Hot Hero Sandwich Project Archives: Free To Be . . . You and Me (1974)

by G. Jack Urso

Originally published May 26, 2024, on www.Aeolus13umbra.com. 

From the Hot Hero Sandwich Central YouTube channel.

Free To Be . . . You and Me, an Emmy and Peabody-award winning 1974 TV special created by Marlo Thomas, who also served as executive producer, has been referred to in various articles throughout the Hot Hero Sandwich Project. Series producers Carole Hart served as a producer and husband Bruce Hart and his frequent collaborator Stephen Lawrence served as music producers. The Free To Be . . . You and Me project, produced with the support of the Ms. Foundation for Women, actually began in 1972 with a children’s book and record album (which in 2021 was selected by the Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”). The entire program, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is available above from the Hot Hero Sandwich Central YouTube channel.

Record album cover.

According to an Oct. 22, 2022, Slate article, after originating the idea, Marlo Thomas noted to her agent at William Morris that she needed a producer for the project and a junior agent in the music department, Scott Shukat, suggested Carole Hart (Shukat would later go on to become a personal manager and had a 35-year career before passing away in 2003). Hart was then only 28 years old at the time, yet it was her age that connected her with the zeitgeist of the time. After reviewing the materials Thomas had gathered to date, Carole Hart suggested 

According to an Oct. 22, 2012, Slate article, after originating the idea, Marlo Thomas noted to her agent at William Morris that she needed a producer for the project and a junior agent in the music department, Scott Shukat suggested Carole Hart (Shukat would later go on to become a personal manager and had a 35-year career before passing away in 2003). Hart was only 28 years old at the time, yet it was her age that connected her with the zeitgeist of the time. After reviewing the materials Thomas had gathered to date, Carole Hart suggested, “that children are really smart and that we shouldn’t ever underestimate their taste or their intelligence. I don’t think these materials are ambitious enough.” Hart’s belief that children are more intelligent than given credit for echoes a story Dr. Tom Cottle told about Bruce Hart confronting NBC executives who underestimated the audience.

According to Dr. Cottle:

“Don't you think that a lot of this stuff is over the heads of these children?” one of the suits said. And Bruce said, “Yeah, it may.” The suits said, “Well, how are you going to deal with this?”

And Bruce Hart said right to these NBC guys that are paying his salary and underwriting the show, “Well, we’ll just have the kids stand up and then it won't be over their heads.”

The cast is filled with some of the most popular performers of the day, including Alan Alda, Harry Belafonte, Mel Brooks, Jack Cassidy, Carol Channing, Rita Coolidge, Billy De Wolf, Roberta Flack, Rosey Grier, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Kris Kristofferson, Shirley Jones, Robert Morse, The New Seekers, Cicely Tyson, Diana Ross, Tom Smothers, the Voices of East Harlem, and Dionne Warwick. Puppetry was provided by Wayland Flowers — an incredible cast of talent that perhaps only Marlo Thomas could pull together.

Thomas in a promotional still from the show.

The general messaging of the show deals with issues such as empathy and empowerment, gender expectations, aspirations, helping, and understanding others, including our parents. In Hot Hero Sandwich, we can see the Harts continue a similar message to the same, slightly older, demographic, just a few years later in 1979. The mix of elements such as animation, music, and sketches mature topically, but adopts a similar overall structure.

Marlo Thomas modeling jobs for young women in promotional stills from the show.

Also of interest is that this recording includes the original commercials, which gives us an idea of what the network thought the audience would most likely be interested in. I'm unsure if this particular recording was from the original network broadcast and not a later repeat, but the Bill Cosby Jello Pudding commercial at the 42:00 mark definitely dates back to 1974.

Free To Be . . . You and Me is an important step in the development of the concepts that led the Harts to create Hot Hero Sandwich and without it the basic template the series followed might not have been developed as it did.

 

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