Jim DiEugenio on the late, great Dick Gregory

[James DiEugenio]

The new Showtime documentary on Dick Gregory is adequate about his showbiz and civil rights career.

But I was kind of shocked when it did not include his presence on the  first national screening of the Zapruder film on ABC in 1975.

It also did not include his co writing credit on Code Name Zorro, later retitled Murder in Memphis on the King case.

Or his presence at more than one COPA Conference in Washington DC.  

Dick Gregory, in my opinion, stands with Mort Sahl as one of the very few first line entertainers who risked it all for their political beliefs about what happened to America.  That was my (rather unsurprising) problem with the Showtime documentary.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/reviews/the-one-and-only-dick-gregory

[Benjamin Cole]

5 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

The new Showtime documentary on Dick Gregory is adequate about his showbiz and civil rights career.

But I was kind of shocked when it did not include his presence on the  first national screening of the Zapruder film on ABC in 1975.

It also did not include his co writing credit on Code Name Zorro, later retitled Murder in Memphis on the King case.

Or his presence at more than one COPA Conference in Washington DC.  

Dick Gregory, in my opinion, stands with Mort Sahl as one of the very few first line entertainers who risked it all for their political beliefs about what happened to America.  That was my (rather unsurprising) problem with the Showtime documentary.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/reviews/the-one-and-only-dick-gregory

I viewed from afar Dick Gregory, and enjoyed this review of the Showtime documentary.  And yes, political assassinations are still not a polite topic of discussion. 

 

[James DiEugenio]

You got that right.

I mean not to show the Rivera show when the Z film was first shown on national TV, and Dick Gregory was there!