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Atlanta Sidestreets | CURRENT AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS | SIDESTREETS FROM LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY

CURRENT AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS

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Shirley Ann Hemphill, born in Asheville, N. C. July 1st , 1947, is probably best known as Shirley Wilson on ABC’s sitcom “What’s Happening!!” which ran from 1976 to 79.

 

Hemphill began her career without fanfare as a stand-up comic. In an effort to receive some notice, she decided to record some of her best routines on a borrowed cassette recorder. She sent the tape to comedian Flip Wilson who, at the time, was a major television star, enjoying the third season on his own TV variety show. Wilson enjoyed the tape and invited Hemphill to L.A. to attend a taping of his show. He also sent her a dozen roses for luck and her very own cassette recorder. After Hemphill returned home from the taping, she was determined to become a comedy star. She became a waitress at a fast food restaurant during the day and worked comedy clubs at night.

 

In 1976, Hemphill's stand-up routine started to take off.  She was invited to guest star on the TV comedy sitcoms, All’s Fair and Good Times. That same year she landed the role of sarcastic waitress Shirley Wilson on the comedy TV series What’s Happening!!, adapted from Eric Monte’s film Cooley High. The series would go on to air for three seasons.

 

Following What's Happening!!, Hemphill starred in her own sitcom, One in a Million, in early 1980. She portrayed a taxi driver who inherited a huge corporation and fortune from one of her customers. The series was cancelled after only 13 episodes.

 

Then Hemphill spent most of the early '80s working in nightclubs around the country and doing the occasional guest appearance on TV shows, including The Love Boat and Trapper John, M.D. In 1985, she was invited to co-star on the revival of What’s Happening Now!! which ran from 1985 to 1988. After What's Happening Now!! ended its three-year run, she again worked the nightclub scene doing occasional acting gigs on a number of '90s comedy sitcoms, such as Martin and The Wayans Bros. In 1994, she appeared in her first movie, CB4, starring Chris Rock (a native of Andrews, S. C). Two years later she co-starred in her second movie, Shoot the Moon, starring Whitney Anderson.

 

Throughout her career, Hemphill performed her stand-up routine on a number of popular TV shows including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, A & E’s An Evening at the Imrov, BET’s Black Comedy Showcase and  Black Comedy Tonight. She appeared regularly at The Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles.

 

Shirley Hemphill died of kidney failure on December 10, 1999 at her suburban Los Angeles home where her body was reportedly found by her gardner.

(Edited from Wikipedia)

 

WGST Entertainment Editor John Kramer interviewed Shirley Hemphill in the early 1980’s.

JOHN KRAMER WITH SHIRLEY HEMPHILL
HEMPHILL
RUN TIME = 11 MINUTES

JAMES J. KILPATRICK-NOV. 1, 1920- AUG. 15, 2010
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PHOTO BY RICK MCKAY-THE PALM BEACH POST-COX ENT.

2) Finding the "sweet" spot in the middle of a "hard ball".

On December 2, 1982 we had the pleasure of interviewing  William A. Bake and James Jackson Kilpatrick upon the publication of their impressive collaboration, “The American South-Towns and Cities”, published by Oxmoor House of Birmingham, Alabama. The interview was broadcast on WGST Newsradio’s “Midday” program followed by a produced piece which aired on WAMU-FM 88.5, American University Radio in Washington

KILPATRICK AND BAKE-AMERICAN SOUTH-TOWNS & CITIES
KILPATRICK AND BAKE
RUN TIME = 8 MINUTES ***




3) Correspondent on the fast track.

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Judy Woodruff was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma but grew up in Augusta, Georgia. She began her reporting career at WAGA-Channel 5, now Fox Five Atlanta.


From 1977 to ’82 Woodruff was NBC’s chief White House correspondent. From 1982 to ’83 she also covered
Washington for The Today Show.


For a number of years Woodruff worked at CNN before returning to PBS in 2006.


In 2007 Ms. Woodruff returned to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer where she is currently senior correspondent and also serves as substitute anchor.


In December 1982, the Voice of America asked us to interview Ms. Woodruff in conjunction with the publication of her first book, “This Is Judy Woodruff At the White House.”

CORRESPONDENT ON THE FAST TRACK
JUDY WOODRUFF
RUN TIME = FOUR MINUTES



4) Great pipes and a whole lot more!

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A FACE TO GO WITH THE MYSTERY VOICE

In the predigital days, voice and model talent plied their agents with analog tapes and glossies (headshots, composites) if they were serious about getting work. Today it’s all done in cyberspace, uploaded here, downloaded there.



A good voice reel had to pack a lot of excitement and variety into just three to five minutes to grab busy producers’ limited attention spans.



To fully exploit his versatility our mystery voice would often give his or her agent more than one sample reel to take around. There was the  “warm and fuzzy” treatment targeting the traditional big bucks conservative businesses. The other reel would stretch outside the usual box and go for the funny bone, the international market, or in this case, both. Some of the material on this second tape presages what our friend would end up doing later in what has turned into a very satisfying career.

Here are some clues:



Our mystery voice is a Milledgeville native who made his professional mark in
Atlanta radio during the 70’s. For many years he was the exclusive on air spokesman for Big Star when the populalr grocery chain dotted Atlanta’s metro landscape.

MYSTERY GUEST ALL "WARM AND FUZZY"
GUEST AUDIO
RUN TIME = AROUND THREE AND A HALF MINUTES

MYSTERY GUEST-WARM & FUZZY PLUS A LOT MORE
MYSTERY GUEST
RUN TIME = 4 MINUTES 30 SECONDS

5) Not your usual promo man kind of day.

BACKSTAGE AT THE ATLANTA CIVIC CENTER-1973
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PHOTO BY TOM HILL PHOTOGRAPHY-DECATUR-PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE STARS.



(l-r) Richard Tucker; Simon House(Branch Manager, London Records Southeast); Robert Merrill; Ted Vigodsky aka Teddy Vee(Promotion Manager, London Records, Southeast) 



Shortly after Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill’s “Live From Carnegie Hall” sell out concert appearance in January 1973, London Records Classical Division  followed up with a two lp release…a recording that is still much sought after close to forty years later.


The home office in
New York informed London Records Southeast Branch Manager, Simon House that the famous duo would begin a national tour coinciding with the release and that Atlanta’s Civic Center was on the tour. The message was loud and clear: Do a major rollout. Spare no expense; and by all means, sell a lot of “units”(albums).


After receiving the call I bee-lined straight to Sy’s office with a confession. Before coming to
London, I’d worked up the street for several years for MCA/Universal records as its Southeast Promotion Manager. While I was very comfortable working with the big rock, country and r & b acts, I admitted that up to that point I’d never had the occasion to work with classical artists and certainly none with the worldwide reputation of a Richard Tucker or a Robert Merrill. Frankly I was intimidated by the prospect.

At the time the
London Classical  Division had one of the largest and most impressive line ups of serious music artists and catalogues in the world under the brilliant helmsmanship of Terry McKuen. McKuen would later become General Director of the San Francisco Opera. Needless to say I felt more than a tad insecure.


Sy was not only a friend, He’d become a father figure to me in my then crazy, mixed-up life. He assured me that everything would go smoothly, that, like Tucker and Merrill, he’d grown up in New York at the same time and that he should have no problem getting over to them if I happened to stumble along the way. Just follow his lead. Not to worry!


Sy had put Tucker and Merrill up at the original Marriott which at the time was located 
behind the present Marriott Marquis and a stone’s throw from the Civic Center where they were to perform that night. Sy’s plan was for all of us to meet at the Marriott for breakfast, where I would lay out the day’s itinerary of retailer, wholesaler, one-stop and rack jobber visits plus the arranged interviews with print, and radio outlets. Along with the interviews and visits I was to sprinkle a generous number of concert tickets and “free goods”(dee jay copies of the two lp set). After breakfast Sy would return to the branch and it would be just Tucker, Merrill and I. I was to get them back early enough for their stage rehearsal and then Sy would join us that evening for the performance.


Sy and I arrived at the Marriott restaurant before Tucker and Merrill came down so that once again he could pump me up that everything would be okay. When the two entered, I established an instant rapport with Merrill who was warm, accessible, outgoing...and very funny. Tucker was a different story… more reserved, friendly as he needed to be, but much more formal and on the quiet side. That tightened up my you-know-what a bit.


Cheerfully, Sy piped up: “So what’s good here?”


Aiming to please, the allegedly knowledgeable promotion man that I was, tongue immediately ran way ahead of my brain and I  blurted out, “The ham steak here is out of sight!”


The minute the words had left my mouth I knew I’d committed a fatal gaffe. In my mind’s eye I recalled that Tucker not only had started his career as a cantor in the shul, he was also a very observant Jew. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed that Tucker’s face had gone ashen. On the other side of the table, Merrill was having difficulty suppressing a giggle.


Before I could begin my litany of mea culpas, Sy came to the rescue…”Ha, ha, ha! What’d I tell you guys on the phone? The kid’s a natural comedian. I knew I had a winner when I brought him on board." He kept this up until even I started believing the B.S.!


After that it was smooth sailing. Later I would learn that Sy had literally been childhood friends of the two operatic icons and had played stick ball with them on the streets of
Brooklyn. I also learned later that all three had conspired to “play” the green kid that morning at the Marriott. Thank God I never engaged them in a poker game.


Sadly, a few months later, Tucker, the great tenor, would die of a heart attack while touring with Merrill in
Kalamazoo, Michigan.  He is the only person whose funeral has been held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

In tribute to his legacy at the Met, the city of New York designated the park adjacent to Lincoln Center as Richard Tucker Square.


While escorting Tucker and Merrill that day for the courtesy calls and interviews, they regaled me with jokes and stories of their growing up in
Brooklyn. I knew I would never forget that day or the fatherly wisdom Simon House shared with me earlier:


“Son, just keep this in mind. Opera singers are basically no different than any of the other great acts we represent. Like show business, like life…the greater the stars, the ones who know what they’re about, the easier they are to work with.” God rest his soul.  


A few years ago the two lp set of “Live At Carnegie Hall” was  re-released on  cd  on Teldec (Telefunken and Decca combined-Decca being the European name for London Records). An unopened copy of this collector’s item, assuming you can still find one today, probably runs around $150. We invite you to sample one of grand opera’s most beautiful pieces from “Live At Carnegie Hall” sung by two of the world’s greatest opera stars. Perhaps the adage is true: Once a promo man, always a promo man!

Click on the musical note to enjoy something really special.

FROM "LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL"-JANUARY 1973 ***
Blue Growing Musical Note
RUN TIME = 5 MINUTES

*** Citations:
Kilpatrick/Bake story:

"Our Town" - performed by James Taylor; lyrics by Randy Newman.

Promotion man's story:

"Au Fond du Temple Saint" from "The Pearl Fishers" by Georges Bizet.
Performed by Richard Tucker, tenor; Robert Merrill, baritone; piano accompaniment, George Schick. From "Live At Carnegie Hall", January 7, 1973. Teldec re-release. Originally released, promoted, marketed and merchandised under the auspices of:

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