Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 14

PHILADELPHIA DA FLY' NEWS Wednesday' 23, 1990 Page 14 Early Black Film Company Addressed Issues By Joseph P. Blake Daily Neuz Staff Writer Long before such flicks as "Witness," "Trading Places" and the "Rockys" were shot in Philadelphia, the Colored Players Film Corp. a small production company with large hopes produced silent movies here. In 1927, it put out a beaut of a movie called "Scar of Shame." The company consisted of African-American actors from New York and Philadelphia and existed thanks to the financial and inspirational backing of a would-be movie mogul named David Stark- liifi 'I'tai. mi ii itm REUTERS Mikhail Gorbachev listens to debate on creation of a national presidency Ml very determined about, and you don't belong to our set." Though crushed, Louise stands by her man.

One day a mysterious telegram rives at the boarding home and lures Alvin away. When he returns he finds that Eddie has crept back into the picture and is hassling Louise. A confrontation ensues. Eddie pulls a gun. Alvin pulls a gun.

Alvin accidentally shoots Louise in the neck and goes to jail. Alvin escapes from jail, moves to another city and marries a lawyer's daughter rebuilding the swaying scaffold that supports his social status. Eventually, Louise and Alvin cross paths. Louise, now operating a club with Eddie, tries to get Alvin back. Alvin says no way.

Louise commits suicide. Alvin lives happily ever after with the lawyer's daughter. Technically and socially impressive, "Scar of Shame" daringly addressed the issues of race and class, and did it with serious African-American actors at a time when blacks usually played characters based only on racist perceptions and fears. The film had little commercial success and the company soon went bankrupt, about the time talkies came in. "Scar of Shame" had been lost for decades, but a print resurfaced in the 1970s in the rubble of an old theater.

Since then, the film has been playing at museums and colleges across the country, often at African-American film festivals. showed people of African descent as more -than lackeys, mammies, ser-. vants and porters. So it was really not surprising that a man of Starkman's exceptional character would throw his weight behind a film of exceptional controversy. "Scar of Shame" dealt bluntly, if not realistically, with the subject of skin color and the importance some African-Americans placed on it in regard to social standing and acceptance within their community.

The 90-minute film starred two unknowns, Lucia Lynn Moses, daughter of a Philadelphia preacher, and Harry Henderson, a New York stage actors Moses played Louise, a light-skinned laundress who falls in love with, and marries, Alvin (Hender-. son), an aspiring classical pianist whose lofty social standing starts to tremble after he weds Louise. Louise, who lives in the same boarding house as Alvin, is constantly abused by her evil stepfather. Spike. There's also a slimy character named Eddie Blake, who longs to wrap his tainted tentacles around Louise's curvaceous body.

After casting out the despicable Eddie from the confines of the boarding house, Louise discovers that Alvin has not told his own mother who lives in the country and has a servant that he's married. Alvin explains he can't tell Mom because "You don't understand caste is one of the things mother is man whose social conscience was bigger than his wallet Among other Colored Players Film Corp. SSs Pinssidteinifl titles are "A Prince of His Race" and "Ten Nights in a Barroom." Virtually all shooting was done inside a theater at 5813 Woodland Ave. Starkman. who was white, was once described by a reporter as a "short, dapper, cocksure man who seemed to have stature greater than his height." Though his reach may have exceeded his grasp, Starkman, a businessman and advocate for equal treatment of African-Americans, dared to take a chance on his dream of creating and marketing films that party's popularity and prestige are waning.

It pursues the declared aim of following East Europe's Communist parties in renouncing its legally guaranteed right to govern and compete in a multiparty system! Progressive lawmakers strongly objected to concentrating so much power in one leader's hands and what they called Gorbachev's undue haste in pressing the issue on the Supreme Soviet. But other legislators said mounting economic, social and ethnic woes prove the need for a strong leader. According to the draft bill on the presidency shown to reporters, the holder of the office must be a Soviet citizen at least 35 years old. The president will be directly elected by the. voters, the bill stipulates, but the jurist who presented it to the Su- preme Soviet said the procedure will be different the first time.

Vladimir Kudryavtsev, a vice president of the Academy of Sciences, said the first president will be elected by the Congress to a four-year term, because it would take too long to prepare a nationwide election. The president's term wouid thus expire along with those of the 2,250 members of the Congress, who were elected last year. The bill shown to reporters empowers the president: To unilaterally declare a state of emergency anywhere in the country and to declare war if the Soviet Union is invaded. To appoint the prime minister, subject to confirmation by the Supreme Soviet. To be commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

To veto legislation. If the Supreme Soviet overrides the veto by a majority vote, the president can appeal to the Congress or go over the heads of the lawmakers by scheduling a nationwide referendum. On Gorbachev's recommendation, the Supreme Soviet voted to convene an extraordinary session of the Congress on March 12 to approve the constitutional changes creating the new office and elect the president. By John-Thor Dahlburg Associated Press MOSCOW A determined and at times angry Mikhail S. Gorbachev yesterday rammed through the Soviet legislature his proposal for a more powerful presidency that progressive lawmakers warned could become a dictatorship.

Gorbachev, his voice rising as his temper frayed, accused his critics of engaging in "cheap demagoguery." The Soviet leader recognized lawmakers and revoked their right to speak apparently at whim during the often-stormy debate. He hailed the Supreme Soviet's final and overwhelming approval of his proposal as a "a great political event." But lawmaker Leonid Suk-hov, a Ukrainian taxi driver, warned: "The way the voting went today is the same way presidential power will be." After only two days of discussion, spread over two weeks, the Supreme Soviet voted 347-24 with 43 abstentions to approve creation in principle of a national presidency with a five-year term, to replace the government post now held by Gorbachev, whose formal title is Supreme Soviet chairman. The bill was remanded to committees to consider the dozens of amendments offered by deputies during debate. Subject to final approval by the legislature's parent body, the Congress of People's Deputies, the bill would grant the president powers to veto laws, unilaterally declare states of emergency and name the prime minister, according to a copy of the legislation shown to Western reporters. Gorbachev, who chaired the proceedings, emphasized he has not yet been elected president and said he has even considered refusing the office, but few expect the 58-year-old Communist Party chief not to be chosen.

The presidency would give Gorbachev a new and stable power base at a time when his 20 million-member yr? i Aft NICOLE HOFER DAILY NEWS TOTALLY ABSORBED Fifth-grader from Comly School in the Northeast gives her undivided attention to a black history musical at Hamilton School in West Philadelphia. Comly students visited Hamilton yesterday for the program..