Nat King Cole

Nat "King" Cole (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965) was a hugely popular American singer and jazz musician.

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On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. While commentators have often hailed Cole as the first African-American to host a network television show (an honor belonging to Hazel Scott in 1950), the Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by a star of Nat Cole's magnitude. Initially begun as a 15 minute show on Monday night, the show was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues (most of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Harry Belafonte, worked for industry scale in order to help the show save money), the Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by a lack of national sponsorship (It should be noted that such companies as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but the elusive national sponsor never materialized). The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show (NBC as well as Cole himself had been operating at an extreme financial loss). Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show recieved, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."

Related Topics:
Ella Fitzgerald - Harry Belafonte

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