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<v Speaker 1>Let's go by Cogotten Hollywood.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome to Forgotten Hollywood.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm your host, James law Junior, your guest host, producer

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<v Speaker 1>and regular host. Like Hanslan Assignment, I'm taking you back

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<v Speaker 1>to the earliest seventies. I was a kid, and I

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<v Speaker 1>remember the show being huge. I remember Gerald Deane. The

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<v Speaker 1>first person I saw in Drag is a black person

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<v Speaker 1>that was done for laughs.

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<v Speaker 2>This person was.

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<v Speaker 1>A groundbreaking televish personality from the seventies. Flip Wilson. You're

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<v Speaker 1>old enough, you've heard the name. You're even older enough

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<v Speaker 1>you remember him. Flip Wilson made Time Magazine, Life, Magazine, People.

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<v Speaker 2>He was a star. Klero.

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<v Speaker 1>Flip Wilson Junior, like me, a junior was born in

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<v Speaker 1>December eighth, so this month, Mark says, would have been

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<v Speaker 1>his eighty second birthday.

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<v Speaker 2>No.

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<v Speaker 1>Ninety second, eighty second, seventy second. I came in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>thirty three. I kept you math. He died in twenty

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<v Speaker 1>eight November, so that's around the same time he was.

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<v Speaker 1>He's considered the first black TV superstar and the highest

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<v Speaker 1>pay performer of his era. You know, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>things is he was one of eighteen children from Jersey City.

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<v Speaker 1>His mother left the family, so he said, with his father,

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<v Speaker 1>and at some point he was in foster care. He

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<v Speaker 1>was in the military, which many did that back then.

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<v Speaker 1>He went to the US Air Force and maybody laugh,

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<v Speaker 1>he became Flip. That was the nickname there. Then then

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<v Speaker 1>he started the Osden jobs. That became a comedian. He

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<v Speaker 1>was somebody. Why I mentioned him today because I you know,

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<v Speaker 1>these are he's not talked about enough. He was very underrated.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a great documentary out about him too. He was

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<v Speaker 1>just a comedian. He was a cultural phenomenon. White audiences

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<v Speaker 1>loved him. Everyone loved him. He redefined representation and he

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<v Speaker 1>proved that a black entertainer could dominate prime time television

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<v Speaker 1>on his own turns. It his pre Richard Pryor before

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<v Speaker 1>Red Fox was still in the clubs, but he was

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<v Speaker 1>on TV yet before Annie Murphy, before you know any

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<v Speaker 1>of the comedians that came before Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby

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<v Speaker 1>was doing drama. He was doing I Spy in the

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<v Speaker 1>sixties and doing comedy records. But Phlip Wilson was like

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<v Speaker 1>a Carol Burnett's He was like he did interviews and

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<v Speaker 1>he did sketches and he did ketch comedy and he

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<v Speaker 1>did stand up.

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<v Speaker 2>I ain't talked to the Ardi audience.

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<v Speaker 1>He was somebody that I just looked up to, you

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<v Speaker 1>just as a kid seeing him.

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<v Speaker 2>He is.

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<v Speaker 1>The Flip Wilson Show was this giant, giant hit from

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventy nineteen seventy four. At the peak of the show,

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<v Speaker 1>he was earning over one hundred thousand dollars an episode.

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<v Speaker 1>Think about that for the early seventies. That's a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>He was the first black performer to host a major

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<v Speaker 1>network variety series with huge ratings. He also became the

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<v Speaker 1>first black entertainer to win an Emmy for variety series

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<v Speaker 1>and appear on major you know and all the major stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>He is the first black TV starter reached top tier

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<v Speaker 1>earning status in American television. Bill Cosby and Diane Carroll

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<v Speaker 1>are close. Bill Cosby later we could talk about this point.

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<v Speaker 1>It just there was I spy and he was the

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<v Speaker 1>leader then. But later with Collie Show, which did even better,

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<v Speaker 1>and then we talked about her before Diane carrolls, Julia

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<v Speaker 1>was big.

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<v Speaker 2>The show was a just a cultural revolution.

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<v Speaker 1>It just was, you know, it's he had first been

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<v Speaker 1>the stand up comedian, you know, being on Johnny Carson,

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<v Speaker 1>which was always do anything at Sullivan's show, laughing. His

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<v Speaker 1>style was non threatening, but he was sharp, lots of

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<v Speaker 1>character driven comedy, very smart. You know, someone will say

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<v Speaker 1>he's pre He's a precursor to maybe like a Chris

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<v Speaker 1>Rock later. He appealed to all audiences. Was just that

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<v Speaker 1>just was back then. It was just really rare for

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<v Speaker 1>a black comedian. He had a bunch of catchphrases that

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<v Speaker 1>I'm America really too again. His show, which was on NBC,

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<v Speaker 1>No One needs how clearly expected don't do anything. He

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<v Speaker 1>is the first black person. I can saying that he's first,

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<v Speaker 1>but just the truth. He's the first black person to

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<v Speaker 1>host and produce a major network variety show. In its

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<v Speaker 1>debut season nineteen seventy seventy one, it was number two

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<v Speaker 1>in the Nielsen ratings.

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<v Speaker 2>It won two Emmys.

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<v Speaker 1>He had people like Jackson five, I'm Not Leave, Lucille Ball, Ray,

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<v Speaker 1>Charles raitha Frankman on the show.

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<v Speaker 2>It's what it Is.

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<v Speaker 1>It showed that black entertainers and talent could carry a

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<v Speaker 1>primetime TV show. Just thinking about it now, it's like,

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<v Speaker 1>just thinking about it, it's like, of course they can,

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<v Speaker 1>right no, but back then they weren't sure.

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<v Speaker 2>There wasn't no one. There was no before.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I mean, I King Cole in the fifties had

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<v Speaker 1>a brief brush with success on TV, and this show

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<v Speaker 1>was a huge hit. But it was taken down fast

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<v Speaker 1>because people in the South windon now. But I was

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<v Speaker 1>like in the fifties, we're talking twenty years later. He

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<v Speaker 1>was able the right timing. He ordered breakdown racial barriers.

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<v Speaker 1>He was the master of character comedy, and two of

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<v Speaker 1>his characters were huge. Geraldine, as I just mentioned, Jeraldine

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<v Speaker 1>Jones was his bold, sassy woman. These several catchphrases were

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<v Speaker 1>what you see as what you get, as the devil

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<v Speaker 1>made me do it. Geraldine was so loved by the

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<v Speaker 1>public many forgot that she was played by Flip Wilson.

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<v Speaker 1>And the thing that made Geraldine not sort of a caricature.

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<v Speaker 1>It was cartedish on some level. But Geraldine was strong

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<v Speaker 1>majoro teen is like empowering woman. So it wasn't just

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<v Speaker 1>like you know it was, it was Jeraldine was somebody.

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<v Speaker 1>He also did Reverend Leroy and he was a leader

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<v Speaker 1>of the Church of What's Happening Now, very satirical routine

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<v Speaker 1>flamboyant preachers.

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<v Speaker 2>But it was fun. It wasn't you watch them. They're

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<v Speaker 2>not mean spirited. It's just like some fun television.

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<v Speaker 1>By nineteen seventy two, he was the first black entertainer

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<v Speaker 1>to become the number one order on television period, one

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<v Speaker 1>of the richest performers in Hollywood, obviously laying the groundwork

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<v Speaker 1>for our citior Hall, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, all them.

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<v Speaker 1>So he proved back then in the seventies a black

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<v Speaker 1>community could be commercially and the critics loved him too,

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<v Speaker 1>so critically successful at the same time in the top level.

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<v Speaker 1>But you know, after all that, he decided to, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>come things come to us. Four years not a long time.

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<v Speaker 1>He decided to leave the spotlight and raise his children.

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<v Speaker 1>He did a few specials and things, but he just

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<v Speaker 1>kind of prayed into the background.

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<v Speaker 2>There was his turn on his terms. The thing about

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<v Speaker 2>him is.

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<v Speaker 1>Why I chose him to talk about on this and

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<v Speaker 1>why I choose anybody. This person was universally loved, commercially successful,

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<v Speaker 1>fully in control producing his art. He was just a

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<v Speaker 1>groundbreaking artist. But he was just so well liked, and

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<v Speaker 1>I was he loved it just like people really we

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned his name. They smile A laid the groundwork for

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<v Speaker 1>so many black comedians later, but he also produced some

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<v Speaker 1>really good television. So Fip Wilson is our forgotten how

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<v Speaker 1>because people just don't talk about enough. So he's now well,

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<v Speaker 1>we'll never forget him on this show, right, So there

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<v Speaker 1>you go. I'm James I Jr. For gott in Hollywood.

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<v Speaker 1>It's on Facebook. We have for yeah, you know this

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<v Speaker 1>is coming out during the Christmas holiday. We do have

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<v Speaker 1>a Forgotten Hollywood Christmas book. Well, it's our favorite Christmas

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<v Speaker 1>Films on Amazon dot Com. Dougast and James Augnier to

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<v Speaker 1>check that out, of course. Shout to Dougasts, Shout to

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<v Speaker 1>all of you, thanks for making to show a huge

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<v Speaker 1>hit for us as you always do. As we head

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<v Speaker 1>towards four hundred episodes and I was crazy in six

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<v Speaker 1>years of doing this.

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<v Speaker 2>Again, I'm James. Talk to you next time.