Unicorn Times, March 1974

              urncorzn
CARL ANDERSON
Somebody wanted to know why the
only black lead actor in "Jesus Christ Super-star"
plays Judas. Just a series of coinciden-ces?
Norman Jewison said, "Actually when
I saw the show in Pittsburgh Judas was
being played by a young Italian boy. But
anyway I had my mind made up who I
wanted for Judas before I went to work on
the script." Jewison indicated that Carl
Anderson who used to sing with a trio, was
not his first choice, he said. "But I'd promi-sed
Carl a screen test and I made one. Film
will always tell you what to do. There was
no question in my mind that Carl was vast-ly
better than the others. I told him as
much, but I worried about what people
would say to a black Judas. I said Carl,
'You realize the implications?' He said he
only realized he'd played the part on tour
for 37 weeks and he wanted the movie.
So I finally decided it would be a tremen-dous
disservice to Carl to do anything but
go along with him. Like I said, he was the
best."
Actor/singer Carl Anderson, who is now
this city's most honored Washingtonian '
ever in films, has just returned from a tri-umphant
tour of Germany where he was
critically acclaimed in Hamburg, Cologne, -
Berlin and Munich, and is riding a crest of
success that has been mushrooming since
his starring role as Judas in the motion pic-'
ture "Jesus Christ Superstar."
For his portrayal of Judas in the Norman
Jewison film, Carl was nominated in two
categories by the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association as "Best Actor in a Musical"
and "Most Promising Newcomer." He was
also nominated by the Beverly Hills-Holly-wood
chapter of the NAACP for an Image
Award as "Best Actor" and by Photoplay
Magazine as "Best Newcomer." '
Washington, D.C. honored Carl last year
in one of the biggest social events of the
year. After a reception in his honor, hosted
by D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy and Mo-tion
Picture Association of America Presi-dent
Jack Valenti, a premiere showing of
"Superstar" took place in the Kennedy Cen-ter
where he was named "Entertainer of the
Year, 1973" by Congressman Fauntroy and
presented a plaque on behalf of the citizens
of the Nation's Capital.
Seen recently on the nationally televised
Golden Glove Awards Show where he sang
the title song from "Jonathan Livingston
Seagull," Carl will now concentrate in March
on his forthcoming album before keeping
concert commitments and deciding on his
next film.
Here's how it all began.. .
After high school Carl spent the next
few years simply growing up and trying to
please his father and prove that he could
be a "working person," though Carl knew
deep within himself he could never be a ,
nine-to-fiver for long. He was working and
every day when he left his job he'd pass
"this funky little club" where he'd stop
and have a drink.
One night the band was starting up and
he asked if he could sing with them. Reluc-tantly,
the leader consented, thinking they'd
get a laugh out of the performance, if noth-ing
else. As it turned out, no one laughed.
Instead, the club owner asked Carl to come
in and sing once a week. After about a mon-th,
he was working the club four nights a
week and was getting less and less done at
the boys' club where he had been working.
Finally, he quit the job at the boys' club
took a cut in pay to $50 a week and started
singing fulltime at the nightclub. He pulled
together all his courage and told his father
he didn't give a damn what he thought, he
had to find his own place in life. He was
surpised to hear his dad agree with him.
Anderson stayed at "the little funky
club" in D.C. for six months, then gradua-ted
to a more jazz oriented club, where he
remained for three years. When his inter-ests
in jazz lagged, he turned to rock and
had no problem attaching himself to a
group. One day the piano player sugges-ted
Carl listen to a recording of "Jesus
Christ Superstar". Carl turned him down
flat. 'I didn't want to hear it because the
title offended me," he recalls.
But the piano player was insistent and
decided to give Carl a copy of the album
as a birthday gift if that was the only way
to get him to listen to it. He then sat down
with Anderson and waited until the stub-born
singer had heard the entire album.
"The part that amazed me the most,"
says Carl, "was that of Judas. It was the
newest, freshest thing I'd ever heard. Un-til
that moment, I had never had any inter-est
in performing in theatre whatsoever, but
as I listened to that record I imagined my-self
playing Judas on some stage."
Carl's rock group put together a 40-
minute medley of songs from "Superstar"
which they performed on Palm Sunday,
1971, at a church in D.C. Anderson's per-sonal
manager, noting Carl's intense and
sudden interest in the work, heard of audi-tions
being held for a "Superstar" roadshow
company and suggested that Carl try out.
He did, and it has since been a steady up-ward
climb to the deafening clamor cur-rently
engulfing the virtual overnight star.
Carl won the audition and went on to
perform in a Hollywood Bowl production,
a Broadway production, a tremendous pro-duction
at the Universal Studios Amphithea-tre,
and the inevitable movie.
"Without good management," he cautions,
"you simply cannot parlay what talent you
have and the early successes you might en-joy
into career longevity and stardom. It's
just too competitive today."
Carl is managed by Congressional Enter-tainment
Complex, a new concept in career
guidance based here in Washington. A
spokesman for the firm indicated that "Carl
hasn't scratched the surface of his talent-potential
yet. He's such an enormous talent
that it will take another ten years just for
all of us to know that we have fully tapped
his talent resources. Can you imagine the
enthusiasm with which we look to such an
exciting reality?!"
Yes one can! And one thing is obvious
from the honors he's received, his trips
abroad, the millions that have seen him per-form
live and in the film, everyone is enthu-siastically
looking forward to many years of
being entertained by him. At the rate he's
going, he won't disappoint any of us.
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