Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 27, 1996, edition 1 / Page 20
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6B ARTS &BfTERrArMBn7nieChatloteP06t V\fedTesday, NcMember 27,1996 The ‘horn’ gets her due in PBS special By Mary Campbell THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - “Anybody who is not madly in love with Lena Horne should report to his undertaker immediately and turn himself in.” Actor Ossie Davis makes that proclamation during “Lena Home; In Her Own Voice,” which launched the 11th season of PBS’ “American Masters.” Home, whose remarkable beauty radiated through a career in nightclubs, cabarets, movies and Broadway, turns 80 next June. Not that you can tell. Her smile is still dazzling, and her face wrinkle-free. “My face has stayed, hut my sight is gone,” she says matter- of-factly during an interview. “I can’t see very well.” She also mentions having a pacemaker for “one of those strange heart problems.” Home wears dark glasses and a turban that covers her hair, which she calls the color of cigarette ash at the bottom of a cup. “And it’s not neat-looking,” she says. “When I get excited or upset, hairpins fly all over. I have to laugh - it’s like the vil lain in the King Arthur car toon.” During the PBS show. Home says she got her start in show business because of her looks, not talent, and learned about music from working musi cians. She expands on that to a reporter, citing early help com ing from Kay Thompson, who coached her in MGM musicals. “She taught me how to open up and let the music out,” Home recalls. “I had a little voice and couldn’t carry a tune. I was afraid to sing.” In the movie biography of Jerome Kem, “'Till the Clouds Roll By,” Home sang “Why Was 1 Bom?”, one of Julie’s songs in “Show Boat.” Kem asked for Home for the 1946 Broadway revival of “Show Boat” but MGM, where she was under contract, didn’t let her do it. She felt that MGM was pun ishing her for turning down “St. Louis Woman,” a Broadway show the studio had money in. When “Show Boat” became a movie, Kem had no say in casting. JuUe, a mulat to, was played by Ava Gardner. “It didn’t harm my fidendship with her,” Home says of Gardner. “It just gave me a tit tle more realism about Hollywood.” One mentor, says Home, weis Paul Robeson, who her Brooklyn grandmother helped get a scholarship to Rutgers. “She died when I was 15,” Home says. “Talking to some body who knew my grandpar ents was thrilling to me. It was so interesting to me to learn part of my history from him. He talked about other black people who had survived. I had that to buoy me up.” Home says she was frustrat ed and angry through much of her career, because of the way black people were treated. “Partly, my vocal strength came from my anger,” she explains. “I worked so many places black people couldn’t be, so I couldn’t enjoy the career. “I was as prejudiced as my audiences were, for a long time. It didn’t help my singing. I had to feel dominant. They were captive.” She finally began to love her career in her autobiographical show, “Lena Home: the Lady and Her Music,” which opened in 1981 and toured after a year on Broadway. “I expressed anger, and audi ences could understand it. The show got funny. I saw all the bad humor and also I felt I had survived and I was able to laugh about it,” she says. Near the end of the PBS show, Horne sings “Yesterday When I Was Young” with telling intensity. “It’s the most intense song I sing,” she says. “It’s very diffi cult for me, that song. It brings back too much. “Every tine has to do with my life. It talks about Paris and lovers I didn’t have and maybe should have. And the way you don’t fit in and you reaUy suf together, which included singing duets. GA % On Tryon |Reslau»it & Galedqg Gx OPEN Thanksgiving Ik^ For Breakfast Buffet Located at 9th & Tryon Next To Days Inn 334-1108 Sbm JOIN THE FUN! Get your Fiist Night admission button now... and cddbrate New Year’s Eve uptown with music, theater, dancing, puj^Jets, magic, ji^gjing and fixxl all leading up to a spectacular Rrewoiks disf^ at midni^! FIGHT NIGHT INFO: 332-0606 C B A R L 0 T T E An Arts & Science Council Event sponsored by Kaiser Permanente and Presbyterian Healthcare System Sponsors: Minute Maid Time Warner Cable Burger King Hoechst Celanese STAR 104.7 FM BEUSouth Mobility DCS Hannaford Food & Drug Super Store VOLUNTEER FOR FIRST NIGHT! Voltmteers receive free T-shirts, admission buttons, food and more! Call 372-9667 for deatUs LENA HORNE fer on account of it. 'That’s all in that song to me.” Though the show notes that Home and her husband, Hollywood composer-arranger Lennie Ha3fton, septurated in the 1960s, she says, “We were only separated for expediency, when I went south in Civil Rights days and he stayed home and did his writing. We never split up. “He was very understemding. He’s the only man I know who had no prejudices whatever. He was thinking about writ ing, about music. I used to get furious with him because he didn’t get angry the same way 1 was reacting.” Hayton, Home’s father and her son all died within a short span of time. “1 gave up,” she says. “I thought I had nothing.” 'The person who brought her back to show business in the early 1970s was comedian Alan King, a cousin of Hayton’s. They did shows THE EXCELSIOR 921 Beatties Ford Rd. • 334-5709 WEEKLY FEATURES: • Tue. "FISH NIGHT" All you can eat $5, DISCO following • Wed. R&R • Fri. & Sat. DISCO with C.C. • Sunday - LIVE MUSIC or DISCO vm JOZONNI Christmas Begins At AUTHENTIC AFRICAN a EUROPEAN APPARREL AFRICAN ART & ARTIFACTS •LdbSols •Aiicafl&Aiimm latipiiigRipec •AMaaBbrics; •MaiDtcs6& CasdShiils Cank •Afim&AineticaQ Gnm Up To50% OFF • Otts&Incense • GreekParaphenaUa lUtUan SUk Ties (SpecialPromotion 3 for $25.00) S6dO Fimn PonJ Lfv PO Box 10525/ CliarlottC/ 28212 li^aaj ^ (704)532-9010 - M-F loAM - 8PM - Sat. loAM - 8PM - Sun. iPM - 5PM IJARVEY’S GARAGE mm mm 4th W«id Daily UmcH Specials $4ii 11:30am - 2pm Monday 25$ Shrimp • Monday Night Football Tuesday 23€ wings Wednesday **25^ wings ThxirSDAY^ * • • Harvey s Famous Crahleg Dinner $12.95 Friday Uvejazz JOHNNY HOLLOWAY Saturday* • • • tivefuzz JOHNNY HOLLOWAY 516 No Gfaham St. In. 4th Ward Cau 7#4-337-8090 BLACK hwNED & OPERATED Calendar Of Events Battle At The Border: S.C. State Alumni Charlotte N.C. Chapter, enjoy pre-game tailgate festivities before the 100 Black Men of Greater Charlotte Carolinas Football Classic. The S.C. State Bulldogs claimed bragging rights as ttieir football team gained an impressive victory over the Aggies of N.C. A&T State University. "JOHNSTON YMCA" If you're looking to build your SPIRIT... MIND... BODY... The Johnston YMCA is where you belong! They're renovating the facility to serve you better, adding new equipment and programs. Join now and get old membership prices for a new facility. Stop by today at 3025 North Davidson Street or caU 333-6206 for more information "FIGHTING BACK" Fighting Back is designed to give power to neighborhoods as they develop their own response to crime and drugs through public awareness and education. Fighting Back is ready to join hands with you and your neighbors to rebuild troubled neighborhoods. Call 336-4634 for more details "THE HERITAGE HOUSE"" The Heritage House, Charlotte'e largest African-American owned retail store specializing in imique gifts. Invites you to check out their large selection of holiday greeting cards at 901 S. Kings Dr. In the Kings Court Shopping Center "JAZZY CHRISTMAS" Join the Afro-American Cultural Center for a festive luncheon to ring in the hoilday season, Tuesday, December 3rd, starting at 12:00 noon at the Adams Mark Hotel. Sing favorite Christmas carols, hear live jazz, and enjoy delicious food. Music provided by jazz vocalist Barbara Weathers, formerly with the recording group Atlantic Starr. For more information call 374-1565 "HERE'S HOW YOU CAN BE CONNECTED" Submit, in writing, on your organizations letterhead, the title of your event, date, location, contact person and telephone number for your activity to: COMMUNITY CONNECTION 5001 Chesapeake Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina 28216 Attn: Jeflf Lowery • Phone: 393-4365 • Fax: 393-4265 If you are interested in the Coca-Cola Community Music Van appearing at your non-profit event call: 393-4365 • FAX 393-4265 Aggie Pnde: Ihe N.C. A&T State University Marching Band put on a spectacular half-time performance during the 100 Black Men Battle At The Border football game. The game cap|^ off an exdting weekend of entertainment that featured a jazz concert, uptown parade and an old school house party.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 27, 1996, edition 1
20
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