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S4E4

James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket

Premiere: 8/23/2013 | 1:57 | NR |

Using rarely-seen archival footage from nine different countries, the film melds intimate interviews and eloquent public speeches with cinéma vérité glimpses of Baldwin and original scenes from his extraordinary funeral service in December 1987.

About the Episode

The life, works and beliefs of the late writer and civil rights activist are recounted: what it is to be born black, impoverished, gifted, and gay in a world that has yet to understand that “all men are brothers.”

James Baldwin tells his own story in this emotional portrait. Using rarely-seen archival footage from nine different countries, the film melds intimate interviews and eloquent public speeches with cinéma vérité glimpses of Baldwin and original scenes from his extraordinary funeral service in December 1987. His close friends and colleagues — even critics — illuminate the narrative, among them writers Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka and William Styron, plus entertainer Bobby Short. James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket was originally broadcast August 14, 1989 on AMERICAN MASTERS. 90 minutes.

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QUOTE
"Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law."
— Baldwin in "Notes of a Native Son"
PRODUCTION CREDITS

About American Masters
Now in its 39th season on PBS, American Masters illuminates the lives and creative journeys of those who have left an indelible impression on our cultural landscape—through compelling, unvarnished stories. Setting the standard for documentary film profiles, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim: 28 Emmy Awards—including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special—two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of more than 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the podcast American Masters: Creative Spark, educational resources, digital original series and more. The series is a production of The WNET Group.

American Masters is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. PBS station members can view many series, documentaries and specials via PBS Passport. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.

About The WNET Group

The WNET Group creates inspiring media content and meaningful experiences for diverse audiences nationwide. It is the community-supported home of New York’s THIRTEEN – America’s flagship PBS station – WLIW, THIRTEEN PBS KIDS, WLIW World and Create; NJ PBS, New Jersey’s statewide public television network; Long Island’s only NPR station WLIW-FM; ALL ARTS, the arts and culture media provider; newsroom NJ Spotlight News; and FAST channel PBS Nature. Through these channels and streaming platforms, The WNET Group brings arts, culture, education, news, documentary, entertainment, and DIY programming to more than five million viewers each month. The WNET Group’s award-winning productions include signature PBS series Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, and Amanpour and Company and trusted local news programs like NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi. Inspiring curiosity and nurturing dreams, The WNET Group’s award-winning Kids’ Media and Education team produces the PBS KIDS series Cyberchase, interactive Mission US history games, and resources for families, teachers and caregivers. A leading nonprofit public media producer for more than 60 years, The WNET Group presents and distributes content that fosters lifelong learning, including initiatives addressing poverty, jobs, economic opportunity, social justice, understanding, and the environment. Through Passport, station members can stream new and archival programming anytime, anywhere. The WNET Group represents the best in public media. Join us. 

UNDERWRITING

Original funding for American Masters – James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, North Carolina Humanities Council, New York State Council for the Humanities, Episcopal Commission for Black Ministries, Maurice Falk Foundation, Polaroid Foundation, Byron & Pepper Binkley.

Support for American Masters provided by: AARP, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, Judith and Burton Resnick, Seton J. Melvin, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, the Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, Vital Projects Fund, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Koo and Patricia Yuen.

Support for this American Masters presentation provided by the WNET Group’s Exploring Hate Initiative with major funding from The Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Programming Endowment to Fight Antisemitism. Additional major funding from Charlotte and David Ackert, the Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund, and Patti Askwith Kenner.

TRANSCRIPT

(percussion music) - It's up to you.

As long as you think you are White, there's no hope for you.

As long as you think you are White, I'm gonna be forced to think I'm Black.

- 'Another Country' is about Blacks and Whites, trying to connect, trying to respect each other, trying desperately to love each other.

- I love a few men. I love a few women.

And a few people have loved me and I suppose that's all that saved my life.

The world is held together, really it is, held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people.

(crowd roars) (gun fires) I mean, they're killing my friends.

As simple as that.

And have been all the years that I've been alive, for no reasons which have any validity.

(upbeat music) (car siren wails) (rock guitar music) This is the evidence.

You want me to make an act of faith, risking myself, my wife, my woman, my assistant, my children, on some idealism which you assure me exists in America which I have never seen.

(audience claps) It is not a romantic matter.

It is the unutterable truth.

All men are brothers.

That's the bottom line.

I really do believe that we can all become better than we are.

I know we can.

(upbeat percussion music)