Unless I'm mistaken, "Car 54" was probably the only tv show at that time that depicted African Americans (e.g. Ossie Davis, Nipsey Russell, Mel Stewart) as "equals" to their Caucasian counterparts, in this case police officers.
"Oooh, oooh!'
According to Wikipedia (yeah I know, not the most resourceful site):
"This was one of the first sitcoms to regularly feature interesting, usually endearing characters from the whole spectrum of ethnicities, true New Yorkers, a rather significant step for television in the early 1960s."
It really was and, in that respect, that was how New York City and just about most New Yorkers were like at the time. Wonderfully funny show and so true-to-life! Wish it was on DVD.
shareMy favourite part of the casting was that like Terry Carter as Private Sugarman on The Phil Silvers Show (Bilko), creator Nat Hiken didn't make a big deal out of it. Later shows would promote the *beep* out of their "brave" casting, but in Hiken's shows the guys were the guys were the guys. The way it should be.
"Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency."
..........A few old series from that era, like "Naked City" did have black cast members. The problem in those days, as I understand it, was the sponsors were afraid white southerners wouldn't by their products and network executives were afraid of controversy........I recently saw an episode of the "Outer Limits" (1963) in which Diana Sands had a feature role so there were exceptions.
TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.