Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, the one person standing with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on the fateful day of April 4, 1968, will achieve his dream of telling the whole world “his story” in an Academy Award-nominated documentary airing this month on HBO. (Photo by Warren Roseborough)

And none of what was on the menu was the main course.

That distinction went to “The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306,” an Academy Award-nominated documentary airing this month on HBO. HBO, Comcast Cable in partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum hosted the invitation-only screening.

The “star” of the film is Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, the one person standing with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel when Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He also was the man of the evening. And as he recounted Dr. King’s last speech and the stormy night Dr. King delivered it, many in the viewing audience were moved to tears.

Expecting to attend the Feb. 22 Oscar ceremony in Hollywood, Kyles said he now understands why he was a witness to the death of Dr. King.  

The principals in the making of the “The Witness:  From the Balcony of Room 306.”

Maxine Smith, former Memphis Branch NAACP executive secretary, appears in the film. She is flanked by her husband, Vasco Smith, and Beverly C. Robertson.

The Academy Award nominated film is produced by Margaret Hyde (above) and directed by Adam Pertofsky.

Taylor Rogers – a retired sanitation worker – is one of the men who wore the now famous “I Am A Man” signs that came to symbolize the sanitation workers’ strike that brought Dr. King to Memphis.

“I have no words to describe my feelings then.  I have no words to describe how I feel 40 years later,” Kyles said in the film and in post-screening remarks.

“Crucifixions have to have witnesses. You can kill the dreamer but you cannot kill the dream.”

Other local “stars” of the film include longtime Memphis Branch NAACP Executive Secretary Maxine Smith, and Dr. Benjamin Hooks, former NAACP National President.

Rev. Kyles made the point that neither he, Smith nor Hooks were 40-years-old at the time of the assassination.  “It was a young people’s movement,” he told the premiere audience.

“What will you be doing in your life by the time you’re 40?”

The program before the viewing allowed media interviews and photos in a special area sporting movie posters bearing a portrait of Rev. Kyles.

Those gathered heard brief opening remarks from Trevor Yant, vice-president and general manager of Comcast Memphis, Beverly Robertson, president of the National Civil Rights Museum (which will receive all proceeds from the film), and Pat Conner, Southern Regional Dir. Corp. Affairs & PR for HBO, who introduced special guest Jacqueline Glover.

Glover, vice-president of documentary programming for HBO and responsible overseeing the development and production of documentaries for HBO and Cinemax, said she came to Memphis, visited the museum and got involved because of previous films she saw about the civil rights movement.  Supervising producer for “The Witness” as well as many Emmy- and Oscar-winning and nominated projects, such as Spike Lee’s “When the Levees Broke” and “4 Little Girls,” she thanked Rev. Kyles for sharing and telling his story “so eloquently.”  

Executive Producer Margaret Hyde, the oldest child of J.R. “Pitt” Hyde III, thanked HBO for giving “this little film wings.”  An author, publisher and filmmaker, Hyde said she grew up hearing Rev. Kyles’ story and felt it would have been a great loss not to commit his recollections of Dr. King’s final days and hours to film.

“I hope this film bridges the gap between civil rights history and civil rights NOW.  I challenge you to ask yourself how you can be part of the dream, said Hyde, 35.

‘The Witness’

The 32-minute film debuts Feb. 18. It first carries the viewer to the lighted sign of the Lorraine Motel and quickly moves onto one designating Room 306.  Historical footage is intercut with present day footage.  For example, there is historical footage of President Lyndon Johnson giving his statement mourning the death of Dr. King and a present-day Billy Kyles on the balcony and then preaching at Monumental Baptist Church.  

The editing of historical and present-day dialogue and video is masterful. Archival footage of Kyles and Smith with Dr. King are blended with their recollections of that day and time, including the failed march of March 28, 1968, the only one that Dr. King led that end in violence.  

The presence of Smith and then-Judge Ben Hooks adds additional weight to the film so it moves beyond one man’s memory and experience to corroborate the reasons why Dr. King came to Memphis.  In his film discourse, Rev. Kyles shares the humor, wit, charm and style of Dr. King as well as his fear of death, which vanished after his acknowledgement in his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” final speech at Mason Temple here in Memphis.

Shirley Henderson, case manager for the Cochran Law Firm and treasurer for the Memphis Chapter of National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., said that she was surprised to see so much film footage that she has never seen before.   Currently working on a documentary about the Memphis Invaders and their role in the sanitation strike, Henderson said, “I wondered what else they (archival film vaults in Memphis) have that I haven’t had a chance to see.”

Like Henderson, Wilbur Taylor thought the film was great but would have liked to have heard more about the Lorraine Motel owners, Walter and Lorraine Bailey, his aunt and uncle.  

Rev. Kyles said that “The Witness” was made with the idea of schools and classrooms.  

“I had no idea it would be nominated for an Academy Award.”