Word: haleys
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...commission argues that the poverty of the public broadcasting system also is responsible for the dearth of high-quality programs on non-commercial stations. "Public broadcasting was unable to develop a program about blacks with the appeal and quality of 'Roots'," the commission--which just happened to include Alex Haley--says, "because it lacked funds for a project of such magnitude." The commission advocates insulated annual allocations to the Program Services Endowment, which will finance creative talent in an unpressured atmosphere...
...Wizard of Oz: Everybody's seen this one on T.V., but there's no way it can compare to seeing it on the screen and letting jack Haley, Burt Lahr, and Ray Bolger dance you off to the Emerald City in the sweetest fashion this side of a tornado. This movie just doesn't seem to fade--and how could it, with classic songs, great cameos, and munchkins to boot. Cynics in the crowd may yell "Cora!" when the wicked witch appears on the screen, but those are the kind of people who liked Animal House...
...Haley can even pinpoint the moment his old world stopped. It was Jan 31, 1977, the morning after the last episode of Roots was aired. Many writ ers find their lives altered by a bestselling book, but perhaps no other writer in history, from Homer to Norman Mailer, has been hit so hard so suddenly with so great a success. Roots as a book was already a bestseller; then came the TV triumph, which sent hundreds of thousands of additional read ers out to look for the book, making it the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller...
After watching the final segment of the television version in New York, Haley went out to the airport to fly to Los Angeles. He was mobbed, and the airline attendant who came to his rescue told him, "You'll have to be pre-boarded from now on, sir. Your life will never be the same...
...fact, fame had been a long time coming. For years even Haley, who is now 57, did not know that he was a writer. He got only mediocre grades in high school, and after two years in a North Carolina teach ers college he became a cook in the Coast Guard, where he stayed for 20 years. He started writing to relieve the bore dom of life aboard ship, and when he left the service in 1959 he decided on even more hazardous duty, the life of the freelance journalist...