Lady From Philadelphia, Reel 2 (1958)

that when Miss Anderson sang the melean national anthem rendition by a visiting artist and was a mark of respect for the newborn Nation [Music] [Music] in her book Miss Anderson weeks of the future and says someday she might like to try something other than the classics and spirituals perhaps something from Rogers and Hammerstein in aala Lampur school on the very day that the melean flag was being raised in the United Nations she made her debut with a song from South [Applause] Pacific good morning boys it is a distinct pleasure to be here this morning and to greet you in this close fashion absolutely no doubting that some of you here today will have the destiny of this country in your hands and it is so very important things like hate and fear destroy you restrict you from being the kind of big person that you could be and I might bring to your attention that hate and fear are two things with which babies are not born and I have this morning a song which epitomizes this statement you got to be to hate and Fe you got to be from year to year it's got to be in your you got to be care you to be arid of people whose eyes are all made and people whose skin is a sh you to be careful [Music] you to begh to late [Music] you all the people your you've to be [Music] care you to be care [Music] [Music] all you be care you be [Music] [Applause] [Applause] care Miss Anderson concluded her trip in Pakistan and India toward which a major part of the Soviet cultural program has been directed General Alfred grunther just recently returned from India and concerned about the effects of this Russian propaganda says we need more Marian Anderson he said her effect was inspiring and called her our secret weapon she was a sellout everywhere and the Indian press called her our Fair Lady the big Knight had to do with some Indian musicians and some western music but let Miss Anderson tell you about it the music of India is most interesting this highly developed and cultivated art has resisted all foreign influence and thereby retained its Purity and vigor one wishes there were more time to study it the main emphasis is on Melody and improvisation rather than Harmony as in our western music the basic form is Raga which is based on various combinations of the seven notes each divided into its Shar and flat half tones and quarter tones are common 6 months ago one did not dream that we would be singing with 60 Indian musicians but last July we received the communication through the an people that there was a newly formed West and that they would like to accompany us if we could send them one of of our scores for them to work on we were delighted and several pounds of western music went Eastward by mail when we arrived in Bombay on the 12th of November and we were expected as far as we know this is the only Symphony Orchestra between Tokyo and Tel Aviv and it is one that we will remember with muchness the conductor Mr dilva is a lawyer from Goa and the string section is made up of Clerks civil servants and Housewives teachers and four [Music] doctors the percussionist is is an able-bodied Seaman and a most handsome seek the entire woodwind and Brass sections come from the Indian Navy augmented by several policemen there was no harp or English horn because these instruments simply do not exist in India where all Western instruments are difficult to come by we rehearsed part of one night and much of the next day with the orchestra and gave the concert that same evening it is now my very great honor to present to my fellow Americans the Bombay City Orchestra in Mor from Samson and deila by [Music] and not [Music] [Music] of what [Music] babe [Music] all [Music] [Music] home for not on [Music] the oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] there were news conferences and interviews everywhere and because Miss Anderson was a special sort of an American the questions asked were of a special kind of interest to Asians they ranged all the way from atom bombs to baseball to the Lincoln Memorial incident of 1939 Miss Anderson was once barred from singing in Washington's Constitution Hall and the United States government then made the Lincoln Memorial available for her concert this conversation was at the all India radio station in New Delhi and the interviewer is Mrs Tara Ali Beg author and commentator in reading your autobiography I was very struck by many things that have happened in your career and of course the very celebrated one the episode of the Lincoln Memorial you have been a Trailblazer in many things and you undoubtedly did um act as a symbol on that occasion is that correct well I suppose one not on that particular occasion but you know um one talked very little about the affair in Washington that happened to that particular time because some of the people involved were not perhaps quite well acquainted with conditions with a particular thing uh there are sometimes that we are so interested in what we think and how we feel we take upon ourselves the um the thing of answering for other people the responsibility other people without having first thought out the thing without being well enough only to find a little later on that these things were absolutely not necessary to have been done I had no bitterness and I have no bitterness now because we look for bigger and if you're all right on the inside you don't have to worry about things like that they will eventually take care of themselves and whatever unfortunate thing comes it might halt it for a little while but there is a Divine pattern and there is no one person who can stop it I can understand you're having no bitterness I think that what we're always up against in this world is the prejudices of the small people uh it's hard for me personally to think in terms of uh the reasons why those prejudices existed because me to think in terms of being different because they are brown or of their skin it seems so irrelevant but there is also the prejudices do remain we know they are isolated to certain areas and sectors but and that is why again I asked you the question earlier uh what you meant by my people I had the impression that you were speaking then of the colored people next of my people you think first of the CED people in the United States now I might say this all of the Negroes in the United States are not relegated to a particular area not at all there are some who own their own homes many of them and they are things of beauty to behold there are some who' have gone into neighborhoods that have been a little bit R down and they have done excellent things with those neighborhoods and it is a joy to go in and look there are areas for my people are naturally in the very um unpleasant plac is they are those with whom or about whom we are very concerned because it is so true that no matter how big a nation is it is no stronger than its weakest people and as long as you keep a person down some part of you has to be down there to hold him down so it means you cannot sore as you might other therefore regardless of how small the Negro may be in whatever area the whole of our nation is dependent on what is done for the little dependent sometimes on his very life the fact that we were able to come over for the state department and the words honor and and the opportunity gives us as there certainly must be in the hearts of many Negroes who may not see the light of day so to speak an opportunity to speak for the only land that we know if we were not in America many of us might still be in Africa some of us might be happier some of us wouldn't be I know nothing of Africa I haven't been there so my land and my country and my allegiance is with America that leads me to a very fundamental question U I think that in everybody's life they have difficulties in Crossroads and there is a basic faith that they come back to I'd like you to tell me if you can what would be that basic faith that you come back to and when we speak a word I would like to say to you that I have a most wonderful mother and her philosophy has been that on which my sisters and I have tried to build our lives mother is a Believer and the three of her children are also Believers it is so necessary in anything that we do not to feel too Complete because you are obliged to come regardless whether you would like it or not to your extremity you cannot leave this world at that point you've got to see whatever it is through to the end and although there are many people who seek this help only in exterity it is nice to be acquainted with it through your whole life and that is what my mother has Tau us it gives you a peace of mind it gives you an understanding of your fellow men even though in some instances they behave so poorly and you know that if the Supreme Being were not a just one the world should long ago have come to an end and therefore when things happen along the way which might pull one up rather sharply through disappointment you think of on your faith and you go back so to speak to the well to be replenished is it does it sum it up to say to see it through to the end yes and you know there there is an Negro spiritual called I open my mouth to the Lord and I never will turn back I will shall and it sums up so much of what so many people need to feel we don't find all of these wonderful things around I will go and I shall go to see what the end will be why because I believe in what I find at the end a French poet once wrote if you wish to influence the Indians rather than a thousand missionaries send one Saint the United States sent Miss Anderson and one morning she led a throng of several thousand Indians to the beautifully simple Shrine of their great Saint Mahatma Gandhi the mayor of old Delhi introduced the lady from Philadelphia at the age of eight to scrub neighbor door steps to save up the money to buy a VI she's known and honored in every quarter of the go ladies and gentlemen we are fortunate in having this talented lady world now amidst us this morning her approach to music is a century spiritual she gives powerful expression to the hopes and dreams of the poor negro community and their wishes for the next World the language of music is universal in our country most of our music has a spiritual basis and for that reason our people feel especially attracted by m Anderson's uplifting message no American official or visitor dignitary from any foreign nation has ever before been invited to speak at the Gandhi Memorial president [Music] agala the ambassador of the United States and ladies and gentlemen first of all let me say to you please coming here this morning was in the beginning to be a very private affair knowing something of the life and the aspirations of Mahatma Gandhi as a negro I was naturally very deeply moved and felt it absolutely imperative to come to this spot before returning to my own country the teachings of ganday have meant so much to so many of you who lives are naturally better because of him his life as you know is as a beacon which shines every bright to those who need it most in coming this [Music] morning it was our intention to do or try to do that song which we have been told was a favorite of mahat mande and one which we sing very often in our churches I would like very much to do lead kindly light but if you please just now I would wish we might all bow our heads for a half a minute to the memory of your saint for [Music] the cing GL the night is dark and I am far from home [Music] me keep on my feet I do not to see [Music] One [Music] Step time now for a commercial by International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation there isn't going to be any the it& people feel that their accomplishments in Communications and electronics can never be substituted for the beauty and wisdom of human Communications and that Miss Anderson's achievement in Asia is something with which they would like to be identified so would we good night and good luck [Applause] [Music] the [Music] the [Music] the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and CBS Television are pleased to announce that the state department and the usia have arranged for 100 prints of tonight's tributed throughout Asia and other parts of the world Miss Anderson's trip is part of a continuing program of Anta and the state department which has sent more than 100 such artists to distant lands