“Within Our Gates” Returns
As Salute To Oscar Michaux
CHICAGO (API- Seventy-two
ymn efter centers burned pioneer
fltauaeker Oscar Micheaux’s
“Within Oar Gatea,” the sometimes
yWwt, sometimes caustic look at
black life has been shown without
cots in the city wiMre it was made.
Micheaux, a native of rural
southern Illinois, moved to New York
after Ida run-in with the Chicago
Board at Caneors in 1090.
The movie he wrote, produced and
directed was filmed in Chicago in
M° the year of the city’s worst race
itou. The all-white censor board
banned the 1H0 premiere of the black
filmmaker's second movie because it
considered certain scenes too
inflammatory.
, Two scenes considered
inflammatory depicted a lynching of
a sharecropper family and a Mack
Baptist pastor as a secret foe of racial
“Micheaux went before the board
with Ida B. Wells and other leaders of
the black community and finally got
pormlaaion to show the film, but only
with 1,000 feet cut out of it,” said
neyd Webb, program director and
founder of the Blackllght Film
Festival.
“Urn preachers were on Ms case
just as much as the white power
structure.” Webb said.
The festival on Friday night
presented an uncut version of
“Within Our Oates” that was
dtacovered in MOO in Spain.
-The subject matter of “Within Our
Oates’’ was surprising for a movie
marts in Mlt. It deals with literacy
crusades, urban crime, alcoholism,
raps and miscegenation.
In Its shortened form, the movie
ployed for month* in Chicago,
imHiH —«m(Ii imtmy for Mlrheeirr
to continue his cinematic career. Bet
he was barred from showing it in
other parts of the nation and the film
itiesppfirrul
It was the first cinematic setback
far the former railroad porter and
farmer, whoee first movie, “The
Homesteader,” was bankrolled by
white South Dakota farmers.
Webb sees “Within Our Gates” as
Micheaux’s answer to D.W. Griffith’s
ISIS “Birth of A Nation,” which
glorified the KuKluxKlan. TbeKlan
makes no apperance in Micheaux’s
film, but it features a lynch mob of
vidous, Mississippi townspeople.
.Members of the Southern aristocracy
are depicted as money-grubbing
dunkards not above raping a young
black woman.
“Within Our Gates" deals
with literacy, crusades,
urban crime, alcoholism,
rape and miscegenation as
a caustic perspective of
black Hfe...
Most of Micheaux’s later movies
were shot in his apartment in
Montclair, N.J., or in a small studio
in nearby Fort Lee. He ntwmaHy
used a rented camera and produced
his movies on budgets of >10,000 to
~«i
$18,000. Budgets of up to $1 million
were the rule then in Hollywood.
Of 48 features Mlcheaux nude
between 1919 and 1948, fewer than a
doaen are known to exist. Most are
either what Webb calla “ahuffle
along” mueicala or melodramas such
as the 1984 “Body And Soul,” which
introduced Paul Robeson to movies.
He played a hypocritical preacher.
“Something happened to him after!
“Within Our Gatas”Webb said.
“The Homesteader’ was a socially;
conscious movie, and so was this one,
but his later works Just aren’t the
same.
“Maybe he realised that the
American people Just weren’t ready
for propaganda— propaganda in the
good sense, before the Nazis and
Communists gave the word a bad
meaning,” be said.
Mlcheaux died in 1961. By then, a
new generation of Mack filmmakers’
had rediscovered his work, but only
the later, studio-bound movies made
in New Jersey.
In 1980, American film scholar
Thomas Crlpps was called to the
Spanish Film Archive in Madrid to
identify a mysterious silent movie :
found in its collection. Crippe
Identified it as the loot, uncut “Within
Our Gates” and it was screened last
year during a conference in
California.
But Friday was the first screenini
in Chicago. Because Spanish titles
had been inserted in the Madrid print,
an interpreter read the dialouge to
the crowd at die Art Institute of
Chicago. A Jazz octet provided
accompaniment.
Jay Leno
Wants HaU
End Feud
NEW YORK (AP)—Jay Leno
aqu ho wants peace between him
self and rival television talk show
boat Areenio Hall.
"What you have hate appears to
bs two millionaires fighting it out,”
Laos told Entertainment Weakly
mags rim in its Aug. 14 issue.
“Itfe fins if it gets mare people
watching the show, but why throw
rocks at each other?" he said.
In April, Hall told ths magazine
that he was "gonna kick Leno’e
"What is this attitude?” Leno
"He makes $12 million a
: Are bis monologues worth $9
a year more than mine?”
said he does not want ths
to continue.
haven't eaid anything nasty
it Urn. I don't dislike him. I’ve
him, although I realize no
going to call *n® back.”
‘Rappin’
ranny
Reacts
CHICAGO m. (AP)—A Chicago
grandmother's rappin’ rasponao to
Ice-Ts "Cop Killer* controversial
heavy metal eong apparently haa
' struck a responsive chord.
Tve gotten phone calls from ra
dio stations as far away as New
'York,* said Dolores Dent, 64, who
wrote and recorded "Granny’s
Rap* on a cassette recorder at her
home.
Dent, who has two detectives in
her family, mailed the cassette to
the Illinois Fraternal Order of Po
lice, and suddenly everyone wants
to interview the Rappin’ Granny.
"I was just letting off a little
steam. I was just upset about
somebody sitting down and writ
ing about cop-killing. The majority
of oops in America are good police,”
she said.
Dent is a retired secretary and
part-time jau singer. She says her
son, Tilton Dant, is a detective in
San Diego, andfeer son-in-law, Pat
Collins, is a defective with the Illi
nois State Polios.
But "Granny’s Rap’ is the begin
ning and end of Dent's recording
career, she says.
This is really wild. Never in a
million years did I think there
would be this kind of reaction. I
think Fll stick to switchboards and
computers. They’re safer,” she
said.
Gumbel
Breaks
Wrist
NEW YORK, N.Y. <AP)-Biyant
Gumbel broke his wrist while “in
pursuit of a hippo” in Africa, an
NBC spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Gumbel has been in Africa since
last week, taping segments to use
when the Today show originates
there for six days, beginning Fri
day, Nov. 13.
But it was last Friday—not the
13th—that brought him bad luck,
according to the spokeswoman,
Lynn Appelbaum.
The crew arrived in Kenya after
stops in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
As they chased a hippo at Masai
Mara, a game reserve, the vehicle
carrying Gumbel went into a ditch.
He broke his wrist while trying to
break his fall.
The wrist was taped and he con
tinued to Egypt, sane cast, on
Tuesday.
Appelbaum said she didn't know
which wrist it was, or whether it
would affect his golf game.
Jazz Legend,
Bill Russell
Bead At 87
NEW ORLEANS (AP)—Bill
Russell, a jass historian also
known for recording early live jast
performances, died Sunday. He
was 87.
Russell was hospitalised at
Touro Infirmary on Saturday after
slipping and breaking his hip, said
Barry Martin, a friend.
The hospital did not release a
cause of death.
Russell just completed a book on
jass legend Jelly Roll Morton sev
eral weeks ago, ending 30 years of
work. It included interviews with
Louis Armstrong and other jass
greats.
Russell also recently completed
work on a re-issue on compact disc
of 20 hours of music he recorded
on his American Music label be
tween 1942 and 1963, Martin said.
He was a composer, working in
numerous styles, and a violinist at
one time with the New Orleans
Ragtime Orcheetra, said Dick Al
len, another New Orleans jass
historian.
But he was best known for his
early recordings of live jass on his
American Music label, his encour
agement of jass musicians such as
Bunk Johnson-a trumpet player
who influenced Armstrong-and
his collection of jass history.
Bora in Canton, Mo., in 1805,
Ruaaall first cam# to Now Orleans
about 1940 to record live perform
ances at what was than “an under
ground music,* Martin said.
Russell moved to the city in the
late 1960s. He was co-founder and
archivist for the jass archives at
Tulane University in 1968.
Russell lived in a French Quar
ter apartment and was a fixture at
Preservation Hall, a tiny St Peter
Street club considered a last
stronghold of unadulterated, tradi
tional New Orleans Jass.
warns'iriEii
For facts on an inexpensive way '
for students to call home, call Call
Home America at 1-800-594-3000.
For a new cookbook, call Land O
Lakes at 1-800-782-9602.
Gossett Blames Anger
And Depressive Years
On Racism In Industry
MALIBU, Calif. (AP>-The act
ing offer* didn’t com* after Louis
Gossett Jr. won an Oscar for the
1982 film "An Officer and a Gen
tleman." Anger and depression set
in, and he blamed the lack of offers
on racism.
"I want on a personal search,
and I grabbed at everything I
could to help me," Gossett said in
a recent interview at his home.
"The big mistake was thinking
that I could find the answers out
side myself.”
"I bought a' Rolls-Royce, I hung
out with pr*tty*'wfefrien, I bought
nice homes, weiit to the right
church and studied with all the
right gurus. But those were all
outside things, and this was an in
side job.”
it's taken nearly a decode
Gossett, 55, to overcome the
pression. He plays a boxer i on
man in the movie “Diggstowi
which opens Friday.
“Resentment is self-destn.icti
he said. “Even if what you’re
sentflil about is true, it’ll only >
worse if you carry it around "
“There was some sublimina1
dsm involved in what happened
me, but it wasn’t just racism
think people thought I was too >
pensive after I won the Osceu
“When that happens, they go
the second level, and the soco
level at the time was Den:.,
Glover. When Danny got too ex
pensive, they turned to Morg
Freeman. Now we’re all expen
sive.”
“I’ll Fly Away” Bringing Civil
Rights Era, Money As TV Series
MADISON, Ga. (AP)—Four
times a month, this middle Geor
gia dty goes back in time to the
1960b as the crew of the television
series Til Fly Away* brings the
dvfl rights era to life.
The series, just nominated for
16 Emmys, does more than bring
excitement to these streets. It
brings money—nearly $200,000 in
its first season last year.
“If it wasn’t for these guys, dur
ing certain seasons we’d just have
to dose down and go home,* said
Rhonda Erwin, whose Washington
Street Antiques shop supplies the
show with period furniture and
dothing. “It’s great to watch the
show and see something from our
store in a scene.”
“HI Fly Away" is the story of ra
ti al and sodal polities in the fic
tional Southern town of Bryl and.
It focuses particularly on the rela
tionship between a white district
attorney, played by Sam Water
ston, and his black housekeeper,
played by Regina Taylor;
The ehow’s producers chose
Madison as the set for the series
because of its historic look.
The careftilly cultivated town,
about 60 miloa east of Atlanta, has
numerous renovated historical
houses and an old-fashioned down
town square complete with court
house and shops that don’t need a
lot of camouflage to depict the
1960s. In fact, there are only two
stoplights for camera crews to
avoid filming.
Twice a week every other week,
the series’ stars and crew haul into
Madison. They usually start film
ing on Wednesdays, when the
stores close at noon and there’s
less traffic.
But townsfolk and tourists do
gather to watch the taping. Alice
Jean Zay sidled up to Waterston
last week, Mending into the crowd
of extras until die got dose enough
to tell him how much die enjoyed
the show.
"He’s much younger looking in
person,” she said. *Tm fascinated
by all they do to tape this televi
don show here.”
In addition to the money the ae
ries spends in town—on motels,
food and supplies—fans spend too.
A single episode brings about
$8,600 to the town, said Henrit
Arnold of the Madison-Morgan
County Chamber of Commerce.
“You wouldn’t believe how many
people come to visit Madison be
cause they know 111 Fly Away'
taped here,” she said.
“We’re lucky to be shooti
here,” he said. “Being in the Sou
being in Madison contributes
the character of the show. WeY
also having a very good time her
and that has a lot to do with ur
being here too.”
The show has also provider'
some extra income to some local
residents. The/re often called o
to be extras, forming street crowd.
or playing court spectators or sto
patrons.
Jim Puster, a graphic desi:;:!
artist from Macon, is the shor
permanent extra—he was on 17 o
last season’s 21 shows, working
12- or 14-hour days for $46 a day
He’s been filmed so much that h*'
friends with the show’s earner;
man, who gave Puster a little
tra footage the time he played
jury foreman.
“Bebe’s Kids” Takes Hilarious
Act To Blacks In Film Venture
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Comic
Robin Harris convulsed night club
audiences with his routine about
taking for pestiferous toddlers to
an amusement park. Harris died
at 36 in 1990, but his hilarious act
live on in the new animated film
“Babe's Kids.”
The Paramount Pictures release
started promisingly with an open
ing weekend gross of $3 million,
providing a $4,661 average in 646
theaters. Quite an achievement for
a film without tag-names or an es
tablished story. What’s more, it’s
the first full-length animated film
by and about blacks.
Harris’ routine was expanded
into a script by Reginald Hudlin
who directed Eddie Murphy in
“Boomerang.” Reginald and
brother Warrington served as ex
ecutive producers of “Bebe’s
Kids.” The director is Bruce Smi t:.
Smith shepherded the movie ■;
record-breaking time at the R>
perion Studio in downtown Glen
dale, a few miles north of ix«s An
geles. The studio is a bare ..-bones
operation occupying three floors
a renewed urban center. A t
slender man in his early
Smith talks calmly about
must have been a hectic erto
ence.
It fmTihi passtto wi«ln| plant. DaBarge Is rHHng on
the anal at Na Maat tala atom, “Storm,’’ and plans to
wcard a laiptoatoam tor Ms naxt malar prajact.