August is. 2010
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Best of Soul Train
Celebrating 40th anniversary
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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."
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