Radioscope ... The Column
Behind· - The - Scenes
h
r
By·LllaCo I
It's been six month since E -
the r Rolle's near fatal
automobile accident la t sum­
mer that left the driver of the car
Ihe as riding In dead. The 69-
year old actress her elf su -
tained fr ctured ribs,
laceration of the head and face,
and a brui ed heart.
Says Rolle, "I'm till
recuperating for the mo t
part,-trying to get my elf back
together physically. " Today,
Rolle say her bille t scar are.
emotional. "For the fir' time, J
truly began to doubt whether I
could do things,- work in a
lhow, a play, a ·mdvie. I went to
lee Brock Peter at the Henry
Fonda. Theater a month nd a
half ago. That was my first ven­
ture, and I was so scared. I was
nervous wit t r.eople around
me nel mod,
���An"�����
people, it ha . So Pve been test­
ing my toes in the water ever
since, and each time I do, J find
I'm more confortable. "
· Ironically, she doesn't
remember much about the acci­
dent which caused the car sh�
was riding in to flip over. "I
remember afterwards that I
didn't know and couldn't ·un­
derstand what was happening to
me. That scared me. I'm used
to being the captain of my own
Ihip. It was just.too much of me
to be trusted in everyone else's
care but mine."
Right now, Rolle is looking
to get back into acting. "Acting
il my life and it will mean get­
linl back 10 normal." Later tMs
Unv Iling of n w
Afrlc n Am rlcan
··0 -II lin
. Grammy Nominees, En
Vogue, were c�lebrity models at
Mattel'l premiere of a new line of
African American fashion dolls
a -Fashion Tribute to African
American Delignen" on opening
day of tbe American Intemation­
al,Toy Fair.
Tbe ltar-studded event, hosted
at the popular StringfeUow� res­
taurant and club in New York
City, featured a fut paced, glit­
tering fashion how produced
with commentary by Audrey
Smaltz and The Ground Crew.·
Apparel by such well known
designers as Gordon 'Henderson,
Betsy Gonzalez, Michael Mc­
Collom former Mi s America,
Suzette Charles, Harlem
Globetrotter team member,
Sandra Hodge, En Vogue and top
runway models.
The doll will be marketed
under th� signature name of .the
lead doll, SHANJ, a Swahili word
meaning "marvelou ." Three
characters, SHANJ, ASHA and
NICHELLE are ·part of the line.
Each doll is realistically sculpted
from head to toe to reflect the
natural beauty of African
American omen.
The highlight of the event wu
the presentation of �living
fuhion dolls" who came on stage
dres cd in co tume by Mattei'
principle de Igner, Kitty Black
Perkins.
o
,
month, Rolle will be inducted
. into the Black Filmma ers Hall
of Fame, as part of their 18th
. Annual Oscar icheaux
Awards. The Black Filmmakerl
Hall of Fame wa. founded in
1974 to highlight the hi tory
and ignificant contribution of
Black rtist in cinema ...
In The Mellllli",e: It seems
her former "Good Times"
cia smate Janet Jack on, is now
etung her sights on the film
world-mulling over a number
of project po sibilitie . Word i
her intention are seriou .
In the meantime, the 24-year
old uper-star is the lubject of a
bidding war among record
labels, as her contrat witb A&M
is about to expire. The late t
offer to hit the table il said to be
in the neighborhood of SSO mil­
lion. Look "e �a. il out.
li' I. t B, s in .crii'lW
determined' hC1he'r er no tire �
would compete with a S32 mil­
lion-four album bid, that wal
already on the table and beinl
considered as -higb". Top bid­
ders include Capito., Virgin and
Atlantic. Talk about a hot com­
modity!
On Ihe hom. 1'0111: Ice-Tis
living large these days with the
recent purch e of a house off
the Sunset Strip, featuring an
ocean view from every room.
Reports are that he paid' just
about S700,OOO for the 2,500
square foot home, that can only
be reached by private drive ....
... And Sugar Ray Leonard is
trying to put his life back
together again, now that his
messy djvor�e has been lettled,
with wife Juanita reportedly
walking away with SSO,ooo a
month. (Leonard's net wo th
was established to be lome­
where around SSO million).
Tensions are however still
said to be quite strained be­
tween the two. Not hard to un-
. der tand seeini al ·bow Juanita
accused her husband of phYSical
abuse, humiliation, harassment,
and adultry. Named in the ca'e
was Bernadette Swann, the
o.
ment , concert , promotion,
and other monie earned for a
Ion he a in ho bi:
fter the playe too out the
ban loan, he lncre ed their cut
to 15 percent each! Bac in
19 9, H mmer to d u that they
ere bein ta en care of.
App rently, not fa t enou h
ecau e Murphy nd Davis id
they h dn't otten h t they·
ere due. In 1988, H mmer
p id them 20,000 each. A fe
month I ter they a ed him to
t rt p yin back the 125 r nd
they borrowed on hi ·beh If and
he told them to combine the
20,000 gr nd h 'd paid them
and u e it to p y the b n 10 n!
On top of that Murphy and
D vi ay H mmer st rted tre t­
ing them like they didn't exist.
Thing got so hot th t after one
meeting Murphy ay Hammer
lold him quote "I'd rather pay
ry
Jackson.
For now, Leonard is con­
centrating on mending a orne­
what distanced relationship
with older son, Ray Jr., who
lives with him ....
By Tht Wcay: NBC ha of­
fered as a eries- "Black Jack
Savage"-about the ghost of a
Black pirate. The eries-al­
ready in production, could be
on the air a soon 8 April.
Stoney Jackson tars a the
ghost who haunt a ca tie on a
Caribbean Island, and who must
save 100 people to atone for the
100 he killed during his
lifetime .... And if a Warrenton
and Rcgrn Id Hudlin h ve their
ay, the pirit of the fate and
brilliant young comedi n,
Robi Harris ("House Party")
willlive'on via "Bebe' Kid", an
1
fo al\ t �(. anU9M ,U�o.rn QU\.. 1\N
L�nn Swart" and form r : Black family, ba ed on material
longtime companion 'of -R.ndy . by the hltercornedian:- r I ••
n attorney .a.
before I pay you a dim . - ur­
phy and Davis ay part of t .
problem a Ham r'l
m nager, hi brot r Louts Bur­
rell, ho made orne b d in est­
ment , losin 2 million dollar
of their money.
In February ot lilt year
D vis a bout to loose il
hou e nd a facin la IUltI
from the b d Inve tment . Ha -
mer then paid 60,000 dollar
on the 125,000 dollar 10 n,
but didn't pay ny more. ur­
phy and Davis then ot a la yer
nd ter "People Ma azine"
t rted investigatin the tory, a·
settlement was a.nDounce�. - e t to t
o ,H mmer' payin the t 0 mystery
an undilclo ed lump I
w., 0,. Sc ,,,,.
0,,: In tbe lat t of a
battle to ban pray II fro
and te t tbe epa ratio of re
and Itate, a vefJ-dlvl d
California Suprc Co rt II
beinl ur to bar pn, n at
p IIc h Icbool,,. .x-
e il . An auor ., for I
ican Civil U til I U
. argued that Ii e orpinlz cI
room prayers, that lucb i
tions represent -UDCO .. tit d
government-promoted :relll
orsbip that could for
music. believers to compromise t
They just assumed that we consclences."
were on the road young people While tbe Supreme Court
dotng everything that we want CI banned prayer tn the cl .. ,roc ..
to do because wo were away. And the i ue f UOD IA¥DCI�,
that wu 1. S 11, 1IOD ba·· n band'
they wa,nled to pu .Q fbe_�lJar_ - 0 ,,� .. � A. dOD
when we came home. I ot tired divided on tbe iSluc. The co ..
of that. In fact, I .. wrote a ong expected to render a decilio.
called "Yo.. Can't Please within the next 90 d 11 (I'll ,
Everybody". you informed).
Today, however, Hawkina il
pleuing quite a few u gospel il
in a bit of a revival (witb re.arda
to popularity) and Hawkins il
benefitting. "I think that record
busine s is understanding that
there is a market for gospel, that
people love it all over the world.
And people want to come back to
God because everything else has
failed. " As to the changes gospel
music is going through, Edwins
had this to add. . - ....
"MUSically, there are people
that don't want it to grow. They
want it to remain u traditional a.r
it was 100 yean ago, but I th�nk
it has to grow like everytbinl
else. And it can take on the style
of jazz, country, pop, R&B--as
long as you don't compromile
that message, it is still gOlpel. I
really don't think it matters tqo
F .. lbllck LI",: II Randy
lac on married? Som of our
listener anted to no • An
"Eliza J ck on- al identin d
Edwin H wkln
·By M ..... ret M •• ln Id
-What astoundl me in the
Christian world today Is tban you
know when Cbrist al here, he
tried to rid � of some of the
ame idio yncracies tbat e deal
with today 2000 yean ago-, lays
gospel mustc Itar Edwin Haw­
kina, ho scored one of tbe bl -
ge t hi ts in tbe hiltory of gOlpel,
with "Oh Happy Day", lOme 20
years ago. -And we are 10 tradi­
tional in tbat we are so bothered
about the things that we do or the
things that we hear that we forget
about the start of man. I remem­
ber coming back home to the
church where J was minister of
Got a 9" liD or. C' .. IIe"
011 1U11 RtulWco ,
cIIll the Feetlbac L
257-2354.
p
k 0
Ju' B,"II,: Superprod
Jimmy Jam aDd'Terry Lew
more known for t ir IDGIDa.
tal IUCce es in R B wi
like Johnny Gill and I
Iy Janet Jack on. II, lut
they cut a deal for their own I
dependent label and co_ MaJ.
they're set 10 rele e tbelr- nlll
record. . Ironically. tbat rei
will be gospel, from a propel­
sive Minneapolil-baled c olr
callin themselves the ·S 0'
Blaclatul" .....
Thu w •• i'. ,c""''': -AM
.'/0' ,b, I" t , ,oM ..u, .,
II,.. ,110'. WilD, IN."",,.. �
laoi4 II I." III." Ito .. ., ._
,tHHIlI •• ", ._ trl", ,,,,,,, """
willi pa"'.',"_ L.b ':IS.
o
The Wiz, takes
Detr�it by storm
By Deborala Culp
Of course we've aU heard of
the Wizard of Oz, or al it's affec­
tionatley called: -The Wiz" but
rarely hu anyone seen a Black
venion of this beloved fairy tale,
where tbe characters ages range
from ale 5 to 69 and the story is
as musically choreograped as it is
received by the audiencel Karen
Byrd' McCord, of Four Our
Children, Inc. , along with her
collcalues has designed a
delightfully unique version of
The Wiz in efforts to raise capital
for a vaca",t school building
whicb will be used for various
For Our Children, Inc., offices
and projects.
Another key reuon for these
performancel is to uplift the
community and the spirits of all .
people. It', no lecret that we all
• need money to live and operate, .
but this is clearly not t� cue and
purpose of Karen _ Byrd-McCord"
and the Wiz shows, since
prodominatly all funding has
been cut drastically for tbe Arts
by necessary funding needed for
supplies, materials, and operat­
ing costs for Forr Gur Children,
Inc., as weill as the securing of a
"large enough" building for the
survival of this positive organiz -
lion a�d group. .
. Byrd-McCord ha made some
tickets available to the e perfor­
mances, and they will be given
out on a "first come, first serve
balis". For more information
contac thi new paper �mce or
Byrd-McCord at: 3 875-
0639 .
Pictured from L to R are: ED Voa.e emben, Clady Herro and .xl.� JODeI; IIvlDI doll ode ..
repre eDtlnl .tbe SHANI DOLL LINE - ASHA, SHANI • d NICHELL�; E VOl e emb n
Terry EllI aDd O.WD RobIDlOB. .
)
ha.t� .. tor
lela"
ry. WXYZ-TY
• ,171 r�� ...
