His voice was already familiar to millions. But 70 years ago today, Nat King Cole stepped into a television role that American advertisers were reluctant to support.
There was an easy warmth to Nat King Cole’s singing, whether he was performing Mona Lisa or Unforgettable. Getting his own television show proved considerably harder.
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show premiered on NBC in America. Initially just 15 minutes long, it made Cole the first African American musician to host a nationally broadcast musical variety series.
Already an accomplished jazz pianist and recording star, Cole brought the same relaxed elegance to television. Across the series, guests included Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee, with some performers accepting minimal payment to support the programme.
Yet national advertisers held back, fearful of alienating white customers in the segregated American South. NBC financed production, but a national sponsor never materialised.
Despite the musical talent on screen, Cole ended the programme in December 1957. For anyone who grew up hearing his records, the anniversary offers another reason to admire the performer behind that unmistakable voice: even enormous popularity could not protect him from racial prejudice.
In the early hours of November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was discovered beneath London’s House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder. The conspirators planned to kill King James I during Parliament’s opening. Their failure became the basis of Britain’s Bonfire Night, commemorated with fireworks and bonfires. Behind the familiar rhyme lies a violent chapter of religious persecution and political conspiracy.
A ballot worth fighting for
On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women cast ballots in Rochester, New York, challenging their exclusion from American elections. Anthony was subsequently arrested, convicted and fined $100, which she never paid. She died in 1906, before the 1920 constitutional amendment prohibited denying voting rights on the basis of sex. Her act of defiance helped sustain a campaign that outlived her.
Art Garfunkel turns 85. His soaring performance on Bridge Over Troubled Water remains one of popular music’s most recognisable vocals.
Vivien Leigh, remembered for Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, would have turned 113.
Do you remember?
Which Nat King Cole song takes you straight back to your younger years?
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