Newspaper Page Text
The Augusta News-Review April 28, 1984
TODAY
J V News Service of Tri-Ad Consultants, Ltd.
f f by Vincent Tubbs
Filmmakers Hall of Fame
OAKLAND, CA
The glamour came from
Hollywood, the glitter
was homegrown, and the
pizazz was Patti Laßelle
when the Black Film
makers Hall of Fame held
its 11th Annual In
vestiture ceremonies and
presented Oscar
Micheaux awards to this
year’s inductees.
Present, in person, on-
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Richard Pryor
stage were Richard Pryor
and Billy Dee Williams,
along with gorgeous
Camen De Lavallade,
plump and pretty young
Jennifer Holiday from
the cast of “Dream
Girls”, and 94-year
young Stepin Fetchit
(mute frfom a stroke in a
wheel chair) who presen
ted the Micheaux award
to the late Mantan
Moreland’s widow.
Then there was
singer/recording artist
Patti Laßelle, who makes
her film debut this Fall in
Columbia Pictures’ “A
Soldier’s Story”. She
sang her hit recording “If
Only You Knew” at a S6O
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per-person dinner dance
attended by a sellout 600
persons at the new
Oakland Hyatt Regency
on Saturday night before
the big Sunday event. The
crowd headed toward the
ceiling.
Introduced by the co
emcees Lord Howard E.
Rollins Jr., star of
Columbia Pictures up
coming “A Soldier’s
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Patti Laßelle
Story”, and Lady Madge
Sinclair of the T.V. series
“Trapper John” (royalty
in their own professional
areas), Patti sang “If
Only You Knew” to
another SRO crowd of
more than 3,000 in the
historic Paramount the
next day and was joined
onstage in the final
chorus by Billy Dee
Williams. The crowd hit
the ceiling.
Then later in the
program, she sang
“Somewhere Over the
Rainbow” as Stepin Fet
chit was wheeled onstage
to present the late Man
tan Moreland’s award to
Mantan’s widow.
Page 6
Between these
emotional highlights, the
Black Filmmakers Hall of
Fame had interspaced a
breathtaking lyrical dan
ce by honoree Carmen De
Lavallade, an appearance
by the multi-racial San
Francisco Ballet Break
Dancers, songs by local
talents Cinty Herron and
Whincely Phipps, humor
by Byron Nelson from
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Ossie Davis
the TV series “Real
People”, and the per
formance of a piano
sonata dedicated to his
late son, Gordon Parks
Jr., by world-famed,
photographer/author/
director and composer
Gordon Parks. The
aggregate of it stuck
Oakland to the ceiling
and the Bay Area hasn’t
come down yet.
We have had
memorable ceremonies
ever since the very first,”
observed BFHFI (6th)
president Mary Smith,
“but the energy of this
year’s events and the
support we seem to be at
tracting from outside the
community sustains our
original belief in the need
for the Hall of Fame and
the integrity of its broad
based, ongoing pur
pose.”
Sustained principally
by volunteer workers, the
Hall of Fame ceremonies
are tied to the obser
vation of Black History
Month. It was orginally a
project innovated by the
Ladies’ Cultural Society
of the Oakland Museum
of Art - in association
with the University of
California-Berkley where
Afro-American Studies
professor Roy Thomas
was conducting seminars
on Blacks in films during
the turbulent ‘6o’s and
early ‘7o’s.
In ceremonies past, the
Hall of Fame has induc
ted such Black film
legends as the late
Clarence Muse, Paul
Robeson, Josephine
Baker, Canada Lee, Ethel
Waters, Nina Mae
McKinney, Nat Cole,
Dorothy Dandridge,
Diana Sands, James Ed
wards, Duke Ellington,
Count Basie, and Earl
Hines.
Also inducted have
been living entertainers of
unimpeachable stature
such as Katherine
Dunham, Beah Richards,
Lena Horne, Ossie Davis,
Ruby Dee, James Earl
Jones, Eartha Kitt, Brock
Peters, Dianhann
Carroll, Roscoe Lee*
Browne, Cicely Tyson,
Benny Carter, Ella Fit
zgerald, Quincy Jones,
Herb Jeffries, Paul Win
field, Lou Gossett Jr.,
Yaphet Kotto and of
course, Sidney Poitier
and Harry Belafonte.
the list, fast ap
proaching 100,
significantly includes out
standing Black show
business personalities
who never felt the warm
heat of approving stage
lights, such as writers
Lorraine Hansberry,
Louis Peterson, John
Killens, Lee Elder and
Maya Angelou.
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DR. WILLIAM HARRIS, president of
Paine College, presents the Rosa Harris
Creques Choral Participation Award to
(from left): Debra Allen, Sandra Johnson
and Nena Scott, during the Honors Day
Convocation held on April 17 in the Gilbert-
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EDWIN MOSES has been honored as the
“World’s Best” track star in winning the
prestigious Jesse Owens International
Amateur Athlete Award, designating him the
top amateur athlete in the world. Joining
Moses (3rd from left) are (from left): Herb
Douglas, vice president Schieffelin & Co.,
Jacques de Vriese, export manager, Moet &
Lambuth Chapel. The SSOO award was
established by opera star Jessye Norman to
acknowledge meritorious participation in
choral activities. The gift was equally shared
among the three awardees.
Chandon Champagnes, France; Mrs. Jesse
Owens; Ed Frantel, president of the Seven-
Up Company; J. Pensington Kavanagh,
president of Schieffelin & Co.; and William
Simon, former secretary of the treasury of
the United States, current president of the
U.S. Olympic Committee.