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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2010)
August is. 2010 ____________________ïtie Jlortianii OOhsrrnrr Page » Best of Soul Train Celebrating 40th anniversary 1NT1II4ISH1M Tim e Life com m em orates the 40th A nniversary o f Soul Train with "The Best o f Soul Train" 3-DVD boxed set hitting retail store Aug. 31 for the very first time. The release celebrates the culturally significant Am erican institution that becam e a national launch pad for show casing the latest nam es in soul m usic, outrageous fashion and hip dances - m aking Soul music a m ainstream global genre. "The Best o f Soul Train" presents an am azing and rare collection o f perform ances from the Soul Train archives, m any o f which haven't been seen in over 30 years, including exclusive perform ances from Soul Train's most acclaim ed era (1971 - 1979) by The Jackson Five, M arvin Gaye, The O'Jays, Sm okey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Stevie W onder, Don Cornelius Sly & The Fam ily Stone and more. Roots Producer Made TV History Diversity was at heart of titan’s work (AP) — David L. Wolper, whose landmark 1977 miniseries "Roots" engrossed the nation with its saga o f an Am erican fam ily descended from an African slave, has died. He was 82. W olper also was known for producing multicultural TV sitcom hits like “W elcom e Back, R otter” and “Chico and the M an.” During his lengthy career, he produced the children's classic "W illy W onka and the Chocolate Factory" and dem onstrated his sh o w m an in stin c ts w ith N ew Y ork's 1986 extravaganza cel ebrating the Statue o f Liberty cen tennial and the 1984 O lym pic Gam es cerem onies in Los A nge les. But “Roots,” based on the best seller by Alex Haley, was perhaps his best-known accom plishm ent. The ABC series was seen in whole or part by 130 m illion people — m ore than h a lf the country — when it ran for eight nights in 1977. T he m in ise rie s c h ro n ic lin g Kunta Kinte, enslaved as a teen ager in 18th-century W est Africa to be sold in Am erica, and his descendants represented a differ ent kind o f fam ily story, one told from the black perspective. It was based on Haley's novel, a Pulitzer Prize-w inner that m ixed accounts o f his own ancestors with fiction. A m ong the large cast w ere John Am os, Ben Vereen, Leslie U ggam s, C icely Tyson, O livia David L. Wolper Cole, M adge Sinclair and Richard R oundtree. N ew co m er L eV ar Burton, who played Kinte as a youth, becam e an instant star. The series won a slew o f honors including nine Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. In 2002, W olper produced a 25th-anniversary special on the impact o f "Roots," which aired on NBC after ABC turned down the idea. "I think it was an im portant m ilestone in the history o f televi sion," then N BC Entertainm ent President Je ff Zucker said at the time. "It introduced the miniseries. It show ed w hat you could do if you had the courage o f your con victions to put som ething on like that." W olper also produced several other m iniseries, including the 1979 sequel "Roots: The Next G enerations," "The Thom Birds" and "North and South." Before becom ing a titan in the m iniseries genre, W olper had a series o f highly successful TV d o c u m e n ta rie s, in c lu d in g the Em m y-w inning "The M aking o f the President 1960." Portland's Premier Weekly Diversity Publication. Stay in tune with your local news and events. Advertise and subscribe to The Portland Observer. We'll grow with you. ö”1,e ^ .în r tla n b O O bsrrücr 4747 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Portland, OR 97211 503-288-0033 on the web at www.portlandobserver.coni
