Newspaper Page Text
Outspoken
CRAIG
WILSON
From Hollywood
Della Reese has left the Redd Foxx production of
Redd, Hot and Black at the Silverbird Hotel in Las
Vegas. Maybe the $21,000 per week that she was tak
ing home wasn’t enough for all that hard work. Foxx
was set to step in as the star at $75,000 a week, but
according to hotel sources, that figure was on a dead
end street.
Funny man Richard Pryor is reportedly scouting
around the Caribbean for a new estate on which to get
away from it all. Could this be because the brilliant
comic wasn’t funny at all in his performance in The
Wiz?
Jim Brown and Fred Williamson are two football
stars who never fade away, they just go on and on to
bigger and better things. Brown has opened the new
offices of his actor’s credit union and is waiting for the
closing of that fifteen million dollar deal to start his
new film. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Fred,
in association with Poor Boy Productions, is seeking
Nancy Wilson, Lola Falana and Paula Kelly for key
roles in his film, Blues for a Hundred Yards.
Actress Dea St. Lamont can tell you first hand that
being the nice guy doesn’t always pay off on the posi
tive side of the ledger. Dea secured the party room in
her luxurious Tinseltown apartment complex for a
-'’’safe | F S
JIM BROWN DELLA REESE RICHARD PRYOR
meeting of the local branch of the NAACP, never sus
pecting that this could lead to her looking for a new'
place in which to lay her well-coiffured head. Founder
president Maggie Hathaway and actor’s agent Ernes
tine McClendon drew battle lines and before long the
management called L.A.P.D. to quiet the screaming
pair. Needless to say, Dea has been asked to seek new
quarters and the worst part is, she was upstairs pre
paring for the meeting when the battle royale ensued.
Althea T. Simmons is coming under heavy fire from
the Hollywood branch over that dismal 11th Annual
image Awards show in June. Local members are
charging that Simmons was ignorant of television
packaging procedures and totally mistaken in the idea
that she could put on the awards presentation without
the aid and assistance of the local members. Simmons
is further accused of costing the civil rights group close
to $100,000.00 by nixing a television package because
she would not receive credit for having secured the
deal and of insulting the Black press and long time fi
nancial backers of the show. The awards were the
worst ever and rumor has it that for the first time the
show lost money. Check out the current issue of Inside
Gossip for more details.
© 1978 Players Internalional Publications
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INSIDE GOSSIP
December Issue—On Sale Now
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ETA THETA ZETA CHAPTER of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. hosted the 83rd
Southeastern Regional Leadership Conference last weekend at the Augusta Hilton.
Pictured (from left) are Sorors Ida King, Regional Director Eunice Thomas, the
Blacks gain TV spotlight but not jobs
By Earl Ofari
Pacific News Service
George Jefferson, star of the
popular Black comedy scries,
“The Jeffersons,” returns to
his old Harlem neighborhood
on Christmas Eve to aid a
needy family. At the
commercial break, a Black
family celebrates a reunion
with smiles and Pepsi-Cola all
around.
From all such outward
appearances -- “The Jetferson,
Black faces in commercials,
Black reporters and Black radio
broadcasters -- equal
opportunity now prevails in
the media.
But behind this Black and
while picture of harmony on
the airwaves is a pattern of
Black exclusion from media
employment as serious as ever.
The myth that Blacks now
play a consequential role in the
shape and operations of the
networks was effectively
shattered last summer by a
lengthy U.S. Civil Rights
Sammy Davin Jr.
Nazis bring Blacks
and Jews together
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Sammy Davis Jr.
Choral Society concert Sunday
The Augusta Choral Society
will hold its winter
concert—Dee. 3 at 3 p.m. at the
Augusta College Performing
Arts Theatre.
The concert will feature
Puccini’s Messa di Gloria
featuring tenor James Russey ,
baritone Floyd Montgomery,
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Commission report on women
and minorities on television.
Appropriately titled “Window
Dressing on the Set,” the
report presented statistics on
the number and percentage of
minorities employed in
program, administrative, and
management positions.
The findings, based on a
sample of 40 stations, were
dismal. The majors ABC. CBS,
NBC, came under particular
fire. In the off-camera
positions (sound, lighting,
direction and production)
minoriteis made up less than 2
percent of the crews.
Blacks and minorities in
management fared even worse.
In four categories ol officials
ranging from news director to
business manager, there were
no Blacks employed. (H the 13
lop management categories,
only one was held by a Black.
That slot, which is a general
managership, is held at an NBC
affiliate in Jackson, Miss.
The prospects for any
substantial change in this
Speaking “as a Black Jew
myself and having been one for
24 years,” Sammy Davis Jr.
told Jet Magazine recently that
the attempt by Nazis to hold a
rally in Skokie, 111. was
“horrible” and “despicable.”
“But from every bad comes
good,” Davis said. “It’s
bringing the Jews and Blacks
closer together.”
The site that the Nazi party
members had chosen for their
rally, a suburb of Chicago, has
a large population of survivors
of the Nazi Holocaust during
World War 11. Chicago’s Jewish
and Black leaders had
combined forces to protest the
planned Nazi action.
“I’ve been to Dachau,” said
Davis, referring to an infamous
concentration camp which
flourished in Nazi Germany,
“I’ve been picketed by the
Nazi party and probably will
be in the future... ’
and bass Willie E. Huie.
Respighi’s “Laud to the
Nativity” featuring Nancy
Fominaya as the Angel, Robin
Findley as Virgin Mary, and
David Milligan Jr., as the
She pherd.
Concert under the direction
of Eloy Fominaya.
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situation appear equally grim,
especially after considering the
expressed opinions ol those
station managers the
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SEATED (left to right) Veronica Collins, Carla
Blakely Standing - Mrs. Ishman, Tammy Brady, Sylvia
Briggs, Janice Dunn, and Loretta Tanksley.
"Fish and guests in three days
are stale." John Lyly
Sanders
Total Look
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Rev. Barbara King, First Vice President Evelyn Brown, State Director Itelia Butler,
Pan Hellenic Council President Alice Simpkins and Eta Theta Zeta President Hattie
P. Lowery.
commission interviewed. Most
were convinced that minorities
“lacked the appropriate
qualifications or experience
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(Pronounced Do-ers "White Label )
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BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY • 86.8 PROOF • ©SCHENLEY IMPORTS CO. N. Y.. N. >
LES PAYNE
HOME: New York, New York
PROFESSION: Journalist
HOBBIES: Painting, mountain
climbing, softball.
LATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT:
Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his
newspaper series, The Heroin Trail.
QUOTE: “The emergence of Africa has
made ours a critical and challenging
era. particularly for journalists. We
are scouts for the historians who will
later try to explain these years of
great change.”
PROFILE: Seeks out ambitious and
sometimes dangerous assignments,
yet is pleasantly low-key. He is an
ardent believer in each individual’s
responsibility to better his world.
HIS SCOTCH: Dewar’s' White Label®
The Aucusta News-Review - December 2, 1978 -
necyssary” for the higher
positions.
The report also revealed that
the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC), whose
responsibility it is to monitor
station practices, has no
guidelines specifying that any
of its licensees take affirmative
action steps to correct
deficiencies in minority
employment.
While Blacks were making
little progress in
behind-the-scenes employment,
there did appear to be a
significant breakthrough in
screen access. New shows
(almost always comedy or
variety) were being scripted,
and few name personalities
began to prosper.
However, the new 1978-79
season represents a different
ball game. There are no Blacks
in any lead roles in any of the
new series. Only two Black
have supporting roles in the 21
shows. The four shows in
which Blacks held leading roles
last season were cancelled.
Laney homemakers give
Thanksgiving baskets
to needy Augustans
The Lucy C. Laney High
School Chapter of the Future
Homemakers of America
presented Thanksgiving baskets
of food to two needy families
in the Laney community. The
Rev. Jacob Trowell of the
Gethsemane Baptist Church,
assisted the organization in
finding the families in need.
This' is one of a series of
annual community projects for
the school year. The
31-member organization is also
presently working on a
Christmas project, which will
Presently, only NBC has even
developed a pilot for a Black
show, “Harris & Company,”
which may or may not be seen
later in the viewing season.
Many observers though that
the spectacular success of a
series like “Roots” would turn
the heads of some industry
officials. Their concern has
always been over the proven
marketability and “appeal” of
Black shows for white 1
audiences. The lack of
commitment this year shows
that Hollywood remains
unconvinced of Black drawing
power.
The pattern of media racism
is the same in commercial
advertising. Black visibility,
which certainly has increased
in commercials, again does not
represent a significant
employment shift
Bill Cosby’s smiling face and
O.J. Simpson’s sprints through
See “TV”
Page 6
benefit a local home for senior
citizens. One of the FHA’s
goals is to help individuals
improve personal, family and
community living now and in
the future.
This year’s officers are:
president, Vemica Collins; vice
president, Tammy Brady;
secretary, Janice Dunn;
treasurer, Sylvia Briggs; public
relations chairman, Carla
Blakely; and Loretta Tanksley,
degree chairman. Advisors are
Mrs. Carie Bamberg and Mrs.
Rosa Ishmal.
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