1- If you are black and a lover of comedy, you are undoubtedly a fan of this woman. Robert Townsend should thank her; she was the singular reason his mockumentary/comedy "Jackie's Back!" is an underground cult hit in the black/gay/progressive community. Bette Midler should bow at her feet; she sang backup for The Divine Miss M back in her bathhouse days. 'Dreamgirls' director Michael Bennett (God rest his soul), Jennifer Holiday AND Jennifer Hudson should thank their heavenly stars that she exists; she defined the role of Effie White in the Bennett-directed 'Dreamgirls' workshop which would go on to be a Broadway sensation, winning a Tony for Holiday AND an Oscar for Hudson. She's no stranger to Broadway productions (landing her first broadway role in 'Eubie'); she's had an off-Broadway one-woman show ('The Diva is Dismissed', which garnered her a NAACP Image Award) and she is slated to return to Broadway in April as Motormouth Maybelle in 'Hairspray'. She's the spunky relative that we all wished we had; she's played Angela Bassett's mother in 'What's Love Got To Do With It', Whitney Houston's mother in 'The Preacher's Wife', Tupac's mother in 'Poetic Justice', Morris Chestnutt's mother in 'The Brothers', Jill Marie Jones' mother in the UPN/CW series 'Girlfriends', Will Smith's aunt on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air', Rockmond Dunbar's aunt in 'Dirty Laundry', Dean Davenport on 'A Different World' and (my favorite, after her turn as the flawed-diva-staging-a-comeback in 'Jackie's Back!') the ultraprovocative and completely campy talk-show host Delia Devaux on 'Living Single'. And these are just the roles I can think of off the top of my head!!! I hear she was funny as HELL in Tyler Perry's new movie 'Meet The Browns' (which I haven't seen yet), but she was THE comic relief in Perry's 'Madea's Family Reunion' as the over-the-top wedding planner. My question is...Why doesn't Jenifer Lewis have her OWN television show?
2- Speaking of Broadway...First Oprah produces 'The Color Purple'. Then Debbie Allen directs an all-black cast in a revival of Tennesse Williams' 'Cat On a Hot Tin Roof'. Now, Whoopi Goldberg is putting on her producer's hat- bringing Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf' back to Broadway (starring neo-soul ingenue India. Arie). Is Broadway "under attack by the blacks"? Just how black is "The Great White Way" going to get?
3- Speaking of Oprah, why haven't YOU read Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" yet?
4- Richard Parsons leaves Time Warner/AOL . Stanley O'Neal is ousted from Merrill Lynch. Currently, there are just 5 black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S.- Kenneth Chenault at American Express being one of them. Which begs the question...If Chenault leaves, will American Express no longer offer their "Black card"?
5- Black-on-Black LOVE, smoked bacon in macaroni and cheese, and some of the best barbeque in Memphis... Isn't The Food Network's new cooking show 'Down Home With the Neelys' one of the most delicious new shows on television?
6- White-on-Black love, perhaps a little taste of minstrelsy, and (possibly) a great new social experiment on the big screen... In Ben Stiller's forthcoming summer film 'Tropic Thunder', Robert Downey Jr. is essentially in "blackface". In the movie, he's playing a white man playing a black man. Is this going to go over well with movie audiences? Does it help that the movie is a comedy?
7-Papi Chulo A.P.B...At the height of the "latin explosion", he was the first face of Sean John. He also ramped for Versace and Kenneth Cole. Now, he's nowhere to be found. Where in the world is the first latino male supermodel Will LeMay? (UPDATE...The REAL RE-Edit has just recently learned that LeMay is NOT, in fact, Latino. Although he appears such, he is actually mixed Carribean and French/Canadian. Thanks for the heads up, Phoenix!!!) UPDATE #2...It has been concluded that although not Latino, THE REAL RE-Edit feels the 'Papi Chulo' moniker is still appropriate! UPDATE #3... According to a VERY reliable source, Mr. LeMay was seen today (4/21/08) walking his dog in the East Village NYC- guess he's being incognito!!!
8- Speaking of Sean John...Shouldn't we give Bad Boy Sean Combs (and Bad Mama Bethann Hardison) credit for hiring all black male models for his Fall 2008 show?
9- Some say they got away with murder (literally!)...
a-Now that he's being charged with two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and coercion in his second (though much less-publicized) trial, has O.J. Simpson's luck finally run out?
b- Not be outdone by Simpson, "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers is now facing two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree, a dozen other drug-related charges and resisting arrest. Is this how a member of the Kennedy clan is supposed to act?
10- The REAL RE-Edit got hip to his garments while watching Robert Altman's fashion film 'Pret A Porter'. What happened to Mali-born Lamine Badian Kouyaté, the designer behind avant-garde fashion label Xuly Bet?
11- While we're talking about 'Pret A Porter', what happened to Jamaican-born up and coming model/Yves Saint Laurent muse Georgianna Robertson (who was featured in the movie)? Was she not supposed to be the the second coming of supermodel Beverly Peele?
FLASHBACK....For those of you STILL trying to get your Jenifer Lewis fix, I give you...the trailer from 1999's 'Jackie's Back'. If you don't already have it, go get this DVD... NOW!!!
