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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. ■HMBMi ■BKH9
Object Description
File Name | dcpl_unicorn_1974_03.pdf |
Title | Unicorn Times, March 1974 |
Creator | Unicorn Times Pub. Co. |
Subject |
Newspapers Music Underground newspapers |
Location | Washington, D.C. |
Description | Independent music-focused newspaper reviews, news, and information of interest to local fans and performers. Articles in this edition feature Carl Anderson, Bryan Bowers, Denise Larson, Stewart Harris, Casse Culver, The Corsican restaurant and club, The New Censation, Tim Weisberg, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. |
Notes | Volume 1, Number 6 |
Date Original | 1974-03 |
Date Digital | 2015-09-18 |
Rights Statement |
In Copyright - Rights-Holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable |
Rights Identifier | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/; |
Publisher | DC Public Library, Special Collections |
Source | Original version: print newspaper; DC Public Library, Special Collections, Periodicals, Unicorn Times |
Collection Name | Unicorn Times - Periodicals Collection |
Type | text |
Format Medium | text/pdf |
Language | eng |
Medium | Newspapers |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Collection Name | Unicorn Times - Periodicals Collection |
Transcript | 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. ■HMBMi ■BKH9 |