Remembering Don Cornelius

"Love, Peace and Soul."  Those are the closing words spoken by creator/host Don Cornelius on the television institution, Soul Train.  Don Cornelius died on February 1st, leaving viewers with a long legacy of Soul Train which was more than just a platform for musicians and dancers but an example of leadership that changed the history of television.

If you haven't seen it yet, you must find VH-1's documentary Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America.  It's worth seeking out. 

 Cast members from 2007's This Christmas dance the Soul Train line.

My favorite scenes in the 2007 theatrical release movie This Christmas are the ones with the whole family together dancing the Soul Train line.  The above clip is from the end of the movie just before the closing credits.  Here, the entire cast comes together to dance--some of the actors are having so much fun, they are breaking character!  This scene reminds me of the power of Soul Train.  It was greater than than just a TV show, becoming a part of all of our lives.

 

The Preacher's Wife (1996)

Before her personal life became fodder for the tabloids and the rumors of drug abuse and alcoholism were common knowledge, pop music’s Whitney Houston starred in a Christmas movie that features a stunning gospel music soundtrack.  The theatrical release movie The Preacher’s Wife is a remake of the 1947 Christmas movie The Bishop’s Wife which starred Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven.  The 1996 remake starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance, an African-American update, takes place within an urban city center and a church community thus the soundtrack reflects a more gospel, spiritual sound.

More recently, Courtney B. Vance starred on Law & Order: Criminal Intent

The film’s story centers on the Reverend Henry Biggs, played by Vance, and his wife Julia, played by Houston, during a time of hardship in their marriage and their church.  Though it is Christmas time, Henry is tempted by the generous offer of a real estate developer Joe Hamilton, played by actor Gregory Hines, to sell out his congregation for a new church building.  Enter the charming Denzel Washington, playing an angel named Dudley, who is an answer to a prayer to guide Reverend Henry and help the strained relationship between him and his wife.  Church choir singing and music fill this story line because Julia works as St. Matthew’s choir director and she is organizing the church's Nativity pageant.



 

A favorite scene from this movie is when Dudley and Julia are ice skating together and the two characters share a bit of Hollywood chemistry on the screen.  Did you know Whitney’s mother, Cissy Houston makes an appearance in this movie? She plays Mrs. Havergal in the church choir.

There's chemistry between Dudley and Julia--will Henry be too busy to notice?

This re-make of the black-and-white movie classic is made extra special by the inclusion of gospel music performances by chart-topping musical artist, Whitney Houston.  She not only sings several gospel songs with the church’s choir including the holiday favorite ‘Joy to the World’ but she also performs in a scene in Jazzie’s nightclub singing ‘I Believe in You and Me.’  In the movie, this is sung to the piano accompaniment of recording artist Lionel Richie.  Of course, Houston also sings several songs that appear on the movie’s soundtrack that play under various scenes in the story.

The song I Believe in You and Me by Whitney as performed at Jazzie's nightclub

By now we have all heard the sad news of Whiteny Houston's tragic and untimely death.  She leaves behind a rich legacy of music and performances.  She will surely be missed.

A Rugrats Kwanzaa (2001)

I enjoy honoring Black History Month (BHM) on my blog because there are so many excellent Christmas episodes, specials and TV movies with exceptional African-American cast members.  There are also many outstanding or touching Christmas TV story lines aimed at black audiences.  In the upcoming month, I'll highlight a few of my favorites.  If you have a particular episode, special or TV movie that you'd like me to discuss here in Black History Month, please comment below and ask about it.  I'll see what I can do

Though the bulk of my writing concerns itself with Christmas-themed entertainments, I have also researched Kwanzaa programs as well.  As I state in the introduction to my encyclopedia, Tis the Season TV which includes Kwanzaa entertainments in its listings, I have chosen to add Kwanzaa entertainments because the cultural holiday, which is celebrated December 26-31 each year, centers on the many of the same themes as Christmas.  Ultimately, Kwanzaa, like Christmas, is about families coming together to celebrate their traditions.  Both holidays reflected in our television entertainments are broadcast in December each year.

The long-running Nickelodeon animated children's program Rugrats is known for it's special holiday programming.  In addition to this Kwanzaa installment, they have also generated several Christmas episodes as well as Chanukah, Easter, Passover, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and more.  There are even two feature-length movies that include the Rugrats babies and two spin-off animated series.

Susie Carmichael with her rugrat friends

In A Rugrats Kwanzaa, the story centers on Susie Carmichael and her family celebrating the cultural holiday.  Susie's  Aunt T has come for a visit and wants to share Kwanzaa with the rest of the Carmichaels.  Because of this special occassion, Susie invites her baby friends over to learn about Kwanzaa with her. 

"I'm no good at being great" cries Susie

Susie misunderstands the purpose of the celebration, fearing she’s not good enough to participate.  As the kids listen to Aunt T’s stories about famous African-Americans and Susie's family members, it becomes clear that this celebration is about honoring the greatness in us all. 

Aunt T (voiced by Irma P. Hall) comes to visit for the holidays and shares her tradition of celebrating Kwanzaa

Not only is this Rugrats episode entertaining but it is informative about the meaning of Kwanzaa as well.  One of my favorite things about this is the exciting voice cast of Susie's family members--characters which we don't see a whole lot of in the regular series.

In the 1980s, Cree Summer played Freddie on A Different World

 Susie is voiced by Cree Summer, an actress who some of you may remember from the 1980s Cosby Show spin-off A Different World.  More recently she has been working as a very successful voice actor for animated series.

The character of Aunt T is voiced by Irma P. Hall, an actress who received great acclaim for her role in the Coen Brothers 2004 remake The Ladykillers.

This Kwanzaa episode is easily available for viewing on the Rugrats: Turkey and Mistletoe DVD.  It is one of the bonus episodes contained on the disc.  I found several copies of this at my local library.  It is also on the Rugrats: Holiday Celebration DVD which is available at Netflix. 

Which is your favorite Rugrat?  I can't help it, I like Chuckie.  Which is your favorite Rugrats holiday episode?

Black History Month 2012

I'm getting kind of a late start honoring Black History Month (BHM) but I'll try to catch up.  I enjoy celebrating BHM on my blog because there are so many excellent Christmas episodes, specials and TV movies with exceptional African-American cast members.  There are also many outstanding or touching Christmas TV story lines aimed at black audiences.  In the upcoming month, I'll highlight a few of my favorites.  If you have a particular episode, special or TV movie that you'd like me to discuss here in Black History Month, please comment below and ask about it.  I'll see what I can do.

Long-time readers of this blog know that I honored BHM last year as well.  In February 2011, I wrote about the 1988 TV movie Roots: The Gift, the sitcom Julia, The Jamie Foxx Show and Cicely Tyson in Ms. Scrooge.  Please feel free to click on those links to review my past blog posts.

Just off the top of my head, there are several other blog posts in the past that are relevant to BHM.  How many of us remember:

A very young Kevin Hooks with the sickly cat in 1969's J.T.

--The children's movie J.T. (1969) with actors Kevin Hooks and Ja'net DuBois.

--1979 TV movie Christmas Lilies of the Field with Billy Dee Williams.

--guest blogger, John from Kindertrauma wrote about 1990s sitcom Living Single.

l to r: Max, Khadijah, Regine and Synclaire.

In the coming month, I plan on covering several of my favorite Kwanzaa TV episodes, Christmas episodes of The Jeffersons, Everybody Hates Chris and Little Bill, as well as the TV specials Santa Baby! and Fat Albert's Christmas.  How does that sound?

Black History Month: Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson is one class act. The actress has brought dignity and strength to many of the characters she's portrayed over the years not limited to the 1977 TV miniseries Roots and the 1972 powerful film, Sounder. Two more TV movies, 1974's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and 1977's Wilma, both had a very powerful effect on me when I watched them when they first aired. Tyson has helped to influence the roles of African-American women in film and television away from predominantly stereotypical background characters to influential history-makers and strong women at the story's center.

1997 TV movie Ms. Scrooge starring Cicely Tyson

This is also true for Tyson's role as the central character in the 1997 made-for-TV movie, Ms. Scrooge. Here, Ebenita Scrooge is a successful banker who loves Christmas because people always over-spend and over-borrow money and she makes a profit from this. In a re-telling of Charles Dickens' classic tale, Scrooge is visited by her former boss Maude Marley (played by Katherine Helmond) who warns her about her greed. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Ebenita visions of her father’s struggle to run his own grocery store, her brother’s death in the war and her choice of a career over love. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows her employee Bob Cratchit’s family and his need for a decent health care plan. The Ghost of Christmas Future shows her that no one benefits after her death when the government claims her estate and her wealth.

This Scrooge story ends a little differently than most because Ebenita goes to church after her Christmas Eve transformation. Perhaps this is a lesson others will prefer over other TV adaptations of the original tale. (Trivia: which other filmed version(s) see Scrooge visit a church?) TV fans may notice that this film is directed by John Korty, the same who directed Tyson in the earlier successful movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

TV movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman--remember the water fountain scene?

Ms. Scrooge still regularly airs on TV each December (I usually see it on Lifetime) but it is currently available for viewing on Youtube as well (see below for Part 1).

The TV movie Ms. Scrooge is but one of several examples of female Ebenezer Scrooges. Other examples include 1995's Ebbie starring Susan Lucci, 2000's A Diva’s Christmas Carol starring Vanessa Williams and 2003's A Carol Christmas starring Tori Spelling. Note that Vanessa Williams in A Diva's Christmas Carol is also an African-American woman playing the lead role as Dickens' Scrooge character. Interesting, huh?

Here is Part 1 of Ms. Scrooge from Youtube

Groundhog Day: The Jamie Foxx Show

Trailer for 1993 movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.

Last year on February 2nd, I blogged about three made-for-TV Christmas movies that adapted the plot from the 1993 movie Groundhog Day. Click here to see that 2010 posting.

This year I'd like to share a TV episode that also adapts its plot from that much-beloved Bill Murray classic: the 1998 holiday episode "Christmas Day-Ja Vu" from The Jamie Foxx Show.

cast left to right: Garrett Morris, Christopher B. Duncan, Garcelle Beauvais, Ellia English with Jamie Foxx in the center.

Actor/comedian Foxx plays Jamie King, an employee living and working in his family's hotel while he pursues a career in music. This third season holiday episode of the popular sitcom sees Jamie King planning to go skiing over the holiday with friends rather than spending time with his family. However, he finds himself re-living Christmas Eve over and over until he learns his much-needed lesson to stop being so selfish. Here, Fate is personified in the guise of Santa Claus, insisting that King become more generous and giving this Christmas. Though crammed into a half-hour format, this episode’s concept seems to work.

This episode is directed by Amanda Bearse, a very successful TV director. She may be more familiar to TV viewers for her acting work, playing the character of the next door neighbor Marcy on the long-running TV series Married...With Children. It's a small world.

Though this episode is not yet released on DVD, The Jamie Foxx Show is currently airing in syndication on BET and Centric.

Black History Month: Roots: The Gift

I've borrowed the above image because it reminds me that Black History Month is a celebration of contributions to American history and culture made by African-Americans. This is a topic I'd like to return to several times this month to highlight several of the best Christmas programs which feature African-American characters and their holiday stories in movies and on TV.



I'd like to open Black History Month tipping my hat to the 1988 Christmas movie Roots: The Gift, directed by Kevin Hooks. This television movie is an expansion of a storyline from within the original Roots TV mini-series involving the characters Fiddler and Kunta Kinte. Of course, Roots is the 1970s mini-series adapted from author Alex Haley's award-winning book which narrates his ancestors lives from their kidnapping in Africa into slavery up through the years into the 20th century.

The plot of Roots: The Gift focuses on Kunta Kinte’s efforts on Christmas Eve 1775 to shuttle slaves to freedom on the developing underground railroad. The titular gift refers to the hope for freedom found in the spirit of the slogan from the Revolutionary War raging in the North: “Live Free or Die.”

There are many inspiring moments: Kunta refusing to be humiliated, bridled and ridden as a camel in a childrens' Nativity pageant; Fiddler deciding to join the group of escapees; the arduous trek through the snow towards freedom; and, the hope of a new baby born along the way.

The cast includes: Louis Gossett Jr. as Fiddler; LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte; Avery Brooks as Cletus Moyer; Michael Learned as Amelia; Shaun Cassidy as Edmund Jr.; Kate Mulgrew as Hattie; and, Jerry Hardin as Dr. Reynolds.

Director Kevin Hooks

Roots: The Gift was directed by veteran TV director and former actor, Kevin Hooks. My favorite TV role of his was as the character Morris Thorpe on The White Shadow. As a child he also starred in the Christmas TV movie, J.T. Click here to read my previous posting about that phenomenal movie. Hooks is currently working as one of the most busy TV executive producers and directors on such shows as Detroit 1-8-7, Human Target, and until recently Prison Break.

To the best of my knowledge, Roots: the Gift is not available on DVD yet. However it does still pop up on TV. Because of the prestigious reputation of the Roots mini-series, this TV movie is also fairly easy to find on VHS at libraries across the country as well. A find worth seeking.