First interracial kiss on television

Some argue that I Love Lucy (1951–1957) is premised on an interracial relationship.{{cite web|url=https://interracialrelationshipsmedia.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/i-love-lucy-miscegenation-and-passing/|title=I Love Lucy, miscegenation and passing|first=Megan |last=Nas|date=25 April 2016|publisher=IRM|access-date=23 September 2021}} The program broadcast multiple instances of real-life husband and wife Desi Arnaz, a Latino man, and Lucille Ball, a woman of European ancestry, kissing.{{cite news|last1=Dowling|first1=Tim|title=Prepare to beam up|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/23/star-trek-film-television|access-date=30 July 2015|work=The Guardian|date=22 April 2009}} However, despite Arnaz and Ball being frequently described as an "interracial couple", "Hispanic" is not always considered to be a race, but it is an actual language.{{cite web |url=http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/05/28/whos-hispanic/ |title=Who's Hispanic? |first1=Jeffrey S. |last1=Passel |first2=Paul |last2=Taylor |work=Pew Research Center |date=28 May 2009 |access-date=19 January 2016}} Arnaz is now considered by some to be a white man of Cuban ancestry.{{cite news|last1=Jaramillo|first1=Juliana|title=Paula Deen's Racist Brownface Stunt Isn't Even Accurate |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/07/07/paula_deen_s_racist_brownface_stunt_isn_t_even_accurate.html |access-date=30 July 2015 |work=Slate|date=7 July 2015}} The United States Census Bureau uses the ethnonyms Hispanic or Latino to refer to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race; the Census Bureau states, "People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be any race."{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2011/dec/c2010br-04.pdf |title=The Hispanic Population: 2010 |date=May 2011 |work=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=19 January 2016}} As of the 1950 United States census, the most recent census held before I Love Lucy went on the air, the Census Bureau's guidelines for enumerators did not specifically address how Cuban Americans should be classified by race, nor did the census ask a question about Hispanic or Latino ancestry.{{cite web |author1=United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census |author1-link=United States Census Bureau |title=Urban & Rural Census Enumerators' Manual: 1950 Census of the United States |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015081273297&view=1up&seq=43 |website=babel.hathitrust.org |access-date=2022-08-22 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=33–34}} Both Arnaz and Ball were listed as white in that census.{{cite web |title=1950 Census of the United States, California, Los Angeles County, E.D. 66-7C |url=https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?ed=66-7C&page=1&state=CA |website=1950census.archives.gov |access-date=2022-08-23 |page=4}}

In The Ed Sullivan Show S12, E10 aired 16 November 1958, William Shatner, a Canada-born actor of European Jewish ancestry, kisses France Nuyen, originally from France, of Asian ancestry. This was during a scene from the then current Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong.{{cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/04/25/william-shatner-before-trek|title=William Shatner on Broadway, Before His Trek Through the Universe|author=Tom Lisanti|date=25 April 2016|publisher=New York Public Library|access-date=23 September 2021}}

In the Sea Hunt episode "Proof of Guilt" aired 16 August 1959, Lloyd Bridges and Nobu McCarthy (née Atsumi) shared a kiss near the end of the episode.

An episode of Adventures in Paradise titled "The Big Surf", broadcast in 1960, featured two written kisses: one between actress Pilar Seurat and actor Robert Sampson, and another with Seurat and Gardner McKay.

An episode of I Spy titled "The Tiger", broadcast on January 5, 1966,{{citation needed|reason=IMDb is not a reliable source|date=May 2022}} featured a scripted kiss between Eurasian actress France Nuyen and Robert Culp.{{cite video|quote=YouTube|title=Interracial Kiss: France Nuyen & Robert Culp ('I Spy' Episode 'The Tiger' – January 1, 1966)}}

Episode four of season two, "Mirror, Mirror", which originally aired on October 6, 1967, featured a kiss between Eurasian actress Barbara Luna and William Shatner.{{cite video|quote=YouTube|title=Star Trek Interracial Kiss – Barbara Luna and William Shatner}}

A December 1967 TV special, Movin' with Nancy, featured a kiss between Italian-American Nancy Sinatra and African-American/Latin (mixed-race) Sammy Davis Jr.{{cite book|last1=Brioux|first1=Bill|title=Truth and Rumors: The Reality Behind TV's Most Famous Myths|date=2008|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0275992477|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=voIe7XkFvEsC}} Sinatra kissed Davis on the cheek.

{{main|Kirk and Uhura's kiss}}

A 1968 episode of Star Trek, "Plato's Stepchildren",{{cite web|last1=Bernardi|first1=Daniel|title=Star Trek in the 1960s: Liberal-Humanism and the Production of Race|url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/72/bernardi72.htm|publisher=DePauw University|access-date=26 July 2015}} which first aired on November 22, 1968, was until recently often referred to as the first interracial kiss on television.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/news/shattered-tv-taboos-1005496.aspx |title=Shattered TV Taboos: How Bea Arthur and Others Broke Barriers |publisher=TVGuide.com |date=April 27, 2009 |access-date=March 23, 2011}}

Although William Shatner claimed in Star Trek Memories that his lips did not touch those of African-American actress Nichelle Nichols in the take that was ultimately aired,{{cite book |last1= Shatner |first1= William | last2=Kreski | first2=Chris| date= 2009 |title=Star Trek Memories |page=498 |isbn=0061664693 }} both actors later asserted that the kiss was real.Nichelle Nichols, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories, G.P. Putnam & Sons New York, 1994. pp.195–198{{cite news |last1=Haring |first1=Bruce |title=Bill Maher Uncovers The Truth Behind William Shatner's Most Famous 'Star Trek' Kiss |url=https://deadline.com/2024/04/bill-maher-uncovers-william-shatner-most-famous-star-trek-kiss-1235883657/ |access-date=31 August 2024 |publisher=Deadline |date=12 April 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Real Time with Bill Maher |title=William Shatner on Kirk and Uhura's Kiss |website=YouTube |date=12 April 2024 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArD7_59x9pw |access-date=31 August 2024}}

Unlike the situation in the United States, interracial kisses (European (White) and African/Caribbean (Black)/or Middle Eastern/Asian/Native) in British films and television shows have attracted little comment.

The 1954 British-New Zealand film The Seekers featured an interracial kiss between a European (played by Jack Hawkins) and a Maori (played by German Laya Raki). This film was later screened on television in the US (under the title Land of Fury) and the UK, but the initial screening dates are unknown.

For a time, the first interracial kiss on British television was understood to have occurred during an episode of the British soap opera Emergency – Ward 10 in 1964. However, the 1955 BBC production of Othello featured several kisses between Gordon Heath and Rosemary Harris. Furthermore, in November 2015, Granada's Play of the Week, You in Your Small Corner, was uncovered which was telecast in June 1962; that quickly led to the rediscovery of another play featuring the same young Jamaican actor, Lloyd Reckord, called Hot Summer Night,Amanda Bidnall The West Indian Generation: Remaking British Culture in London, 1945–1965. "The first on-stage interracial kiss came in 1958 with the performance of Ted Willis's Hot Summer Night, and one year later that same kiss came to the small screen with the play's adaptation for ITV's Armchair Theatre." televised in Britain on 1 February 1959.

Lloyd Reckord and Andrée Melly appeared in the ITV Armchair Theatre adaptation of Ted Willis' play Hot Summer Night, broadcast on 1 February 1959. British Film Institute panel moderator Samira Ahmed was able in 2015 to announce the rediscovery of this on-screen kiss.{{cite web|last1=@DescantDeb|title=An Interesting Take on Race and Romance at the 2015 BFI Love Season|url=http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/tbbs-descantdeb-opines-interesting-race-romance-2015-bfi-love-season/|website=The British Blacklist|access-date=11 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127001900/http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/tbbs-descantdeb-opines-interesting-race-romance-2015-bfi-love-season/|archive-date=27 January 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Hot Summer Night – First inter-racial kiss? (01/02/1959)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqlVK0L7Hk|format=video|website=YouTube|publisher=VintageBritishComedy|access-date=13 February 2016}} The play was later adapted as the 1961 feature film Flame in the Streets.

The second episode of the ATV drama series Probation Officer, broadcast on the ITV network on 21 September 1959, also features an interracial kiss. This again features Lloyd Reckord, on this occasion with actress Felicity Young, in a storyline concerning an interracial relationship disapproved of by both sets of parents.{{cite AV media |date=21 September 1959 |title=Probation Officer |type=Television drama |time=32m22s |publisher=Network Distributing |id=Network DVD number 7954374}}

File:FIKOTYOUSMALLCORNER.png

In June 1962, a live performance of the play You in Your Small Corner by Barry Reckord was broadcast on British television as part of the Granada Television series Play of the Week. The central theme of the play is a relationship between a young black intellectual and a white working-class girl. During the play, a kiss takes place between once more Lloyd Reckord and this time Elizabeth MacLennan, and what has been described as an "explicit post-coital scene".{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/20/tv-archive-discovers-couple-who-beat-kirk-and-uhara-to-first-interracial-kiss|title=TV archive discovers couple who beat Kirk and Uhura to first interracial kiss|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=20 November 2015|access-date=20 November 2015}}

Many years later, You In Your Small Corner was rediscovered during preparations for a November 2015 British Film Institute panel discussion on "Race and Romance on TV" and was used in publicity for the event.

File:Firstkissontv.jpg, which was broadcast in July 1964.]]

One of the earliest interracial kisses on television occurred in a July 1964 episode of British soap opera Emergency Ward 10, during which characters Louise Mahler (portrayed by Joan Hooley) and Giles Farmer (portrayed by John White) kissed.{{cite news|last1=Waltres|first1=Guy|title=How much do you really know about Star Trek?|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-trek/11441768/How-much-do-you-really-know-about-Star-Trek.html|access-date=29 July 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=28 February 2015}}{{cite book|last1=Citron|first1=Lana|title=A Compendium of Kisses: Facts, Quotes and Curiosities|date=2011|publisher=Harlequin|isbn=978-0373892426|pages=[https://archive.org/details/compendiumofkiss0000citr/page/188 188–189]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/compendiumofkiss0000citr/page/188}} The scene in which Mahler and Farmer kissed was originally scripted to occur in Mahler's bedroom, but was rewritten so as to occur outdoors, due to concerns it would otherwise be too risqué (the earlier Lloyd Reckord plays had both been shown well after the 9pm adult-content watershed). According to an issue of the Daily Express published after the episode aired, "not a viewer rang-up to complain".{{cite book|last1=Bourne|first1=Steven|title=Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television|date=2005|publisher=Bloomsbury|pages=173–174}} In a 2015 interview, conducted prior to the discovery of the You in Your Small Corner footage, Hooley noted that the historic importance of what had been known as the "first interracial kiss on television" had been inflated in popular memory:

{{blockquote|A lot of people spoke about it more ten years later than they did at the time it was happening. So, it was much later that it occurred to me that I was part of history. I find it odd to have to admit that I was part of history because I don't see why there should be anything to do about it. I don't think there should have been all this fuss about it.|author=Joan Hooley|source={{cite news|title=First Inter-racial Kiss on TV|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02xqskd?ocid|work=BBC World Service|date=29 July 2015}}}}

The comedy TV show {{lang|nl|Pension Hommeles}} (1957-1959) is considered as the first TV series on Dutch television. Telecast on 5 January 1959, in the episode {{lang|nl|italic=no|"Beeldromance"}}, US Black actor Donald Jones sings a song, {{lang|nl|italic=no|"Ik zou je het liefste in een doosje willen doen"}}, to white Dutch actress Roeki Aronds. After the song, Jones kisses Aronds. At the time the kiss was not controversial and did not get much attention, but the song became a standard in Dutch music. Donald Jones, an actor, dancer and singer from New York (USA), was one of the first black stars in Dutch show business.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Some Dutch TV series (with main white casting) added with Caribbean and Surinamese actors along Middle Eastern and Asian actors.

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqlVK0L7Hk Clip of Hot Summer Night kiss] (1959)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxe-G6L2zac Clip of Sea Hunt kiss] (1959)
• [https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-discovers-world-first-interracial-tv-kiss Clip of You in Your Small Corner kiss] (1962)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Vw1li9vDE Clip of Emergency Ward 10 showing what was previously thought to be the first interracial kiss on television] (1964)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKKkGhEDoU Nichelle Nichols on filming the first interracial kiss on American television] (video interview)

Category:History of television

Category:Kissing

Category:Fiction about interracial romance