Edie was also an early advocate of civil rights, frequently lending her support to the movement at celebrity events and on her own television show during the early sixties. She insisted that her duet with Sammy Davis Jr. on her variety show "Here's Edie" be staged so that they were seated next to each other - as equals. Prior to that, entertainers of different races and sexes were unable to perform next to one another, so that one had to be in front of or behind the other. However, the New York City Ballet had a televised performances of the ballet "Agon" (a ballet costumed in leotards and tights, choreographed 1957) with Arthur Mitchell (original cast and the first black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet) partnering ballerina Diana Adams (original cast) dating from 1960.