PUBLIC BROADCASTING LABORATORY {PBL} {GLENN GOULD, POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN, LOUIS JENKINS, MARIJUANA} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of public affairs programs, created as "an experiment in public television combining elements of information, education, and entertainment." This edition features four segments: an update about strategy of the Poor People's Campaign in the wake of the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the second installment of "Good Bye & Good Luck" which chronicles the return of the young black G.I. Louis Jenkins to Chicago following a tour of duty in Vietnam; Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's performance of a lighthearted musical essay, "How Mozart Became a Bad Composer"; and a documentary on the medical, legal, and moral aspects of marijuana. The Poor People's Campaign segment features a behind-the-scenes look at the executive committee's strategy session as it plans to lead a caravan of poor people to Washington, D.C., to build a tent city -- a shanty town to be called the City of New Hope. Included is footage of executive committee members Dr. William Rutherford, Anthony Henry, and the Reverend Bernard Lafayette planning the event. This segment is followed by an angry philippic from PBL chief correspondent Edward P. Morgan who decries the "moral crime of poverty" in America. "Good Bye & Good Luck, Part Two" follows G.I. Louis Jenkins home after military service in Vietnam as he attempts to find work, is evicted from his home due to lack of income, meets with black activists, and discusses his future plans. In "The Return of the Wizard," pianist Glenn Gould makes observations about how Mozart's considerable improvisational skills did damage to the famed composer's work. During this piece, Gould appears via videotape as his own fictional colleague, the distinguished British pedagogue Sir Humphrey Pryce Davies. The program concludes with "Marijuana -- A Proposal" in which PBL reporter Joseph M. Russin interviews teachers, law enforcement officials, sociologists, and medical researchers regarding the illegal drug. Highlights of this segment include: footage of a pot bust; parents complaining about the lengthy jail sentence their son received for marijuana possession; footage of a pot-fueled Boston "be-in"; a filmmaker's attempt to depict the sensation of pot-smoking through a cornucopia of psychedelic visual images; footage of an experiment at the Veteran's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, in which a volunteer soldier drinks the equivalent of three joints, becomes equal parts silly and groovy, and then comments on his experience once he regains sobriety; and an appeal from several educators and law enforcement officials who want the drug to be decriminalized.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: April 28, 1968 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:00:16
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:18161
- GENRE: Magazine; Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Documentaries; Marijuana; Music; Poor People's Campaign; Poverty
- SERIES RUN: NET (PBS) - TV series, 1967-1969
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- For "PBL"
- Kirk Browning … Director
- Score Productions, Inc. … Music Supervision by
- James Reichert … Music Director
- Bruce Bacon … Producer, Special Segments
- Arnold Baskin … Producer, Special Segments
- Tony Potter … Producer, Special Segments
- James Signorelli … Producer, Special Segments
- Murray Roberts … Announcer
- For "Poor People's Campaign Report"
- Greg Shuker … Producer
- Joseph Louw … Associate Producer
- For "Good Bye & Good Luck, Part Two"
- William C. Jersey … Producer, Created by
- Gwen Brown … Producer, Created by
- For "The Return of the Wizard"
- David Oppenheim … Executive Producer
- Brenner, David N. (see also: Brenner, David) … Producer
- Dulcy Singer … Associate Producer
- Kirk Browning … Director
- Glenn Gould … Writer, Performer, Instrumentalist, Pianist
- For "Marijuana--A Proposal"
- Joseph M. Russin … Producer
- Wendy V. Watriss … Producer
- Anthony Henry
- Louis Jenkins
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Bernard Lafayete
- Edward P. Morgan
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- William Rutherford