WEBVTT - Selects: The Soul Train Episode 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:02.200 Hey, everybody, it's Chuck here. 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:05.039 It's April twenty first, twenty twenty on our COVID timeline 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:09.440 here for the Saturday Trip down Memory Lane. This is 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:13.480 a really fun episode, so I'm very excited to recommend 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.240 this app from April twenty first, the Soul Train episode 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.000 where we took a fun look back at the great, 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.560 great TV show that was So. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:23.600 Train. 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:37.000 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.159 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.040 there's Charles w Chuck Bryan over there, and this is 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:50.440 stuff you should know. Not bad, let's hear yours. I 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:51.599 know you can do it. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.880 The Soul Train it's so much higher than that. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.880 That was good, though, but you dropped it down into 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.320 your range and it's still was. You made it to 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.160 your own I think, is what I'm trying to say, 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:03.560 and I. 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.320 Like it, which is old white guy version. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.040 So you're not old, You're just middle aged. 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:09.360 Now. 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.200 Okay, sure, well let me ask you this, Chuck. Were 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:14.880 you aware of Soul Train while it was on? 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:15.840 Oh? 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.800 Yeah, okay, then your Super Bowl? 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:19.800 I love Soul Train. 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.319 Sure, so I was a solid gold man myself. But 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.640 I can get on some Soul Train for sure, especially 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.440 like vintage stuff these days. 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.279 Yeah, I mean I've watched Solid Gold to be sure, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.720 an American Bandstand, But I was just a a rabid 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:41.720 consumer of popular culture and television and music growing up, 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:46.920 so before MTV came along and completely changed my life, 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:51.200 because that's all I watched was shows like Soul Train 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.120 were where I could because you know, often I couldn't 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:59.080 stay up to watch late night tea talk shows where 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.240 you see performances like this is where I got to 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.880 see live music before I could start go seeing live music. 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:06.840 Right, Oh, yeah, that was and that was a huge 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.120 draw of it for sure. Like the idea of just 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.720 being able to tune in on Saturday at eleven am, 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.440 depending on where you were and seeing like a somebody 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.840 like Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder perform like that was 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.000 that was a big deal, especially like you're saying, if 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:22.680 you were too young and fell asleep too early to 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:26.079 go to a proper show, that's right, but even more 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.480 than that, and like that was a huge, huge mark 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.000 that Soul Train left was just presenting that. But that 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.480 had been done before there was American band Stand. There 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.400 are all sorts of like kind of dance party TV shows. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.800 So it didn't exactly pioneer in that sense, but what 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:44.720 it did pioneer in is that the people that was 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:51.359 presenting African Americans teenagers who were hip and their own 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.520 people and part of black culture, and presenting it in 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:59.440 a way that like was an apologetic that wasn't critical, 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:03.200 that did didn't portray it in some sort of negative 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.480 light or in a way that you know, was trying 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.600 to get white people to understand it. Just presenting it 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.440 as it was and celebrating it. That's where SoulTrain like 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.560 really broke through. And it's very very difficult to overstate 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:23.080 how revolutionary and groundbreaking SoulTrain was, especially for how simple 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:25.120 this show format was. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.280 Basically, Yeah, I mean, like you said, bandstand had been 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.280 around since nineteen fifty two, and this, you know, kind 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.560 of was known as the Black American Bandstand, and it 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.680 followed that format. It was, you know, people, a live 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:43.640 music performance, a host interviewing and talking to these people 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:49.840 these musicians afterward briefly, and then beyond that just awesome 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:56.680 music spinning on the turntable and amazing dancing, amazing outfits, 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.120 amazing hair styles, and just to celebrate of black culture. 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:02.640 It was really really cool. 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:06.880 And the point is made in this in this article 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:08.240 that they put together for us, but. 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.680 It was it was definitely by. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.000 Black people and four black people, but it was an 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.320 introduction to black culture to white kids like me, little 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.160 eight year old Chuck in Stone Mountain, Georgia sitting around 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.080 watching the Soul Train dance line. 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.719 Yeah, I can imagine. It was mind blowing, Chuck, Like 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.120 I think it wasn't just you know, it wasn't like 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:34.440 you were necessarily sheltered where you were growing up. Whether 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.279 you were or not, it kind of doesn't matter. It 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.159 was that there there was no place for you to 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.960 be exposed to this prior to Soul Train, that if 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.560 you saw a black guy on TV, it was say 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:48.880 on the news and he was being arrested for something, 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.599 or they you know, he was involved in a protest 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:56.280 and the protest was kind of presented in a particularly negative, 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:02.560 agitated light, or he was a side on TV or 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.480 a servant or in some kind of goofy comedy or 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.240 something like that. Like in Soul Train and do that. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:12.680 There was no there was no subscribing to all like 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.480 the preconceived notions that there have been before it was 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:17.200 just its own thing. It was like, hey, by the 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.760 way we've been you know, we have our own culture 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.120 over here. You guys have ignored all this time. We're 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:23.960 gonna put it on TV and show it often. If 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.520 you like it, awesome, if you don't get lost. 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.000 Yeah, And Dave I thought it was kind of astute 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:31.920 that he said it was kind of like a lifestyle 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.320 brand before that was such a thing because these people 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:41.440 were influencers. What you saw on Soul Train, you wanted 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.599 to dance like that, You wanted to wear those clothes. 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.240 If someone debuted a sweet move that you saw on 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.479 Saturday morning, you would practice that move in your living 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.080 room and then debut it at your club that night. 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:57.960 And there were like some pretty sweet moves that were 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.599 debuted on Soul Trained. The Sweetest we did an entire 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.760 episode on the Moonwalk, if you'll remember correctly, and that 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.240 was originally called the backslide that was created on Soul Train. 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.080 The robot, the rerun ding it. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.800 Man, there's so much sweet roboting going on. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.000 Yes, yeah, and that's where it came from. Apparently no 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.279 one did the robot, and like these were like basically 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:23.400 club kids who now had a place to do their 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.200 club stuff on TV and then go out to the 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:28.960 clubs later that night and do some more and like 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:30.960 come up with more stuff, and they'd come bring it 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.920 to SoulTrain again. And then kids would watch that. Kids, 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.160 college kids, adults would watch this and be like, this 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.760 is the coolest thing that's on TV right now, and 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.680 I want to do those dance moves too. 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:42.400 Yeah. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.280 Let's read a couple of these quotes that kind of 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.640 encapsulate how important of a show this was. One is 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:53.640 from philosopher, activists and Harvard professor Cornell West. He said, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.240 I never missed it Saturday morning as a graduate at 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.159 a student at Princeton. I would see it wherever I 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.000 was available to the world. One of the great traditions 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.119 in American history, which is a history of soul music. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.040 Soul music at its best, taught America, especially young Americans, 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.360 about color, how to be free, and how to love 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.960 in a deeper and better way. And this from common 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.520 the actor and rapper. Watching my babysitter get the opportunity 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.760 to go on Soul Train was like a dream come 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.480 true for her because Soul Train was the biggest thing 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.880 then for the black community. It gave ordinary everyday people 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.600 an opportunity to express themselves. It showed us that we 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:32.920 too have a place on TV. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:39.000 Yeah, and I can't imagine what commons babysitter, How excited 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.440 she must have been to get to be on Soul Train. 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.440 Oh yeah, like that must have been the biggest thing possible. 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.000 Like they said it was the hippus trip on television, 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.160 and like that was not much of an exaggeration, especially 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.640 at the time, especially when you compared it to like 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.280 American Bandstand at the time, which when Soul Train came along, 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.480 you said, bansand had been on since nineteen fifty two, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.480 almost two decades by this time. SoulTrain comes along. And 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.160 there was a TV critic in nineteen seventy three who wrote, 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.440 I believe for the New York Times that comparing Soul 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.880 Train to the old American Bandstand is like comparing Champagne 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.760 to seltzer Burns. That had to hurt Dick Clark. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:19.880 Oh, he did fine. 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.080 Well, as far as I could tell. Everything I've ever 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:23.960 heard about him. He was literate, so he very well 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:25.960 could have read that, and if not, somebody may have 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.520 read it to him, and it hurt his feelings, there's 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:29.280 no way it didn't. 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:35.280 So we can't talk about SoulTrain without talking about Don Cornelius. No, 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.320 Don Cornelius was the host and creator of SoulTrain and 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.680 owner and owner, which is huge. Like this guy owned 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.480 his own TV show, which was not a very common 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.840 thing to happen, still is not a common thing. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.040 They usually put him in league with Desi Arnetz, who 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.480 owned I Love Lucy, and Mike Douglas, who owned the 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.120 Mike Douglas Show. Most of the even like the creators 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.800 of a show, you didn't own the show that you created, 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.720 like you like have some sort of deal with somebody 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.400 to help produce it, or a network has exclusive rights 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.280 to it, or somebody else at least owns some other 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.360 piece of it. This was one hundred percent Don Cornelius's jam. 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:18.480 And there's a legend that kind of goes along with 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.000 that that James Brown came on very early on in 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.960 like nineteen seventy two or three, and he was like, 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.840 so who's backing you on this? Man? And dot thank you. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.920 I can't do a very good James Brown, and Don 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:35.040 Cornelius says, it's just me, James, And apparently James Brown 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.559 thought that he didn't fully understand the question, so he 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.040 kind of asked it again. Didn't think to rephrase it 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.720 in different words, just ask the same question. Don Cornelius 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.160 answers them the same way. He says, it's just me, James, 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:46.800 like he got what he's saying, and he was telling 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.360 him this is mine, one hundred percent mine. Nobody else 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.520 owns it. It's totally my show. And I don't think 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:57.360 anybody else could have done it like Don Cornelius did. 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:02.040 He was perfect for Soul Train, and I think the 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.400 reason why is because it came from him, like it 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.200 was his creation and his baby. 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:07.840 Should we take a break. 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:10.600 I'm a little worked up, so yeah maybe so. 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.400 All right, Uh, you're gonna work on your rerun dance. 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.040 We're gonna take a little break, and we'll go back 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.640 and talk about young Don Cornelius right after this. I 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.920 want to learn about terms horn and college, howadactyle, how 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.360 to take a berg all about is gone. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:25.400 That's a little hunt. 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:30.880 We should know. 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:45.320 Word up, Jerry. 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:52.520 All right. 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:57.240 So, Young Don was born in Chicago on the South Side, 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.800 in the neighborhood of Bronzeville, known as the Black Metropolis. 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.040 He was the son of a postal worker and was 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.160 a marine. He joined the Marines after high school, fought 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.079 in South Korea. After that, comes home to Chicago, sells 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.520 cars for a little while, sells insurance for a little while, 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:16.400 and then says, I want to. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:16.920 Be a cop. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:18.559 I want to be a popo. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:20.400 Yep, And he was a popo. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:22.760 Also in there somewhere. He married, I believe, his high 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.120 school sweetheart and has two kids. So by the time 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.839 he's a cop, he's married with two kids at home, 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.960 two sons. And one day there's a story, an urban 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:33.760 legend that, as far as I know, is true, let 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.280 me smell it. Well, then it's not an urban legend, 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.760 it's just a story. It could be a true urban legend. Okay, 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:42.760 we're going to come up with an entirely different category 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:47.280 right now. Chall right, So Don Cornelius, Officer Cornelis pulls 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:48.920 the guy over, and that guy happened to be the 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.880 news director, Roy Wood for a local AM radio station 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.800 wvo N, And as Roy Wood is getting this ticket 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.280 written up by Officer Cornelius, he's like, hey, man, your 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:05.440 voice is astounding, because if you've never heard Don Cornelius's voice, 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:08.640 press pause right now, go on to YouTube. Just listen 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:10.840 to some soul trained intros from him. He was an 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.760 amazingly hip cat with one of the best voices of 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.360 all time. Yeah, led Barry White. 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:21.040 He also pulled over the guy and said license and registration, baby. 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:24.280 Yeah, so that helped. Yeah, do it as Sammy Davis 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:25.199 Junior pulling him over. 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:29.559 Now, hey, bab, give me your license and registration. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.000 That's so good. So anyway, the guy like is like, 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.040 you have a really great voice. Have you ever considered 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:42.240 going into radio? And Don Cornelius says, I haven't until now, 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:43.760 but I'm going to give it some thought. And not 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.440 only does he give it some thought, it's not clear 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.640 whether he actually gave Roy Wood the ticket or not, 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:55.200 but he actually quits being a cop, goes and takes 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.040 a three month broadcasting course with a wife and two 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.880 sons at home. So this is a pretty big risk 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.800 on his part, and tries out for a part as 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.400 a radio announcer at WVN and gets hired after a 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.800 three month course because his voice was that great and 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.360 because his persona was that hip too. 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:20.800 So yes, Don Cornelius, the voice of gold the Golden Tonsils. 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.080 Is that what they called the velvet fog. That was 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.600 melt or may oh okay, and I just get those 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:27.359 too confused. 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.280 And Noel on movie Crush his nickname is Smokey Velvet. 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:32.040 Oh, that's nice. 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.800 I'm not sure where that came from. Maybe I made 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.400 it up. Smokey gullet, smoky velvet. 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.160 Oh, smoky velvet, smoky gullet. 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:41.199 That's really gross. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.640 So he becomes a DJ at the radio station, like 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:47.720 you said, and then is hired as a reporter, a 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:52.439 news reporter on TV for w CiU TV. He covered sports, 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:57.720 he covered civil rights stuff. He had a show for 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.880 the news program called a blacks View of the News, 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:03.960 which is, you know something you could only get away 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.079 with in the nineteen sixties I. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:08.880 Think early seventies by nut. Oh, yeah, you're right, it 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:10.160 would have been the sixties. Sorry. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:10.520 Yeah. 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:14.120 And he interviewed Jesse Jackson, he interviewed Martin Luther King. 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.480 Still djaying at night, and he hosted the series of 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.240 house parties and club appearances all over Chicago. And he 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.880 would take the train to get to these places. So 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.000 he called these parties the soul Train. That's where the 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:28.680 name came from. 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.760 Yeah, So he's like a TV broadcaster by day radio 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.560 DJ and sockhap DJ by night comes up with this 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.480 soul train idea. And again, so this is like in 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.520 his first year after taking a three month broadcasting course, 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.200 after pulling over a radio executive who told him he 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.000 had a good voice, and he's like, you know what, 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.200 I'm happy doing news and civil rights reporting, and I'm 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.200 part of this group called the Good Guys, these black 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.760 DJs out of Chicago that were kind of known as 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:02.360 the Arbiters of Cool. But he said that he had 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.000 He later said that he had this burning desire to 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.040 see black people depicted on television in a positive light, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.240 and he decided that the best way to do that 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.040 was to kind of take these parties, these sockhops and 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.400 just kind of cool Chicago house parties that he was 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.960 DJing and just put him on TV. That like that 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.560 would basically be enough that if people just saw how 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:26.480 cool these parties weren't, how fun they were, and how 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:30.320 much like how what a celebration of like black culture 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.480 they were just in and of themselves, that that could 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.200 be a TV show by itself. And that was the 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:36.280 original soul train. 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:38.960 That's right and very key. 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.880 He went to his TV station W CiU and said, 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.120 I want to shoot a pilot for this thing, baby, 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.600 and they said, uh, sure, but we're not going to 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.120 front the money, and he said, I'll pay for it. 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:53.840 Little did he know what a fortuitous move that was. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.560 Yeah, because I think had they funded it, they would 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.000 have had a real claim to it legally. But he 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.840 put up four hundred bucks of his own money shot 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.200 a pilot. It didn't look that great, it was in 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.240 black and white, but it was a big hit immediately. 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.600 And he said, not because it was wonderful, but because 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:11.280 it was theirs. 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.800 It belonged to the black people. Yeah. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.160 A year later he moves to LA and said, I'm 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.240 going to do the show for real here. This is 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:23.520 where it became nationally syndicated, which you know, I don't 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.320 know when we talked about TV syndication, but that's basically 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:30.000 when it's not owned and run on a major network, 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.920 but you sell it to each local TV station in 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:34.640 whatever city. 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:37.600 Yeah. I don't know what we would have talked about 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.560 that on either, but I would I think we should 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.080 do an entire episode on TV syndication. I'll bet it 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:48.400 was world changing. Sure, So when he moved into Los 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.800 Angeles in nineteen seventy one that Black and White Soul Train. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.520 It used to be on every weekday. They continued that, 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.200 so it was two things. It was a full color 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:02.720 nationally syndicate hated television show out of la but it 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:07.680 was also a black and white local weekly or weekday 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.879 television show out of Chicago at the same time. For 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.320 like a good five years, they were both running at 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.199 the same time, and so Don Cornelius was at the 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.960 helm of both. So on Fridays he would fly out 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.800 to La shoot four episodes, two on Saturday, two on Sunday, 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:24.679 and then fly back in time to be there for 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.400 the afternoon black and white Monday episode of the Chicago 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:30.640 Local Soul Train. 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:32.160 Amazing working hard. 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:33.920 He was working hard. Yeah, it's right. 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.439 So it was a very popular show right out of 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.160 the gate, but advertising was always kind of a struggle 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.399 because mainstream brands didn't quite know what to make of it. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.320 They didn't this is kind of the first show of 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.119 its kind, but that did open the door for Johnson Products, 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.520 another black owned Chicago business from husband and wife team 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.840 George and Joeanne Johnson that they started in nineteen fifty four. 0:17:58.520 --> 0:17:59.800 And these commercials are. 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:00.320 So great too. 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.560 They sold beauty and hair care products to African Americans. 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.720 So Afroshine and Ultraschine were the two big ones and 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.560 the two big commercials you see, and they became as 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.760 much as part of the fabric of the show almost 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.480 as like the Soul Train liner, the performers or anything else. 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.560 Really yeah, and I mean, like I think in a 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.320 large part because they were they were like our stamps 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.640 dot Com, like one of the earliest and longest running sponsors. Right. 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.760 So when they came on, what they were promoting with 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.960 like with Afrochine and Ultraschine was radical and that it's 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.200 saying like just let your hair grow naturally. These are 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.120 hair products for African Americans to use when they're growing 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.480 their hair naturally, not following like white beauty standards. Right. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.120 So it was like a perfect sponsor for SoulTrain, which 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:52.520 is a celebration of black culture. For itself, the Johnson 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:57.240 family of products were promoting black culture and it's like 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.159 natural State too, so it was like just perfect go 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.359 hand in hand. I think they kind of worked with 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:07.040 each other but also were important independent of one another. 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:08.639 But when you put them together, it was like greater 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.200 than some of its parts even. 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.720 Yeah, and it was. It was a big deal culturally. 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.040 Not only was it a big hit, but like people 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.240 like Jesse Jackson said, Don Cornelius is right up there 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:21.840 with any civil rights leader of our generation. He gave 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:23.800 people a chance to feel good about themselves. 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:25.080 That's pretty great. 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:26.880 And like I said, I was a little white kid 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.119 watching it. There's this lady, Madeline Weeks, who is a 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.520 fashion editor at GQ. She was a little white girl 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.040 in Virginia, and she said, I watched Soul Train religiously 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.840 every week. Loved it from beginning to end. Even the 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.920 Afroshine and Ultrachine ads were heaven. Had the funkiest, most stylish, 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.399 sexiest dancers. Everybody looked like they were having the best time. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.200 All the girls look gorgeous. Who wouldn't want to look 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.199 like that. I was just a little kid living in 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:55.879 the countryside in Virginia and I live for it. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:57.400 Does something else, it's pretty great. 0:19:57.840 --> 0:19:59.720 Well, you want to take a break and then get 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.480 back into what it was like to watch. 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.520 Soul Train and be on it. You know, I was 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:03.960 a guest. 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:07.520 Yes, I can't wait. We're gonna debut that clip live, 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:08.879 all right, let's do it. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:10.800 I want to learn about a terri sort and college 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.000 rd Actole, how to take a perfect bout is Gone? 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:17.920 That's another hunt, The Sane Everything. 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:19.760 And John. 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:42.840 Word up, Jerry, Okay, Chuck, So we're back. 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.760 There was one little thing that I wanted to include 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.119 about w c i U, the original Chicago home of 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:53.080 Soul Train. Apparently it was like a ragtag U HF station, 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:56.800 an independent station. And have you ever seen that that 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:01.000 movie U HF with weird al Nope, it's so good, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.880 but it actually is not too far off from w CiU. 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:09.320 They would play Lithuanian and Polish language talk shows Amos 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.720 and Andy Bullfights from Mexico like these are they just 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:19.000 had this weird assemblage of TV shows, But then they're 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:23.000 they're in house. Programming was made by like this ragtag 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:26.359