Becoming Richard Pryor (87 page)

419   
“the single most overtly political”:
Terry Curtis Fox, “Blue Collar Fever,”
Village Voice
, Feb. 27, 1978, p. 31. While no critic has doubted how “political”
Blue Collar
is, there has been a rich debate over the meaning of its politics. See, for starters, Peter Biskind, “Blue Collar Blues,”
Seven Days
, Apr. 7, 1978, pp. 31–32; Pauline Kael, “The Cotton Mather of the Movies,”
The
New Yorker
, Feb. 27, 1978, pp. 84–86; Andrew Sarris, “Off the Assembly Line: One Lemon, One Authentic Model,”
Village Voice,
Feb. 27, 1978, pp. 32–33; Richard Schickel, “Union Dues,”
Time
, Feb. 13, 1978, p. 66; Molly Haskell, “Toward a More Imperfect Union,”
New York
, Feb. 20, 1978, pp. 78–79; James Monaco, “
Blue Collar
,”
Take One
(Mar. 1978): 9–10; and more recently, Jefferson Cowie,
Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class
(New York: New Press, 2012); Derek Nystrom,
Hard Hats, Rednecks, and Macho Men: Class in 1970s American Cinema
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

419   
other studios refused to touch such a hard-hitting project:
Zheutlin and Talbot,
Creative Differences
, pp. 160–61;
loved
Silver Streak
:
Crowdus and Georgakas, “Blue Collar: An Interview with Paul Schrader,” p. 36; Gregg Kilday, “The Ring around the ‘Collar,’”
Los Angeles Times
, June 22, 1977, pp. D1, D12.

419   
The contrast with his last two films:
Haskins,
Richard Pryor
, pp. 135–36.

420   
“the most difficult, unpleasant and distasteful thing”:
Kilday, “The Ring around the ‘Collar,’” p. D12.

420   
“unrelentingly unpleasant”:
“Paul Schrader,”
Film Comment
(July–Aug. 1978): 46;
trench warfare:
“Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh,” commentary track,
Blue Collar
, directed by Paul Schrader (Universal, 1978), DVD;
“Right after you said ‘Cut’”:
Biskind,
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
, p. 349;
“shuttle diplomacy” . . . over the head of Kotto:
“Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

421   
over the head of George Memmoli:
Robbins and Ragan,
Richard Pryor
, p. 104;
“You pussy”:
Biskind,
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
, p. 349.

421   
“As a first-time director”:
Crowdus and Georgakas, “Blue Collar: An Interview with Paul Schrader,” p. 37.

421   
“big organizations”:
Ibid., p. 34.

422   
“very trained and very professional”
: “Paul Schrader,”
Film Comment
(July–Aug. 1978): 47.

422   
nearly opposite approaches to the craft of acting:
“Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

422   
He worried that if black audiences:
Robbins and Ragan,
Richard Pryor
, pp. 115–16.

423   
“If you’re going to imply”:
Kilday, “The Ring around the ‘Collar,’” p. D12;
The scene was a mere three pages:
“Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

423   
“set sail from the script”:
“Paul Schrader,”
Film Comment
, p. 47;
“30 very funny lines”:
Haskell, “Toward a More Imperfect Union,” p. 78.

424   
“work, pension, die”:
Pryor Convictions
, pp. 53–54.

425   
the last scene filmed for
Blue Collar
:
“Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

426   
“It changed my life”:
Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 63;
“a stretch”:
“Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh”;
“the world around us is crumbling”:
Anderson, “‘Lightning’ Is Not a Black Film,” p. 7A.

Chapter 22: Giving Up Absolutely Nothing

427   
“I don’t feel this”:
Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61;
having an epiphany:
Author’s interview with John Moffitt, Aug. 20, 2010; Fran Ross, “Richard Pryor, Richard Pryor,”
Essence
, April 1979, pp. 92–95.

427   
“You know something?”:
Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61;
“I need a straight, square person”:
Ross, “Richard Pryor, Richard Pryor,” p. 92;
punched up Richard’s special . . . housekeeper fetched a sock:
Author’s interview with John Moffitt; “Interview with John Moffitt, Nov. 20, 2003,” Archive of American Television, www.emmytvlegends.org.

428   
had already invested a great deal:
Author’s interview with John Moffitt;
reeling from an especially poor season:
Jack E. Anderson, “NBC Makes an Event of Replacing Its Regular Prime-Time Programs,”
Chicago Tribune
, July 5, 1977, p. A8;
“Surrender Richard”:
Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61;
from ten episodes to four:
James Brown, “NBC ‘Stifling My Creativity,’”
Los Angeles Times
, Sept. 14, 1977, p. G12;
from
9:00 p.m. on Thursday:
Cecil Smith, “NBC Schedule for Fall TV,”
Los Angeles Times
, May 5, 1977, p. H26;
“electronic hari kiri”:
James Bacon, “Elvis’ Girlfriend Threatened,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, n.d. (Sept. 2[], 1977), Richard Pryor file, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

429   
“I wouldn’t give a nickel”:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 152.

429   
Pam remained in the picture:
Author’s interview with Matt Clark, Dec. 27, 2010;
When Jennifer Lee began working for Richard:
Lee,
Tarnished Angel
, p. 100;
a new woman would materialize at his office:
Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci, Aug. 30, 2010.

429   
Richard kept up appearances:
Maslin, “‘Didn’t Cut Nobody’s Throat,’” p. 76; Anderson, “‘Lightning’ Is Not a Black Film,” p. 7A; Gold, “Richard Pryor Finds a Lot Not to Laugh About,” p. 12; Bouis, “Richard Pryor Returns from a Busy ‘Vacation,’” p. G1;
“new black superstar”:
“A New Black Superstar”;
over the objections of director Michael Schultz:
Zheutlin and Talbot,
Creative Differences
, pp. 203–4;
“it is impossible to believe” . . . “There is not a more likable movie”:
Richard Schickel, “Vroomy Movie,”
Time
, Aug. 15, 1977.

430   
went on to gross almost triple its four-million-dollar budget:
Louie Robinson, “Michael Schultz: A Rising Star Behind the Camera,”
Ebony
, Sept. 1978, p. 95;
a contract for a minimum of four films at a million dollars:
“Four Pics For Pryor,”
Variety
, Aug. 3, 1977, p. 4; “Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,”
Jet
, Sept. 29, 1977, pp. 58–59. For more
Greased Lightning
reviews, see John Simon, “Don’t Shoot the Actor, He’s Doing the Best He Can,”
New York
, Aug. 29, 1977, pp. 58–59; Steven Schaefer, “Stock Schlock,”
SoHo Weekly
, Aug. 18, 1977; Pat Aufderheide, “Greased Lightning,”
Cineaste
(Fall 1977): 48; David Ansen, “Out of My Way,”
Newsweek
, Aug. 15, 1977; and (for the picture’s biggest rave) Penelope Gilliatt, “The Current Cinema,”
The New Yorker
, Aug. 22, 1977, p. 66.

430   
“NBC would love to make me”:
“Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” pp. 58–59;
“[i]f I disappoint them”:
Maslin, “‘Didn’t Cut Nobody’s Throat,’” p. 76;
“Hell, the atom split”:
Gold, “Richard Pryor Finds a Lot Not to Laugh About,” p. 12.

430   
“Hey, you know what I feel like?”:
Maslin, “‘Didn’t Cut Nobody’s Throat,’” p. 76.

430   
“Never edit yourself”:
Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci;
Dick Ebersol:
Tom Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,”
Washington Post
, Sept. 14, 1977, p. B1.

431   
“I’ll never work with him again”:
Author’s interview with John Moffitt.

431   
“cause for wonder”:
Joseph Lelyveld, “Off Color,”
New York Times Magazine
, Nov. 6, 1977, p. 44;
“the most perilously inventive comedy hour”:
Tom Shales, “Pryor’s Angry Humor, the Savagery of ‘Soap,’”
Washington Post
, Sept. 13, 1977, p. B9;
TV critics couldn’t agree:
Jay Sharbutt, “Pryor Show Revolts against Family Hour,”
Daily Sitka Sentinel
, Sept. 14, 1977, p. 2; “The Richard Pryor Show,”
Variety
, Sept. 14, 1977, p. 8; “The Richard Pryor Show,”
Hollywood Reporter
, Sept. 15, 1977, p. 6; Gary Deeb, “NBC and Pryor Make Peace for Now, but Their War Promises to Rage On,”
Chicago Tribune
, Sept. 16, 1977, p. A10;
“devastating, bittersweet episode”:
Brown, “NBC ‘Stifling My Creativity,’” p. G18;
“icky wistfulness”:
James Wolcott, “The New Season (3): Uprooted,”
Village Voice
, Sept. 26, 1977, p. 42.

431   
recruited by Paul Mooney:
Mooney,
Black is the New White
, p. 176;
“He loved them”:
Author’s interview with Moffitt;
“We came in with no structure”:
Author’s interview with Tim Reid, Oct. 4, 2010.

432   
the first sketch of the first show:
Episode one,
The Richard Pryor Show
, aired Sept. 13, 1977 (NBC).

433   
Urbsici swapped out the fake one:
Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci;
“As a vitriolic lampoon”:
Shales, “Pryor’s Angry Humor,” p. B9.

433   
a habit of filling up a water glass with vodka:
“Interview with John Moffitt, Nov. 20, 2003.”

434   
everywhere on set:
Author’s interview with Bob Altman, Oct. 21, 2010;
delayed getting into his makeup:
Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci;
“I don’t remember doing it”:
“Interview with John Moffitt, Nov. 20, 2003.”

435   
“write a check”:
“Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” p. 60.

436   
without the lines:
Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” pp. B1, B9;
“We don’t do genital jokes”:
Brown, “NBC ‘Stifling My Creativity,’” p. G12.

436   
“stifling my creativity”:
Ibid., p. G12;
“They do”:
Jay Sharbutt, “Pryor Angry at NBC Censorship,”
Oakland Tribune
, Sept. 14, 1977, p. 22.

436   
“Maybe if NBC hired”:
Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” p. B1.

437   
“I’d like to get the names”:
“Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” pp. 58–59;
“It’s an insult”:
Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” p. B9;
“All of us could use some bandages”:
Deeb, “NBC and Pryor Make Peace for Now,” p. A10.

437   
“Every piece that Richard did was different”:
Author’s interview with John Moffitt.

438   
“We crossed the line on that one”:
Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci. Pryor’s scenario—of a charismatic leader leading his followers to a grisly murder-suicide—was echoed, horribly, in November 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, when Jim Jones drove, or forced, his followers into a ritual death. Airing when it did, “Black Death” was prophecy. If it had aired fifteen months later, it would have been in the worst possible taste—and unimaginative.

439   
“all the makings of a ‘cabaret’ version of Woodstock”:
Robert Kemnitz, “Rights Wronged at Benefit,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, Sept. 22, 1977.

439   
“Kiss your ass, hell!”:
Randi Rhode, “Pryor: Clever (?) to Obnoxious,”
Los Angeles Free Press
, Sept. 23, 1977, p. 7;
sat pole-axed . . . “To call what happened”:
John L. Wasserman, “Pryor’s Gay Shocker,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, Sept. 20, 1977, p. 1.

440   
“to educate people”:
Nancy Friedman, “They Had a Gay Time at the Bowl,”
San Francisco Examiner
, Sept. 20, 1977.

440   
“with the volume and fervor”:
Friedman, “They Had a Gay Time at the Bowl”;
“Ascent of Man”:
Ron Pennington, “Pryor Tirade Mars Hollywood Bowl Benefit for Gays,”
Hollywood Reporter
, Sept. 20, 1977, p. 23;
“What is life?”:
Lee Grant, “‘A Night for Rights’ at the Bowl,”
Los Angeles Times
, Sept. 20, 1977, p. F11;
“an evening of unspoken assumptions”:
Ronald E. Kisner, “Pryor Adds Fireworks to Star-Spangled ‘Gay Night,’”
Jet
, Oct. 6, 1977, p. 54;
“when sex was dirty”:
Grant, “‘A Night for Rights’ at the Bowl,” p. F11.

441   
the victim of a bait and switch . . . he noticed that the Lockers:
James H. Cleaver, “Richard Pryor Lashes Out at ‘Gay’ Rally,”
Los Angeles Sentinel
, n.d. (Sept. 2[?], 1977), pp. A1, A10, Richard Pryor file, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives; author’s interview with Don Campbell, Mar. 23, 2011;
“some bad motherfuckers”:
“Performance at the Star-Spangled Night for Human Rights, Hollywood Bowl,” Tape No. A00503, International Gay Information Center collection, New York Public Library. All subsequent quotes are from this archival audiotape. Pryor’s performance was often misquoted or bowdlerized in press coverage.

442   
prowled back and forth:
Kisner, “Pryor Adds Fireworks to Star-Spangled ‘Gay Night,’” p. 54;
a one-liner that had tongues wagging:
James Bacon, “Gays Go into Closet to Laugh at Richard Pryor’s Putdown,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, Sept. 21, 1977, p. B3.

443   
first major Hollywood celebrity:
On the reticence that characterized Hollywood in the 1970s, see David Ehrenstein,
Open Secret: Gay Hollywood, 1928–1998
(New York: HarperCollins, 1998).

444   
A producer came on to apologize:
Wasserman, “Pryor’s Gay Shocker,” p. 5.

444   
a full page:
“Pryor’s Performance: The Rights and Wrongs,”
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 2, 1977, p. 47;
an obscene homophobe:
Michael Kearns, “Michael Kearns” column,
Los Angeles Free Press
, Sept. 23, 1977; Polly Warfield, “Actor’s Verbal Violence Assaults Bowl Audience,”
Los Angeles Free Press
, Sept. 23, 1977, p. 5;
“His ‘street’ language was abusive”:
“Pryor Furore at ‘Rights Night,’”
Los Angeles Times
, Sept. 25, 1977, p. 2;
“[M]ost of us in the gay rights movement”:
“Letters to the Editor,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, Sept. 26, 1977.