Big screen, little screen review: Celebrating greatness
This week Big Screen, Little Screen Review joins countless celebrities and movie lovers across the globe in saluting the work of two stalwarts of the performing arts. They are the recent deceased Betty Wright of Golden girl’s fame and Sidney Poitier. My appreciation for both actors stems from their crossing the colour barriers as artists and paying court to their positivity.
The Affable Poitier
Sidney’s outstanding achievements earned the late actor an honorary award at the 2002 Oscars. One should know that before Sidney, African American artists had only supporting roles in major studio pictures. However, these movie houses couldn’t slash Sidney Poitier out of a Sidney Poitier Flick. This was much to the pleasures of my aunts and mom, as, I can recall, to them he was the Denzil Washington of the times. I won’t attempt to list his movie credits here, this you can read elsewhere, no disrespect meant. Big screen little screen’s review at this moment in time is to highlight the of exploits a Caribbean man who as an actor, as described by those that rubbed shoulders on the big screen and little screens with him was that Poitier was a “stunning, affable, warm, indisputably majestic gentleman”. Readers, we should also note and never forget that the To Sir with Love lead man brought “distinction, potency, brilliance, and absolute power when he performed. He knew he had a community on his shoulders to represent positively and not to meet with the negativity and demeaning roles usually scripted for black actors”. And, I am wedded to the idea that following Sidney’s death, many felt a degree of melancholy when they learned of the transition from life as we know it of Sir Sidney Poitier. Now we don’t have to guess who’s coming to dinner.
The Golden Betty White
Betty White, the much-loved performer is best known and remembered for her characters on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland. White’s character Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls and its follow-on The Golden Palace, comes from the imaginary town of St Olaf, and often amuses her roomies with stories from her childhood. Nylund was relatively inexperienced but delightful, saying things that received a tongue clout on the head from Bea Arthur’s Dorothy. White depicted Rose in 204 episodes of The Golden Girls and The Golden Palace between the mid-80s and early ‘90s, and she was featured in three instalments of Empty Nest. White was a lead the way actress all through her career. Her television calling commenced in 1939, singing songs on a tv special. In 1951, she produced, put pen to paper, and plated the leading role in the feature Life with Elizabeth. It was not regular for a female back then. Following on to 1954, White shaped and introduced guests on her daily TV feature, The Betty White Show. Her judgment to incorporate an African American personality, Arthur Duncan, was contentious and TV stations in the United States South threatened to stay away from her show. White continued the show and rejected calls to remove Duncan from the daily. In 2011, White pulled off a Grammy for best spoken word recording. She also had success with her role as Sue Ann in the Mary Tyler Moore TV series netting her first two Emmy awards.
Movies now showing in the Jamaican Cinema Carib 5, Sunday, 9 January 2022:
1. King’s Man
2. The Matrix Resurrections
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home.
David R. Muhammad is a former morning host on Visions Television and a former member of the Palace Amusement Media Movie Review Committee. He is currently the Student Protocol Officer of the Nation of Islam’ study group – Jamaica.
