What’s that you say? What does this have to do with beauty? The answer is: more than you think! If you’ve ever seen the Diana Ross “Afro Vogue” clip then you know what I mean: [youtube]xaYTCHUKRM0[/youtube]
From the blurb:
He made stars out of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin.
He gave Lorne Michaels and Robin Williams their first gigs.
He reunited the Rat Pack.
He booked Vegas until the Mafia made it too dangerous.
He completed an Al Hirt special with a dead body in the background.
He tried to get Fidel Castro on Laugh-In.
He worked with George Carlin, Groucho Marx, Richard Pryor, Peter Sellers, Jacques Tati, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, Orson Welles, Richard Nixon and so many, many more…
Before Lorne Michaels or Judd Apatow, there was George Schlatter: the most powerful comedy mogul in Hollywood, a larger-than-life figure and raconteur extraordinare. Best known for creating Laugh-In, this legendary veteran’s CV is sky-high: longtime producer of Grammy telecasts and Presidential inaugurals, the creative force behind a million awesome variety specials, and a civil rights groundbreaker (he hired the first African-American director in T.V. history.) Join writer/comedy expert Kliph Nesteroff (WFMU, Grove Atlantic) as he moderates an evening of incredible showbiz stories, followed by a cliptastic celebration of George’s groundbreaking T.V. work. In the Sixties, Mr. Schlatter brought more African-American faces to the small screen than anyone else — and tonight, we screen extremely rare footage unseen in over forty years, including clips from Soul (an all-Black ‘68 Laugh-In spin-off co-starring Redd Foxx, Nipsey Russell, the Chambers Brothers and a young Gregory Hines), The New Bill Cosby Show (featuring Groucho Marx and the Quincy Jones Orchestra), and TCB (an incredible ’68 Motown special starring Diana Ross and the Temptations.)
As part of Cinemfamily’s “TV Tuesdays” series.
