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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1978)
.4 lm anni Entertainment Guide Th« Outrageous 557 Michael St.John SP E C TR U M IN H I T - T H E O R IG IN A L S F ro m H o lly w o o d H elio People . . , There was something called the Black FUaiaaiiers Hall o f Fame held recently in San Francisco, and it turned out to be worse than a bad case o f sickle cell and a six-month-old taco combined. It was the pits. The whole mess came out o f the fevered head o f Margo smith Hicks. Now , she's not related 10 that Boston Hicks, but she shares a whole mess o f dumb ideas with her Margo Smith Hicks is some kind o f minor flunky at the Kaiser Chemical Corporation. M y guess is she’s in charge o f screaming, steaming, itching and bitching She knows as much about motion pictures as 1 know about Yugoslavian chicken pluck ing That didn't stop her from mouthing o ff, though. The word got out, though' Sidney Pother, who was supposed to open the show, cancelled at the last minute, closely followed by both Ella Fitzgerald and ouat Basie. Not only did loudmouth Hicks louse up sot* jucr pact ko to rather" b inf the F ram left to rig h t are boat Aina Haley. prndacers David Evan» u i by W Q E D Pittsburgh with • g ur> April 18th at p.m.. C It. Haley hosts documentary In the 17th century, hundreds of slaves shipped from Africa to South America rebelled and began a lOOvear guerilla war that gained them freedom from their Dutch masters In the 1970’s, two American Blacks from Harvard University. Dr. S Allen Counter and David Evans, visited and filmed the descendants of these rebel slaves in the remote jungle of Surinam, formerly Dutch Guiana. Counter and Evans received partial funding for pro ducing their Surinam film from Alcoa Foundation and Roy E. Larsen. Yiee Chairman of the Board of Time Inc. Public television will present a remark able documentary about the journeys and discoveries of Counter and Evans. Titled "I Sought My Brother." the 90-minute documentary airs April 18th at S.-00 p.m. an Channel 10. Alex Haley, author of the widely acclaimed “Boots." hosts the program which includes Counter and Evans' film and their in-studio discussion with Haley. James Earl Jones narrates “I Sought My Brother." 1 Sought My Brother" is presented 00 PBS by WQED Pittsburgh with a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting In 1972, Counter, a professor of neuro- biology. and Evans, a senior admissions officer, penetrated the bush to visit the descendants of the rebel slaves The pair was aided by the government of Surinam, which provided an interprets and trans portation for the 250-mile trek deep into the forest. What they found in the South Amen can jungle was an African culture that had been preserved nearly intact for 300 eauthawtt the show, she forgot to tell anybody in the San Fran cisco press that it was going on. The whole thing was dreamed up by some far-out S .F. church. f-artha k m has never been a lady who likes to do things the easy way Remember how she got uninvited from Lyndon Johnson's W hite House when she told Lady Bird exactly how she felt about the Vietnam M ar'1 She's the same lady who agreed to stop playing house with the son o f A n b a r (his family owns the theaters) Loew, after receiving a very hefty payoff. VKell, this same Ezrtha k itt has a beautiful, but B E A U T IF U L daughter named k itt M cD onald Jimmy W alker of Good Times took one look at K in and yelled D i S O M I T E so loud that he broke windows for three blocks. A couple o f dates later, though. Mam a Eartha called the whole thing o ff. Beautiful Judy Pace was in the hospital awaiung the birth o f her second child. When a nurse brought in a tray load or food that was colder than a landlord’s heart. Judy objected politely The nurse just went on fluffing up pillows and sharpening thermometers. Judy tried again. ' When I told her what was wrong, she just looked at me like I was crazy.” Judy told me. So Judy, smiling that beautiful smile o f hers, up the tray o f cold, greasy food and launched it into orbit. Being very pregnant spmled her atm. and she missed the nurse. You're going to hear a lot more about Janet Jack- son. The prettiest member o f the Jack—a Family startled a lot o f cool cats this summer wnen she did her Mae West impersonation 0 0 the Jackson Fem iiy Shot». Now she’s making her solo acting debut cm Good Times. As good as her brothers are . . . and they are . the St. John prediction k that they will ail have to take a back seat to this little girl. Janet Jackson is a sure winner. tr^ ria v e n i« The people of the bush travel almost exclusively by dugout canoe, since streams and rivers are their only high wavs Each village has a medicine man. who in addition to his curative duties performs ritual dramas that remind the people of the victory over the Dutch. Counter and Evans were the first North American Blacks ever seen in the bush, and it was only in their third summer there that they felt close enough to the villagers to bnng in a camera crew and begin shooting. Also shown are the purification ritual that the two Americans must undergo before entering a village, and an exciting funeral in which everyone in the village participates. The funeral, and what U reveals about the society, is a highlight of the film. In the ceremony, the corpse is borne throughout the village, supposedly indi cating villagers w ho are not sufficiently remorseful. A villager so identdied must contribute gifts to satisfy the spirit of the departed. This rite selves as catharsis, ventilating all the repressed ill will in the village. A Unit oral F irh a a g e “Brother" also features the exchange of medical knowledge between Counter and the bush people. When Counter develops tendonitis, he is cured by a medicine man using only roots and his own system of touching the sore area. In return. Counter, with more rigorous testing and modern equipment, is able to trace hearing loss in residents of one village to the eating of the bitter manioc, a plant that contains cyanide. In all, the Harvard pair spent five summers in the Surinam bush, and they came away with a new appreciation of the heritage of Afro-Americans. T h ey are a proud and beautiful chap ter of African and Afro American history which we felt compelled to share with everyone - especially with people of African origin." Counter said. T h e s e people are living proof that you can't break the spirit of people who yearn to be free Through them. Africa lives in the New World." The film will also be shown on Channel 7 iCorvallis) and Channel 13 tLa Grande1 on April 18th. It will appear on Channel 3 (Salem! on April 20th. THE ORIGINALS One of the most impressive things about the Originals is their incredible knack for writing good, lop selling songs. Freddie Gorman, for instance, has written ¡either alone, with other Originals, or with other Motown writers) tunes recorded by the Marvelettes. the Supreme». Martha and the Vandellas. Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops. Lamont Dozier. Eddie Holland, the Reflections, and Sha Na Na. And the Carpenters and the Beatles dio "Please. Mr Postman " Likewise. Ty Hunter has written a batch of real winners! Over the years, the Originals have appeared on an infinite number of television shows. “I think we've done them all," laughs Gorman. "All of 'em." The latest TV appearance was on the new "Rah Rah Show." hosted by Gong Show zanv Chuck Harris The program aired on February 28th. and the Originals will no doubt be his guests in the future. They have, in fact, a full schedule of TV appearances planned. a>- well as a complete tour. CENTURIES-OLD AFRICAN TRADITION ALIVE IN SOUTH AMERICA Observer signs St. John The San Francisco Mime Troupe Presents Hotel Universe At Portland Dance Theatre. I S S S .W . '’U m w ie April 21st and 22nd at S p.m. and ApnJ 23rd at 2 and 6 p j t Tickets are *3-56 eve*. S3 mauaee Tickets at Arbuckle Flat. 1532 S.W. Momaoc. » eeeee—nnn— —e non— a ■ s ta d i af 5.660 Sooth, The word “original“ nuans "fresh, inventive, and unique." and perfectly fits this four man vocal group, the Originals. Marvin Ga.ve wrote their first big hit “Raby I'm for Real* - and until they signed «nth Fantasy Records late in *77. their entire professional career was spent at Motown The Originals are Freddie Gorman ¡spokesman for ihe group and its primary writing force!, Ty Hunter. Hank Dixon, and Walter Gaines. Together, they come up with the kind of sweet harmonies that made Motown such a musical force in the Sixties The Original story began when Walter Gaines and Hank Dixon started the group in 1966. They soon hooked up with Freddie Gorman, another extremely talented young songwriter and singer, and quickly added Ty Hunter The Originals began as background voralisls at Motown, and have worked with virtually every act on the label. “It was a small label then, and everybody worked with everybody else " Naturally a contract with Motown under their own name was inevitable. "Our first record came out in 1966." remembers Dixon. "It was Goodnight Irene.' believe it or not! Our first big hit was 'Baby I'm for Real.' a tune written for us by Marvin Gaye and his then wife. Anna Gordy Of course, we all knew Marvin personally, had worked 00 lots of his records, and he called us up one day and said he had a song he thought we'd like We did. and so did a million other people'" I »—»—a——» s u ssss ss Michael St. John will write a weekly column for the Observer and other selected Black newspapers Michael St. John made his actual show business debut in London on the BBC as a singer. He was eleven. When he returned to the LJ.S. at age thirteen he was immediately signed by station WEIL in Philadelphia to appear on T h e Uncle Wip Show " There was another budding talent 00 the show; his name was Eddie Fisher. He made his professional acting debut in a show called “De Adamses" at the PIMRS ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT MEN S MAGAZINES TH E B R IG H T N E W M O N T H L Y N E W S F E A T U R E M A G A Z IN E Nayc WasKsiflTut Heady i Nimm/’ The Macht Test Takelt fftbjDare Hedged™ Theatre under the direction of Jasper [>eeder Then Broadway beckon ed. Michael was signed to appear in "Four Saints in Three Acts." The show only lasted a short time but it represent ed the U.S. at the annual drama festival in Pans. During his years studying at The University of Southern California. Mi chaei appeared in motion pictures and on television He also began his supper club act which debuted at the famed Purple Onion on the Sunset Strip. The film "Carmen Jones" brought Michael together with such superstars as Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll. Pearl Bailey and Dorothy Dandridge. He played the character of T-Bone." Mem her of the Wedding" followed with Ethel Water», then "Finian's Rainbow" with David Wayne and "The Desk Set" with Shirley Booth, to name a few. Michael was also selected to be the first Black Associate Director at NBC. After leaving NBC. he became editor of a lew entertainment magazines and began his syndicated Hollywood column for World Wide News Syndicate. His short stones have appeared in such magazines as Silver Foxes. Encore. Plavgirl and Ver tex. In 1974. Michael won an award for his short story entitled "Reflections of Another Time He »as presented the coveted award by the National Asaocia tion of American Writers. In 1976. Michael cut his first record A Christmas record called “Christinas is Christmas." The recording will be released annually by Sterling Records. Michael is currently the Editor In Chief of Players, Now and Inside Gossip magazines He has also been signed to do a five minute gossip spot, five times weekly, on The Mutual Black Network. / ■» I Sought My Brother Television! I a Surinamese bush tribe bring in sell imposed isoiati— lor tea generati— s NOW MAGAZINE M A Y ISSU E - ON SALE MOW D O N 'T h llS S IT PLAYERS MAGAZINE MAY ISSUE - ON SALE MOW 8 P .M . T u e s d a y , A p r il 18 K O A P -T V , C h a n n e l 10 D O N ' T M IS S IT Oregon E d o r ili— I and Public Broadcasting Service
