Richard Pryor Returns in
Live on the Sunset Strip’
Comedian rjchard pryor, visibly re
covered from his near-fatal brush
with death in late 1980. was outrageous
as ever as he returned to show business,
doing two concerts of stand-up routines
at the Hollywood Palladium, December
9-10, the results of which will be seen in
the forthcoming Rastar film, Richard
Pryor, Live on the Sunset Strip Due for
March, 1982 release, Live will consist of
all-new material written entirely by
Pryor, who is also producing, and will be
directed by Joe Layton, a three-time Tony
winner Haskell Wexler. winner of
Acadmey Awards for Coming Home,
Hound for (don . and Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf', is the cinematographer.
The film will be Pryor s lath. His latest.
Stir Crazy, in which he co-starred with
Gene Wilder, was Columbia Pictures top
box office grosser for 1981 The two w ill
be reunited tins year in Columbia's Deep
Trouble
[tressed in a red-orange suit, a black
shin buttoned to the neck (to conceal
burn scars) and gold lame stages. Pryor
admitted he was nervous on opening
night, even though he had spent three
months preparing material and had
done a couple of test runs at the nearby
Comedy Store
The main topic of his monologue, re
plete with his usual colorful language,
was ias burn accident, a horrifying expe
rience he often made sound hilarious.
To answer the questions in everyone's
mind. What Happened?.’’ he said.
Everyone who knows me knows that 1
have cookies and milk before 1 go to
bed Well one night 1 mixed low fat milk
with pasteurized and w hen 1 dipped the
cookie in, the s — blew up Then, in a
serious tone, he said. I smoked fret
base [the mixture obtained when ether
and cocaine are combined] every day for
a year. It’s the devil s smoke. I should
have known better because the first time
I smoked it. 1 burnt up the bed I was
smoking so much the dealers said,
Richard, we can t sell you no dope
When 1 found out I was a junkie, it
scared the s—out of me " Then return
ing to a humorous vein, Pryor added,
■They' ought to use dope in the Olympics.
When 1 was on fire, 1 ran the 100 yard
dash in 4.8. When you run down the
street on fire, people don’t give you no
trouble, they move right out of the way .
Except for one old drunk who said, Hey
buddy, got a light? " Pryor also re
counted his convalescence, brilliantly
describing his first, very painful, sponge
bath.
NX itli a wonderful array of accents and
dialects, the comedian also covered a
trip to Africa ( They call it the Mother
land but nobody knew me there. I
looked in the phone book and 1 didn t
see any Pryors’’), a former ice pick
wielding employer, sex and the varied
groups one finds in penitentiaries ( All
the Chicano groups have names you
can’t pronounce, but the double Mus
lims, those are the ones you don’t f —
w ith because they can’t wait to get to Al
lah.").
Pryor is truly a visual personage; we
can’t wait to see the film.
v.
Science Fiction
Ray bradbi ry’S long-awaited sequel to his
1951 science fiction classic, The Day the
Earth Stood Still, will have to be awaited
even longer .Although it is still in develop
ment, there is no script or screenwriter
(Bradbury' just did the treatment). However,
Bradbury's horror novel. Something Wicked
This Comes, is nearly finished shooting
at Disney. Starring Jason Robards as the
father, Diane Ladd as Mrs. Nightshade and
English actor Jonathon Pryce as Mr. Dark,
this film is pan of Disney's move toward
more "mature' features. And more expen
sive, too: "We built a $2.5 million set
around town square." marveled a Disney
publicist
Disney has two other science fiction
projects in the works as well Total Recall,
based on Philip K Dick’s / Can Get It for
You Wholesale, has been written by Ronald
Shusett and Dan O Bannon. who collabo
rated on Alien It concerns a Walter Mitty
like character whose dream of a life of ad
venture leads him to purchase the memory
of a former intergalactic espionage agent
who, it turns out. is (was?) himself. Also,
Steve Lisberger has written and will direct
Iron, w hich w ill feature the most expensive
use of computer animation in a full-length
film to date The stars are Bruce Boxleitner,
David Warner and Jeff Bridges.
No Respect for a Legend
IKK turner, who coached his wife Tina
into the kind of performer Mick Jagger
would be happy to steal moves from, who
led the Ike and Tina Turner Revue through
a multi-hit career on the Soul Circuit, was
robbed at gunpoint recently in the high
priced Marina del Rev section of Los
Angeles. No arrests have yet been reported.
So You Wanna Be a Horror
Film Star?
\\rr ELI LISTEN NOW TO WHAT WE SAY E.L.
W Casting is accepting resumes for an
as-yet-untitled horror movie. Males and
females 18 and over with athletic ability”
are being sought. Said ability is par
enthetically defined as "(... able to fall
down on flexor).” No mention of needing
ability to bleed and/or shriek when gouged,
clawed and/or chainsawed. Got the talent?
This could be your chance to fall, er, break
into the big time.
Will Their Reds Be Redder Than
Russia is making its own version of the
life of American journalist John Reed
(currently appearing on a few big screens
in this country as Warren Beatty's Reds):
theirs, a Soviet-Mexican-ltalian production,
stars Franco Nero.
Also from Russia: A Woman for Alt Times,
the story of famous ballerina Anna Pavlova,
with Galina Beliaeva as Pavlova, Robert De
Niro as impresario Sol Hurok, and director
Martin Scorsese in a small role.
rMAX, the latest effort to lure people away
from television into theaters, projects film
onto giant screens — 70 feet high. So far,
like old Cinerama, this concept has been
used to show off the medium. Now there’ll
be a feature film to fill it — My Strange
Uncle is a so-called wacky farce, wherein a
w'eird will inspires two heirs, a niece and a
Our Reds?
Big, Big Screens
(Continued on page 1R)
GEORGE CARLIN HAS FINALLY
FOUND A PLACE FOR HIS STUFF.
IN YOUR EAR!
George Carlin’s new album,
“A Place For My Stuff!”
On Atlantic Records and Tapes
Produced by George Carlin
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