{"id":43105,"date":"2015-10-06T01:45:07","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T01:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=43105"},"modified":"2015-10-06T14:09:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T14:09:48","slug":"the-most-famous-indian-on-1950s-american-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=43105","title":{"rendered":"The most famous \u2018Indian\u2019 on 1950s American TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most famous \u2018Indian\u2019 on 1950s American TV<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Times of India<\/a>
\n2015-10-04<\/p>\n

Malini Nair<\/strong><\/p>\n

Korla Pandit<\/a> was the first African American to have a TV show to himself \u2013 by pretending to be an exotic Indian musician<\/em><\/p>\n

The story is almost unbelievable. In the US of the 1940s, a light-skinned African American youth discovers his prodigious talent at playing the electric organ. The mystical Orient and all its clich\u00e9s are in vogue at the time and radio shows like Chandu the Magician<\/a><\/em> and films like Midnight Shadow<\/em><\/a> are the rage, featuring fakirs and assorted Indian exotica. The ambitious African American, John Roland Redd<\/a>, decides to reinvent himself for the TV music market \u2013 as Korla Pandit<\/a>, the mysterious Indian musician.<\/p>\n

Deeply kohled<\/a> eyes fixed in a hypnotic gaze, a bejewelled turban on his head, Pandit would play the Hammond<\/a> B2 organ and piano with both virtuosity and theatricality on TV shows. Around him, a stagey exotic east played out \u2013 smoky haze, play of light and shade, Oriental dancers undulating in shimmery lehengas<\/a> and short dhotis<\/a>.<\/p>\n