On this day in comedy on February 28, 1977 Comedian, Actor, Edmund Lincoln Anderson (best known as “Rochester”) died.
With an instantly recognizable raspy voice due to rupturing his vocal cords yelling as a paperboy in his youth, Eddie Anderson was the first black man to be a regular cast member on radio. He worked a number of odd jobs after leaving school at age 14 to help out the family, but the lure of back stages kept tugging at him. He’d clown around with his brother, Cornelius which led to performing as a dancer in an all-black revue on the vaudeville circuit. He got picked up and appeared in “Struttin Along” in 1923 and later “Steppin High” with Cornelius in 1924. He added comedy to his act in 1926 and then he met comedy legend, Jack Benny, the man who would change his life.
Anderson met Jack Benny by chance. They exchanged greetings, shook hands and went their separate ways. Little did Anderson imagine that he shook the hand of the man who he’d spend most of his career. When they met again Anderson was auditioning for the part of a Pullman porter in a Benny radio episode that took place on an actual train moving across country. He got the part when the shoeshine man, Oscar, at Paramount, who Benny had in mind for the part involved his agent (yes, the shoeshine guy had an agent) who asked for $300. Benny thought this was high for 1937 and gave the role to Anderson, who was doing comedy on Central Avenue in Los Angeles. Anderson was so memorable that he was called back 5 weeks later to play a waiter and join the cast in a Jell-O commercial. Letters poured in and he was called in again a few weeks after that to play a guy in a financial dispute with Benny. More letters flooded the studio and Benny decided to make Anderson a cast regular. He’d be Rochester, the valet who would talk trash to his boss. That initial back talk turned into a lengthy, lucrative career.
By 1940 Anderson was the most popular character on “The Jack Benny Show” next to Benny. He was elected Mayor of Central Avenue, an honor which carried the right to speak on issues involving blacks in that area. Anderson’s platform was getting blacks to become aviators. After he received press pushing this agenda, President Franklin Roosevelt made the same plea. Build a strong national air force.
Racial lessons were learned due to Rochester. After World War II people were more sensitive to racial bigotry. A script that had been used prior to the war was reused 7 years later with disastrous results. Listeners called and wrote in how stereotypes about Negroes was unacceptable. Benny demanded that his writers remove all racial negativity from all future scripts and went on radio to compel his audience to reject racism and endorse brotherhood of the races. Nevertheless, racism plagued the times. Anderson could not tour with the cast to entertain the troops because as a black man he would require separate living quarters. (Yeah, right). Yet when his name was mentioned the soldiers applauded more for him than any cast member present. Stateside Benny would have to threaten to leave a hotel if they would not let Anderson stay there as well and sometimes that threat was a promise like the time in New York when the entire crew of 44 people checked out with Anderson.
Despite these indignities Eddie Anderson was the highest paid black actor until the 1950s. He owned a sprawling estate in West Adams area of Los Angeles renamed “Rochester Circle” as well as races horses and a boxer, not to mention various businesses. In 1951 when “The Jack Benny Show” went to television Anderson went with it. He also did guest starring spots as Rochester on “The Milton Berle Show” (1953) and “Bachelor Father” (1962). “The Jack Benny Show” went off the air in 1965.
The Benny association was a major boost, but Anderson’s career wasn’t all Jack Benny. Anderson was in the Benny films, “Man About Town” and “Buck Benny Rides Again”, but he also co-starred with Ethel Waters and Lena Horne in the classic, “Cabin in the Sky”. He appeared in the comedy film classic, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (his last screen performance). All totaled Anderson appeared in over 60 motion pictures, including “Gone with the Wind” and “Jezebel”. Regardless, there was still ignorance to tolerate. One of his films, “Brewster’s Millions’ (1945) was banned from theaters in the South because “it presents too much social equality and racial mixture.”
A complete entertainer, Eddie Anderson touched all mediums. He did game shows, provided voices for cartoons, performed comedy in night clubs and appeared on Broadway. In 1975 Anderson was elected to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. On this day in 1977 he died of heart disease in Los Angeles at the age of 71 and posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001.
On this day in comedy on February 26, 1933 Comedian, Actor, Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge was born in New York City, New York.
If his parents had had their way, Cambridge would’ve become a doctor. He attended Hofstra College where he studied medicine for three years, then woke up one morning, dropped out and became an actor. That was probably a dramatic moment remembered by all who witnessed, but then the reality of being a struggling actor set in. Cambridge found himself doing less acting and more job bouncing. He was an ambulance driver, a gardener, bead-sorter, cab driver, popcorn bunny maker, airplane cleaner, New York Housing Authority clerk and judo instructor.
Cambridge’s hard work to keep food in his belly paid off. He took his bartending skills from real life and played a bartender in his first play, Take a Giant Step. It was off-Broadway, but in 1957 he made it to the big time. He debuted in the original production of Herman Wouk’s Nature’s Way. Four years later Cambridge earned an Obie Award for his work in The Blacks: A Clown Show. A year later he received a Tony nomination for his work in the original version of Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious in a cast that included Ruby Dee, Helen Martin, Beah Richards, Alan Alda, Sorrell Booke and Roger C. Carmel. His performance in 1965’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was lauded as well. Cambridge proved himself to be an accomplished actor.
Godfrey Cambridge was also good on film. He played a government agent in The President’s Analyst (1967); a cab driver in Bye Bye Braverman (1968); a white racist who turns black in Watermelon Man (1970); a line-crossing cop in Cotton Comes to Harlem and its sequel Come Back Charleston Blue (1972) and a gay gangster in Pam Grier’s Friday Foster (1975). In 1970 he financed and produced the graphic anti-drug film, Dead is Dead, where actual addicts were shown shooting up and going through withdrawal. Cambridge also appeared in the films, The Busy Body, The Biggest Bundle of Them All, The Biscuit Eater, Beware! The Blob and Whiffs.
Godfrey Cambridge made his presence known on television. He guest-starred on Car 54 Where Are You?, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy, The Phil Silvers Show and in Night Gallery playing a comedian who appeals to a genie to get his career back on track. Steven Spielberg directed that episode which co-starred Tom Bosley. Cambridge also did underwear commercials for Jockey.
Standup comedy was another Cambridge strength. In 1965 Time magazine recognized him as being one of the top four most celebrated Black comedians in the nation along with Dick Gregory, Nipsey Russell and Bill Cosby. Cambridge was universally accepted with a brand of comedy that though truthful, sarcastic and incisive, was unifying. He made appearances on The Tonight Show and was one of the country’s top earning nationally headlining standup comedians. In a career spanning several decades he released four albums; all from Epic Records.
Godfrey Cambridge died on November 29, 1976 in Burbank, California of a heart attack. It happened while he was filming Victory at Entebbe, a movie where Cambridge was portraying brutal dictator, Idi Amin. When the news was made public Amin was quoted as saying Cambridge’s death was “punishment from God” Godfrey Cambridge was 43 years old.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out the clip:
There is a petition going around Western New York to remove the newly added Steve Harvey Show from WBLK, a station owned by Townsquare Media in Buffalo, New York. Harvey’s show started March 1st and listeners are already responding with a petition to bring Tom Joyner back (>>link<<) the show he is replacing. Sources state the station’s management decided to remove Tom Joyner after being approached repeatedly by Premiere Radio Networks. [We need to look at the station’s ratings in the coming week to see why the change took place but industry sources state Joyner’s show was actually doing quite well]
WBLK was started in 1964 by local pop DJ George “The Hound Dog” Lorenz. For over 50 years the station has enjoyed a rich history as a successful behemoth outlet for Buffalo and several parts of Western New York. The station’s signal also bleeds into nearby Niagara Falls. Some of the nation’s greatest jocks and the most respected programmers worked for the station in the past like WBLS’ Skip Dillard, the late Byron Pitts, Carol Blackmon, Chuckie T and many others.
Harvey’s show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks a Sherman Oaks, CA based company affiliated with iHeartMedia. Premiere Radio also syndicates shows like: Ryan Seacrest and shows with the deeply controversial hosts Rush Limbaugh and Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Tom’s show is owned by Tom’s own company Reach Media and the largest black owned radio corporation Radio One which syndicates urban radio shows like Yolanda Adams, The Rickey Smiley Morning Show and DL Hughley. Joyner’s Fantastic Voyage Cruise, “the party with a purpose” is about to sail at the end of April. The cruise helps raise money for historically black colleges.
Harvey’s radio show has recently been involved in a controversy when he gave questionable advice to a black female listener whose letter was featured on a segment of the Steve Harvey Morning Show “Strawberry Letter.” The woman indicated that she thought she may have been sexually assaulted by her boyfriend while asleep after he had sex with her and she was unaware of it.
Source: Radio Facts
In news that has been swirling around the comedy industry for several months, Rushion McDonald confirmed in an interview with WBLS that he is no longer managing Steve Harvey.
For those that don’t know, McDonald has been a comedian for many years and came on board to manage Steve Harvey early on in his career. McDonald was part of the career that many see Harvey enjoying today.
As of this writing, no one is talking on why the two sides agreed to part ways, but McDonald does mention the separation in the interview below;
The City of Miami Gardens is proud to announce the complete lineup of the 11th Annual Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival (JITG) taking place on March 19th – 20th, 2016, at Sun Life Stadium (347 Don Shula Dr, Miami Gardens, FL 33056). Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster.
This year’s lineup features Usher, Aretha Franklin, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Janelle Monae, Brian Culbertson, Michael McDonald, Kool and The Gang, Fred Hammond, The Average White Band, and The Jazz in the Gardens All-Stars featuring Regina Belle, Najee & Alex Bugnon, along with local artists CriStyle Renae, April Raquel and Kouture Band, and LaVie. Returning to the stage as host is comedian and nationally-syndicated radio personality Rickey Smiley.
“This is our signature annual event that people from all over the world look forward to attending every year,” said City of Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert. “Last year’s event took Jazz in the Gardens to the next level, and with this year’s lineup of top-notch musical talent, we expect this year will continue the trend,” he continued.
Last year’s 10th Annual JITG broke box office records with more than 73,000 people attending. Approximately 42,000 festival-goers attended Saturday’s show, the first sold-out day in the history of the event. Fans from all across the nation and abroad enjoyed performances from Maxwell, Erykah Badu, R. Kelly, Toni Braxton, Run D.M.C., and Brian Culbertson, just to name a few. Comedians and nationally-syndicated radio personalities D.L. Hugley and Rickey Smiley co-hosted the festival. Last year’s JITG event also drew surprise celebrities including actors Bryshere Y. Gray and Jussie Smollett, who star as Hakeem and Jamal, respectively, on the red-hot, Fox television series “Empire.”
Source: Radio Facts
Lex Scott Davis has joined the cast as a series regular in CBS’ drama pilot based on Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day.”
This will be at least the 3rd cop movie with a black lead that CBS has considered turning into a weekly TV series – “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Rush Hour” are the other 2. Of course we know that the network would eventually pass on the “Beverly Hills Cop” TV series which was to star Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley’s son (although a pilot was produced); the “Rush Hour” series, on the other hand, was ordered and is set to debut this year, as a mid-season replacement.
Per CBS’ press release, the “Training Day” series will center on Kyle Craig “an idealistic young African American police officer [who] is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD, where he is partnered with a seasoned, morally ambiguous Caucasian detective.”
Kyle Craig has yet to be cast, but Bill Paxton will play the older “morally ambiguous” white copper. Meanwhile Lex Scott Davis (who we last saw play Toni Braxton in Lifetime’s original movie) will play Kyle Craig’s “smart and cynical” wife Alyse, a history teacher who loves and greatly admires her husband and his insatiable drive.
Fuqua will executive produce with Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman for WBTV.
Source: Shadow & Act
Whoopi Goldberg has booked a co-starring role opposite Charlie Sheen in an indie drama titled “Nine Eleven,” which follows 5 people trapped in an elevator in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Described as more of an action-drama, the film will be directed by Martin Guigui from script he co-wrote with Steven Golebiowski, and filming is set to begin today at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, with Wood Harris, Luis Guzman and Olga Fonda rounding out the key cast.
“We are immensely grateful to bring this inspirational story to life. ‘Nine Eleven’ is a highly emotional journey and it took a dynamic bunch to collectively come together to make this unique film happen,” said director Guigui. “We are fortunate to have such a gifted cast on board. Both Charlie and Whoopi are native New Yorkers who strongly identify with this story.”
Thunder Studios is co-producing with Sprockefeller Pictures, Vitamin A Films and Sunset Pictures.
Mark Burg will serve as executive producer, along with Rodric David and Ryan Johnson of Thunder Studios.
No ETA yet.
Variety was first to report the news.
Source: Shadow & Act
Craig Robinson has been cast as a recurring guest star in the highly-anticipated second season of USA Network’s award-winning drama series “Mr. Robot.” Robinson will play Ray, a neighborhood local who reaches out to Elliot in his time of need.
“Mr. Robot” stars Rami Malek as Elliot, as well as Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Grace Gummer, Michael Cristofer and Stephanie Corneliussen.
From Universal Cable Productions, the series hails from writer and executive producer Sam Esmail as well as Anonymous Content executive producers Steve Golin and Chad Hamilton.
The USA Network hit hacker drama, which is already in production, is set to return this Summer.
Robinson joins the previously announced Joey Bada$$ as new additions to the series’ cast for the 10-episode second season.
Joey Bada$$ makes his TV debut in the series playing Leon, a wise, philosophical friend of Elliot who talks too much, but gives meaningful life advice, says the press release.
Source: Shadow & Act
Will Smith will reteam with his “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer, to tackle a new project titled “Bright,” which Joel Edgerton is also attached to co-star in, with Max Landis penning the script.
Full details on “Bright” are still underwraps at the moment, other than a description of the film as a futuristic cop thriller with fantastical elements, set in a world where Orcs and fairies live among humans. I can’t help but think of another Will Smith interracial buddy-action-adventure movie with fantastical elements – namely, the “Men in Black” franchise of movies.
The project is not yet set up at any studio, although given who is attached, it likely won’t be long before it finds a home.
Will Smith is currently filming “Collateral Beauty” just kicked off principal photography. The New Line Cinema and Village Roadshow Pictures project sees Smith leading an all-star cast that includes Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren and Jacob Latimore. The film has been slated for release on December 16, 2016, and is on my list of potential 2017 Oscar contenders, for individual performances and the overall film itself.
Deadline was first to report the news on “Bright.”