Star Power

If I can't be at the beach on a 93-degree day, I may as well be learning something in air-conditioned comfort.

Chop Suey Books was hosting Emilie Raymond, author of "Stars for Freedom: Hollywood, Black Celebrities and the Civil Rights Movement," for an afternoon reading and aside from my avowed preference for non-fiction, I've always been fascinated with that period in American cultural history.

The room eventually filled up with her friends and others curious about mid-century celebrities using their clout for good, while bridging the period between old Hollywood (the studio system) and new Hollywood (after the Supreme Court's 1947 decision effectively breaking up that system and spawning an era of independent films).

First of all, I was so pitifully uninformed that I'd had no idea that it was a court decision that had changed the system. I'd just assumed it was that the cultural times, they were a-changing.

Turns out it was during this 25-year transition to "message movies" that these public personas intersected with the burgeoning civil rights movement. It was still a big deal in 1956 when celebrities began using their status to help the movement, but it wasn't until 1964 that it was considered fashionable on a larger scale.

And, of course, some people are only going to do it once it's safely fashionable.

She labeled the big six original participants as Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dick Gregory, with a later wave of such people as Brando, Sinatra, Dianne Carroll, Paul Newman, Burt Lancaster and, unlikeliest of all, Charlton Heston.

Yes, apparently before he became an evangelist for the NRA, he championed civil rights. Who knew?

Their role was to donate money, hold benefit shows to make money, bring publicity to the cause and, at its most basic, articulate the civil rights message in a voice the public trusted. A hell of a responsibility, in other words.

Raymond said one of the most surprising things about her interviews with civil rights activists was their statements about how much it meant to them to have the celebrities there and participating in the movement. One even mentioned one of the celebs asking for the activist's autograph. Another mentioned how Brando had grabbed her ass in the elevator, a revelation that surprised no one.

Sammy Davis, Jr. rated as the top fundraiser for the cause ($750,000), although he had such deep-rooted fears about how a black Jew would be treated in the South that he chose not to go.

During the Q & A, the most interesting question came from the lone black audience member. She wondered if Raymond knew why the current crop of black celebs are so hesitant to stand up for the cause today with issues such as #Black Lives Matter. Jay Z and Kanye West took the brunt of the criticism because they have the potential to influence so many but choose not to.

Honestly, don't you think it's as simple as Kanye and Jay Z not being the same caliber of human being as Belafonte and Poitier? It's the 21st century way - why extend yourself when it doesn't directly affect you or your brand?

Maybe that's why this period in history is so fascinating to me. More "we," less "I."