is, you know something you could 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.559 only get away with in the nineteen sixties, I think 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.599 early seventies. Plant. Oh, yeah, you're right, it would have 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.200 been the sixties. Sorry, yeah, and he u. He interviewed 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.240 Jesse Jackson, he interviewed Martin Luther King. Uh. Still djaying 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.760 at night, and he hosted the series of house parties 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.040 and club appearances all over Chicago. And he would take 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.800 the train to get to these places. So he called 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.960 these parties the soul Train. That's where the name came from. Yeah, 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:07.160 so he's like a TV broadcaster by day, radio radio 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.800 DJ and sock hop DJ by night comes up with 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.600 this soul train idea. And again, so this is like 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.920 in his first year after taking a three month broadcasting course, 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.600 after pulling over a radio executive who told him he 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.440 had a good voice, and he's like, you know what, 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.600 I'm happy doing news and civil rights reporting and I'm 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.920 part of you know, this group called the Good Guys, 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.760 these black DJs out of Chicago that were kind of 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.920 known as the arbiters of cool. But um, he he 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:36.840 said that he had He later said he had this 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.920 burning desire to um to see black people depicted on 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.880 television in a positive light. And he decided that the 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:46.440 best way to do that was to kind of take 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.160 these parties, these sock hops and um just kind of 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.560 cool Chicago house parties that he was djaying, and just 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.360 put him on TV. That like that would basically be 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:59.040 enough that if people just saw how cool these parties weren't, 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.760 how fun they weren't, how much like how how what 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.360 a celebration of like black culture they were just in 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:06.680 and of themselves, that that could be a TV show 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.760 by itself, And that was the original soul train. That's 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:14.480 right and very key. He went to his TV station 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.200 w c i U and said, I want to shoot 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.280 a pilot for this thing, baby, and they said, Uh, sure, 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.600 but we're not gonna be front the money, and he said, 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.000 I'll pay for it. Little did he know what a 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.600 fortuitous move that was, because I think had they funded it, 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:31.520 they would have had a real claim to it legally. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:33.840 But he put up four hundred bucks of his own 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.400 money shot a pilot. It didn't look that great, it 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.520 was in black and white, but it was a big 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.040 hit immediately. Uh, And he said, not because it was wonderful, 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.960 but because it was theirs. It belonged to the black people. 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.360 A year later, he moves to l a and said, 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.640 I'm gonna do the show for real here. This is 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:56.920 where it became nationally syndicated, which you know, I don't 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.720 know when we talked about TV syndication, but that's basically 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.360 when it's not owned and run on a major network, 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:07.160 but you sell it to each local TV uh station 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.400 in whatever city. Yeah. I don't know what we would 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.880 have talked about that on either, but um I would. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.880 I think we should do an entire episode on TV syndication. 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:21.040 I'll bet it was world changing. So um when he 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:25.200 moved to Los Angeles, that Black and White Soul Train 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.920 it used to be on every weekday. They continued that, 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:29.960 so it was like it was two things. It was 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:35.440 a full color, nationally syndicated television show out of l A. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:39.280 But it was also a black and white local weekly 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:43.560 um or weekday television show out of Chicago at the 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.040 same time. For like a good five years, they were 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.000 both running at the same time, and so Don Cornelius 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.680 was at the helm of both. So on Fridays he 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.840 would fly out to l A shoot four episodes two 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.120 on Saturday to on Sunday, and then fly back in 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.320 time to be there for the afternoon black and white 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:05.399 Monday episode of the Chicago local Soul Train Amazing, Working 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:09.040 Hard was working Hard, Yeah, it's right. So uh. It 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.160 was a very popular show right out of the gate, 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:15.159 but advertising was always kind of a struggle because mainstream 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:16.959 brands didn't quite know what to make of it. They 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.080 didn't this was kind of the first show of its kind. Um. 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:23.720 But that did open the door for Johnson Products, another 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.760 black owned Chicago business from husband and wife team George 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.240 and Joanne Johnson. Uh that they started nineteen fifty four, 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.240 and these commercials are so great too. They sold beauty 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.800 and hair care products to African Americans, so Afro Sheen 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.200 and Ultra Sheen were the two big ones and the 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:44.200 two big commercials you see, and they became as much 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.080 as part of the fabric of the show almost as 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.880 like the Soul Train line or the performers or anything else. 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.960 Really yeah, and I mean, like I think in a 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.719 large part because they were they were like our stamps 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.040 dot com, like one of the earliest and longest running sponsors. Right, 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.160 So when they came on, what they were promoting with 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:07.639 like with Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen was radical and 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.200 that it's saying like just let your hair grow naturally. 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.040 These are hair products for African Americans to use when 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.919 they're growing their hair naturally, not following like white beauty standards. Right. 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.240 So it was like a perfect sponsor for Soul Train, 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.800 which is a celebration of black culture. Um for itself, 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:28.920 the the um Johnson family of products were promoting black 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.240 culture and it's in like natural state too, So it 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.199 was like just perfect to go hand in hand. I 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.679 think they kind of worked with each other, but also 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.960 we're important independent of one another, but when you put 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:42.760 them together, it was like greater than some of its 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.960 parts even. Yeah, and it was um it was a 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.760 big deal culturally. Uh. Not only was it a big hit, 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.159 but like people like Jesse Jackson said, Don Cornelius is 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.480 right up there with any civil rights leader of our generation. 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.200 He gave people a chance to feel good about themselves. 0:18:57.800 --> 0:18:59.480 That's pretty great. Uh. And like I said, I was 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.159 a little white kid watching it. There's this lady, Madeline Weeks, 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.879 who was a fashion editor at g Q. She was 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:08.080 a little white girl in Virginia, and she said, I 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:10.800 watched Soul Train religiously every week. I loved it from 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.240 beginning to end. Even the Afrochine and ultrachine ads were heaven. 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.560 I had the funkiest, most stylish, sexiest dancers. Everybody looked 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:20.679 like they were having the best time. All the girls 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.399 look gorgeous. Who wouldn't want to look like that. I 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.320 was just a little kid living in the countryside in 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:30.240 Virginia and I live for it. Does something else, it's 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.800 pretty great. Well, you want to take a break and 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:34.639 then get back into what it was like to watch 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:36.879 Soul Train and be on it. You know. I was 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.040 a guest. Yes, I can't wait. We're gonna debut that 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.879 clip live, all right, let's do it. I want to 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.159 learn about a terris ortic college actol how to take 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.920 a perfect moment, all about fractal An kiscon that the 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:49.840 hun the Lizzie Border murders, that they kind of all 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:56.960 runs on the plane, everything that we should know. Wear 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:17.000 it up, Jerry, Okay, Chuck, So we're back. There was 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.639 one little thing that I wanted to include about w 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.080 c i U, the original Chicago home of Soul Train. 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.959 Apparently it was like a ragtag UHF station, an independent station, 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.119 and um, have you ever seen that that movie UHF 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:35.480 with weird al Nope, it's so good, but it actually 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.240 is not too far off from w c i U. 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:42.680 They would play Lithuanian and Polish language talk shows Amos 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:47.119 and Andy, um, bullfights from Mexico like these. They just 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:52.520 had this weird assemblage of TV shows. But then they're 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.399 they're in house. Programming was made by like this ragtag 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.960 kind of group of inexperienced people. And there's I read 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.560 in the Chicago Reader this kind of oral history of 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:07.000 the local version of Soul Train. The head cameraman at 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.439 w c i U had strabusmus and couldn't use the 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:13.399 viewfinder in the camera. It was like that kind of 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.480 rag tag group that just kind of got it done somehow. 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:20.000 I just love that little tidbit. That's pretty cool. Alright. 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.240 So if you watch Soul Train, the first thing that 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.440 you would see when the show starts is that classic 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:29.879 um animated intro of that freight train rolling into the city. 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:34.959 So cool, so iconic. Then you see Don Cornelius, always 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:38.600 dressed to the nines, the coolest cat maybe to ever 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:43.000 be on television. Would make Billy d weep with jealousy. 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:46.800 He was because he was a DJ previously he was. 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.639 He just had that DJ lingo down, you know. Uh, 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:52.440 day put in one of the things. It's going to 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:56.960 be a stone gas honey, like all that seventies um 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:01.240 sort of shaft like talk was is just who Don 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.960 Cornelius was. Let me, let me try my hand at it. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:09.719 You ready, Okay, it's gonna be a stone gas honey. Okay, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.199 that sounded like a CB trucker from the seventies. Somehow, 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:18.119 it's gonna be a stone gas honey. I don't know 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:21.680 what my problem is. Hey, not bad, don't MIHI to 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:26.160 meet Chuck Josh Cornelius. Uh, you had the ear musical guests, 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:29.080 like we said, just like American band stand. Um, I 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.240 think sometimes they lip lip SYNCD and sometimes they really sang. 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:35.600 Early on they lip synced across the board. Yeah, it 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.480 kind of depends on who the artist is too, Um, 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:43.440 Patti LaBelle, Barry White, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:48.159 Al Green, like just a murderers row of rhythm and 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:51.320 blues and soul performers. I think Gladys Knight and the 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:55.520 Pips was on the first syndicated episode. Yeah, and like 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:58.000 that was a huge favor that he called in and 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:01.800 Gladys totally delivered by being on that first nationally syndicated 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.520