Becoming Richard Pryor

by Scott Saul

  401 filtered into his performance: Greased Lightning, directed by Michael Schultz (Universal, 1977).

  402 wrapped in September: Reilly, “Schultz Directing Wendell Scott Pic,” pp. 1, 13.

  403 “the soap opera style of moviemaking”: Zheutlin and Talbot, Creative Differences, pp. 203–4.

  403 “I want to make certain”: Sue Reilly, “Director Won’t Castrate Pryor’s Humor,” Hollywood Reporter, July 30, 1976; “the whole idea”: Benson, “Richard Pryor, Who Is Co-Starring,” p. 57; too prolix: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb, Aug. 25, 2010; simply not funny: Author’s interview with Michael Schultz. For his part, Cecil Brown has written an account of his experience on Which Way Is Up?, arguing that the failure to realize his vision for the film speaks to Hollywood’s inability to represent the black experience in its complexity. See Brown, “Blues for Blacks in Hollywood,” Mother Jones, Jan. 1981, pp. 20–28, 59.

  403 ten-day vacation: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb, Aug. 25, 2010.

  Chapter 21: A Man of Parts

  404 Self-improvement was the order of the day . . . “I heard that War and Peace”: Grier, Foxy, p. 162; Gipson, “The Serious Side of Richard Pryor,” p. B; Cyrano de Bergerac: “Richard Pryor Seeks $250,000 for Breach of ‘Cyrano’ Movie Contract,” Jet, Oct. 27, 1977, p. 56; Arsenic and Old Lace . . . Animal Farm: Maynard, “Richard Pryor, King of the Scene-Stealers,” p. 11.

  405 broke into a high singsong voice: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb, Aug. 25, 2010.

  405 a ripe Italian parable: Biskind, “Lina Wertmuller,” pp. 10–13; Grace Russo Bullaro, Man in Disorder: The Cinema of Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s (Leicester, UK: Troubadour, 2007), pp. xv–xvi, 1–27; “enormous story gaps”: Benson, “Richard Pryor, Who Is Co-Starring,” p. 56.

  406 Michael Schultz had already established: Zheutlin and Talbot, Creative Differences, p. 205.

  406 Carl ran a tape recorder . . . “It was a very healthy collaboration”: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb. The name “Leroy Jones” invokes the real-life Leroi Jones, who renamed himself Amiri Baraka after devoting himself to the black struggle; it is the name of a character who has not come to full consciousness.

  406 Their creative idyll was interrupted: Pryor Convictions, p. 150; author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb.

  407 revised script: “Which Way Is Up? Revised Final Draft Screenplay by Carl Gottlieb,” dated Jan. 10, 1977 (in author’s possession) (hereafter “Which Way Is Up? final draft screenplay”); Zheutlin and Talbot, Creative Differences, p. 207.

  407 “Hollywood extras with their sunglasses”: Benson, “Richard Pryor, Who Is Co-Starring,” p. 56; “I don’t want to do a phony representation”: Zheutlin and Talbot, Creative Differences, pp. 205–6; Louis Torres, “Farm Workers in Sharp Focus,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 28, 1977; “the old farts”: Benson, “Richard Pryor, Who Is Co-Starring,” p. 56; the child of Mexican migrant workers: The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo, directed by Axel Schill (Montagnola Productions, 2007).

  408 Schultz took another creative risk: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb; author’s interview with Michael Schultz; “Pop, I’m in the paper!”: Which Way Is Up? It’s worth noting that, while filming Which Way Is Up?, Pryor’s ad libs consistently made Rufus more cutting and cruel (see “Which Way Is Up? final draft screenplay,” pp. 5, 15, 18).

  408 for the first time in its history: Hill and Weingrad, Saturday Night, p. 13; “I’m just going to say”: “What’s Cooking?,” People, Dec. 27, 1976, p. 110.

  409 “a harmless little comedy”: Benson, “Richard Pryor, Who Is Co-Starring,” p. 52.

  410 “In the master [take]”: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb; “us[ing] sweaters to stifle their laughter”: Benson, “Richard Pryor, Who Is Co-Starring,” pp. 57–58; “My hardest job”: Author’s interview with Michael Schultz; “can do the same scene”: “A New Black Superstar.”

  411 When Richard was done with it: Which Way Is Up?, directed by Michael Schultz (Universal, 1977) (hereafter Which Way Is Up?).

  411 “gobble[] up his triple parts”: David Ansen, “Pryorities,” Newsweek, Nov. 14, 1977.

  412 “a total heel”: Lynn Minton, “Which Way Is Up?,” McCall’s, Jan. 1978, p. 53.

  412 wrapped in early March . . . “I’m going to save them”: Lee Grant, “Richard Pryor Thanks His Crew,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 5, 1977, p. B6; two-page ad: Daily Variety, Mar. 1, 1977, pp. 10–11.

  412 his own TV special: The Richard Pryor Special?, directed by John Moffitt, aired May 5, 1977 (NBC, 1977). All other references are to this program.

  412 fully in command . . . “Every time a writer”: Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci, Aug. 30, 2010; author’s interview with John Moffitt, Aug. 20, 2010.

  413 Mooney suggested adding Maya Angelou: Mooney, Black Is the New White, p. 177; “The comedy turns into a touching essay”: John O’Connor, “TV: Pryor and Chase Take Their Pot Shots,” New York Times, May 5, 1977, p. C27.

  415 “John, I’m not changing anything” . . . “It’s not about your ego”: Author’s interview with Urbisci.

  415 series of hour-long programs: “Lindbergh Talks with Sevareid,” Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1977, p. G20; two million dollars to remain exclusively: “Pryor Surprises Manager with $52,000 Rolls,” Jet, May 26, 1977, p. 57; red leather interior: Author’s interview with Michael Ashburne, May 7, 2011.

  416 for Mother’s Day: “Pryor Proves You Can Always Go Home Again,” Jet, June 2, 1977, pp. 22–23.

  416 “I adore [Pam Grier]”: Gipson, “The Serious Side of Richard Pryor,” p. B; continue to figure . . . in magazines: Bob Lucas, “Pam and Richard: Movie Love Turns into Real Thing,” Jet, June 2, 1977, pp. 58–61; “People Are Talking About . . . ,” Jet, Sept. 29, 1977, p. 28; “What about women’s rights?”: Ace Burgess, “Richard Pryor: An Explosive, Angry Interview,” Gallery, Jan. 1977, p. 124; After Pam beat him in tennis: Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61; “I was put off”: Pryor Convictions, p. 151.

  416 “I don’t feel safe living here yet”: Grier, Foxy, pp. 163–67.

  417 accompanied by Deboragh McGuire: Haskins, Richard Pryor, pp. 130–31; supported for years by a wealthy, older white man: Pryor Convictions, p. 139.

  417 “She was afraid of me”: Haskins, Richard Pryor, p. 131.

  417 grown up in a hardcare midwestern fundamentalist household: Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, pp. 286–93; Karen Koshner, “Writer Pursues Different Direction,” Syracuse Herald-Journal, Sept. 6, 1977, p. 24.

  418 the most . . . lurid scenes in 1970s cinema: Charles Higham, “When I Do It, It’s Not Gore, Says Writer Paul Schrader,” New York Times, Feb. 5, 1978, p. D15. On Schrader, see Paul Schrader, Schrader on Schrader, ed. Kevin Jackson (London: Faber and Faber, 2004); George Kouvaros, Paul Schrader (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2008).

  418 in the summer of 1976: Gary Crowdus and Dan Georgakas, “Blue Collar: An Interview with Paul Schrader,” Cineaste (Winter 1977/1978): 36; He idolized Robert De Niro: Author’s interview with Patricia Heitman, Sept. 11, 2011; put Richard’s comedy albums on heavy rotation: “Blue Collar Production Notes,” Jan. 6, 1978, pp. 2–3, Blue Collar file, Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; Schrader felt it was inconceivable: “Entretien avec Paul Schrader,” Positif (Dec. 1978), p. 22.

  419 “the single most overtly political”: Terry Curtis Fox, “Blue Collar Fever,” Village Voice, Feb. 27, 1978, p. 31. While no critic has doubted how “political” Blue Collar is, there has been a rich debate over the meaning of its politics. See, for starters, Peter Biskind, “Blue Collar Blues,” Seven Days, Apr. 7, 1978, pp. 31–32; Pauline Kael, “The Cotton Mather of the Movies,” The New Yorker, Feb. 27, 1978, pp. 84–86; Andrew Sarris, “Off the Assembly Line: One Lemon, One Authentic Model,” Village Voice, Feb. 27, 1978, pp. 32–33; Richard Schickel, “Union Dues,” Time, Feb. 13, 1978, p. 66; Molly Haskell, “Toward a More Imperfect Union,” New York, Feb. 20, 1978, pp. 78–79;
James Monaco, “Blue Collar,” Take One (Mar. 1978): 9–10; and more recently, Jefferson Cowie, Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class (New York: New Press, 2012); Derek Nystrom, Hard Hats, Rednecks, and Macho Men: Class in 1970s American Cinema (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

  419 other studios refused to touch such a hard-hitting project: Zheutlin and Talbot, Creative Differences, pp. 160–61; loved Silver Streak: Crowdus and Georgakas, “Blue Collar: An Interview with Paul Schrader,” p. 36; Gregg Kilday, “The Ring around the ‘Collar,’” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1977, pp. D1, D12.

  419 The contrast with his last two films: Haskins, Richard Pryor, pp. 135–36.

  420 “the most difficult, unpleasant and distasteful thing”: Kilday, “The Ring around the ‘Collar,’” p. D12.

  420 “unrelentingly unpleasant”: “Paul Schrader,” Film Comment (July–Aug. 1978): 46; trench warfare: “Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh,” commentary track, Blue Collar, directed by Paul Schrader (Universal, 1978), DVD; “Right after you said ‘Cut’”: Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, p. 349; “shuttle diplomacy” . . . over the head of Kotto: “Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

  421 over the head of George Memmoli: Robbins and Ragan, Richard Pryor, p. 104; “You pussy”: Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, p. 349.

  421 “As a first-time director”: Crowdus and Georgakas, “Blue Collar: An Interview with Paul Schrader,” p. 37.

  421 “big organizations”: Ibid., p. 34.

  422 “very trained and very professional”: “Paul Schrader,” Film Comment (July–Aug. 1978): 47.

  422 nearly opposite approaches to the craft of acting: “Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

  422 He worried that if black audiences: Robbins and Ragan, Richard Pryor, pp. 115–16.

  423 “If you’re going to imply”: Kilday, “The Ring around the ‘Collar,’” p. D12; The scene was a mere three pages: “Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

  423 “set sail from the script”: “Paul Schrader,” Film Comment, p. 47; “30 very funny lines”: Haskell, “Toward a More Imperfect Union,” p. 78.

  424 “work, pension, die”: Pryor Convictions, pp. 53–54.

  425 the last scene filmed for Blue Collar: “Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh.”

  426 “It changed my life”: Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 63; “a stretch”: “Paul Schrader interviewed by Maitland McDonagh”; “the world around us is crumbling”: Anderson, “‘Lightning’ Is Not a Black Film,” p. 7A.

  Chapter 22: Giving Up Absolutely Nothing

  427 “I don’t feel this”: Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61; having an epiphany: Author’s interview with John Moffitt, Aug. 20, 2010; Fran Ross, “Richard Pryor, Richard Pryor,” Essence, April 1979, pp. 92–95.

  427 “You know something?”: Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61; “I need a straight, square person”: Ross, “Richard Pryor, Richard Pryor,” p. 92; punched up Richard’s special . . . housekeeper fetched a sock: Author’s interview with John Moffitt; “Interview with John Moffitt, Nov. 20, 2003,” Archive of American Television, www.emmytvlegends.org.

  428 had already invested a great deal: Author’s interview with John Moffitt; reeling from an especially poor season: Jack E. Anderson, “NBC Makes an Event of Replacing Its Regular Prime-Time Programs,” Chicago Tribune, July 5, 1977, p. A8; “Surrender Richard”: Orth, “The Perils of Richard Pryor,” p. 61; from ten episodes to four: James Brown, “NBC ‘Stifling My Creativity,’” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14, 1977, p. G12; from 9:00 p.m. on Thursday: Cecil Smith, “NBC Schedule for Fall TV,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1977, p. H26; “electronic hari kiri”: James Bacon, “Elvis’ Girlfriend Threatened,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, n.d. (Sept. 2[], 1977), Richard Pryor file, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

  429 “I wouldn’t give a nickel”: Pryor Convictions, p. 152.

  429 Pam remained in the picture: Author’s interview with Matt Clark, Dec. 27, 2010; When Jennifer Lee began working for Richard: Lee, Tarnished Angel, p. 100; a new woman would materialize at his office: Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci, Aug. 30, 2010.

  429 Richard kept up appearances: Maslin, “‘Didn’t Cut Nobody’s Throat,’” p. 76; Anderson, “‘Lightning’ Is Not a Black Film,” p. 7A; Gold, “Richard Pryor Finds a Lot Not to Laugh About,” p. 12; Bouis, “Richard Pryor Returns from a Busy ‘Vacation,’” p. G1; “new black superstar”: “A New Black Superstar”; over the objections of director Michael Schultz: Zheutlin and Talbot, Creative Differences, pp. 203–4; “it is impossible to believe” . . . “There is not a more likable movie”: Richard Schickel, “Vroomy Movie,” Time, Aug. 15, 1977.

  430 went on to gross almost triple its four-million-dollar budget: Louie Robinson, “Michael Schultz: A Rising Star Behind the Camera,” Ebony, Sept. 1978, p. 95; a contract for a minimum of four films at a million dollars: “Four Pics For Pryor,” Variety, Aug. 3, 1977, p. 4; “Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” Jet, Sept. 29, 1977, pp. 58–59. For more Greased Lightning reviews, see John Simon, “Don’t Shoot the Actor, He’s Doing the Best He Can,” New York, Aug. 29, 1977, pp. 58–59; Steven Schaefer, “Stock Schlock,” SoHo Weekly, Aug. 18, 1977; Pat Aufderheide, “Greased Lightning,” Cineaste (Fall 1977): 48; David Ansen, “Out of My Way,” Newsweek, Aug. 15, 1977; and (for the picture’s biggest rave) Penelope Gilliatt, “The Current Cinema,” The New Yorker, Aug. 22, 1977, p. 66.

  430 “NBC would love to make me”: “Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” pp. 58–59; “[i]f I disappoint them”: Maslin, “‘Didn’t Cut Nobody’s Throat,’” p. 76; “Hell, the atom split”: Gold, “Richard Pryor Finds a Lot Not to Laugh About,” p. 12.

  430 “Hey, you know what I feel like?”: Maslin, “‘Didn’t Cut Nobody’s Throat,’” p. 76.

  430 “Never edit yourself”: Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci; Dick Ebersol: Tom Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” Washington Post, Sept. 14, 1977, p. B1.

  431 “I’ll never work with him again”: Author’s interview with John Moffitt.

  431 “cause for wonder”: Joseph Lelyveld, “Off Color,” New York Times Magazine, Nov. 6, 1977, p. 44; “the most perilously inventive comedy hour”: Tom Shales, “Pryor’s Angry Humor, the Savagery of ‘Soap,’” Washington Post, Sept. 13, 1977, p. B9; TV critics couldn’t agree: Jay Sharbutt, “Pryor Show Revolts against Family Hour,” Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sept. 14, 1977, p. 2; “The Richard Pryor Show,” Variety, Sept. 14, 1977, p. 8; “The Richard Pryor Show,” Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 15, 1977, p. 6; Gary Deeb, “NBC and Pryor Make Peace for Now, but Their War Promises to Rage On,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 16, 1977, p. A10; “devastating, bittersweet episode”: Brown, “NBC ‘Stifling My Creativity,’” p. G18; “icky wistfulness”: James Wolcott, “The New Season (3): Uprooted,” Village Voice, Sept. 26, 1977, p. 42.

  431 recruited by Paul Mooney: Mooney, Black is the New White, p. 176; “He loved them”: Author’s interview with Moffitt; “We came in with no structure”: Author’s interview with Tim Reid, Oct. 4, 2010.

  432 the first sketch of the first show: Episode one, The Richard Pryor Show, aired Sept. 13, 1977 (NBC).

  433 Urbsici swapped out the fake one: Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci; “As a vitriolic lampoon”: Shales, “Pryor’s Angry Humor,” p. B9.

  433 a habit of filling up a water glass with vodka: “Interview with John Moffitt, Nov. 20, 2003.”

  434 everywhere on set: Author’s interview with Bob Altman, Oct. 21, 2010; delayed getting into his makeup: Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci; “I don’t remember doing it”: “Interview with John Moffitt, Nov. 20, 2003.”

  435 “write a check”: “Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” p. 60.

  436 without the lines: Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” pp. B1, B9; “We don’t do genital jokes”: Brown, “NBC ‘Stifling My
Creativity,’” p. G12.

  436 “stifling my creativity”: Ibid., p. G12; “They do”: Jay Sharbutt, “Pryor Angry at NBC Censorship,” Oakland Tribune, Sept. 14, 1977, p. 22.

  436 “Maybe if NBC hired”: Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” p. B1.

  437 “I’d like to get the names”: “Richard Pryor: Sensational New TV Show,” pp. 58–59; “It’s an insult”: Shales, “A Pryor Restraint,” p. B9; “All of us could use some bandages”: Deeb, “NBC and Pryor Make Peace for Now,” p. A10.

  437 “Every piece that Richard did was different”: Author’s interview with John Moffitt.

  438 “We crossed the line on that one”: Author’s interview with Rocco Urbisci. Pryor’s scenario—of a charismatic leader leading his followers to a grisly murder-suicide—was echoed, horribly, in November 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana, when Jim Jones drove, or forced, his followers into a ritual death. Airing when it did, “Black Death” was prophecy. If it had aired fifteen months later, it would have been in the worst possible taste—and unimaginative.

  439 “all the makings of a ‘cabaret’ version of Woodstock”: Robert Kemnitz, “Rights Wronged at Benefit,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Sept. 22, 1977.

  439 “Kiss your ass, hell!”: Randi Rhode, “Pryor: Clever (?) to Obnoxious,” Los Angeles Free Press, Sept. 23, 1977, p. 7; sat pole-axed . . . “To call what happened”: John L. Wasserman, “Pryor’s Gay Shocker,” San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 20, 1977, p. 1.

  440 “to educate people”: Nancy Friedman, “They Had a Gay Time at the Bowl,” San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 20, 1977.

  440 “with the volume and fervor”: Friedman, “They Had a Gay Time at the Bowl”; “Ascent of Man”: Ron Pennington, “Pryor Tirade Mars Hollywood Bowl Benefit for Gays,” Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 20, 1977, p. 23; “What is life?”: Lee Grant, “‘A Night for Rights’ at the Bowl,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 20, 1977, p. F11; “an evening of unspoken assumptions”: Ronald E. Kisner, “Pryor Adds Fireworks to Star-Spangled ‘Gay Night,’” Jet, Oct. 6, 1977, p. 54; “when sex was dirty”: Grant, “‘A Night for Rights’ at the Bowl,” p. F11.