Userpedia article: "Hogan's heroes"
Subcategory - Controversies
"...The show began with some controversey when...Ivan Dixon was cast as a prisoner who was not only equal with the others, but in a somehow integrated Underground unit, which was explained by the inference that Hogan was a trail blazer in integratin the military...later said to hail from Miissouri, the home of President Truman, who integrated the military in 1948...The joke was that nobody would mind since 'they're all prisoners anyway' but the inference is Hogan knew Kinch from his days barnstorming with Negro League teams against whites..."(1)
Subcategory: Hogan's Heroes episodes: "The Prince from the Phone Company"(2)
"...slated to air in March of 1966, racial tensions made some wonder if people would accept that Ivan Dixon had a major role in helping witha mission. it was moved to the Friday of the masters, as the network hoped for one of two things - the anticipation of the big sporting event making people not pay much attention or, what they deemed less likely, Masters coverage leading into it and causing more people to watch than otherwise would have. The second wound up occurring and people were 'not as upset as was expected' in one executive's words. No episodes were moved after that..."
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(1) No such explanation is needed OTL, but with racial tensions higher, it's felt a bit more is needed TTL via a throawaway line here and there, only half a dozen or so total likely needed. With Kinch later shown to be a Golden Gloves boxer nad fast enough to possibly "run a 4-minute mile" to warn that a mission was aborted OTL, the addition of Kinch as a baseball player is plausible.
(2) Aired March 1966 OTL
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From Ivan Dixon's authpiography:
"I got more of a chance than Nichelle Nichols - probably because of the situation on the show - but we still had to build it up to make it realistic, more so than we might hve....Later, I was aprt of the group of black entertainers who got together after the bizarre incident in January of 1969. basically, I was of the opinion, which many agreed with, that we were making progress - Nichols by that time had filmed the episode she would do on 'Family Affair' and Gene Roddenberry had already begun work on 'Starbase One,' Dick Gregory and some others had also appeared on the Tonight Show....
"...Mr. Cosby had been interested in some educational stuff...John Amos had been told by Hank Stram around when he was cut from the Chiefs that he wasn't a football player, but a man who was trying to play football, and...Stram urged him to go into writing. he was tehre, too, and he had some ideas. they approached me...I wanted to go from 'Hogan's Heroes' into directing nd producing, but I said I might help if needed, but I wanted to do one more year of Hogan's Heroes, which I did, leaving before the sixth and final season. I suggested that if it was animated, Flip Wilson was the man, with all his characters. But, Nipsey Russell would really make kids of both races smile and remember stuff the way he was always coming up with these poems, so he had to have a spot..."
Subcategory - Controversies
"...The show began with some controversey when...Ivan Dixon was cast as a prisoner who was not only equal with the others, but in a somehow integrated Underground unit, which was explained by the inference that Hogan was a trail blazer in integratin the military...later said to hail from Miissouri, the home of President Truman, who integrated the military in 1948...The joke was that nobody would mind since 'they're all prisoners anyway' but the inference is Hogan knew Kinch from his days barnstorming with Negro League teams against whites..."(1)
Subcategory: Hogan's Heroes episodes: "The Prince from the Phone Company"(2)
"...slated to air in March of 1966, racial tensions made some wonder if people would accept that Ivan Dixon had a major role in helping witha mission. it was moved to the Friday of the masters, as the network hoped for one of two things - the anticipation of the big sporting event making people not pay much attention or, what they deemed less likely, Masters coverage leading into it and causing more people to watch than otherwise would have. The second wound up occurring and people were 'not as upset as was expected' in one executive's words. No episodes were moved after that..."
--------
(1) No such explanation is needed OTL, but with racial tensions higher, it's felt a bit more is needed TTL via a throawaway line here and there, only half a dozen or so total likely needed. With Kinch later shown to be a Golden Gloves boxer nad fast enough to possibly "run a 4-minute mile" to warn that a mission was aborted OTL, the addition of Kinch as a baseball player is plausible.
(2) Aired March 1966 OTL
--------
From Ivan Dixon's authpiography:
"I got more of a chance than Nichelle Nichols - probably because of the situation on the show - but we still had to build it up to make it realistic, more so than we might hve....Later, I was aprt of the group of black entertainers who got together after the bizarre incident in January of 1969. basically, I was of the opinion, which many agreed with, that we were making progress - Nichols by that time had filmed the episode she would do on 'Family Affair' and Gene Roddenberry had already begun work on 'Starbase One,' Dick Gregory and some others had also appeared on the Tonight Show....
"...Mr. Cosby had been interested in some educational stuff...John Amos had been told by Hank Stram around when he was cut from the Chiefs that he wasn't a football player, but a man who was trying to play football, and...Stram urged him to go into writing. he was tehre, too, and he had some ideas. they approached me...I wanted to go from 'Hogan's Heroes' into directing nd producing, but I said I might help if needed, but I wanted to do one more year of Hogan's Heroes, which I did, leaving before the sixth and final season. I suggested that if it was animated, Flip Wilson was the man, with all his characters. But, Nipsey Russell would really make kids of both races smile and remember stuff the way he was always coming up with these poems, so he had to have a spot..."