Radio Days, TV Nights Turns Back the Hands of Time at The Roch

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WPCNR STAGEDOOR. By John F. Bailey. March 12, 2004: The Fort Hill Players, those maestros of memory, continiue their run at  “The Roch”, 228 Fisher Avenue at this week, Friday and Saturday at 8, with matinee at 2 on Saturday when they present their original show, Radio Days, TV Nights featuring a trip down memory lane into the radio world of the 30s and 40s, and the golden age of television from 1950 to 1980. Admission is $14 at the door. $12 for students. For more on the show, go to www. fortbillplayers.com. Call 914-309-7278.



YOUR HIT PARADE OF MEMORIES: Remember when Cigarette Packages Danced and had great legs? That’s just one of the memories the Fort Hill Players bring back to life at The Roch tonight as Radio Days, TV Nights debuts on the boards of White Plains ancient theater. You’ll see entirely new episodes of Linda Hendrick, Patti Rome and Jim Brownold’s hilarious parodies of 30s and 40s radio serials, hear their great voices, backed by the “Hoagy Charmichael of White Plains,” Mark Snyder, the quintessential keyboard impresario, then as Radio Days turn into TV Nights, you’ll hear those great TV lines again, jingles, commercials, and all the shows you remember. It’s a cultural education for the young, a celebration of American Electronic entertainment before “reality shows” became entertainment. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

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Ron Jackson Remembers Bump Robinson on White Plains Week Monday, 7:00 P.M.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY. March 12, 2004: Ron Jackson, “The Last Activist,” lifelong friend of Jerome “Bump” Robinson, the leader, founder of the Slater Center, founder of the Slater Drum Corps, will reminisce with John Bailey, the White Plains CitizeNetReporter Monday night , about his old friend,  the outpouring of community grief, and what can be learned from Robinson’s story on the city news roundup show, White Plains Week, Monday evening at 7:00 P.M. on the “Spirit of 76,” WPPA-TV, Channel 76, White Plains Public Access Television.  News on the School District, City Budget and the unfolding Louis Cappelli story will be highlighted  on the Roll-O-Newsreel March of Time segment.



THE LAST ACTIVIST, Ron Jackson, right, talks about the void, the legacy of a  real Legacy of White Plains, Jerome Robinson who was buried Thursday after a most touching Home Going Ceremony at Mount Hope A.M.E. Zion Church. Photo by WPCNR News

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Watch Needs 240 Subscribers to Meet Paid Circulation Goal Before Publishing

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY. By John F. Bailey. March 12, 2004, UPDATED 3:00 P.M. E.S.T.: The Committee to Save the White Plains Watch met Thursday evening at United Methodist Church in White Plains. Susan Chang reported that The Watch Subscription Role is growing with over 60 new subcriptions either pledged, or donated since last weekend. Susan Chang, Publisher of The Watch, who suspended publication January 1, said today in an e-mail thanking participants that she needed 240 subscribers to start the paper up once more.


WPCNR got the sense from last night’s meeting that The Watch would not be publishing until May, and Ms. Chang did not commit to the committee a date when the comeback issue would be published. On Friday morning, Ms. Chang has written confidantes the countdown to the comeback now sits on 240 more subscriptions needed to signify enough of a community commitment to bring the paper back.



THE WATCH ON THE WATCH CONTINUES: Saul Yanofsky, former Superintendent of Schools, left, chairs Thursday evening’s meeting of the White Plains Committee to Save the Watch. Photo by WPCNR News.


 


Speaking before an attendance that reached 19 persons, Dr. Saul Yanofsky, former Superintendent of Schools in White Plains, now Associate Dean with Westchester Community College reported on Ms. Chang’s progress in the last two weeks. He said at the outset of the meeting that the efforts of the last two months had produced a lot of “appreciation across the city that the White Plains Watch was valuable,” adding that it reported on matters that other media did not, such as school matters, student achievements, neighborhood issues.


He introduced Ms. Chang, whom Jack Harrington later said was looking much better and feeling much better than she had appeared and acted at the previous meeting.


Chang said she had been receiving increasing support from residents giving gift subscriptions, and pledges from persons “extending across the city,” and sums of money in the form of donated subscriptions, which Chang said could be given to any one. She said at the start of the meeting they needed 280 and apparently during the meeting and Friday morning, forty more subscriptions equivalents were received, and now she needs just 240.


Chang announced she had agreed to hire a new person, Toni Cox-Burns, a retired teacher and a Board Member of the White Plains Public Library Foundation Board, to assist her when the paper returns to publication. Gasparas, Chang said, worked with The Herald a community newspaper in Savannah, Georgia and would bring that successful experience there to the Watch, and help work to raise the subscription level.


She said she had also agreed to follow the advice of the Committee and install an Advisory Board consisting of  Mitch Alcheron, a direct marketing expert who works with Sports Illustrated (and donated the recent Watch flyer sent to the community asking for subscriptions), Stan Green, Jack Harrington, Alan Hammelstein, Carlos Mahia, Sarena Russell, and Dr. Yanofsky to help her steer the paper direction.


Effort to Balance the new Paper


Chang said she was concerned that The Watch had been perceived as too much of an advocacy paper for certain points of view. She said she could not help that “because it’s sort of like the way I am.”


 She said one of the purposes of the Advisory Board was “to make sure I stay on track.”


“There are certain segments (of the community) that don’t feel they participate (in the paper), and I want to make sure that (feeling) goes away.” She said earnestly.


She said one of the new features of the rebirth of The Watch would be a public forum by e-mail on important issues, “to express their points of view.”  She said she would include more Point-Counterpoint discussions with advocates on opposite sides of an issue.


Looking for Office Space.


Jack Harrington, former President of the White Plains Historical Society, a new Advisory Board member was introduced by Dr. Yanofsky.


Harrington said he had had a two-hour meeting with Sister Alice Feely of Good Council School, to discuss the possibility of Ms. Chang relocating White Plains Watch offices there. It was not mentioned whether this would be donated office space. He said it looked very good for that to happen.


Harrington reported that a fund was being established to deposit monies sent in by residents for “donated subscriptions.”


He added that the most important thing to do was retain advertisers whom he said appeared supportive, and to get more.


There was suggestion of  doing subscription drives during the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and volunteers were being sought.

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Louis Cappelli’s Good Day : S. Condo ReBoot Wed; LA FIT to Garage; Trump Looking

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WPCNR Main Street Journal. By John F. Bailey. March 11, 2004, Updated with Pictures 12:30 A.M. E.S.T.: In an interview with WPCNR late Thursday afternoon, an ebullient Louis Cappelli announced “major institutional investors” were lining up to pump $400 Million into new retail outlets in the first floors of his North Citadel Apartments and in his Main Street Cappelli Hotel complex, which he expects to begin construction in June, pending Common Council approval of the project.


 


 He disclosed his friend, Donald Trump, a visitor to the City Center complex on January 7, is interested in investing in the South Condoplex which Cappelli reports as having  been redesigned by Mr.Trump’s lead residential architect,  Costas Kondylis, designer of Trump’s World Tower on 47th and 48th Streets in N.Y. Cappelli said construction  will resume from the 9th floor on the City Center  South Complex next Wednesday.


 



 


ALL SYSTEMS GO: The South Condoplex of 34 stories now at 9 stories will resume Wednesday and his pal, Donald Trump is interested. Photo by WPCNR News


 


L.A. Fitness Wins the Health Club


 


In another major thrust to City Center fulfillment, the Super Developer announced he has signed a lease granting L.A. Fitness the sprawling health club in the sky with a view he is building atop the new City Center garage.


 



L.A. FITNESS COMPLEX SITE: Photographed February 18, Louis Cappelli’s health club under construction on top two floors of City Center Garage. Bridge to City Center is in extreme right of photograph. Photo fromWPCNR News Archive.


 


 


 


Mr. Cappelli calls LAF  “ultra high end of fitness clubs. Where all the pretty girls go.” He reports the amenities the L.A. Fitness complex will have include a basketball court, two racquet ball courts, two squash courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool. He said the health club plans to start pumping iron and pounding NordicTraks  September 1. “We’ve been negotiating for three months,” he said.


 


Reeling off development coups mortal developers would die for like a seasoned croupier rakes in the investor chips, Cappelli continued, so breathless with excitement, you almost expected him to say, “and that’s not all.”


 


 North Citadel Apartment Models Open this Weekend. Tenants In First of April.


 


Cappelli proudly announced that furnished models in the North Citadel will be open for view this Saturday, and he said they were “spectacular.” He has also welcomed his first tenant, who has rented one of the top floor units.


 



NORTH CITADEL OF THE CITY CENTER seen coming East on Main Street. Photo from WPCNR NewsArchive


 


He described the tenant as a retired couple who sold their home in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and plan to live in Florida during the winter, and in the City Center apartment the rest of the year, “fitting our demographic perfectly,” the Super Developer said. He said the apartment spire has a waiting list of 10, with its first occupant to be taking up residence in three weeks.


 


Cappelli, perhaps the most optimistic, focused individual you will ever meet told WPCNR, “Some people believe the rental market is soft, Louis Cappelli does not believe that to be so.”


 


Full Steam Ahead on the South Condoplex. Major Tweak in Design Done by The Man from TRUMP.


 


 


Cappelli put to rest rumors of troubles in City Center that have swirled the last six weeks when activity at the South Condoplex stopped. As reported by WPCNR this week, Mr. Cappelli said it has taken six months to redesign the South Condo Citadel to design and engineer aesthetically the expanded condominium floor plans to fit the condo market.


 


Cappelli said the plex was reconfigured from a design and engineering perspective by Costas Kondylis  & Partners Architects, (www.kondylis.com)  whom Cappelli said was Donald Trump’s primary architectural designer for Mr. Trump’s residential properties.


 


Designer of the Trump World Tower Spiffs Up the South Condoplex


 


Costas Kondylis, according to his website has built 45 highrise buildings around New York City, including the Trump World Tower, the 72-floor, 90-story stunner next to the United Nations. Kondylis in a biography on his website said the World Tower was built in 18 months, and design was done as the building was progressing. Kondylis added that nowadays it is not necessary to spend three years designing a building then building it. Mr. Cappelli, too, is not one to follow a bad idea when he discovers a better way. 


 


Herbert Muschamp of The New York Times describes the Trump World tower this way: “Aggression and desire, violence and sex, put them together and you have Trump Tower,” and goes on to write:


 


From downtown, the tower also makes a good impression. Its visual appeal derives, first of all, from the contrast between its amplitude of scale and its simplicity of shape. Then, like the Empire State Building, there is an unbalanced ratio of width to depth. Depending on your perspective, the tower shifts from sliveresque to monolithic. After all the frou-frou launched into the skyline for the past generation – the fussy attempts at three-dimensional collage; the ersatz Art Deco confections weighed down by stepped silhouettes and ornate crowns – it is pleasing to see a flat roof raised to the top of the skyline by four flush glass walls. From downtown, the tower also makes a good impression. Its visual appeal derives, first of all, from the contrast between its amplitude of scale and its simplicity of shape. Then, like the Empire State Building, there is an unbalanced ratio of width to depth. Depending on your perspective, the tower shifts from sliveresque to monolithic. After all the frou-frou launched into the skyline for the past generation – the fussy attempts at three-dimensional collage; the ersatz Art Deco confections weighed down by stepped silhouettes and ornate crowns – it is pleasing to see a flat roof raised to the top of the skyline by four flush glass walls.


 


A Trump Deal?


 


Asked if Mr. Trump was interested in the South Condoplex as an investor, Mr. Cappelli said it was not appropriate for him to speak for Mr. Trump, “that should come from him, but Mr. Trump is contemplating  the projection of the Trump name in White Plains.”


 



LOUIS CAPPELLI, “THE SUPER DEVELOPER” from an appearance on White Plains Week. Photo by WPCNR News. 


 



DONALD TRUMP Photo by Photo Rozzi


 


 


 


Cappelli said the South Condoplex of 34 stories will be a richer darker building, consisting of a “bronze metal brushed window treatment, with a bleached beige, oyster brick exterior,” giving the building a distinctive elegant look, yet elegantly complimenting its Northern twin. The look is similar, Mr. Cappelli said to Donald Trump’s taste in building exteriors.


 


Cappelli has promised the design to be revealed shortly.


 


There is No Place Like White Plains


 


Mr. Cappelli advised the CitizeNetReporter  that “there is no place like White Plains.” He explained that “major instiutional investors” are lining up to invest a total of $400 Million in new retail in both the base of the North Apartment Complex in the City Center on Main Street and the Westin Hotel and Retail complex planned on his 221 Main street Cappelli Hotel project.



MAJOR PLAYERS SEEK PIECES OF THE CAPPELLI CITY CENTER  and his proposed Cappelli Hotel & Office Complex (in green and yellow) File Overhead Model, Courtesy Cappelli Enterprises.


 


Asked if he would retain control of both City Center and the Cappelli Hotel properties, the Super Developer said the investors are looking to come in as partners. He had not made up his mind whether to keep control of the properties or retain simply a piece of them, giving major interest to other major partners who wish to come in. He did not say he would retain majority interest, and did not say he would not.


 


Cappelli updated WPCNR on the status of his 90-day window deal for the Bar Building annex, saying he had forwarded the contracts to the Longhitanos.


 


CITY CENTER LEASED UP


 


Cappelli said that Office Max was taking the last 25,000 square feet next to Filene’s Basement on the second floor of the City Center, wrapping up rental on the City Center.


 


He said Legal Seafood is coming along and is 80% finished, saying it should be open in mid-April. Its neighbor on the corner, Zanaro’s, Cappelli said is going to be “the most spectacular restaurant in Westchester County, in the region.”


 


Cappelli said all his City Center leases are for 15 years, with an option for 25. He described LA Fitness lease as a 15 year lease.

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The Making of INTERVENTION, White Plains’ movie. See it 2 PM Sat at “The Lux”

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WPCNR BACKLOT BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. March 11, 2004: This Saturday afternoon at 2 P.M., as part of the Westchester County Film Festival, at the White Plains Cinema de Lux in the City Center, a film by a local White Plains limousine driver, Jimmy Morricone, premiers locally for its White Plains premier. Shot entirely in and around White Plains, the Bronx and Queens,  over the last two years, Intervention is finally in the can, and ready for distribution. How do you make a movie, while making a living at the same time? Here is the story behind “The Making of Intervention.”


This article originally appeared on WPCNR in September, 2002.




JIMMY MORRICONE’S FILM CREW ON LOCATION ON LAFAYETTE AVENUE IN WHITE PLAINS on October 13, 2002. Carla Fulco emerges with Jeff Koutril of White Plains, as a doctor from an office building The Marquis next to Bob Buchanan’s Photo Studio in the local movie, InterVention, planned for release by summer. A sold-out party for his “Hollywood East Angels” takes place tonight at Juliano’s in New Rochelle, one of the ways he is self-financing the film. Jimmy says he is so touched by the support he has received.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment


What’s it like directing producing and acting in your own movie? “Jimmy Hollywood,” better known in White Plains as Jimmy Morricone, says “When you’re an actor in Hollywood, you’re sitting in a trailer reading your lines, getting into character, eating a catered spread from Le Cirque, and they call you when they’re ready for you on the set.”



JIMMY HOLLYWOOD IN HIS WHITE PLAINS HOME TALKS PICTURES: “When I’m shooting a scene at Lafayette Avenue in White Plains (last month), I’m behind the camera, working the grip, the lights, and in the next scene, I have to be ready to play Frank. It’s very stressful.”Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Tonight, Morricone hosts his second sold-out fundraiser for his and Anton Evangelista’s new movie at Juliano’s on Main Street in New Rochelle. A crowd of 250 White Plains/ Westchester and cast friends are paying $75 apiece to support his movie and enjoy old-time rock and roll with The Inkspots.

That’s the life of the independent film producer with a dream, a dream that is 70% completed. With the proceeds from Friday’s glitzy bash, he will have paid for the photography portion of the production. Tonight, his “Hollywood East Angels” will get to see key “rushes,” scenes from in his “movie-in-progress,” InterVention to attract some new investors. Got an extra $50 Grand you want to grow into millions? Give Jimmy a call. He is offering $5,000 pieces of the film, and you cannot get a better deal in Hollywood. His number is 914-972-6709. Have your people call his people. Next stop the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Comprehensive Films is a dream.

Jimmy Morricone, Executive Producer of Comprehensive Films, Armonk, has been chasing this dream since 1994 when his short film, Beyond Reason made and written by Anton Evangelista was showcased at the Independent Feature Film Market and at Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Film Festival and attracted wide attention.

Ever since Jimmie has been working to make his movie based on that short film. This summer he began shooting “The Film Noir for the 21st century, “InterVention”



SO I’M HOLDING THIS CASTING CALL AND CATHERINE DENEUVE WALKS IN: Intervention stars Carla Fulco, the daughter of Mary Fulco, the popular waitress at Magnotta’s Restaurant. She read at the casting call at the White Plains YWCA based on her Mom’s tip. She won the lead based on her “improv.” She’s shown here at Bob Buchanan’s studio at a WPCNR interview.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

The good news is that the film is now 75% “in the can,” and Jimmie is looking for just a “few good investors” to finish the work.

Everybody’s heard the story about the man who drives a cab trying to sell a script to a big-time director? Well in White Plains, when Jimmie Marricone is driving you to the airport, he just might give you a part in his next movie, if he likes your charisma. Jimmie runs a limousine service by night, and is a movie producer, actor and director in reality.

Making a Film Like Robert Moses Made Bridges: A Little Bit at a Time

Morricone is financing his film in a unique way, disdaining the usual “negative pickup” procedure, where a film concept is sold to a studio before it is made. Instead, Morricone is acquiring the financing as he goes, offering pieces of the movie at $5,000 a pop to persons wanting a share of future profits, an unorthodox way of promoting a movie.

His plan is to shoot the film and present it directly to distributors. But, unlike the typical movie which acquires all the financing first, Morricone is shooting as he goes, financing “the shoots” the way a politician pays for a campaign: with “Preview Parties” showcasing the “film so far” for potential backers. He expects the film to cost $200,000, and so far his “shoot-by-the-dollar” procedure is working.

He is using actors and actresses who are acting in a movie for the first time, including the daughter of the popular longtime waitress at Magnotta’s Restaurant, in White Plains Mary Fulco. Carla Fulco is cast as Susan the female lead in a drama about two Italian families in The Bronx in the 1960s.

The film mixes in elements of crime, infidelity, depression, broken dreams, and shattered dreams, in a script recalling that of Niagara, The Postman Always Rings Twice, with a little bit of Pulp Fiction thrown in. There are lots of vintage cars, familiar scenes around Queens and The Bronx. Marricone is attempting to recreate the feel of the family pressures, the everyday life in the so-called age of innocence, the early 1960s, the way it was growing up, raising a family in The Bronx. He calls it a “Bronx Love Story” with underworld overtones, or “Highway to Heaven meets the Twilight Zone.”



100 LOCAL PERSONS WORKING FOR LOVE NOW, MONEY LATER: Lorraine Kroutil(right) of White Plains is handling costumes and props. She’s shown at Bob Buchanan’s Photography preparing the costume of BronxTalk Hostess, Jane Folloro of Yonkers, making her acting debut in InterVention, for a scene on Lafayette Avenue. Lorraine’s husband, Jeff is an extra in the film, that’s all about growing up Italian in The Bronx in the 1960s, chopshops, maltshops, T-Birds and Mustangs, just slightly on the other side of the law.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment


When WPCNR interviewed Jimmie in September, he had 30 scenes done and 109 more to shoot, and now has completed about 40 more scenes, all the major ones. Using persons who have not acted before, Morricone has been training them, rehearsing them and then shooting the scenes. Bob Buchanan’s Studio on Lafayette Avenue in White Plains has been the new “White Plains Actor’s Studio.”

Morricone held auditions for the casting at the White Plains YWCA, and that’s how Carla Fulco, Mary’s daughter heard of the film. Carla’s Mom Mary who worked at the YWCA noticed the open call auditions and told her about it. Carla said she just decided “just to try it.”

Morricone found she was “a natural.”

Stars Are Born?



JIMMY HOLLYWOOD FLANKED BY HIS STARS, JOE DEVITO, RIGHT, AND MS. FULCO talked with WPCNR about how they were cast and acting together.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

“They had me go in August (2001) and say my name, where I was from, a little about myself on camera,” Ms. Fulco recalls. “Then they didn’t bring me back. They stopped everything after September 11. They brought me back a couple of months later to read some lines from the script.”



IS BRANDO BACK? Joe DeVito, playing Ms. Fulco’s husband in the film changed his looks and build to get the part.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Joe DeVito, an accountant by day, actually raised in The Bronx, plays Carla’s husband. He said he sent in his picture to Jimmie’s ad in Backstage, not knowing it was Morricone’s film. He had known Morricone previously. “I came up and read. He liked what I did.”

“We knew what we wanted in the girl lead part,” Morricone said, talking about how he decided to pair the two. We had a type cast in our mind. We saw a lot of different people for the (Carla’s) part. It took Anton Evangelista (Director/Writer) and me a long time to make up our minds for Carla’s role and Joe’s role. We took a long time stretching it out. At first Joe I felt wasn’t right for the part, but he convinced me.”

DeVito Transforms Himself.

“I worked on it, I knew what he wanted, I asked Jimmie, because I know I can give him what he wants, tell me what he wants. He told me. Actually I had a real short haircut, was really bulked up. I had to make a transition.”

Morricone recalled, “I said to him when he came to me the second time, I brought him to my house. I said, Joe, you’re a good actor, I think you can do a good job, but you can’t transform yourself into my son, if you remain the scary tough guy I perceive you to be, then I can’t give you the part. So, he came back for another interview, and had totally transformed himself. And, I recognized it immediately. I gave him the part.”

While Joe had done acting in high school, Carla has never acted before:

“It’s strange because I always thought of it But I just never went ahead, never pushed to do it. I’m outgoing, always doing crazy things. It doesn’t bother me in front of people, lights, talent shows, plays. When my mother told me about the open casting I wasn’t even nervous about going. Even the day I read, like I just read it as written, and did improv with James, like he was my dad and I was his daughter.”

Improv by the Ingénue Clinches the Part.

“I wanted to see how easy it would be for her to improv me as her father. She responded and responded very good. I sensed something that she was able to, no hesitation, she just interacted really well, whatever I said, she had something to say back to me. It went better than even the read. That kind of made me say to myself, the girl’s got something.”

Next, Carla read with a few different people.

“Once we decided we were pretty sure we were going to use Carla for the part of Susan we started to let her read with the different actors who came in to play her husband.”

Carla said she had nothing to say about who would play her husband in the film. But, Joe and Carla in the parts had chemistry together in their readings together, she said she just made comments to Jimmie and Anton, the director, but she liked reading with Joe.



A SCENE FROM INTERVENTION with Carla Fulco in an emotional scene with her parents in the film.
Photo Duplicated with Permission

“I know I felt very comfortable with him (Joe DeVito).The first time I read with him, he got me like really emotional. I was very upset. I had a difference when I read with him than all the other guys. It was just something, whatever it was.” Morricone noticed that spark: “It kind of like popped. We asked her, Anton and I, how did you feel with him? She said she felt the best of everyone. We together, Anton, myself and Carla really made that decision as to who we were going to use. Once she said “him,” then we knew we were right.”

Joe said at the time, he still wasn’t sure he had impressed producer and director enough. He said he knew the two had “chemistry” and Carla and he “were giving them some good stuff.”

Rehearsing and Setting up Scenes



DIRECTOR-WRITER ANTON EVANGELISTA BLOCKS OUT A SCENE ON LAFAYETTE AVENUE with Ms. Fulco. Evangelista is a quiet, patient, meticulous craftsman who believes in preparation.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

“Anton (writer/director) had many rehearsals,” Carla recalls, at Bob Buchanan’s Photo Studio on Lafayette Street, White Plains before beginning shooting. “He’d give us acting exercises to do.”

“Four months of intense rehearsal, sometimes twice a week,” was the schedule, Morricone said, “Three hours. We’d come here about 7, and leave about 11 sometimes with the principle cast. We’d then have run-throughs at various locations to emulate the actual arrangement of the kitchen, the living room, so that we could run-through the actual steps that everyone was going to take so we all hit our marks when it was time to shoot the scene.”

Morricone said the average scene took six takes to shoot.

“They also started taping a few of our rehearsals,” Carla added.

“Anton followed what Fellini used to do years ago. He would do a preliminary shoot before the actual shoot. What Anton was doing was running test shots in the actual location. We went to an apartment in Park Chester (The Bronx, naturally), and ran a test shot of an actual scene between Joe and Carla in Park Chester, and that was only for fun, to go back and look at it, study and analyze to see what we could do to make it better. That only comes with having the luxury of the digital format, digital video. You could not do that with film. Today we have the luxury of a camcorder, and come back and do the real McCoy the next time.”

WPCNR asked how actors stayed emotionally on pitch when scenes were shot out of sequence, unlike a play.

Joe said, “I think that goes back to rehearsals. There were multiple rehearsals. Constant. So many scenes stuck in your head. It’s like (snapping his fingers) dredging back on a memory, you know.”



JOE DEVITO AT THE WHEEL WITH A FRIEND in a scene from InterVention. The Car is a vintage Buick Biscayne from 1960 one of many classics in the film.
Photo Duplicated with permission

WPCNR asked Carla if making a movie was more work than she expected.

The ingénue replied, “It’s a lot of work. Long hours. I enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun.” Asked if she liked playing a dramatic role instead of a comedy part, Carla added, “I’ve always seen myself to be very funny, more of a comedy thing, but I like this (InterVention) a lot. I enjoy it. I think I can do something in comedy if I can do InterVention, it’s a lot harder.”

Do Leads Fall for Each Other?

Joe DeVito quickly said, “That came and went.”

Carla laughed and, “We’re just part of the deal. You do get close to him when you first meet him, but you work with them, and you’re spending all your time with them. But it’s that way with the whole cast. Everyone is a family. I really am so close with them.”

Morricone mused on the question, “It’s something that happens in the process of making a film that the actors develop an affinity, as you said for each other. They look at each other as family. Something happens.”

Joe became more candid, “Carla and I were attracted to each other when we first met. We liked each other and whatever, but I guess that died out. But, that’s cool. But that’s like the way it is.”

Chemistry’s there. Then it’s not.

Morricone, an actor with 18 film credits, 10 television shows, and 4 commercials in his journeys, delved into the mystery of chemistry:

“It happens a lot. But, it’s kind of like not real. At some point in time when this (InterVention) is all over, people are just going to back to what they are doing. It’s going to be sad. You literally go home and cry about it.”

“I don’t think I’d have been able to have a relationship with Joe,” Carla said, in view of the filming process. “Like it would have been different.”

“I told them,” Morricone revealed, “they can both attest to this. I said I know this business. Don’t get confused. Don’t get involved.”

“I wouldn’t want to be involved with somebody in this business,” Joe said.

“You know what, you learn it for yourself as you get to do what you’re doing as a family to create the film. You learn it’s not going to work. That’s why a lot of actresses and actors they come together, marry and divorce five or six times. I don’t know why they don’t learn,” Morricone concluded on the sensitive topic of chemistry.

A movie about temptation and redemption

Morricone says InterVention has a good ending. It deals with family pressures that can drive couples apart, professional and outside-the-law activities that pressurize a relationship, and temptations of other men and other women. All the things that many persons face in reality. How Carla and Joe, as Susan and Paul deal with those pressures with a strange “Intervener,” draws you into the film.



MS. FULCO AND MR. DEVITO TALK ABOUT THEIR CHEMISTRY.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Some kind of bond is necessary between the leads.

We asked how her co-lead, Joe, helped her bring out those character swings: “That’s why even the beginning when we first met, I wanted to get to know him and get close to him to know what kind of personality he was so when I do have to act with him I know him as a person so it’s more comfortable. They even said try and hang out with the person. Anton even said, try to get to know one another and know how each other is, because in the film we’re the starring roles and supposed to be married, so you should have somewhat of a bond to be able to act together.”



MS. FULCO ON HER FIRST ACTING ROLE: Asked about playing a character that is faced with an immoral choice, Carla said she welcomed the challenge, and had no problem with it: “I like having all the different emotions and having to change your thoughts and the way you act. I get into what I have to do whether I agree with it or not.”
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Joe said, he saw some of himself in his character Paul. “ I just want to do good work in this film and see what Hollywood says.”

“For both Carla and Joe, it’s a great opportunity to get out there,” Morricone noted. “It’s a big challenge considering the kind of films being made today. I know why Joe wanted this film. The typecast syndrome. You look like a cop. You look like a gangster, so everytime you walk in the door…Oh, you’re a gangster.”

Joe said, “I was always cast as a gangster, so I definitely wanted something different.”

Carla said she is much like the character she plays in the film: “I’m very much like the character Susan, the way she is emotionally and with family. I mean not the way she is in the film, dysfunctional. I very much take care of my family. That’s me, I’m very emotional very much like her, having to go see my family if someone is ill.”

Mary Fulco, her mom, will be pleased to hear that.

Carla/Joe Bond brings out the best

We asked how her co-lead, Joe, helped her bring out those character swings: “That’s why even in the beginning when we first met, I wanted to get to know him and get close to him to know what kind of personality he was so when I do have to act with him I know him as a person so it’s more comfortable. They even said try and hang out with the person. Anton even said, try to get to know one another and know how each other is, because in the film we’re the starring roles and we’re supposed to be married, so you should somewhat have a bond to be able to act together.”

Morricone observed, “The fact that they learn a lot about each other, and come together at some point in time prior to the actual filming, then maybe the relationship deteriorates and becomes something else, it works, for the film. Anton and I had a lot of discussions about Carla and Joe and letting them get to know one another because when they learned about each other, that’s o.k. And if that liking each other turns to disliking each other, that’s even better.”

“So now you’ve got a really good movie,” Carla quipped, and the laughter started between all three.

“We’ve got a good movie, because two people who liked each other, now hate each other,” Morricone laughed.

“I have a love for Carla and Joe. It’s something that just happens to you in the process of acting out this whole family thing. They’ll stay with me forever. I’m sure that none of us are going to walk away after having done this film and say it never happened. We’re going to miss the people. It’s going to be very strange.”

But they may be back together again in Intervention II.

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HILLARY CLINTON, & College Founder NAMED TO WOMEN’S HALL OF FAME ON 20TH ANNIVER

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WPCN WESTCHESTER COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications. March 11, 2004: This year, on its 20th anniversary the Women’s Hall of Fame will induct perhaps its most famous honoree – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton – during a ceremony on March 22 at 11 a.m. at the Rye Town Hilton. Also being recognized posthumously is Mother Irene Gill, founder of the College of New Rochelle.

 


 “The Women’s Hall of Fame has recognized so many women for their contributions to Westchester and to women,’’ said County Executive Andy Spano. “These women were brilliant, motivated and dedicated. Some were elected officials and businesswomen others were educators, homemakers, volunteers or religious leaders. What they all had in common was a commitment to improving the quality of life for women. This year’s honoree epitomizes the works of all those who came before her. Senator Clinton has worked to improve conditions for women the world over, whether in Bejing, Iraq or right here in Westchester. We welcome her to the Hall of Fame.’’


In honor of its 20th anniversary, the Women’s Hall of Fame has invited all of its past honorees to the reception (see attached for complete list). And as it has done in past years, the Hall of Fame will award scholarships to promising young women it hopes may be future inductees. This year, 18 scholarship winners will receive a total of $61,000 in scholarships.


 


Clinton Reaction:


 


 


Senator Clinton of Chappaqua said she was honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.


“I am so very honored to be placed in the company of so many incredibly talented and inspiring women.  The stories of each of these women have inspired countless others to fulfill their dreams; indeed, it is humbling to be recognized by the Westchester Women’s Hall of Fame in this way.  I have always thought that the Westchester Women’s Hall of Fame has an important role in reminding us all of how very far we have come and offers a tremendous opportunity for all of us to learn about our history, our heritage and our future,” 


            Recognized as a role model for women around the world, Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, the only First Lady ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate. A tireless advocate for the rights of women and girls, she has traveled around the world speaking on behalf of a woman’s right to education, family planning and economic opportunity.


Senator Clinton, who serves on the Senate Committees for Environment and Public Works; Health, Education, Labor, Pensions and Armed Services, has introduced legislation to rebuild schools, strengthen the economy of upstate New York, secure Homeland Security funds for first responders and extend unemployment insurance benefits.


 In Westchester, Senator Clinton was recently a featured speaker at the county’s Elderboom Conference, which focused on the need to prepare for social changes that will take place with the surge of aging baby boomers. She also participated in a Not-For-Profit Summit to help non-profit agencies leverage funding.


Born in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947, she grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois and attended public school there. She attended Wellesley College, and is a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School. Senator Clinton is married to former President William J. Clinton and they have one daughter, Chelsea.


 


The Senator has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Claude Pepper Award of the National Association for Home Care, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Medal, the Servant of Justice Award of the New York City Legal Aid Society, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the Public Spirit Award of the American Legion Auxiliary, the Shalom Chaver Award for International Leadership of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, the Albert Shanker Award of the New York State United Teachers.


Senator Clinton is also a best-selling author of  Living History, released in June of 2003; It Takes a Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach Us, An Invitation to the White House, and Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids Letters to the First Pets.


In nominating Senator Clinton award committee members wrote, “Senator Clinton is a role model for women across our country. She had a dream and made that dream a reality. Beginning with her outstanding collegiate record at Wellesley College, where she excelled as a leader among women, to her years a Yale Law School, where she shined academically and set new standards proving that women can achieve whatever they set out to do.’’


 


Irene Gill College of New Rochelle Founder.


 


Nominated for this year’s Posthumous Award is another woman who served as a role model to thousands of girls and women. Mother Irene Gill, founder of the College of New Rochelle, believed that women could find advancement through education and used her vision to create the first Catholic college for women in New York State.


Born in Ireland in 1856, Mother Irene Gill came to the United States at the age of 12 and joined the Ursuline order in 1876. In the tradition of the Ursuline order, founded in 1533 in Brescia, Italy, Mother Irene persevered and established the college—then called the College of St. Angela—on September 12, 1904.


 Mother Irene died on Dec. 22, 1935 at the age of 80, but the college, known as The College of New Rochelle since 1910, continues to thrive today.  CNR is committed to its Catholic heritage, educating women and men from a women’s perspective, and providing students with a liberal arts education. This year CNR celebrates its 100th anniversary, and is comprised of four schools ‑‑ School of Arts & Sciences, School of New Resources (for adult learners), School of Nursing, and the Graduate School ‑‑ with six campuses, an enollment of about 7,000, and more than 38,000 alumnae. The School of Arts & Sciences remains all women, while the other three schools are coeducational.


                                                                       


 


According to President Stephen J. Sweeny, “The College continues to model for society a creative environment that values diversity, promotes appreciation for difference, and prizes justice. Here students of all ages discover and strengthen their dignity and journey from this College to transform the world, not simply as women and men of personal and professional achievement, but as women and men of conscience and compassion.”


Hall of Fame Award recipients are selected by a panel of judges on the basis of their work to improve women’s lives in significant and enduring ways, and their work as pioneers in a particular field. Past hall of fame winners have included Rep. Nita Lowey, Sally Ziegler, County Legislator Lois Bronz and District Attorney Jeanine Pirro and former Sen. Mary Goodhue.


Proceeds from the luncheon will go to help fund scholarships for college-bound women, who will receive the awards at the event. The luncheon is hosted by the Westchester County Office for Women and sponsored by Avon, the Stock Family, Con Edison, Fuji, IBM, Lanza Family Foundation, MasterCard International, Diversified Investment Advisors, Merrill Lynch, Verizon and the Westchester Women’s Bar Association Foundation. Fortunoff’s is presenting past recipients of the Hall of Fame with a specially-designed gold charm commemorating the 20th anniversary.


Tickets for the Hall of Fame luncheon are still available at a cost of $65 per person. For more information, call the Westchester County Office for Women at 914-995-5972.


 

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Assembly passes “Dignity for All Students Act” aimed at stopping bullying.

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WPCNR ANNALS OF ALBANY. From Media Relations Office of Assemblyman Adam Bradley (D-White Plains). March 11, 2004:  Assemblyman Adam Bradley announced Tuesday Assembly passage of legislation he supported to help give students a safe learning environment free of harassment and discrimination (A.1118). 


 


“School is challenging enough for children without the worry of mental or physical abuse. It’s time to lift the burden of harassment and discrimination that can distract these eager minds,” Bradley said. “By increasing civility in our schools and establishing a clear code of conduct, our students will be more confident and focused on their work in the classroom.”



 


This legislation prohibits discrimination and harassment on school grounds based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender. In addition, each school district would be required to:


 


·        establish anti-harassment and discrimination policies;


 


·        create school training programs in harassment and discrimination;


 


·        raise staff sensitivity and awareness as well as enable staff to respond to harassment; and


 


·        develop nondiscriminatory instruction and counseling methods.


 


Tragic outbreaks of school violence in recent years have underscored the need to protect youngsters from harassment. A study by the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center found that, in more than two-thirds of 37 school shootings reviewed, the perpetrators felt “persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked or injured.”


 


“We’ve seen the devastating effects that can result when a student is bullied or harassed. Not only can they become dejected, they might be pushed to retaliation,” Bradley said. “This legislation will give schools the tools to intervene at the on set of abuse and ensure a safer, more productive learning environment.”


 

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King and Queen of the One-Liners Fill WPPAC with Rapid Fire Laughter

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WPCNR Fourth Row, Left Center. Review by John F. Bailey. March 10, 2004: It Had to Be You,  starring America’s last traveling acting couple, Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna won over a packed house at the White Plains Performing Arts Center at Wednesday Matinee, with their, fast-talking, great-line-every-20 seconds, road-show comedy reminiscent of Ben Hecht’s The Front Page, and The Man Who Came To Dinner . Taylor and Bologna or Bologna and Taylor rivet the audience, because you don’t want to miss a line. You’re laughing every 10 seconds after Ms. Taylor takes the spotlight, at her, at him, at love’s mystery.


 



MAE WEST AND CARY GRANT RETURN TO THIS STAGE: Just 4 performances left. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.



Ms. Taylor’s  creation of Thea B-L-E-A-U-GH  (pronounced bl-OWH!), the lines she gives her and the way she acts her  is one of Broadway’s great character creations taking the place in the Character Hall of Fame with such hilarious, lovable boors as Sheridan Whiteside,  Mame, Felix Unger, Oscar Madison, and, in movies, Woody Allen’s  Broadway Danny Rose.



 


As Joe Bologna’s character Vito Pinioli says, in Act II,  “When a Theatregoer puts down his money for a ticket to a comedy, he wants to laugh” that is what the WPPAC audience gets to do, despite themselves.


 


From the opening houselight dim, IHTBY is fast fast fast, naturally funny, not a polite laugh needed, and it is not excessively off-color comedy. It uses every gimmick, (frozen pants is one), except a pie-in-the-face to wring a laugh from the audience. Laughs just spill out naturally, the mark of masterful comedy writing. You simply can’t stop yourself.


 


The comedy written by Taylor and Bologna, first performed in 1981, has been upgraded to contemporary references and delivers rapid fire, wise guy lines between two real and vulnerable people that we haven’t seen since the 30s, when screwball comedy was the king. I say, after seeing IHTBY, let’s bring screwball comedy back.  You never laugh politely at the lines in this play, you laugh naturally!


 


The two versatile pros are completely in-character, hardworking, with utter believability to the audience in the Christmas tale of Thea who turns an audition for a televison commercial into a romance with a cab-ride, a locked door, an incredulous playreading of just a few of her 30-or so manuscripts of her own play  about Sasha, the greatest Russian comedy writer.


 


These manuscripts are hidden about her apartment and, after seducing him, she pleads with Vito to hear her treatment of a particular scene to prevent him from leaving. (The playreading scene cleverly mocks Chekov). Sasha is a great Russian comedy writer being tortured by the Czar, and that is the scene she reads in a comedy, you understand.  


 


In Act II, when Vito is trying any way he can to leave the apartment, Thea’s winning personality works miracles on the middle aged roué, Vito Pinioli in a most ingenious, quirky, believable way.


 


Their fight in Act II is one of the stage’s great fights between romantic protagonists, artfully delivered to wrest ever laugh that’s in it.  Mr. Bologna’s “ballet of derisive gestures” causes the staid audience of “White Plains Most Dignifed” to erupt in convulsive laughter.


 


The two playwrights do a wicked sendup of collaborative play-writing in Act II, so good you wish they’d write a play about that, too, next.


 


Pathos? Feeling? You want that too. It’s there is a superbly right-on scene when Mr. Bologna makes a phone call he has been putting off a long time. It brings tears to the audience eye at what the magic of love can do.


 


Can a woman change your life in one night? Impossible, you say. This play shows the romantic in us how one determined woman can do it.


 


Thea is everybody’s ne’er-do-well aunt, down on her luck, needing a job, without anyone in her life and it’s Christmas Eve. She has your heart from her opening line, “I’m Thea Blow, and this is my love story,” as she steps into the spotlight and never leaves it.


 


 


The writing gives you the setup most cleverly, having Thea tell you about her stage in life as she steps into a spotlight for a television commercial audition, and monologues to the impatient disembodied voice of the commercial director (done to perfection by “Mr. Disembodied Voice”). She groans about how she really needs this job, the way casters see her (“I’m not seen as new.”), her body  (“I’m 5-2 and becoming sexy”), and says her agent just died. Ms. Taylor is funnier in this 7 minute “audition” that Jay Leno is in a week of monologues. So funny she attracts Vito, the creative Director’s attention who consoles her. Hence the cabride and the Christmas Eve romance that unfolds. The comedy mystique begins.


 


Thea takes Vito to her apartment, seduces him then does not let him leave. In the course of two hours she entertains, angers, amuses, confounds, and touches him and brings out “the writer” in the man that lurks behind a man pretending to be happy. She even convinces him to do something he has wanted to do for a long time through her own Molly Goldberg-type genuineness of feeling. How two actors deliver this is the old play’s magic.


 


Why are old plays done again and again. Because they are timeless and, as Mr. Bologna’s character remarks in a clever sendup of playwrighting, they are funny.


 


The art of comedy is making the incomprehensible plausible and funny, and getting you into caring about the characters, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Bologna have bottled that elixir of laughter, and open it and let it work its mirthful mischief.


 


SideBit Sendups Seamless


 


Bologna & Taylor,  drive their ode to serendipitous romance that effortlessly captured the hearts of the senior romantics in the Matinee audience, as well as the cynical isolated hardboiled reporter.


 


They do it the way the masters did it,  with great sidebar running gags, such as Bologna’s repeated calls to his limo man to pick him up (“You wait three hours for them to arrive, then they honk”), his ode to the art of making television commercials that he feels movie directors can’t touch (“They’ve got 2 hours, I’ve got 30 seconds”), and Thea’s obsession with health food. They bring to life the foibles, dreams and dashed hopes of all in their timeless identity with the humanity and the dreams of any audience, young or old.


 


Bologna acts out  backpain in a most hilarious manner. Bologna has his own comic persona, debonair as Cary Grant, manic as Sid Ceasar, as sarcastic as Tony Randall, as pompous as Tony Roberts, as timely as Milton Berle in delivery.


 


Sometimes it takes a pro to show the young comics how to segue punchlines right on so you hear the joke, seamlessly, a talent many of today’s younger actors simply do not have. They tell the joke too fast, swallow the payoff line and wonder why the audience does not laugh. Bologna and Taylor act and are their jokes and you hang on every nuanced delivery. There are no flat jokes in this play.


 


IHTBY does that all the way, laughing all the way, from the posters on the set of her apartment for Thea’s forgettable roles of the past( “The Ice Capades Strangler” and “Bride of the Vampire.”) to the hilarious sight gag at the end that breaks up the audience.


 


Mae West and Cary Grant Return to the Stage.


 


If you’re looking for a parallel in filmdom, consider the incongruous pairing of debonair  Cary Grant and the legendary Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (I think that was the picture).


 


Taylor’s Thea recreates the indulgent, inviting, earthy directness of the immortal Mae West seducing Mr. Bologna’s Cary Grant type, as personality, honesty and understanding and substance and guile  triumph over Vito’s preoccupation with younger, nubile women, materialism, superficiality. The pair have written and setup a winning combination of character motivations.


 


It Had To Be You plays for just four more performances at the White Plains Performing Arts Center at 8 tonight, Friday and Saturday and Sunday Matinee.


For Ticket Availabilities, dial 1-888-977-2250 and will play for many more across this country for people who go to the theatre to put their money down and laugh – a lot.

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Robinson’s Wake Draws 1,000. Renaming of Ferris Avenue urged.

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Reveille. By John F. Bailey. March 11, 2004 UPDATED: A throng of mourners estimated at 1,000 persons gathered in the Slater Center Wednesday evening to show respect for Jerome Robinson, “The Leader of the Band” as he rested in state at the Thomas H. Slater Center, which he along with the late Bob Snipes and Ronald Jackson, were instrumental in establishing twenty-five years ago. Funeral service for Mr. Robinson will he celebrated at 11 A.M. today at Mount Hope A.M.E. Zion Church at 65 Lake Street. The Thomas Slater Drum Corps will as part of the proceedings play “Taps” to say a last farewell.


 



 


SLATER CENTER OVERFLOW CROWD PAYS THEIR RESPECTS TO JEROME ROBINSON:  A big, strong, silent man who moved with a presence and a dignity that commanded respect, Robinson still holds that sway over Black and White White Plains community more than a week after his passing. It is the first time ever that a city-owned building has been the site of a Wake, because Mr. Robinson helped to found it. Photo by WPCNR News..


 


More than a “Leader of the Band,” Jerome Robinson was a leader of young men and women. When he saw a young person straying from the straight and narrow, he did not pass by, he went in and talked that young man or woman out of it, remembers Ronald Jackson, his close personal friend.


 


 



AT THE CLOSE OF WEDNESDAY EVENING’S WAKE, two youngsters lingered as Jerome Robinson lay in state. The Slater Hall was filled wall-to-wall with White Plains citizens saying farewell.  Many  stood up at the microphone and reminisced about Mr. Robinson’s service to the community. Photo by WPCNR News.


 


 


 



 


A Compadre Remembers: Last night with Mayor Joseph Delfino and the Common Council looking on, Ron Jackson, Robinson’s lifelong friend called for renaming Ferris Avenue, Jerome Robinson Avenue and the audience of mourners burst into applause. Shown last Saturday,  a heart-broken  Ron Jackson, whom WPCNR has saddled with the sobriquet of “The Last Activist” for his being the only African-American who consistently speaks out on issues facing the minority community, reminisced about his friend of 40 years at the City Limits. Jackson said Robinson was a White Plains original, a graduate of White Plains High School, employed at the Youth Bureau prior to his being appointed Director of the Community Action Program.  Photo by WPCNR News.


 


The first thoughts Jackson had were of Robinson’s anonymous philanthropy, and commitment to going in and doing things, take hunger:


 


“Three times a year food would come to Winbrook, Ferris Avenue to help families in need. He went out and solicited those donations,” Jackson said, his bushy eyebrows rising, his eyes melancholy. “He was a pioneer in taking care of senior citizens, and shut-ins.”


 


Jackson said that Robinson was a percussionist, and hit upon the concept of creating the Thomas Slater Drum Corps as an instrument of restoring pride and discipline in youth who had neither pride nor discipline. Ron recalled that the band was totally Robinson’s idea, right down to creating the cadences, the snappy routines the Corps is known for throughout the county.


 


The Dream Team Remembered. Founder of the Slater Center


 


Robinson was an organizer, Jackson said. He remembered when he, Jerome and Bob Snipes, (deceased) worked together in the times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, and were known as “The Dream Team.”


 


Twentyfive years ago, Mr. Jackson was Chairman of the White Plains Housing Authority, and a community advocate.  Mr. Snipes was President of the Winbrook Tenants Council, and Mr. Robinson was chair of the Community Action Program. Together the trio worked to create the Thomas H. Slater Center.


 


Robinson organized, ran, and promoted the Ferris Avenue summer basketball tournament where hundreds go to watch basketball action in the summers.


 


“When you call me The Last Activist,” Jackson told this reporter. “You are now right. I cannot fill Jerome’s shoes. Hopefully someone will come along and walk in his footsteps, keep the Drum Corps alive.”


 


A Very Cool Attitude


 


“Bump was always reaching out to youth, interacting with them. He was instrumental in promoting a sense of the stronger qualities, what he called “The Avenue of Reality,” Jackson said, reaching for the right way to describe Robinson’s charismatic hold on the youth with whom he worked. “Jerome always used to tell them, whatever you do be good at what you. Be a good soldier.”


 


 


Steve Morton, the ace free lance photographer and Technical Director for Suburbanstreet.com said Robinson was a quiet observer, who when he saw something or someone doing or acting wrong would let them know in no uncertain terms what he thought, and told you exactly what he would do to you if you persisted in the irresponsible behavior.


 



JEROME ROBINSON: He had credibility. Photo, Courtesy, Slater Center


 


Morton said Robinson stood up to youth, and delivered an aura of quiet, righteous cleansing power, a hero in his own community who inspired commitment, demanded achievement, and changed young lives.


 


“He’d sit and watch you carefully,” Morton said, “and when he’d had enough, he’d come over, pull you out and talk straight up to you and get you in line. He’d say, I’ll kick your posterior. It worked.”


 


For Mr. Morton’s personal tribute to Mr. Robinson, go to suburbanstreet.com.


 


His Death a Trumpet Call for the African-American Community.


 


Jackson said last week’s gathering of 40 African-American and community leaders in the Mayor’s office the day before Mr. Robinson’s death, was an historic moment in White Plains. He said this has never happened before.


 


 Bump, Jackson said, had not been feeling well Wednesday and felt he could not go, only to experience the heart attack which killed him the very next day.


 


Jackson noted that the committee formed to develop a community affair commemorating Black Heritage last week, was what he hoped would be the start of something big and meaningful and transform the African-American community into a strong political force.


 


Jackson noted that the many African-American leaders need to continue a dialogue with the city and stand up and be heard for the rebuilding of their community their way when the city undertakes the rehabilitation of Ferris Avenue.


 


“We set an agenda last week to celebrate Juneteenth, the anniversary of the freeing of the last slaves in 1865,” Jackson reported, “People are going to come back and present ideas on where and when we want to go. But it can’t stop with just a holiday, it is time the African-American community must stick together and not just pray together.”


 


Renaming of Ferris Avenue a Fitting Tribute.


 


Mr. Jackson said he was hoping that the Common Council would see fit to name Ferris Avenue after Mr. Robinson, changing the name of the street to Jerome Robinson Avenue, since he was known to be “the unofficial Mayor of Ferris Avenue.”


 


The outpouring of respect for Mr. Robinson which will be seen this evening at the Slater Center and at tomorrow’s services at Mount Hope  A. M. E. Zion Church, 65 Lake Street, chosen because it holds 800 persons is because Mr. Robinson did good work. (Service is at 11 A.M., followed by a repast for the family at the Slater Center.


 


Jerome Robinson lived and died and served White Plains, and with his talent for dealing with youth and inspiring them, could very easily have moved elsewhere to bigger and better career paths. But he liked what he was doing here more.


 


Mr. Jackson confided another saying Mr. Robinson was fond of, it is his epitaph:


 


“Let the work I’ve done here speak for me.”


 


 


 


 


 


 

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IT HAD TO BE YOU at WPPAC at 8 With USA’s Last Traveling Acting Couple

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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. March 9, 2004: The White Plains Performing Arts Center continues its limited run of the touring play, It Had to Be You, this evening at 8, starring husband and wife traveling duo, Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor, (Emmy Award-winner for her role of the mom on The Nanny), this evening for the fourth of a string of 3 more performances through Sunday. The play debuted on Broadway in 1981, written by Ms. Taylor and  has toured the country the last five years.



SHOWING THE SET: One of America’s most popular traveling acting couples, Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor with The CitizeNetReporter, relaxing before this evening’s performance at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. House lights dim two times Wednesday at 2 PM and 8 PM. Photo by White Plains Performing Arts Center


 Tickets are available for  Wednesday matinee at 2 and 8 P.M. Shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings are at 8 with a 2 PM matinee on Sunday.  The weekend performances are “filled nicely.” Advance Sale has been strong reports Oscar Sales, theatre spokesperson. Patrons may order tickets by calling 1-888-977-2250.


WPCNR met the acting duo in their dressing rooms Tuesday afternoon, fresh off a run at WPPAC’s partner in show biz, the Queens Theatre in the Park. WPCNR talked with Ms. Taylor and Mr. Bologna about the popularity of the show around the country.


Ms. Taylor said the show which the couple premiered on Broadway in 1981, “is hysterical. It’s one long laugh. I look forward (each performance) to hearing the people laugh. Of course, we’re older now, and have suggested other people do it, but around the country, but they (the theatres) want us to do it.”


Mr. Bologna said that their closest friend, the late comic and musician, the great Steve Allen, called them up after having seen their movie of It Had to Be You, saying it was the funniest movie he had ever seen. “When he called us to tell us that, we had to meet,” and we became close friends, Bologna recalled. He recalled “Steve was a marvelous talent. Such a nice person.”


The playwright, Ms. Taylor, says It Had to Be You’s appeal is funny and very romantic: “When Joe says I love you at the end of the show, the audience stands and applauds because the way it’s set up you have to.”


The Last Traveling Acting Couple.


WPCNR asked the dynamic creative duo if they were the last of the acting couples on stage. They thought for a moment and mentioned Stiller and Meara, Ann Jackson and Eli Wallach, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, but noted those couples rarely peform any  more. So, at this writing then WPCNR will dub them the Last of the Traveling Actor Couples.


Mr. Bologna and Ms. Taylor have three shows they perform in around the country, tonight’s, and If You Ever Leave Me, I’m Going With You, and Ms. Taylor’s moving portrayal of  Golda. It Had to Be You, Mr. Bologna said travels light with two sets, one based on the West Coast, the other on the East Coast , and their “company” consists of themselves, their Stage Manager and assistant.  


Bologna said an agent books their shows into theaters around the country, and the deal depends on the kind of theatre they play in. For a single house with a short run like White Plains Performing Arts Center, they receive a straight fee, while if playing an extended run in a city such as Chicago, they would receive perhaps a fee and a percentage of the house.


The actor noted that the theatres they play in range from large centers what book them for short runs and others that book a long run. He said that regional theatre consists of some theatres of longstanding reputation that make money, while others are provided at a subsidy to provide arts to a region. He notes one in Rio Dos,  New Mexico, North of El Paso, that is run by a wealthy person to provide an arts experience for West Texas who use the nearby resorts.


The Jewish woman-Italian man from New York jokes and writing play very well no matter where the couple perform the show, Bologna said.


Bologna said, based on his traveling show experience, the best ticket is the one time paying customer, who goes to the theatre because they want to and the worst is “the comp” who is really not that interested in the show. He notes the best audiences are on Saturday nights and Sunday Matinees.


Fast moving, Fast Talking Fast Laughs Fresh.


Asked about keeping their show fresh every time they do it, Ms. Taylor said, “We’re funnier now,” and says “the show changes every time we do it, a line here, a line there.”


Sometimes, Bologna says, they have to change the show because of a problem, and it improves the show. “Once we had a sightline problem in the First Act,” Joe remembered, ” I could not be seen when I was sitting on the bed, so I started walking around the stage so that part of the theatre would see me. It worked so well we kept it in the show. Things happen. When something goes wrong you have to adjust to it. “


Every performance, Ms. Taylor says the pair find themselves doing and saying things in our lines that “are part of us.” 


Mystery of Love


Mr. Bologna said It Had to Be You is about “the mystery of love, the joy of two people  finding each other and creating together. Ms. Taylor, the writer said, “There’s a knowing when she meets him (in Act One) he is the one. She chooses him and she creates him, or you would say he creates her.”


Taylor said, “I’m seeing the mystery of their romance, too.”


The couple said that in Act One, she pursues him, and in Act Two, he pushes her away. Bologna said that the play is also about “Entitlement, you’re entitled to have it all in life — romance, love, success of deciding not to settle, but to have love and be successful and deciding you can have that.”


The Stage is Different. Two Approaches.


Bologna said he preferred to come in for a show very close to the start of the performance to feel “an edge” prior to coming on stage. While Ms. Taylor said she preferred to arrive two hours before curtain and slowly slip into the character she plays.


Her husband said he much preferred the stage, because “you love the venue or medium that allows you to fully explore the role. In film you just have to get one take, and get it right. In television, it’s hard because you’re so rushed.


Bologna said “it’s easy to phone it in, (a performance)” but he prides himself on never doing that.


Bologna gave a few tips on how an argument between a couple should go. Both have to be equal, he says, if one is more aggressive, the audience does not appreciate it. Equality of adversary is essential to writing and playing a lover’s quarrel, he says, and there is a good one in Act Two.


So Lucky


“Every night, I am so lucky to do what I do,” Bologna said, “with the woman I love.”


Taylor said, It Had to Be You, allows them to fall in love again every time they do the show. 


The couple invite patrons to come back stage and talk with them about the show.


Asked who has the best lines in It Had to Be You, Ms. Taylor said she does.



SET AWAITS  IT HAD TO BE YOU AT White Plains Performing Arts Center Photo by WPCNR StageCam

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