This episode captures a truly bold and historic moment in Martin’s life. After hearing of the horrific events in 1965 from Selma, Alabama known as “Bloody Sunday” he was motivated to bring the New York theater community together to raise funds and awareness for the people who suffered from this violence. In his personal story he recounts how a vast, diverse group of artists banded together for one unforgettable night of solidarity and a surprise guest visit by none other than Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. himself.
A complete list of the writers and poets from Episode 2 Community
The story “Broadway Answers Selma” by Ramon Gerard Estevez AKA Martin
Sheen is included here by granted copyright permission.
Consider This Mahatma Gandhi quote “in the service to others…”
“Blessed Among Us: James Reeb” by Robert Ellsberg is included here by granted
copyright permission. And we thank the author for this opportunity to share his work.
“A History of Mourning” Robert Bly is included here in this podcast by granted copyright permission of his daughter, Mary Bly, who we thank for this opportunity to share his poetry.
Consider This Author Unknown quote “we only love God as much as…”
“Where the Mind is Without Fear” Rabindranath Tagore
Network Sting: MSW Media Media.
Martin Sheen: Hello and welcome to the second season of the Martin Sheen Podcast with yours truly, Martin Sheen, of course. And I’m delighted to be back hosting this podcast pilgrimage, where the destination is still the journey itself along the way. I plan to share stories and personal memories of some of the many people, places and events that have helped to shape my lifelong happy and continuing struggle as an artist and a man to unite the will of the spirit with the work of the flesh. I also hope to explore poetry as a powerful form of expression and communication by proxy, as it were, and how poetry is such a vital and necessary component of our spirituality and our public discourse. And from time to time, I’ll invite friends, fellow actors, poets, scholars and family members to join our pilgrimage and discuss what inspires their artistic journey. And so, friends, let us begin.
Broadway Answers Selma.
When I began recording stories for this podcast it did not occur to me that so many of them would emerge from so long ago and while I do intend to include stories much closer to the present, in fact, my adult life was shaped in large part by the people and events of that remarkable and turbulent decade in the middle of the last century, the 1960s when I lived and worked in New York City and this is one of the most poignant.
From may 1964 through September 1965 I had the good fortune of playing on Broadway in the Pulitzer Prize winning hit play “The Subject Was Roses” by Frank D. Gilroy with fellow actors Jack Albertson and Irene Daily. We opened and ran at the Royal Theater on W. 46th St. for several months before moving to the Winthrop Ames, a much smaller theater for far less rent, on the W. 43rd St. It was often referred to as “the little theater off Times Square” and we were playing there when a very dark historic event called Bloody Sunday erupted during the voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama on March 7th 1965.
That evening the nation was shocked to see the news coverage of Alabama State troopers, many on horseback, using whips, attack dogs, tear gas and billy clubs in a brutal, sustained attack on a large crowd of Black men, women and children during a peaceful voting rights march attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge in route to the state capital, Montgomery.
When the crowd tried to retreat from the unprovoked onslaught of club wielding angry state troopers many of them were beaten mercilessly and suffered severe head injuries and broken bones including a leader of the march and future Georgia congressman John Lewis, who was nearly beaten to death. In the days and weeks that followed events in Selma were a major focus of the national news as Martin Luther King Jr. arrived from Atlanta. He denounced the horrible violence against the nonviolent marchers and filed a petition in federal court to lift the injunction against the march that Alabama Governor George Wallace had imposed. Then he issued a moral call to the clergy of every religious denomination to come to Selma in solidarity and join the Voting Rights Campaign.
Many responded from across the country including a young white minister from Massachusetts named James Reeb who was unfortunately beaten to death by a group of white racists the very night he arrived in Selma.
I followed these tragic events with deep concern and suggested to my co-star, Jack Albertson that we do a benefit performance of our play for Rev. King’s cause And the family of James Reeb. And while he agreed with the concept he thought it was hardly worthwhile since we were such a small theatre, only 600 seats, and the cost of the performance itself would hardly make it practical.
He was right, of course, so then I suggested we try to involve every show on Broadway to respond Selma. Jack agreed and with that we went off to see the one man who could help make that possible: the star of the hit Broadway musical “Golden Boy” performing at the Majestic Theater on W. 44th St. Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. himself. It was a Saturday afternoon after the matinee when Mr. Davis welcomed Jack and I into his dressing room where we proposed our idea for a united Broadway response to Selma and he responded with great enthusiasm! Then he laughed and said, “The only thing I don’t like about this idea is that I didn’t think of it myself.”
With Sammy Davis involved everything rapidly began to move forward. That same afternoon he sent telegrams to every show on Broadway asking to send a representative to Sardi’s Restaurant that same night after curtain calls to help form a committee that could best determine how Broadway answers Selma and the response was extraordinary. Many Broadway stars appeared as well as producers, directors, agents, managers, theater owners, singers and dancers, comics, stage managers and press agents! Indeed, every show on Broadway was well represented including the young sensation from the hit musical “Funny Girl” Ms. Barbra Streisand. That very night a committee was formed which met several times over the next few weeks and ironed out all the details for the benefit: Sammy Davis Jr. would emcee the event to be held at the Majestic Theater Sunday evening on April 4th at 8:30 PM under the agreed title “Broadway Answers Selma.”
New York City Mayor Robert Wagner purchased the first ticket and the remaining 1650 seats sold out in a matter of days. Meanwhile, events in Selma continued to unfold. U.S. Federal Judge Frank Johnson agreed to a hearing to lift the injunction against the march but before a date could be set in court Rev. King attempted to restart the march with several 1000 participants. Once again, however, heavily armed Alabama State Troopers blocked their progress at the Edmund Pettus Bridge with ugly threats and racial taunts. Rev. King bade the marchers to kneel and pray, then he made the decision to end the march at that point in order to avoid any further bloodshed.
The following day Judge Johnson heard the case and ordered the injunction lifted immediately allowing the march to proceed to Montgomery under the guaranteed protection of US Federal Marshals and the federalized Alabama National Guard.
It was a major victory and inspired president Lyndon Johnson to send a voting rights bill to Congress a few days later where it was passed overwhelmingly and Rev. King attended the signing ceremony in the Oval Office and all of this occurred in less than 30 days!
On the day of the benefit, I arrived at the theater for rehearsal in the afternoon as the Broadway legend Ethel Merman was rehearsing a number with the orchestra but I have no memory of her performing in the show that night, nor did her name appear on the program -it still remains a mystery. Meantime, Jack, Irene and I rehearsed our scene from “The Subject Was Roses” which lasted about 12 minutes and the stage manager scheduled us for middle of the second act which meant we would be free to watch Act I.
The show began promptly at 8:30 PM with Sammy Davis Jr. walking out into the spotlight in front of the curtain and said, “Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Broadway Answers Selma.” Then he pointed to the box seats near the stage on his left and said, “And Please welcome Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” It was a stunning revelation, none of us knew he was there.
The audience rose to its feet with a thunderous applause. Rev. King seemed momentarily caught off guard as he slowly rose with a shy smile towards Sammy, gave a wave to the audience and sat back down. But the audience applause only grew louder with whistles and shouts of, “Bravo” demanding he rise again which he slowly did and repeated his actions from before and sat back down. But the audience was not yet finished expressing its gratitude, admiration and affection for this unbelievably heroic man who then rose again with a broad smile, put his hand on his heart and bowed in gratitude.
Then he gestured with both hands for the audience to be seated which they reluctantly did and the show began. Act I ran nearly two hours and during the intermission the stage manager came to our dressing room and announced to Jack, Irene and I that unfortunately our scene had to be cut from the show because everything was running over schedule. We were very disappointed, of course, and a moment later Sammy appeared and apologized for the decision to cancel our scene. Then he asked me to come backstage and assist with helping people find their way around as they waited to go on stage and I agreed to do so.
Thus, a few minutes later I found myself backstage assisting the legendary French entertainer Maurice Chevalier find a seat in the dark as he waited to make his entrance.
Act II began with Sammy on stage singing and dancing as a shaft of light spilled backstage revealing a figure standing about 20 feet from me and suddenly I realized it was Rev. King. I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was standing alone with his hands in his pockets looking out at Sammy on stage. My heart raced and my hands shook.
There was no one between us and I wanted desperately to meet him but I froze because I didn’t want to bother him. It was very late and I was sure he had come back to thank Sammy and say good night. Nonetheless, a feeling deep inside urged me to get his blessing while another voice with equal urgency said not to bother him and before I could choose what to do, to my regret, Sammy appeared, went straight to him, gave him a hug and walked him to the stage door.
I never met Rev. King and I never saw him again and precisely three years later to the day he was assassinated in Memphis TN.
Standing so near him that night unable to respond lives in my memory with deep regret. Yet I’ve come to accept the memory itself as a very special blessing and many years later I would describe that moment to Oprah Winfrey while I was portraying Federal Judge Frank Johnson in her 2014 film called “Selma.”
Please stay tuned. We’ll be right back. Welcome back.
And now, Consider This from Mahatma Gandhi.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
The following is a selection from the book “Blessed Among Us” by Robert Ellsberg. It is filled with daily reflections that explore the lives of saints as well as ordinary men and woman with stories of extraordinary courage and spiritual awakening.
James Reeb
Reverend James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister from Boston with a wife and four children, had long been committed to racial justice. In March of 1965, when a call for volunteers came from the civil rights movement for a March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Reeb was among the first of hundreds of northern clergy to respond. A previous march, on March 7th, had been blocked in Selma by mounted state troopers who charged the demonstrators with whips and clubs as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge – a day known as Bloody Sunday.
Reeb arrived in Selma two days later on March 9th. His stay was short. That very night, as he and two other ministers left a diner, they were accosted by a gang of white men with clubs. One of them struck Reeb in the head, cracking his skull. He died two days later on March 11th .
President Johnson invoked reverend Reeb in his speech before a joint session of Congress: “At times history and fate meet in a single time and a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom…So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.”
Soon after, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Later that year three men charged with Reeb’s murder were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the eulogy as follows:
“James Reeb symbolizes the forces of goodwill in our nation. He demonstrated the conscience of a nation. He was an attorney for the defense of the innocent in the court of world opinion. He was a witness to the truth that men of different races and classes might live, eat, and work together as brothers.”
Reverend James Reeb was 38 years old.
Robert Ellsberg is an American publisher specializing in religious and spiritual exploration. He is editor in chief and publisher of Orbis Books. He lives and works in upstate New York with his wife.
A History of Mourning by Robert Bly.
It’s odd that evening is so speckled with grief.
Birds start singing when the branch reddens,
But we write our poems when the sun goes down.
Our ancestors knew how to cry at death; but they
Had enough to do finding big stones to cover
The dead and begetting new souls to replace them.
We slept on the limestone plains, and woke
Night after night, tracing the rout the dead take
Through holes in limestone and on into the stars.
Some hands outlined with blown powder
On the walls of the cave have missing fingers.
We drew maps of the night sky in the dust.
How slowly it all went! One day a woman wept
When she saw a bone reddened with ochre.
A 1000 years later, we put a bead in a grave.
Some graves stand among woods. We still don’t understand
Why a pine coffin is so beautiful. We don’t know.
We are still brooding over why the sun rises.
Robert Bly was an American poet, essayist and activist, born on Dec. 23, 1926 in Parle County, Minnesota. His best-known prose book is “Iron John: A Book About Men” published in1990, which spent 62 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, and is a key text of the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement. Robert Bly died Nov. 21, 2021 in Minneapolis. Mr. Bly was 94 years old.
Please stay with us. We’ll be right back.
And we’re back.
Consider this we only love God as much as the person we love the least. Author unknown. Perhaps for good reason.
I invite you to delve further into the works of the poets I shared with you, and I hope you seek out writers and poets whose work speaks to your hearts and minds with the power to inspire your life. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve heard here, please subscribe to my podcast, The Martin Sheen Podcast, with your host, yours truly, Martin Sheen. Of course, wherever you find your podcasts. Yeah, I have to say that you can find a complete list of the poets and titles of their poems that I’ve chosen at our website themartinsheenpodcast.com
I want to thank the people who make this podcast possible. Our producer and research assistant, Renee Estevez, who assures me that the internet is a real thing and a safe place if not used off label. And our sound engineer and editor, Bruce Greenspan, the man behind these rich and seamless recordings. And to his dog Gracie, our studio mascot, who snores in perfect pentameter.
And so, friends, we part with the prayer from Tagore.
Where the heart is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards
perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into
the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening
thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom (my Father) let our country
awake.
The Martin Sheen Podcast, all rights reserved. No part of this podcast may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form without prior written consent of the author and TE Productions.
The story Broadway Answers Selma by Ramon Gerard Estevez, aka Martin Sheen, is included here by copyright permission.
Blessed Among Us, James Reeb by Robert Ellsberg is included here by granted copyright permission, and we thank the author for this opportunity to share his work.
A History of Morning by Robert Bly is included here in this podcast by granted copyright permission of his daughter, Mary Bly, who we thank for the opportunity to share his poetry.
