Ja'net Dubois
Jeannette Theresa Dubois (August 5 – February 17, 2020), known professionally as Ja'Net DuBois, Ja'net DuBois, and Ja'Net Du Bois (), was an American actress and singer. She was best known for her portrayal of Willona Woods, the neighborhood gossip maven and a friend of the Evans family on the CBS sitcom '' Good Times'', which aired from 1974 to 1979. DuBois additionally cowrote and sang the theme song "Movin' on Up" for ''The Jeffersons'', which aired from 1975 until 1985. After beginning her career on the stage in the early 1960s, DuBois appeared on television shows and in films into the mid-2010s. Biography Early life and career DuBois was born Jeannette Theresa Dubois in either Brooklyn, New York City, or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Lillian Gouedy (1910–1984) and Gordon Adelbert Dubois (1915–1960) and was raised in Amityville, New York on Long Island. DuBois began her acting career onstage during the early 1960s, making her Broadway debut w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Good Times
''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African American two-parent family sitcom. ''Good Times'' is a spin-off of '' Maude,'' which itself is a spin-off of ''All in the Family'', making ''Good Times'' the first television spin-off from another spin-off. In September 2020, it was announced that the series would receive an animated sitcom revival produced with Norman Lear executive producing alongside Seth MacFarlane and Steph Curry for Netflix. Synopsis Florida and James (renamed from Henry) Evans and their three children live at 921 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a public housing project in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. The project is unnamed on the show but is implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green Homes, shown in the opening and closing credits. Fl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the List of islands by population, 18th-most populous in the world. The island begins at New York Harbor approximately east of Manhattan Island and extends eastward about into the Atlantic Ocean and 23 miles wide at its most distant points. The island comprises four List of counties in New York, counties: Kings and Queens counties (the New York City Borough (New York City), boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) and Nassau County, New York, Nassau County share the western third of the island, while Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County occupies the eastern two thirds of the island. More than half of New York City's residents (58.4%) lived on Long Island as of 2020, in Brooklyn and in Queens. Culturally, many people in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Johnny Brown (actor)
Johnny Brown (June 11, 1937 – March 2, 2022) was an American actor and singer. He was most famous for his role as building superintendent Nathan Bookman on the 1970s CBS sitcom, ''Good Times''. Brown portrayed Bookman until the series was cancelled in 1979. Life and career A nightclub promoter and performer, his early best role was as a regular cast member of the television series ''Laugh-in''. Brown is mostly remembered for his portly physique, beautiful smile, mobile facial expressions, and easy, pleasant joking style. Brown made appearances on ''The Flip Wilson Show'', ''The Jeffersons'', ''Family Matters'', '' Sister, Sister'', ''The Jamie Foxx Show'', ''The Wayans Bros'', and ''Martin''. He had a recurring role as building super Nathan Bookman in the 1970's TV series ''Good Times''. He had a small role in the 1970 film '' The Out-of-Towners'' starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis as a waiter on a railroad dining car. Brown went to school with Walter Dean Myers when he ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lola Falana
Loletha Elayne Falana or Loletha Elaine Falana (born September 11, 1942), better known by her stage name Lola Falana, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Early life Lola Falana was born in Camden, New Jersey. She was the third of six children born to Bennett, a welder and Cleo Falana, a seamstress (1921–2010). Falana's father, an Afro-Cuban, left his homeland of Cuba to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, later becoming a welder shortly after meeting Falana's mother, who was African-American. By the age of three, Falana was dancing, and by age five she was singing in the church choir. In 1952, Falana's family, which by this time included two more siblings, moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the period she was in junior high school, Falana was already dancing in nightclubs to which she was escorted by her mother. Pursuing a musical career became so important to her that, against her parents' wishes, she dropped out of Germantown High School a few months before grad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Billy Daniels
William Boone Daniels (September 12, 1915 – October 7, 1988) was an American singer active in the United States and Europe from the mid-1930s to 1988, notable for his hit recording of "That Old Black Magic" and his pioneering performances on early 1950s television. He was one of the first African-American entertainers to cross over into the mainstream. Daniels was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977. Life and career Early life Daniels was born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. where his father was a postmaster and notary. His mother was a schoolteacher and organist. Daniels had a heritage of Portuguese sailor, Native American (Choctaw), African American, and frontiersman Daniel Boone. Early career In 1935, Daniels moved from Jacksonville to New York to attend Columbia University. He planned to become a lawyer, but he was sidetracked during the Depression. His grandmother was a seamstress in Harlem for the ''Ziegfeld Follies'', and she encourag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sammy Davis Jr
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.Sammy Davis Jr. Biography Biography.com. Retrieved June 6, 2013.< ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Golden Boy (musical)
''Golden Boy'' is a 1964 musical with a book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. Based on the 1937 play of the same name by Odets, it focuses on Joe Wellington, a young man from Harlem who, despite his family's objections, turns to prizefighting as a means of escaping his ghetto roots and finding fame and fortune. He crosses paths with Mephistopheles-like promoter Eddie Satin and eventually betrays his manager Tom Moody when he becomes romantically involved with Moody's girlfriend Lorna Moon. Background Producer Hillard Elkins planned the project specifically for Sammy Davis, Jr. and lured Odets out of semi-retirement to write the book. The original play centered on Italian American Joe Bonaparte, the son of poverty-stricken immigrants with a disapproving brother who works as a labor organizer.Ferri, Josh"A Knockout Drama! How Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy Survived 75 Years in the Theatrical Ring"broadway.com, November 24, 201 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Ebony (magazine)
''Ebony'' is a monthly magazine that focuses on news, culture, and entertainment. Its target audience is the African-American community, and its coverage includes the lifestyles and accomplishments of influential black people, fashion, beauty, and politics. ''Ebony'' magazine was founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, for his Johnson Publishing Company. He sought to address African-American issues, personalities and interests in a positive and self-affirming manner. Its cover photography typically showcases prominent African-American public figures, including entertainers and politicians, such as Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, U.S. First lady Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Tyrese Gibson, and Tyler Perry. Each year, ''Ebony'' selects the "100 Most Influential Blacks in America". After 71 years, in June 2016, Johnson Publishing sold both ''Ebony'' and ''Jet (magazine), Jet'', another Johnson publication, to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition (OCR), and stored in its digital database.The basic Google book link is found at: https://books.google.com/ . The "advanced" interface allowing more specific searches is found at: https://books.google.com/advanced_book_search Books are provided either by publishers and authors through the Google Books Partner Program, or by Google's library partners through the Library Project. Additionally, Google has partnered with a number of magazine publishers to digitize their archives. The Publisher Program was first known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004. The Google Books Library Project, which scans works in the collections of library partners and adds them to the digital invent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Nobody Loves An Albatross
''Nobody Loves an Albatross'' is a 1963 comedy play written by Ronald Alexander, which was performed at the Lyceum Theatre of Broadway, New York between 19 December 1963 and June 20, 1964. It was produced by Elliot Martin and Philip Rose, directed by Gene Saks, scenery and lighting were by Will Steven Armstrong, costume design by Florence Klotz. The play, set in the "living room of Nathaniel Bentley's house in Beverly Hills", is a satire of the US television industry. It featured Robert Preston in the lead role. Cast * Robert Preston as Nat Bentley * Jack Bittner as Sean O'Loughlin *Frank Campanella as L. T. Whitman *Constance Ford as Hildy Jones *Barnard Hughes as Bert Howell * Leslye Hunter as Diane Bentley *Leon Janney as Mike Harper *Gertrude Jeannette as Sarah Washington *Phil Leeds as Victor Talsey *Richard Mulligan as Phil Matthews * Carol Rossen as Jean Hart *Marie Wallace as Linda *Marian Winters Marian Winters (April 19, 1920 – Nove ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Chicago Crusader
''The Chicago Crusader'', known from 1940 to the 1950s as ''The Crusader'' and from the 1950s to 1981 as ''The New Crusader'', is a weekly African-American newspaper serving Chicago. It is one of two newspapers in the Crusader Newspaper Group, the other being the ''Gary Crusader''. Founded by Balm L. Leavell and Joseph H. Jefferson in 1940 and published by Balm Leavell until his death in 1968, ''The Chicago Crusader'' has subsequently been operated by his widow Dorothy Leavell. It is Chicago's longest-running African-American weekly. History When it was established in 1940, ''The Crusader'' occupied a single page and was operated out of an apartment in the Ida B. Wells Homes on Chicago's South Side. In this early period, it served as the official organ of the Negro Labor Relations League, an organization established in 1937 to challenge the racial discrimination in employment in Chicago. The newspaper later moved to its current location on King Drive in Chicago's Woodlawn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Louis Gossett Jr
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor. Born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, He had his stage debut at the age of 17, in a school production of '' You Can't Take It with You.'' Shortly after he successfully auditioned for the Broadway play ''Take a Giant Step.'' Gossett would go on acting on stage. One of these plays was ''A Raisin in the Sun'' in 1959, and in 1961 he made his debut on screen in its film adaptation. From thereon, Gossett added to his resume many roles in films and television, as well as releasing music. In 1977, Gossett gained wide recognition for his role of Fiddler in the popular miniseries ''Roots''. For which he won "Outstanding lead actor for a single appearance in a drama or comedy series" at the Emmy Awards. Gossett continued acting in high profile films and television. In 1982, for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in '' An Officer and a Gentleman'', he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and beca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |