Back in 1979 Joseph Lovett a very young producer at ABC’s 20/20 Program was assigned to film a profile on queer author James Baldwin. It was to tie in with the publication of Baldwin’s nineteenth novel Just Above My Head.
Lovett was very excited to meet one of his heroes: “I had been reading [Baldwin] since I was a teenager and I thought he was brilliant and brave and speaking to the moment of history that we were all living in. I was thrilled, I was beyond thrilled.”
The crew ensured that Baldwin was sober (seemingly a rarity in those days). The writer was on top form, and Lovett was thrilled with the filmed interview. But the powers-that-be were not, and they simply shelved the piece.
Over time Lovett continued to film other projects, but the silence over the Baldwin piece rattled him so much, he finally asked the Network bosses when it would air. Their answer was that it had been totally dropped they told Lovett, “Who wants to listen to a black gay has-been?”
Thank God for archives though as the 10-minute piece was saved and is now available to view on Vimeo. It includes footage of a rehearsal of Baldwin’s play The Amen Corner at Lincoln Center; Baldwin at the Police Athletic League’s Harlem Center answering a young reporter’s question about Black writers’ chances of success; Baldwin and his family in the Manhattan apartment building they live in, which he bought with his writing earnings; and Baldwin in conversation with journalist Sylvia Chase discussing his childhood as a Black boy, his choice to publish explicitly gay writing in Giovanni’s Room, rage, and white fear.
Labels: 20/20, 2021, James Baldwin, unaired interview
