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March 17, 1978
lack Critic lectures
By Denise L. Green
“Black films are
divided into two
categories,” said Donald
Bogle guest speaker for
Clark’s Black History film
festival.
Donald Bogle, a
graduate of Lincoln
By Joy Gray
“Close Encounters of
the Third Kind” the present
top grossing motion picture,
and “Short Eyes,” a low
budget movie featuring a
predominantly black and
Hispanic cast, may seem
unlikely to be compared.
However, after viewing
the two films and doing a
considerable amount of
thinking about both, I am
inclined to question which
movie is most significant.
“Close Encounters’.« a
good movie. The cast’s
performances are superb,
the earner^ work is out
standing and the special
effects are a story in
themselves.
But, the theme, of the
movie, the making of
contact with aliens from
another planet by some
Americans, disturbs me.
For the people of a soceity
based on oppression and
exploitation and ravaged by
myriad social problems to
c yen entertain the notion of
establishing bonds with non
humans from outerspace is
ironic to me.
If they can’t relate to
Third World peoples on a
level as equals, what makes
them think they can do so
with little green folks from
Mars?
If the aliens aren’t
careful, they may find
themselves colonized and
1 exploited by the rulers of the
University, and author of
the book “Toms, Coons,
Mulattoes, Mammies and
Buck.” One, black films
produced independently out
of Hollywood, and two,
black motion' pictures
produced by Hollywood that
much less-than-perfect
planet Earth.
On the other htrfd, the
low budget movie that
everyone is not talking
about, “Short Eyes,” has a
relevant, contemporary
theme that encourages the
audience to think.
The problems of this
society, which are totally
ignored in “Close
Encounters,” are exposed in
the film like so many raw,
bleeding wounds - racism,
incarceration and sexual
maladjustment.
“Short Eyes” is far
from entertaining; its
brutal harsh and so real as
to be disturbing e 1 en to a
popcorn gnawing, necking
audience. Those seeking the
ethereal escapism of a
“Close Encounters” should
steer clear of it.
I realize that most
people go to a movie to
escape reality. But 1
question whether the black
audience can afford to be
lulled into complcance by
the escapist fare of the
silver screen and the boob
tube.
Even in art, we must
ask the question: What is
our priority - to be able to
forget the problems of this
oppressive society or to i
solve them? Escapism, be it >
“Close Encounters’’ or
“Good Times” is not for us.
white masters.
James B. Lowe was the
first black actor to play an
Unde Tom and to be widely
publicized.
Bill, “Bojangles”
Robinson, was the second
and he starred with Shirley
Temple in four very suc
cessful movies. Robinson
was an extraordinary
dancer during the 1930’s,
Bogle said.
“Coons,” were the
clowns and the fools in film,
he said. The first “coon”
was A1 Jolson, a white man
who portrayed a Black man
by smearing black ash on
hisiace.
Mantan Moreland too
played a coon role of Bir
mingham Brown in movies
with Charlie Chan.
A more recent por
trayal of a coon was Roscoe
Lee Brown’s protrayal in
“The Liberation of L.B
Jones.”
The “Tragic Mulattoes”
were usually white or black
actresses whose lives were
tormented by their fair-skin,
Bogle said.
Tragic, is the ap
propriate word to use when
describing the parts
Mulattoes played. They
always lived such miserable
lives because of their lost
identies.
Mammies, were the big,
fat, domestic servants who
washed dishes, and literally
held the white family
together, according to
Bogle.
Maybe the most famous
of the mammies was Hattie
McDaniels, one of the stars
of the immortal movie
“Gone With the Wind.”
“Bucks” were, and
continue to be, the sexual
black men, Bogle said. The
first such movie that
brought recognition to the
“Buck” was a 1915 con
troversial production en
titled, “The Birth of a
Nation.”
The more recent black
bucks and Jim Brown,
Melvin Van Peebles,
Richard Roundtree, Ron
O’Neal, Fred Williamson,
O.J. Simpson, Ken Norton
and Ivan Dixon.
leneocfi
ad 'Cute’
She glides down the staircase in the southern mansion
style lobby at WSB studios oh so gracefully. Her brown
expressive face is perfectly highlighted by a slight brown
pants suit and a dark brown blouse. There’s a word for
women who look like that -CUTE.
»*»»»»»»♦*
I had been waiting for an hour to interview her, sqir-
ming in a soft velvet seat, reading and re-reading her
biography, trying to familiarize myself with her impressive
career: First black and first woman to anchor an Atlanta
news program...former reporter with the Louisville
Times...voted as one of the Outstanding Young People of
Atlanta...featured in the February, 1976 issue of Glamour
magazine as one of the twelve outstanding young working
women in the United States...member of several board-
s...recipient of the Clark College Student Government
Association’s “Push For Excellence” award-the list went
on and on.
She finally arrived and it was worth the wait. Monica
Kaufman, WSB’s 6 arid 11 p.m. news anchor woman looked
even better in person than she does on TV.
She apologized for her tardiness and explained she had
just given a speech to a group that went longer than she had
expected. “No problem,” I said, “I’m in no hurry to go any
where.”
After giving me a quick tour of the station, we settled
down at the station snack bar and conducted the interview.
Well, not quite an interview. More like an informal con
versation. There is no need to prod Monica Kaufman for
answers. She is a very articulate, cordial and candid
woman. You just ask her a question and she answers it and
gives you the answer to questions you didn’t think to ask.
“There were other blacks and women who were more
intelligent and more attractive then me, but I had a better
camera presence, a certain smoothness,” Kapfman said,
explaining what led to her being chosen co-
anchorperson for the city’s top news program, a position
she shares with John Pruitt.
“You have to have substance,” she continued, picking
a splinter in her finger. “You have.to be more than a pretty
face. You have to be yourself.”
And Kaufman is herself. There are no false pretensions,
no “shuckin’ and jivin,’ as she calls it, just straight honest
talk.
She doesn’t mind telling her age (30), how much she
makes ($36,000), her marital status (divorced for three
years after an eight-year marriage to an accountant.)
She is not afraid to give her opinion on other
newscaster, either.
“Dave Michaels (anchorman for WXIA) is a good
reader,” she says. “He knows how to read copy and people
like good readers. I think Joe Washington (the young black
weekend anchorman) is better.
“I think Jackie (Maddox, the co-anchorperson for
WAGA) is good and she’s attractive roz Abrams (a reporter
for WXIA) is going to go far. She’s attractive and a good
reporter.”
But there is ai Ibroadcaster, who works for CBS, that
Kaufman is just dying to meet.
“I have a crush on Ed Bradley. I followed his career
ever since he was in Vietnam covering the war,” she says,
smiling. “He’s so authoritative and of course he’s so han
dsome. He’s the only anchorman I want to meet.”
Kaufman may have a crush on Bradley, but she has
stronger feelings for a New York lawyer. They fly to see
each other occasionally and are fairly close, but Monica
says she doesn’t plan on remarrying for at least another
three years.
She says she date several men in Atlanta, many of them
laywers, but doesn’t have a steady date here.
“It’s better to dat many in Atlanta,” she says. “Atlanta
is too small for me to date just one fella, I usually go to Wild
Cherry’s and Cisco’s and Mimi’s. I love to hustle.”
It’s fairly obvious that she likes to hustle or she
wouldn't be where she is today - well paid, articulate, in
telligent, and what’s that word-oh yeah,CUTE.