Harry Belafonte, R.I.P.

When I was a kid, my parents had this record album and played it often — maybe not as often as the Broadway cast album of My Fair Lady but pretty close. Harry Belafonte may have been the first entertainer who didn't target a kids audience whose name I knew. And one night when I may have been about eight or nine, they took me to see him perform out at the old Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

I liked his songs. I liked him. Later on, when I saw how active he was in the Civil Rights movement, I liked him even more. A great entertainer and a great human being — two compliments that cannot always be applied to the same person.