Mr. SOUL! Documentary Examines The First “Black Tonight Show”

Mr. SOUL! Documentary Examines The First “Black Tonight Show”

By John Saeger

The turmoil of 2020 has brought many comparisons to 1968, but one progression of the defining period of the Sixties is missing this year. There is no mainstream late night show celebrating African-American arts with a black host. There was such a program in 1968. The new documentary Mr. SOUL! looks at the groundbreaking series SOUL! and its host Ellis Haizlip. 

Directed by Melissa Haizlip (the niece of the show’s host), Mr. SOUL! showcases interviews with people who worked on the series. A myriad of clips from SOUL!’s five-year run features performances from some of the period’s most popular and provocative artists. Musicians like Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight are among the impressive collection of segments that find their way into the documentary. 

The film begins with the show’s origins, particularly noting period studies which found that the lack of black voices in mass media led to problematic portrayals of African-Americans. Viewers were not able to watch black artists whose work relayed an alternate experience that was not accessible on the popular Tonight Show or The Ed Sullivan Show. SOUL! aired on public access television and remains revolutionary for reasons beyond ethnicity. 

Ellis Haizlip’s production team was heavily comprised of women. That dynamic was not a strength of late night shows at the time. It is still a relatively new aspect of television for talk shows that are now consciously opening up their writer’s rooms to have more diverse creators. The documentary showcases the effect of this inclusion on SOUL!. The program, in turn, featured women performers and interviewers during its run.

Haizlip also broke ground as an openly gay man at a time when the subject was taboo. The documentary shows a captivating moment as Haizlip interviews Louis Farrakhan on the Nation of Islam’s homophobic principles. A talk show having that conversation would be viral in 2020, but the context of the discussion within that time period is even more impressive. It is just one example of the show’s effectiveness highlighted in Mr. SOUL!

Its host was not a desk jockey like today’s network personalities. Haizlip’s role was more like a Jools Holland, who normally acts as a passive master of ceremonies in his own BBC variety show. After serving as the centerpiece of a revolving door of acts, Haizlip and SOUL! faded out of the mainstream lexion after the show’s cancellation in 1973. 

Arsenio Hall and Oprah Winfrey are largely seen as the first African-American television hosts. Before they defined a generation, Ellis Haizlip and SOUL! showcased an artistic and cultural revolution unlike any other program on television. Mr. SOUL! provides a look at the program’s groundbreaking history and how diverse programming guides discussions that influence not only artists, but their audiences. 

About the Author: John Saeger is a music and film writer from Philadelphia. Since 2017 he has been writing his pop-culture blog Long After Dark, a site dedicated to the arts in the City of Brotherly Love and beyond. Email / Twitter