Penny Marshall, dead at 75, or Laverne from 'Laverne & Shirley' dead ~~either one

[CptMARVEL]

Yeah unfortunately you are quite right. Couldn't be more accurate. We were pretty much invisible or non existent in these quiet small country towns portrayed on television and I loved most of those shows from that period. Great wholesome comedy and great writing but no black folks. Period.

Beverly Hillbillies another of my favorite shows from that era was the same way. TV in general with a few bold exceptions like "I Spy" and Bill Cosby and Dianne Carroll and her show I think it was called "Julia".

"All In The Family" from Norman Lear is what changed all of that. Beverly Hillbillies even had black folks that next year and had all types of political topics in their script writing. That turned out to be their final year and their worst as far as the quality of writing was concerned on their show but it was definitely more politically aware and astute that final year even though the writing was pure garbage the last year of that show.

Indeed, my friend.
But I think you overlooked Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes and Land of The Giants, as a major early TV shows that prominently featured Blacks too.
Unlike Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley, they at least ACKNOWLEDGED Blacks as even existing in the world, let alone being steady, intelligent contributing members of the cast.
And as much as I liked both shows growing up I realize that Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley were big steps backwards in racial diversity...

 

[blackman80]

RIP to Her!!.

 

[WorldEX]

RIP

 

[biggboye5000]

Indeed, my friend.
But I think you overlooked Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes and Land of The Giants, as a major early TV shows that prominently featured Blacks too.
Unlike Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley, they at least ACKNOWLEDGED Blacks as even existing in the world, let alone being steady, intelligent contributing members of the cast.
And as much as I liked both shows growing up I realize that Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley were big steps backwards in racial diversity...

Yeah I forgot about those shows. There were barely a handful of shows that did at least try to represent us a tad bit. Star Trek broke some serious ground with their interracial kissing scene and caught a ton of static mostly in the South because of that one kissing scene. Some stations refused to air that episode. But Gene Roddenberry wasn't having none of that racial or prejudiced nonsense from jump out the gate. If folks didn't like it...oh well.

 

[Curtwalk]

Green Acres they was racist because they ate diner with a pig, but wouldn't eat dinner with a black person.
They let the pig go to school, but it wasn't no black kids there.

 

[CptMARVEL]

Yeah I forgot about those shows. There were barely a handful of shows that did at least try to represent us a tad bit. Star Trek broke some serious ground with their interracial kissing scene and caught a ton of static mostly in the South because of that one kissing scene. Some stations refused to air that episode. But Gene Roddenberry wasn't having none of that racial or prejudiced nonsense from jump out the gate. If folks didn't like it...oh well.

Yeah; but, in truth TV's 1st (Black/White) interracial kiss was NOT actually Kirk and Uhura.
It's a common misconception that it happened on Star Trek in 1968. However, this is completely untrue...
On U.S. television, the 1st (Black/White) interracial kiss actually took place nearly 1 full year before Star Trek in 1967 and it was between Sammy Davis Jr. and Nancy Sinatra.
See video:

 

[biggboye5000]

Yeah; but, in truth TV's 1st (Black/White) interracial kiss was NOT actually Kirk and Uhura.
It's a common misconception that it happened on Star Trek in 1968. However, this is completely untrue...
On U.S. television, the 1st (Black/White) interracial kiss actually took place nearly 1 full year before Star Trek in 1967 and it was between Sammy Davis Jr. and Nancy Sinatra.
See video:

Now this I never heard anything about. Sammy of course used to love the snow bunnies although he was married to Altovise for years. But nah never heard about this. Doesn't surprise me though especially when it comes to Sammy.

White folks raised a lotta sand over that Kirk/Uhura kiss though.

 

[biggboye5000]

Green Acres they was racist because they ate diner with a pig, but wouldn't eat dinner with a black person.
They let the pig go to school, but it wasn't no black kids there.

Yeah another example. Lotta shows like that. And this coincidentally was another Paul Henning creation Founder of The Beverly Hillbillies. It was a spinoff of sorts from the Hillbillies show.

 

[hog fat]

​

 

[CptMARVEL]

Now this I never heard anything about. Sammy of course used to love the snow bunnies although he was married to Altovise for years. But nah never heard about this. Doesn't surprise me though especially when it comes to Sammy.

White folks raised a lotta sand over that Kirk/Uhura kiss though.

True, true.
But in Sammy's defense, his time with White girls & Mae Britt in particular was BEFORE Altovise.
And although I personally have no problems with IR relationships, I think Sammy was simply responding to his then environment. Remember, at that time, Sammy was running more with these cats:

as opposed to these brothers

And while I know he supported the brothers, unfortunately he seemed limited in who was considered his "public social circle"....

 

[Helico-pterFunk]

https://theblast.com/penny-marshall-will-garry-marshall-final-resting-place-cremation/