The Honoraries: Harry Belafonte, Beetlejuice (1988)... and Selma (2014)?
Friday, October 31, 2014 at 5:00PM 
In our miniseries "The Honoraries" we're celebrating the four talents that'll be honored by the Academy at the Governor's Awards this year. Here's Nathaniel...
Or, rather, here's soon to be Jean Hersholt Humanitarian winner Harry Belafonte's immeasurable contribution to Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) - included below since it seemed appropriate for Halloween. When I was a kid these Belafonte songs weren't new to me since my parents had a few of his records but I imagine for a whole swath of young moviegoers in the 1980s this was quite an introduction. Two of the movie's key scenes were basically handed over to his joyful voice and catchy songs.
"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" was originally from Harry Belafonte's "Calypso" album, his third, in 1956. The song was a top five hit but the album was an even bigger sensation spending over half a year as the #1 selling LP in the country. "Jump in the Line" the Belafonte number that closes the film through Noni's floating dance was a cover recorded for his 1961 album "Jump Up Calypso".
Beetlejuice (1988) and political activism after the jump...
Gotta love Catherine O'Hara as Delia (this is my art... and it is dangerous!) and Winona Ryder's Lydia, right?
By the time Beetlejuice arrived the film stardom portion of Belafonte's career -- which never get very far due to blacklisting for his activism and a general lack of opportunity (see the previous Carmen Jones post) -- was all but over. He had only two key gigs after Beetlejuice as an actor in the all star political drama Bobby and in Robert Altman's largely overlooked Kansas City. His recording career was also ending the year of Beetlejuice with his last original studio album "Paradise in Gazankulu" though he kept touring and releasing live albums and compilations. But his celebrity remained due to the endurance of his discography and his tireless political activism (which is technically what he's being honored for by AMPAS this year since its the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award). You can see a ton of photos of Belafonte from civil rights demonstrations, concerts, marches, and events over the years with a simple search of the internet or better yet rent the documentary Sing Your Song which chronicles his political life.
Belafonte and MLK on the Selma to Montgomery March
He was close friends with Martin Luther King Jr and crucial to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s since he was continually bankrolling people and events. I'm a bit surprised that no one appears to be playing him in Ava Duvernay's December release Selma (2014) -- unless we just haven't heard who -- because he was part of that famous Selma to Montgomery march and performed for the crowd before the last leg of the journey.
(Here are a few more photos of Belafonte from the mid 60s civil rights effort -- Belafonte wasn't the only internationally famous celebrity that got involved.)
from right to left: Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr, Sidney Poitier, and Harry Belafonte
Belafonte and Odetta Holmes performing for the crowd at the Stars For Freedom rally on the last night of the march
Belafonte with his close friend MLK Jr.
With Poitier in DC
And just because it was such a famous night, here's two photos from 1962's famous birthday party for President Kennedy shortly after Marilyn's legendary "Happy Birthday" number (you can see Harry in the far right of that Monroe image)...
Reader Comments (3)
Oh how I love the terror in Catherine O'Hara's eyes for the Day-O and the joy in Winona Ryder's face for Jump in the Line.
The Banana Boat sequence in "Beetlejuice" is a truly inspired and much loved bit of cinema, and Catherine O'Hara is delightful beyond words.
However it's even more important to acknowledge the extraordinary contribution Harry Belafonte made to the civil rights movement back in the sixties. He showed real courage and by his actions changed peoples minds. Thanks for a very informative article.
I remember staring at those beautiful Harry Belafonte LP covers and feeling a strange tingle that I never felt before. :-) The stern face of An Evening With Belafonte, the plunging neckline of The Many Moods of Belafonte, the pensive loner of The Midnight Special, the shirtlessness of Pure Gold. :-)
That's just to tease people and maybe get them interested in Harry's music. He is my favorite male singer. I love just about everything he did for a good 15 years or so. To this day I can't believe that my uber-conservative Mormon parents brought such "dangerous" music into the house, but I thank them for it!
But the other thing that the music brought into my life was an appreciation, heck even just an awareness, of people who didn't live the way I did. Stories in song of people and places I could only just begin to appreciate.