''The Ethel Waters Show'' was a one-hour American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

special that ran in the earliest days of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, on June 14, 1939, and was hosted by actress and singer

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

. Waters was the first black performer, male or female, to have her own TV show and may very well have been the first black person to appear on television. The special was transmitted from the NBC Studios in New York over

W2XBS WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station W ...

.Robertson, Patrick (2011). ''Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time''
/ref> The special included Waters performing a dramatic sequence from her most recent

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

play ''

Mamba's Daughters ''Mamba's Daughters'' () is a 1929 novel written by DuBose Heyward and published by the University of South Carolina Press. It was later adapted by Heward and his wife Dorothy Heyward for the stage; the play premiered on Broadway in 1939. Nove ...

'', along with two actresses from the production, Georgette Harvey and

Fredi Washington Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington (December 23, 1903 – June 28, 1994) was an American stage and film actress, civil rights activist, performer, and writer. Washington was of African-American descent. She was one of the first black American ...

. The cast also included

Joey Faye Joey Faye (born Joseph Antony Palladino, July 12, 1909 or 1910 or 1902– April 26, 1997) was an American comedian and actor. Born in New York City, he gained fame as a comic in vaudeville and claimed that he created two of vaudeville's more renow ...

and

Philip Loeb Philip Loeb (March 28, 1891 – September 1, 1955), was an American stage, film, and television actor, director and author. He was blacklisted under McCarthyism and committed suicide in response. Early life Philip Loeb was born March 28, 1891, ...

, performing skits.

References

External links

* 1939 television films 1939 films 1939 television specials 1930s American television specials {{US-tv-film-stub