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(Left to right) Jason (Sharon Corley), Ritchie (Andre Moore) and Midget (Gabe Casseus) take a memorable ride in a “boosted”
squad car in New Jersey Drive, a Nick Gomez film and a Gramercy Pictures release.
- For the young men depictea in
writer-director Nick Gomez’s
hard-hitting film New Jersey
Drive, the future is not always of
their choosing. For many, a day
to-day struggle is all the future
holds. And the most they can ask
for is having friends and family to
help them make it through.
New Jersey Drive chronicles the
activities of young car thieves at
tempting to joyride their way out
of urban despair. This explosive
drama from Gramercy Pictures
alsotakes a compelling look at the
friendship between two young
potential career criminals whose
lives ultimately take tragically
different paths.
Likekids ofthe past, these teen
agers steal cars to escape bore
dom, as well as earn a living. But
today, the evolution of this crimi
nal rite of passage includes face
to-face confrontations with police
and daring high-speed chases
through city streets. For the ur
ban teenagers of New Jersey Drive,
aggressive police tactics have
made death — not arrest —the
possible result of car thefl.
“Thesekids affirm theirsense of
identity by stealing cars,” says
Gomez, who debuted with the ac
Friday chronicles fun and fear in “hood
“There are a lot of funny things
that go on in any neighborhood if
you just kick back and take the
time to observe,” said Ice Cube,
the Los Angeles native who co
wrote and stars in the film, which
shot on location just blocks away
from where he grew up as a kid.
There’s a lot of laughing and love
in this community, but you
wouldn’t know that by watching
the nightly news.”
For Ice Cube, capturing the
flavor of life in the ‘hood was one
of his goals when he began writ
ing the screenplay for Friday
with his longtime friend, DJ
Pooh. So when filming began,
the contagious camaraderie, ban
ter, and rapport on the set was a
natural extension of the script
he co-wrote. Friday chronicles
the comical and sometimes life
threatening interactions that
éccur between Craig Jones, his
friends and neighbors.
- Peppered throughout the film
are dynamic and familiar char
acters that audiences will relate
to as they embrace similar sta
ples from their own neighbor
hoods.
: “Felishais a very innocent per
son,” said Angela Means of her
character’s constant quest for
handouts. “All she does is beg —
for money, a microwave, what
ever. She doesn’t care what it is.
Felisha justifies everything she
does because, you know, beggin’
is in the Bible.”
* Best known for his dramatic
performances in the films High
er Learning, Boyz N’ the Hood
and Trespass, Cube ensured the
claimed teature him Lawsof Grav
ity. “In New Jersey Drive, they
become people you identify with
and feel compassion for, even
though they'’re leading question
able lives and have questionable
attitudes. They don’t have the
same type of educational or eco
nomic opportunities, so they de
veloped their own set of values.”
The story Gomez tells in New
Jersey Drive is one that Sharron
Corley (Jason Petty in the film)
says he relates to, because his life
was similar to that of Petty’s.
Before making his acting debut
with this film, Corley was a mem
ber of a gang called the LoLifes,
based in the Brownsville section
of Brooklyn. Corley’s story, and
those of other gangs in urban New
York, is detailed in Greg
Donaldson’s award-winning book,
The Ville.
“The LoLifes was a fashion group
that stole clothes, mostly (Ralph
Lauren) Polo,” says Corley. “But
Jason pretty much reminded me
of a lot of things I went through,
like this relationship with his
mother and his friendship with
Midget. After seeing friends die or
turn on you and seeing what your
family goes through, you grow up
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Ice Cube (left), Paula Jai Parker (right), and Chris Tucker (cen
ter) star in New Line Cinema’s Friday.
film’s comedic underbelly by as
sembling some of the industry’s
premiere comic talent.
“I'm the straight man in Fri
day, kind of like Jackie Gleason
to Chris Tucker’s Art Carney,”
Cube said. “I’'m not a comedian,
but I know what happens when
you put a serious man in funny
a little bit and want to see what
the purpose of your life is.”
Based on New York Times re
porter Michel Marriott’s investi
gation of a far-reaching scandal
within the Newark Police Depart
ment, the film includes a provoca
tive, behind-the-sceneslook at the
antagonisticrelationshipbetween
the car thieves and a renegade
cop, Lit. Emil Roscoe, portrayed by
Saul Stein. The film’s shocking
examples of blatant police brutal
ity, used to deter car theft and
apprehend criminals were based,
in part, on real-life incidents. In
one of the film’s more lightheart
ed moments, Jason and his boys
brazenly heist a Newark police
man’s car — an actual theft that
was featured in the New York
Times series.
“The whole point of view of these
kids was to entice the cops to chase,
andtochallengeauthorityonabasic
level,” Gomez explains. “To them,
the cops represent something lethal
and in many ways, their actions are
living out the fantasies of a commu
nitythat’sbecomevery familiarwith
police abuse.”
For Saul Stein, whoalsostarredin
Lawsof Gravity, Roscoeisagood cop
turned bad, a man disillusioned by
situations. If I'm in a scene and
Chris gets the laugh, then we
both get the laugh. ...”
John Witherspoon had notrou
ble letting loose during filming
of his role as Mr. Jones, a former
prize fighter whose career ended
with a bite from a police dog
during the Watts riots. The em
art « music ¢ literature « theatre
the sheer frequency of crime in his
one corner of the world.
“Roscoeislike a time-bomb wait
ing to explode,” says Stein. “I saw
him as a career cop on a mission to
leave his mark on the neighbor
hood, to clean it up. But he gets
into a situation where he feels
overwhelmed and he’s starting to
lose it a little bit. He has a lot of
things working on him, particu
larly the fact that Jason Petty
might implicate him for police
brutality to a Grand Jury. So, yes,
things get real personal between
thesecharacters and Roscoestarts
to just terrorize this kid.”
Corely, who’s had first-hand
experience with police brutality,
illegal searches and other abuses,
says Gomez’s depiction is right on
target.
“The police take advantage of
the situation beccuse the kids
they’re arresting don’t really know
their rights,” he says. “It is really
like that, like a battleground. The
cops think they have to use intim
idation just todo their jobs well, to
have their props and respect on
the street. But the kids on the
street want to be respected by the
cops. And if you don’t have that,
there’s just chaos.”
bittered ex-pugilist now catches
dogs for a living when he’s not
harping on his son for just about
everything under the sun. Dur
ing production on Friday,
Witherspoon frequently pep
pered his dialogue with antics
and ad-libsthat required retakes
when off-camera chuckles inter
rupted the scene.
“John is so genuinely funny
that complete scenes were ru
ined and had to be reshot be
cause I bust out laughing during
atake,” said director Gary Gray,
who makes his feature film de
but with Friday.
As the senior members of the
cast, Witherspoon and actress
Anna Maria Horsford, who plays
Craig’s mother, noted that Ice
Cube and Gray are both only 25
yearsold. Although Horsford was
admittedly pleased by this, she
did object to having so many co
workers addressing her as
“ma’am.”
“The thing about these young
artists today is that they’re not
waiting,” she said. “They’re do
ing things their way and it's
great. They’re entrepreneurs.”
Working closely with Gray and
Cube on Friday also enlightened
the veteran actress. “Being a
surrogate parent to my nephew
helped me to see what young
black men in the ’9os feel, what
their anxieties and fears are.”
Means was alsoimpressed with
the script. “It’s funny and it has
a good story. A rapper writing a
screenplay — I was surprised
that the whole thing didn’t
rhyme!”
AUGUSTA FOCUS April 27, 1995
Boisterous response for
Sophisticated Ladies
By Clarissa Walker
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
The audience at the Atlanta
Fox Theatre broke their polished
postures and jumped to their feet,
delivering accolade to the beau
tiful Shelia Stroud, songstress,
formerly a member of the S.O.S.
Band, as she rendered the soul
ful and stirring Duke Ellington
favorite, “Solitude.” Stroud,
Chandra Currelley, and the
members of Mistyque served as
the captivating cast of Jomandi
Productions’ Broadway musical
hit Sophisticated Ladies.
The lively cast performed two
acts and several scenes full of
song, modern dance and tap. Art
Johnson designed the production
set,a huge breathtaking tower of
piano ivories, which added the
perfect touch to this high-pow
ered production paying tribute
to the jazz master Duke
Ellington.
Once again, Director Thomas
W.Jones has proven that heisin
the business of making black
theatre history. Serving as co
founder and co-artistic director
of Jomandi Productions, Jones
possesses an extraordinarily
Vy Higginsen designs Sheet
Music collection .
NEW YORK, N.Y.
A new sheeting collection from
Whisper Soft Mills called “Sheet
Music” was shown to retailers
and press for the first time to
night at Hoechst Celanese Show
case House in Manhattan. The
collection is in Trevira polyester
from Hoechst Celanese, blended
with cotton.
Designed by playwright/ lyri
cist Vy Higginsen, the collection
consists of sheets, pillows, com
forters, pillow shams, dust ruf
fles and window treatments, as
well as coated fabrics for lamp
shades, waste baskets and wall
paper boarders.
The unusual designs arebased
on African-American and musi
cal themes. Vy’s colors connote
mud cloth and musical notes.
Colors such as banana yellows,
berry tones, ebonies and rich “old
golds” reflect Vy’s home in New
York City as well as her lifestyle.
“Music has the power to heal
and touch the heart, African-
American music has been a
strong force in our culture in the
U.S. and abroad within every
group of people. Music is the
ultimate universal communica
tor. Who doesn’t enjoy music,
sensuous surroundings and a
relaxing ambiance, especially at
the end of a hard day’s work?
This collection is designed to put
you in the mood for love, dreams
and visions,” she says. She has
written several new songs for
theintroduction of her sheet col
lection. The songs were per
formed for the first time at the
Hoechst Celanese House recep
tion.
Vy Higginsen — native New
Yorker and graduate ofthe Fash
Identify the following artists
by their nicknames:
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L-R: Charles Bullock, Sheila
Stroud, Carl “Dougie” Sand
ers, Jennifer Millman, J. Karen
Thomas, Abe Clark and
standing: Chandra Currelley
keen eye for talent and admits to
working with an abundance of it
in Hotlanta.
“Sixty people auditioned for
this show. I wish I could have
hired 40, but we could only have
12 or 14.” As the audiences have
witnessed, the selected cast were
most definitely the creme.
Sophisticated Ladies will be
performed at Atlanta’s 14th
Street Playhouse until May 7th.
For more information call (404)
817-8700.
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Sheet Music designed byVy
Higginsen
ion Institute of Technology — is
a New York-based radio person
ality, author, producer, director
and now a home fashion design
er. She wrote the theatrical suc
cess Mama I Want to Sing (based
on the life of her sister, Doris
Troy, who wrote and sang “Just
One Look”), now running in Lon
don’s West End. Mama I Want to
Sing is a classic African-Ameri
can success story.
According to Ed Newman, vice
president and director of cre
ative services for Whisper Soft
Mills, Inc., “Whisper Soft is a
privately owned home fashion
cut-and-sew operation with cor
porate offices in Wallace, N.C.
Founded by owner Don Thomp
son, Whisper Soft has always
been a niche filling the special
needs of the home fashions in
dustry. We are proud to offer our
first licensee, ‘Sheet Music’ by
Vy Higginsen,” Newman said.
1. Doc (trumpet)
2. Sweets
3. Pops
4, Flip
5. Smack
6. J.J.
7. Hawk
8. Bird
9. Diz
10. Fats (trumpet)
11. Little Jazz
12. Jug
13. Sonny (saxophone)
14. Trane
15. Tricky Sam
16. Bean
17. King (trumpet)
18. Prez or Pres
19. Lock Jaw
20. Cootie
17
