A Man is Ten Feet Tall is a 1955 American television play by Robert Alan Aurthur. It was adapted into the 1957 film Edge of the City.
The play is considered a landmark in American television because it featured a friendship between a black man and a white man, as well as providing an early star role for Sidney Poitier. Poitier wrote in his memoirs the role as a personal triumph for him, although he briefly forgot his lines during the broadcast.
Variety wrote "ThatâÂÂs not to say that it lacked exciting elements. But over and above the script itself (and a part of it, of course, as far as intentions go) was what seemed an unprecedented item that may be looked upon years hence in tv as parallel to a major decision of a higher tribunal. It may well be AurthurâÂÂs supreme contribution to television."
Donald Bogle noted the play was a landmark in its depiction of black characters although it "now looks like a prototype for Hollywood's fake idealized method for handling such Black/white friendships."