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WHOOPI GOLDBERG: DIRECT FROM BROADWAY (TV)

Summary

This cable special is a television adaptation of Whoopi Goldberg's 1984 one-woman Broadway show. In this program, Goldberg performs monologues as five different characters, mixing the humorous and the poignant, and at times touching on social issues. Her characters are as follows: Fontaine, a fast-talking junkie -- claiming to have a Ph.D. in literature from Columbia University -- who discusses his life as a thief, an airplane trip to Amsterdam, and his moving visit to the Anne Frank Museum there; a teenage surfer who -- speaking in a variation on a "Valley Girl" drawl -- recounts, in a disturbingly offhand manner, a one-night stand and her consequent pregnancy which she attempted to abort herself when she was turned away by both her church and her family; a little black girl so saturated by television images of white beauty that she wishes she were white and wears a shirt on her head which she pretends is her "long, luxurious, blonde hair"; a woman from Kingston, Jamaica, who is hired as a companion by a rich, elderly American -- whom she calls the "Old Raisin" -- and, though she is revolted at first by his shriveled, toothless appearance and his sexual advances, she surprises herself by growing to care deeply for him; and in the final segment, Goldberg appears as a physically disabled woman who unexpectedly finds love with a man who sees beyond her physical limitations.

(This program contains adult language.)

Details

  • NETWORK: HBO
  • DATE: July 20, 1985 Saturday 10:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:59:06
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:08751
  • GENRE: Comedy; Specials
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; African-American Collection - Comedy
  • SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 1985
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Sandy Gallin … Executive Producer
  • Barry Josephson … Associate Producer
  • Cherie Fortis … Production (Misc.), Production Coordinator
  • Mary Salter … Production (Misc.), Production Manager
  • Mike Nichols … Production (Misc.), Production Supervised by
  • Thomas Schlamme … Director
  • Alan Adelman … Associate Director
  • Whoopi Goldberg … Writer, Performer
  • Ronnie Gesser … Music for "You Got to Keep Your Spirit" by, Music Producer, "You Got to Keep Your Spirit", Writer, "You Got to Keep Your Spirit", Performer, "You Got to Keep Your Spirit"
  • Tony Berg … Music (Misc. Credits), Co-Producer, "You Got to Keep Your Spirit"
  • Tony Walton … Visual Consultant