Becoming Richard Pryor (83 page)

319   
Pussycat Theater:
David Handelman, “The Last Time We Saw Richard,”
Premiere
, Jan. 1992, p. 87.

319   
“We had conversations”:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 136;
“We are soul mates”:
“Lily . . . Ernestine . . . Tess . . . Lupe . . . Edith Ann . . . ,”
Time
, Mar. 28, 1977.

320   
“The networks feel”:
Sorensen,
Lily Tomlin
, p. 65;
“the 11 o’clock news”:
Cecil Smith, “Barbra, Lily in Tandem Specials,”
Los Angeles Times
, Nov. 2, 1973, p. F25.

320   
“something he’d be proud of”:
Author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010;
A white Tennessean by birth:
Sorensen,
Lily Tomlin
, p. 60;
an unusually bracing TV movie:
Jane Wagner,
J.T.
(New York: Random House, 1969);
“the most profound meditation”:
Hilton Als, “A Pryor Love,”
The New Yorker
, Sept. 13, 1999, p. 70;
the script came back:
Author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010.

321   
“You ever kiss a black man?” . . . “You better get off”:
David Felton, “Lily and All the Funny Women,”
Rolling Stone
, Oct. 24, 1974, p. 84;
“He was telling people”:
Handelman, “The Last Time We Saw Richard,” p. 87.

321   
The sketch’s most provocative moments:
Felton, “Lily and All the Funny Women,” p. 84;
Lily
, directed by Joseph Hardy, aired Mar. 16, 1973 (CBS).

321   
“I always want them to be strong”:
Sorensen,
Lily Tomlin
, p. 54.

322   
a winner in the Nielsen ratings:
“The Bunkers and CBS Top Nielsen Poll,”
Los Angeles Times
, Mar. 28, 1973, p. 31;
she was determined:
Author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010;
“Come on, leg or no leg”:
Sorensen,
Lily Tomlin
, p. 65.

322   
“I have titties”:
David Felton, “This Can’t Be Happening to Me,” p. 72.

323   
“Juke and Opal”:
Felton, “Lily and All the Funny Women,” p. 84;
“Don’t hand me that jive”:
Lily
, directed by Bill Davis, aired Nov. 2, 1973 (CBS).

323   
“probably the most radical departure”:
Felton, “Lily and All the Funny Women,” p. 50;
“Everybody kept saying”:
Als, “A Pryor Love,” p. 81.

324   
Lily deliberately left Opal’s race:
Author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010;
mixed-race:
TV Scout, “Barbra and Lily Present Specials on Channel 7,”
Lowell Sun
, Nov. 2, 1973, p. 33;
black:
Felton, “Jive Times,” p. 38.

325   
improvised questions:
The questions that Juke the character improvises were, in fact, improvised by Richard Pryor the actor (author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010).

325   
“$360,000 jerk off”:
Felton, “Lily and All the Funny Women,” p. 50;
the network agreed to this lesser of two evils:
Author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010.

325   
ranking fifty-first:
Ernie Kreiling, “A Closer Look at Television,”
Van Nuys News
, Nov. 15, 1973, p. 20;
“political stuff and mood pieces”:
Sorensen,
Lily Tomlin
, p. 74.

326   
“I love Lily”:
Felton, “Lily and the All the Funny Women,” p. 49.

326   
“sensual”:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 136.

326   
The only strains in their relationship:
Author’s interview with Lily Tomlin, Nov. 4, 2010;
At a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard:
Author’s interview with Patricia Heitman, Sept. 11, 2011.

327   
Even Lily . . . acknowledged the difficulty:
“Lily . . . Ernestine . . .”

327   
six films:
Lady Sings the Blues
,
Blazing Saddles
,
The Mack
,
Some Call It Loving
,
Wattstax
, and
Hit!
;
low-paid cameo:
The Mike Douglas Show
, aired Nov. 26, 1974;
“I’ve been trying to be a booty star”:
Richard Pryor Live at the Comedy Store
, recorded Oct. 29, 1973, Shout! Factory, 2013 (hereafter
Live at the Comedy Store
).

327   
Western wherein the odd couple:
Author’s interview with Michael Schultz, Sept. 4, 2010;
The
Los Angeles Times
announced:
Mary Murphy, “Movie Call Sheet,” Feb. 28, 1973, p. G15.

327   
“Kiss my ass, Jack!”:
Live at the Comedy Store
;
he saw Richard as a breakout performer:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010;
a midnight concert:
Tom Zito, “Street Talk,”
Washington Post
, Dec. 17, 1973, p. B4;
Cellar Door (220 seats):
Author’s interview with Ralph Camilli, June 6, 2011;
wondered if he was ready:
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
, aired Jan. 17, 1974 (NBC).

328   
you can hear his nerves:
Live at the Comedy Store
.

328   
barely made it . . . a “nervous wreck”:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010.

329   
“Ain’t gonna affect us” . . . “guffawing in the aisles”:
Zito, “Street Talk,” p. B4.

329   
DeBlasio fielded a phone call:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010;
Queen Booking:
“First Lady of Talent Booking,”
Ebony
, June 1974, pp. 73–80; author’s interview with Murray Swartz, Mar. 14, 2011;
Lincoln Center:
“Richard Pryor Naughty but Funny,”
New York Amsterdam News
, Oct. 19, 1974, p. B16;
the Oakland Coliseum:
Kathie Staska and George Mangrum, “California Jam a Smooth Show,”
The Daily Review
(Hayward, CA), Apr. 12, 1974, p. 40.

329   
90 percent black:
Felton, “This Can’t Be Happening to Me,” p. 43;
“Remember black people” . . . Richard himself came up with the album’s title . . . abbreviated in ads:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010.

330   
“Lord, don’t let her know” . . . “Put your hands up” . . . “Boy, you hit me”:
“Black & White Life Styles,” “Niggers vs. Police,” “The Back Down,”
“That Nigger’s Crazy,”
recorded Feb. 1974, Partee PBS-2404 (hereafter
That Nigger’s Crazy
).

330   
“nothin’ can scare a nigger” . . . :
“Flying Saucers,” “Black and White Life Styles,” “Wino Dealing with Dracula,” “Exorcist,” on
That Nigger’s Crazy
.

330   
“What am I supposed to do” . . . hightail to an orthodontist . . . “the devil is just acting”:
Ibid.

331   
“What nigger feel” . . . “[If] you don’t clean up that shit”:
“Niggers vs. Police,” “Wino and Junkie.”

331   
“Baby, I can handle any motherfuckin’ thing”:
“Acid,”
Live at the Comedy Store;
“I don’t remember how to breathe”:
“Acid,”
Bicentennial Nigger
.

332   
“like a ballet”:
Felton, “This Can’t Be Happening to Me,” p. 43.

332   
In the original version:
“Acid,”
Live at the Comedy Store
.

333   
approached by a friend:
“Richard Pryor: A Sensitive and Serious Man . . . at Times,”
New Pittsburgh Courier
, May 4, 1974, p. 18.

333   
A few days later . . . Lorton’s unofficial uniform:
Joel Dreyfuss, “Of Men and Longing,”
Washington Post
, Mar. 6, 1974;
coaxed the promoter:
“Richard Pryor: A Sensitive and Serious Man,” p. 18.

334   
some in long white robes:
Dreyfuss, “Of Men and Longing,” p. B9.

334   
“Look at these guys”:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Jan. 8, 2011.

334   
he had smuggled . . . “We wish we had more”:
Dreyfuss, “Of Men and Longing,” p. B9;
as long as the warden would allow:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, July 31, 2013.

334   
“crowded around Pryor”:
Dreyfuss, “Of Men and Longing,” p. B9.

334   
Richard left Lorton:
“Richard Pryor: A Sensitive and Serious Man,” p. 18; Moore, “Richard Pryor the Funniest of Them All,” p. D8.

334   
Prisoner No. 2140-875:
“Jail Comedy: Inmates Flip as Flip Does a Panty Flip,”
Los Angeles Times
, June 14, 1974, p. A7; $
250,000 over four years:
“Comic Pleads Guilty to U.S. Tax Charges,”
Los Angeles Times
, Apr. 16, 1974;
making an example of Richard:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, July 31, 2013.

Chapter 18: Number One with a Bullet

336   
surged to the No. 1 position:
See, for instance, “Soul LPs,”
Billboard
, July 13, 1974, p. 56; “Soul LPs,”
Billboard
, Aug. 3, 1974, p. 29; “Soul LPs,”
Billboard
, Sept. 7, 1974, p. 29;
“a piano player in a whorehouse”:
David Greenberg,
Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2003), p. 200; Richard G. Zimmerman,
Plain Dealing: Ohio Politics and Journalism Viewed from the Press Gallery
(Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2006), p. 70;
no one believed the piano player:
Stanley Kutler,
The Wars of Watergate
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), pp. 527–44;
playing an intimate Philadelphia nightclub:
John Fisher, “This Week in Music,”
Bucks County Courier Times
, Aug. 4, 1974, p. C12;
he brought a TV onstage:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Jan. 8, 2011;
lampooned for his diabolical ambition:
“Nixon,”
Live at the Comedy Store
; author’s interview with Joan Thornell, Feb. 28, 2007.

336   
“Nixon took justice and broke its jaw”:
Murphy, “Richard Pryor,” p. 27.

337   
“[Watergate was] a shock”:
Haynes Johnson, “The View from Peoria: It’s Not Playing Well,”
Washington Post
, June 30, 1974, p. C4.

337   
“Rated X” label:
“‘That Nigger’s Crazy’,”
Philadelphia Tribune
, June 25, 1974, p. 11;
radio stations refused to play it:
“Richard Pryor . . . Latest Record a $1 Million Hit,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Nov. 2, 1974;
beginning to circle the drain:
Rob Bowman,
Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records
(New York: Schirmer, 1997), pp. 320–33;
a Stax rep came to a Pryor show:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010.

338   
“They flatly refused”:
Bowman,
Soulsville, U.S.A
., p. 323;
“no promotion, no nothing”:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010.

338   
hustlers and their women fill up:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Dec. 28, 2010;
He started feeling something new and electric:
“Interview between James McPherson and Richard Pryor,” c. 1975 (in author’s possession);
“I noticed going around working”:
McPherson, “The New Comic Style of Richard Pryor,” p. 32.

338   
“thunderous roars” . . . “the number one comedian in the world”:
“Richard Pryor Naughty but Funny,” p. B16; “Pryor on Extensive Tour,”
New Pittsburgh Courier
, June 15, 1974, p. 19.

339   
sell-out audience of twelve thousand . . . “blue—no, purple”:
C. A. Bustard, “Music,”
Richmond Post-Dispatch
, Aug. 5, 1974, p. A5;
a municipal ordinance prohibited:
“Richard Pryor Charged for Disorderly Conduct,”
Jet
, Aug. 22, 1974, p. 61;
was not interested in censoring himself:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Jan. 8, 2011.

339   
“They was going to arrest me”:
Tallmer, “Richard Pryor: When It Rains,” p. 23;
1:30 in the morning:
“Richard Pryor Charged for Disorderly Conduct,” p. 61;
“Listen, brother”:
Author’s interview with Ron DeBlasio, Jan. 8, 2011;
another black cop told Richard:
“Interview,” recorded fall 1974, on
Richard Pryor—No Pryor Restraint: Life in Concert
, Shout Factory, 2013 (hereafter
No Pryor Restraint
);
fifteen minutes . . . five-hundred-dollar bond . . . trial date:
“Comic Arrested after Concert,”
Richmond Post-Dispatch
, Aug. 5, 1974, p. A5.

339   
dropping the charges against Richard:
“Comedian’s Case Not Prosecuted,”
Richmond Post-Dispatch
, Aug. 20, 1974, p. B4;
Adults-only entertainment:
Peter Braunstein, “‘Adults Only’: The Construction of an Erotic City in New York during the 1970s,” in Beth Bailey and David Farber, eds.,
America in the 70s
(Lawrence: Univ. of Kansas Press, 2004), pp. 129–46.

340   
on the marquee of the Shrine Mosque:
“Interview with Juliette Whittaker,” recorded May 16, 1983, Box 171, John A. Williams Papers, Special Collections Library, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY;
“Richard Pryor Days”:
Theo Jean Kenyon, “Ashanti Umoja Center: From Act of Defiance to Sense of Identity,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Aug. 23, 1974;
“It was our award”:
The Mike Douglas Show
, aired Nov. 25, 1974.

340   
“This is an inspiration for all of us” . . . playground set:
Ibid.; “Interview with Juliette Whittaker”;
the Learning Tree . . . seventy children:
Strahler, “Juliette Whittaker,” pp. B1, B4.

341   
born out of the defiance of Black Power:
Kenyon, “Ashanti Umoja Center”;
presented Richard with a plaque, “Boy, my grandmother’s gonna beat my ass”:
“Skit on Race, Sex a Hit at Mosque,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Dec. 25, 1974.

341   
some two hundred thousand dollars in unpaid royalties . . . Stax gave possession:
Bowman, p. 323;
Pay Back Inc.,:
“Stax Sued by Comedian Pryor,”
Billboard
, Nov. 9, 1974, p. 14;
gold record:
“Richard Pryor Naughty but Funny,” p. B16;
two holes:
Author’s interview with Rob Cohen, Aug. 18, 2010.