Portland Observer November 13, 1980 Pegu 3
T.V. star: A self reflection
By Nyewusi Askan
(Editor s Note. This is the final
installment o f the Observer's inter
view w ith T .V . star Michael
Roberts)
Observer: H ow d id you break
into the Baretta Series?
Roberts: I have been acting for
about 13 years. Most o f it was o ff
and on. Baretta cuae as a result of
just working hard. I did a show with
a guy named Bernie Oaworsky. We
did a show with MOM and I had
these four lines and I really did them
well. I knew 1 did them well. Bernie
liked it alot, so when he went over to
Universal to do Baretta, he called
me over, an<Xtr..I didn’t know who
in the hell Robert Blake was which
was all the better, cuz if I did I'd
probably been nervous, know what
I mean?
Anyway, we sat down and read
the script and Blake looked at
Bernie and «aid, "Y o u think he's
good?” Bernie said, " Y e s ." So
Blake said, " W e ’ ll go w ith i t . "
Bobby (Blake) has that type o f
attitude, he doesn’t trip or anything
like that. At that point, I wasn’ t a
regular on the show. I had done
like, five or six other series as guest
roles previous to that, and that’ s
what I was doing this time...doing
my lines and saying bye bye.
When we came in to do the show,
the character (Rooster) wasn’ t a
pimp or anything...he was kinda a
street dude, just sort o f written into
the script. He had a few lines to
carry on the story plan. So, 1 did the
lines and Bobby (Blake) had me
back on the show four times, and
then Universal offered me a con
tract. Now, you just d on’ t turn
down a contract especially when no
one knows who you are.
The next year, I came back to do
the show. 1 had been basically
working in theatre and they started
developing the character more and
more. Some o f the things I liked
about what they created as far as the
character is concerned, some o f
them I didn’ t. Er...sometimes you
have problems w ith m aking
changes. Sometimes you don’ t. But
one o f the things I realized that I
didn’ t realize until after the show
was over, was how much I had
learned. That was one of my main
reasons for doing the show in the
first place. I had decided, talking
about decision, about two years
previous to getting the series, that I
was going to get a series and work in
it for three years to just basically
find out what television was all
about. Well Baretta lasted about
three and a half years. Now I am
working on getting my own series. I
just recently did a pilot that was on
la * year called "L iy h t Side” that I
liked a lot. I don’t know what the
networks thought about it. We are
waiting to see.
MICHAEL ROBERTS
sibility. I’ m not saying we have to
give up the bread in our pockets or
the food on our table, but as a
parent, we have to find out what is
going on with our children.
Sears
CZ pays women back wages
Parents have to be interested in
the slightest thing their children are
interested in Being a parent is really
a super big job, and either people
don’ t realize it or don’t want to do
it, or their problems are so heavy
that they can’t confront the area. A
parent must be capable and willing
to communicate with the children
on any level, l ets face it...you have
all kinds o f movies coming out with
kids doing all kinda things. You
know what I ’ m saying? You got
Brooks Shields, or the Jackson
sisters, or the Jacksons themselves
or the Osmonds, man, the kids
themselves are tuned in quicker and
they will go to the drug man or the
sex man a lot quicker than we do.
T h a t’ s why they are starting
younger. They turn on the
television, pick this type o f stuff o ff
and no one is telling them, "say
lo o k ...I don’ t care what you are
watching, but do you know what it
is you are watching? W hat did you
learn from that?”
Some o f the heaviest plays I ’ ve
dealt w ith had to do w ith the
distance between the Black father
and the son. You see, in the Black
family, the Black father had to work
so hard just to get over and had to
deal with a society that kept trying
to keep him down, that a distance
started existing between him and his
son. You go into the white neigh
borhoods and find the same thing.
The play “ Death o f a Salesman“
deals with the same thing, where
there is distance between the father
and son, and the inability to com
municate. The father has problems,
the son has problems, so in essence,
it comes down to being willing to
com m unicate, ta lk openly and
honestly with your children, gain
their confidence, admit your own
limitations and limited knowledge,
and spread some of the love around
to them that you received or desired
when you were a child.
It comes back down to com
m unication, responsibility, being
able to work a extra eight hours
more after you leave your jo b ,
letting your children know you are
w illing to listen to anything they
have to say.
I f children feel that no one is
going to listen to them, or that no
one understands, then they are
going to go o ff with the guys and
girls around the corner. C hildhood
is spooky enough fo r children
without us making it any worst. It’ s
also all about love.
The Department o f Justice has
obtained a consent decree requiring
Crown Zellerbach Corporation to
pay $275,ooo in back pay to more
than 300 women in settlement o f an
employment discrimination suit.
Attorney General Benjamin R.
Civiletti said the decree was filed in
U.S. District Court in New Orleans,
Louisiana, resolving the suit filed at
the same time.
The suit charged the papermaking
company with violating Executive
Order 11246, which p ro h ib its
federal
contractors
from
discriminating in employment prac
tices, by restricting women to lower-
paying, lower-opportunity jobs at
its facilities in Bogalusa, Louisiana.
In addition, the suit said, women
were hired at only two of the four
plants in Bogalusa. Those two
plants are no longer in operation.
Under the consent decree. Crown
Zellerbach agreed to pay $I2O,(XX)
in back pay to women who were
rejected fo r nonclerical jobs
between 1974 and 1977 and
$155,000 in compensation to women
who worked at the Bogalusa facility
in 1976.
The decree also enjoins the com
pany from engaging in any practice
that discriminates against women in
violation of the Executive Order.
Crown Zellerbach further agreed
to dismiss a 1977 lawsuit against the
Secretary o f Labor seeking to
prevent the company from being
debarred from federal contracts
without a hearing.
Mrs Maude Banks Young and her fam ily wish to express
their appreciation to the many people who extended their
condolences, kindness and assistance at the time o f the deuth
o f her grandson, Michael Banks Shephard, and to those who
have known and loved Michael.
W hole-meal microwave
with 2-stage m em ory
Observer: H hat advice do you
have fo r parents?
Roberts: The word is a heavy. It is
responsibility. I t ’ s so heavy that
many parents destroy their children
rather than take the responsibility
for them. I or a example; a young
girl gets pregnant, go to her parents
for advice and the first thing they
think about is an abortion. Now
th a t’ s heavy! And it really gets
heavy when you see it creeping into
the Black communities, because you
know that it has come thru other
com m unities as well. Example,
white middle class. It’ s heavy when
you hear Mexican Americans
talking about getting abortions.
You see, in my view point, the
people on the lower strata have
some strong family ties, you know
what I mean? It’ s like the O ’ Jays
song, ‘ ‘Fam ily Reunion. "W 'e are
talking about you, me, mamma,
daddy, sister, brother and relatives.
I have a friend from Texas who told
me about his family reunions. Man!
Five hundred Black people! I said
what! Five hundred people! But you
see this among the various com
munities, regardless o f color, so
when this bond starts cracking up,
you know someone has throw n
something in to it th a t’ s pretty
heavy.
It comes right back to respon
sibility. For a parent, it ’ s respon-
Interested in current books
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519 S .VV 3rd Avenue
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