The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 71

comics columns movies puzzles television music Eiitertainmen Page D-10 Thursday, October 13, 1977 Thelma Houston 'Jiggly programing stealing the TV show She's found her niche in disco i Adrienne Bar beau By GARY DEEB Chic9 Tribune Most of the television moguls refer to it as "glamor" 'or "beauty" or "fantasy." Other observers call it a blatant sexual pitch. But Paul Klein says it's simply "jiggly programing." Klein Is the program chief at NBC, a bonafide guru of the network program wars. His profane letters to Mike Dann. his former counterpart at CBS, are a legend among industry Insiders. NEVERTHELESS, some of Klein's most incisive comments also are remarkably funny.

Which brings us to his theory on "Jiggly programing." According to Klein, the surest route to success in prime-time TV is to build a show around several gorgeous women with large breasts. The next step is to dress them in alluring but scanty costumes, preferably something wet. Make them run around a lot and voila! you have a "jiggly" program. Klein isn't crazy about the exploitative sexual "hook" that "jiggly" programs are founded on. But he can't argue with the ratings, and so he has employed the format a few times himself.

Last year, for instance, Klein watched a rival ABC special called "Battle of the Network Stars." It was a thoroughly ridiculous, pseudo-sports event in which celebrities made fools of themselves by attempting various athletic events. Among the spectacularly endowed participants were Lynda. Carter of Wonder Woman and Ad- Singer Thelma Houston she's glad she's got a category "Moan You Moaners" songs that Smith made famous in the 1920s. "I've always had a great deal of respect for Bessie Smith," Houston said. "And in my concerts the response I've gotten for the Bessie Smith medley has been just as big as the response I've gotten for 'Don't Leave Me This That proved to me that music is music, and you can bridge the gaps." CURRENTLY, Houston's interest in Smith goes deeper than simple respect for her music.

Early next year, Houston will portray the legendary blues singer of the 1920s and '30s in the Motown production of "The Bessie Smith Story." The film, which Houston describes as "not a real musical, but more of a dramatic thing, with music in it," will feature her powerful alto on a number of Bessie Smith songs. "I'm not going to be doing a thought-out imitation of Bessie," said Houston, whose previous film experience includes bit parts in "Death Scream" and "The Seventh Dwarf" and soundtrack work on "Norman, Is That You?" and "Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings." "Of course, when you do Bessie Smith's songs with the kind of instrumentation that was used back then, it does put you in the mood of the period," Houston said. "So I think I'll get close enough to the sound to capture the feeling of the rienne Barbeau, who plays the daughter on Maude. The ratings for Battle of the Network Stars were sensational, and Klein figured the sports angle had very little to do with it. So he set out to produce a similar special on NBC only he downplayed the sports even more and put extra emphasis on the flesh.

TUB PROGRAM was titled Us Against the World, and it was populated by such beautiful women as Elke Sommer, Kate Jackson, Susan George, Britt Ekland, Susan Clark and Jane Seymour. Klein declared "Battle of the Network Stars was a jiggly show. Us Against the World" will be a very jiggly show." He was dead-right. Not only that, but the two-hour program whipped the second installment of "Washington: Behind Closed Doors." music without really imitating her." Though she moved with her family to California when she was 10, and now lives in Los Angeles, Houston spent her early childhood in Leland, not far from where Smith died in 1937 after a car accident. "My mother and grandmother used to play her records," Houston recalled, "and I remember them talking about her from time to time.

I used to particularly like one song Bessie Smith did called 'Backwater because it was about a flood in the Mississippi Delta where my mother grew up. She lived through that flood. "But that isn't the reason I want By LYNN VAN MATKK Chicago Tribune Most performers cringe at the thought of being pigeonholed. Try to cram them neatly into one musical category, and they see it as a curse because, as a rule, the crossover artists, the ones who appeal to a wide range of audiences, have the biggest commercial success. Thelma Houston's recent hit, "Don't Leave Me This Way," made it big on both the rhythm and blues and pop charts.

But It got its start as a disco favorite; and right now, if anyone wants to see Houston as a disco artist she isn't complaining. "It sounds funny, but I had a problem before in that I couldn't be put into a category," explained Houston, who began her career in the late 19fi0s singing a mixed bag of blues, soul, B. and pop. "So I'm not going to knock being known as a disco artist," she continued. "I love disco, anyway.

I keep up with all the latest dances. My two teenagers teach me the steps, or I pick them up by watching Soul Train. And I go dancing at least once a week, either at a disco or a party. I'd rather spend most of my time at a party dancing instead of making conversation. "Of course, I wouldn't want to be considered only a disco singer," hastily added Houston.

"Or only a blues singer, or only any one kind of singer. When I started touring in June, I was a little bit worried. I knew that a lot of the audiences would have gotten to know me through 'Don't Leave Me This and I was afraid they might expect 45 minutes of that kind of music. Finally I just realized I was going to have to be myself and not worry about what people were expecting, but just do my regular show." HOUSTON'S SHOWS generally feature a variety of material, including disco, rhythm and blues, and ballads. Lately she has been paying tribute to the late Bessie Smith with a medley of "Gimme a Pigfoot," "Sugar in My Bowl," and ed to do the role of Bessie Smith." Houston said.

"The real reason I got into acting was because when I was doing interviews after my first album came out in 1969, and reporters would ask me if there was anything else I liked to do besides sing, I'd always tell them I wanted to get Into acting. And over the years, whenever I'd talk to those reporters again, they'd ask me about acting, and I'd have to say I hadn't done much about it. "Finally, I decided it was really time to do something. So I talked to my record company, Motown, and they arranged for me to start taking acting lessons. As soon as they saw I had some talent, they developed this project for me." I mm RALPH, OUR NEW CARPETING'S HERE! NOT A CARPET YARN, BUT A TRUE -TO-LIFE STORY OF HOW GREAT, WAN PA! WE GO THAT EXTRA YARD TO MAKE YOU A MORE INFORMED CARPET BUYER- Ilk I 1 I jV IT'S TOM'S CARPET BARN EXTRA LOOK, RALPH -ON THE BACK -AT THAT LABEL! CAN'T WAIT MOWD TO SEE IT, YOU EVER KNOW YARD WHICH ONE 5 Heinz Foil New Poll ballet opens season The Ohio Ballet will begin its 10th season Oct.

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