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‘ABC STAGE 67’ TONIGHT
Negro Humor Is Shown
In °A Time for Laughter’
At the beginning of “A Time
For Laughter,” Harry Bela-
fonte’s production for “ABC
STAGE 67” Thursday, on Chan-
nel 11, host Sidney Poitier says,
“There are few things that ex-
press the mood of the Negro
better than his humor. Unlike
his musie — jazz — which has
been able to break out and move
societies of the world, Negro
humor has stayed home.”
Paul Jones is on vacation.
“A Time For Laughter” is an
attempt to bring that humor
into homes where it has never
been seen or heard; to intro-
duce audiences to such classic
comedians as Moms Mabley
and Pigmeat Markham, to the
kind of comedy this show calls
“Ghetto Talk,’ to the black)
birth of what became white
minstrel shows (“That’s how
‘darkies’ was born,” Poitier
comments ironically), to the
outspoken wit and satire of the
socio-political commentators of
the generation following after
Mabiley and Markham.
Producer Belafonte is also
performer Belafonte in “A Time
For Laugher,” displaying his
respect for a vaudeville tradi-
tion that greatly ante-dates him
in a time-honored sketch which
teams him with Pigmeat Mark-
ham and guest star Diahann
Carroll.
Godfrey Cambridge, actor-
turnec-comedian, also turns
writer in the production. He is
featured with Moms Mabley
and Broadway star Diana Sands
in a sketch he wrote, satiriz-
ing suburban social climbers of
all colors.
George Kirby, whose skills at
mimicry have made him a
popular guest on television va-
riety shows, plays a cast of
seven in a ghetto barber shop,
using the sharp edge of wit to
outline seven very different
types (in two colors).
The ghetto talk moves into
two other areas. In a pool hall
we find Redd Foxx, long-time
favorite on the circuit of night
clubs and theaters which play
primarily to Negro audiences
(and lately a guest on after-
noon game shows) utilizing his
zest for the language and
rhythms of the “fast-talking
hippie.”
In a funeral parlor, young
comedian Richard Pryor un-
solemnly intones a Satirical ser-
vice that — like much of hu-
mor’s spectrum — would be
equally at home in any color
scheme.