Urban legends about film and TV’s first ‘interracial kisses.’
I just wanted to put to rest the “urban lie” (Coen & Coen) concerning the first interracial kiss in film as occurring in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967). Even film textbooks cite this example, but people, this isn’t even the first time a black man kisses a white woman in a film at all.
Have we forgotten Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss (1955)?
And just four years after that, we have (gasp) an Asian man kissing a white woman in The Crimson Kimono (1959). This film is a great example of a “mainstream-noir” redressed with modern casting sensibilities. I show this in my film class every other year.
SPOILER ALERT – this is the end scene.
Yes, yes – technically Killer’s Kiss and The Crimson Kimono were fringe films in its day. But if that were the way we were measuring these milestones, why do we not remember Sammy Davis, Jr. kissing Nancy Sinatra on NBC, which (I am quite sure) more people watched than Star Trek!
ARTICLE:
http://www.retropolis.com/blog/black-history-month-first-interracial-kiss-network-television
** Addendum – I just realized someone deleted the video attached to the above article. If anyone has seen the video clip of Sammy and Nancy, please send it my way! – L.
