EHIND
THE
SCENES
With LISA COLLINS
hanging For
The Better?:
Nell Carter
Joins the cast
of "Hangln'
With Mr.
Cooper" this
fall. This Is
one of several much publi
cized developments coming
out of ABC over the last
couple of months. The big
gest surprise had been the de
parture of Dawnn Lewis, who
had always spoken in glow
ing terms about the show.
The official reason for her
leaving was "mutual con
sent." Then there was the an
nouncement that former
Cosby show kid Raven Sy-
mone would be joining the
cast. Now with the latest
change. Carter hopes to gen
erate some tension as the
new principal that Mr. Coop
er will go toe-to-toe with.
Producers of the show, which
was rated among the top 20
last season, are said to be
trying to make It more of a
family show, while toning
down its sexual undercur
rents. And they're not
through yet. They're looking
to cast yet another pivotal
role: That of Mr. Cooper's fe
male cousin who wUl become
the second roommate. (Ra
ven Symone was cast as her
daughter). However, the big
gest change of all just might
be the new Friday night time
slot (9:30) ABC executives are
putting It In.
Maki^ Up Is Hard To Do:
After four years, TV talk
show host Arsenlo Hall and
WlUls Edwards, past president
of the NAACP-Hollywood/
Beverly Hills Chapter shook
hands and put an end to their
differences. It all started when
Edwards criticized Hall's hir
ing practices of minorities.
Hall fired back, calling Ed
wards (among other things) an
"extortionist." Hall countered
with a $10 million lawsuit
charging libel and slander.
Recently, the two settled their
differences in a private, court-
ordered mediation session.
After It was all over, the two
emerged with an agreement
they hammered out without
attorneys. Neither has dis
cussed terms of the settle
ment. A trial date, set for Au
gust 12, has been cancelled.
On the home front: Whoopi
Goldberg got a reported $2.2
million for the recent sale of
her Malibu home. She's
moved closer Into Los Angeles
In the posh community of Pa
cific Palisades where she's
purchased a five-bedroom,
7,000-square foot house she's
been leasing since January...
Among her new neighbors
will be Sugar Ray Leonard and
his fiance Bernadette Robl,
who have also decided to
make their home in Pacific
Palisades. The two are plan
ning to wed In a posh ceremo
ny In August. In the mean
time, Leonard has purchased a
two-acre estate In the Pali
sades. The estate was Initially
listed at $10.5 million. It Is
not known just much Leo
nard paid. But It sounds like
he may be getting his mon
ey's worth with the 10,000
square-foot mansion, featur
ing six bedrooms, a solari
um, game room, wine cellar,
pool and spa with a lighted
fountain, tennis courts,
mountain and ocean views,
security and orchid houses.
The 37-year old former boxer
Is now beefing up his Image,
apparently looking to pursue
an acting career. Leonard
just produced a workout vid
eo for women and Is featured
In an upcoming video game
called "Legends Of The Ring."
Risky Business: Members
of the rap community are
crossing their fingers that
all goes well with Dr. Dre's
"Chronic Tour" which gets
underway this week in Tole
do, Oh. Consensus Is that the
future of rap tours-
partlcularly hard-core rap
packages, hinge on its going
smoothly, without any of the
violence that has scarred
such tours In the past. Ve
nues in some major markets
(like Los Angeles) have
passed on the show. The tour
also features Run-DMC, the
Geto Boys and Snoop Dog.
...By the way: Whitney
Houston Is keeping with her
promise to get into gospel,
with the management of the
youngest Winans sibblings--
Angie & Debbie, through her
Angelway Productions, Inc.
The talented sister act
opened this week with Hous
ton on her national tour...In
other tour news, the funky
divas—En Vogue-are set to
open for Luther Vandross on
his upcoming national
tour.. August 16 Is the latest
date set for the release of
Robert Townsend's "Meteor
Man." (The movie was origi
nally scheduled for release
this past March.
..Next week: Find out what
Mark Curry thinks of the
changes the ABC-TV series
Mr. Cooper is going through.
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FORGET
TO
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THEM
YOU
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IT IN
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OPERATORS OTSr DUTY 24 HOURS
Laurel Avenue Debuts Sat.
By Jackie H3mian
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -To direct a
realistic mlnlserles about an
African-American family. It
helps to have the right script
and actors and to be an ac
complished filmmaker.
It also helps If you're a fa
ther.
"Being a father Is part of It,"
said Carl Franklin, who di
rected the two-part HBO pro
duction of "Laurel Avenue,"
the story of an extended
working class family In
Mlnneapolls-St. Paul.
"Directing Is a very patemal-
matemal process."
Having two teen-age chil
dren affected the way he vis
ualized the younger charac
ters, Franklin said, and also
made him a better director.
"There was a time when I
would have Insisted every
thing conform to what was
In my mind at the begin
ning," he said of his evolu
tion as a director, following
a long acting career.
"Directing, like fatherhood.
Is taking the best of things
and allowing them to run
and grow."
"Laurel Avenue," a sllce-of-
llfe story that takes place
during one weekend, pre
mieres July 10-11 on HBO. It
stars Mary Alice, Juanita
Jennings, Rhonda Stubblns,
Vonte Sweet and Mel Wink
ler.
Franklin cast his son, Mar
cus, 17, and daughter, Calra,
15, In small roles after audi
tioning them. Marcus plays a
young man named Lamar,
and Calra is a cheerleader at
a basketball game.
The work originally was
planned as a series of six
half-hours, but was rewrit
ten Into two longer episodes
after receiving Input from
Franklin.
"I decided that the premise
of the film is that family
love leads to survival," he
said. "Then, you can set up
your opposition - drugs, si
bling rivalry, adolescent re
belliousness, sexuality, re
sponsibility vs. desire,
expecting love vs. wanting
respect."
"Little things that go on In
our own personal lives that
are not necessarily headline
news are still big to us, and
that, I think. Is the vein that
we're trying to tap into,"
Franklin said.
"It deals with such a broad
spectrum of conditions with
in one family. Most of the
time, in depicting a black
family, we generally see
them either depicted in a
very stark urban environ
ment where conditions are
abjectly horrible ... or it's the
Cosby show, everything's
very pristine. We're hoping to
tap Into something that has
not been mined yet. and that
Is the universal values of
black life."
Franklin hopes "Laurel Av
enue" will appeal to a wide
range of viewers.
"There's an implicit Inten
tion to reach the black audi
ence, but I believe the Ameri
can public, the general
public, is interested In hu
man values,” he said.
"Overall, I want to reach the
audience In general, but I
think the only way to do that
with ethnic material Is to
deal with the ethnicity. If
you homogenize it. If you di
lute it, you're offering them
nothing."
He also believes the wider
community shares the con
cern that materialism has
distracted many people from
deeper values.
"The advertising industry
has created such a discontent
with what you have," Frank
lin said. 'They tell you you
smell bad, you need another
deodorant: that piece of fur
niture Is getting old, you
should get new furniture;
that car is getting old, you'd
better get another car.
"You're always in a situa
tion of being unhappy with
what you have," he said. "I
think 98 percent of us are
neurotic because of it."
A native of the San Fran
cisco Bay area, Franklin
studied history and dramatic
arts at UC Berkeley. He began
his career on the East Coast,
acting with the New York
Shakespeare Festival, then
moved to Los Angeles.
He appeared as a regular on
three television series:
"Carlbe," "Fantastic Jour
ney" and "McClain's Law." He
also made recurring appear
ances on "The A-Team."
In 1986, he entered the
American Film Institute and
earned a masters degree in
directing.
"I don't know what my mo
tives for being an actor were,
and It got to the point where I
wasn't doing a lot that was
See LAUREL Page SB
People who make
things happen.
need to reorder the issues and make ^
education a priority'* \
William H. Gray III ' '
President and CEO '
United Negro College Fund
William Gray has launched a new
careen After \2'k years in the U.S.
Congress, he is now President and CEO
of the United Negro College Fund. The
48-year-old organization supports
41 private, historically Black ^
colleges and universities that ^
enroll over 51,000 students,
many of whom receive UNCF *
financial assistance.
Ideally suited to lead the Collcge^^^B^
Fund, Gray is W'orking to ensure ' ''
that education is our country's '
number one priority.
Anheuser-Busch supports
the work of the UNCF and its ^
member institutions, just as
we support other educational
and social programs,
community projects and
minority businesses.
At Anheuser-Busch
we’re committed to a better
quality of life. For everyone.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH
COMPANIES
1992 Anheuser-Busch Companies. Inc.