COMIC BILL COSBY MAY TAKE ROLE IN RACIAL BREAKTHROUGH ON NBC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200040010-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 25, 1999
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: August 18, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

'PHILADELPHIA; ,PA.,
INQUIRER
603,438
S. 983,643,
front Edit Othe ii
Pape P&G* Page
AUG 18;1964
Date:
eloe6ltii ; TV
Cosby- may
r akt r6
ue prouuceu
byShe Idon
Leonard,who's
teamed ?w i t h
Dannyl'homas
in such popu-
lar projects as
"The Dick Van
Dyke Show,"
''The Andy
Griffith Show"
and "The Bill
By HARRY IHART.IS 0 FAR, no contracts have
Of The In uirer Stccfj JS been signed. Cosby is wait-
1177 101 411 allual s
PHILADELPHIA comedian.Bil cripL, NO e s
.CC Cnc1w mnv ha invnlvarl
"One thing I like is that he
role didn't originally call for a
7779707 `57s someone who could
get and be inliny and
"I, turned down three movie
parts because they were writ.
ten ONLY for a Negro.
"I see the series as a chal-
lenge. I'd like to see it happen.
He's slated to costar withj?. ;"coramg to, early reports,
"Trackdown," in an hour-long
adventure -series NBC plans toiinsthbum," while e series a Cosby pretend-
s
air in 1965-66.
{ - Still untitled, the show will
Friday." work. THEN I'll get excited." ; what happened - today?" I'nl
"That way," Bill opined, '"it. + M w not being fair to the people who
could be the same old junk,'f'1OES he fear that the deal'have come-, to me for laughter.,
like Rochester on Jack Benny's may fall through because ofd "The 'whole question about
shows, only I'm a college grad. !"White backlash" or because Negro comics is: If you colored
uate. Southern affiliates might refuse Orientals," said Cosby. They're
"I may be more a manager-,to accept a Negro h( ro?
won't, be ME more acceptable. But they have
trainer. One thing's sure, it "I don't know if . . there Il be to decide whether they're going
playing tennis. ""Southern resistance," he said.
Is there any danger that his to just stop there or go straight
assignment will turn out to be "There might be. But I don't ahead."
a variation on the "servile think that's the problem as Although he has emphatic,
roles" civil rights groups have much as what to do with inc views on the civil rights strug-
been
rote
ti
?
)
p
s
ng
IN the series. gle, Bill excludes strictly-racial
Dana Show." L
Cosby won't,;, ".1 don't know," Bill said. "White backlash; black back- quips from his TV and' night
hat s why I've got to see a lash, any kind of backlash won't club comedy routines. I
be just a "reI T
"script first. But Sheldon Leonard gave any real effect unless . "Sometimes' I'm asked to)
ular," some-1
all
d th
N
'
c
e
e
AACP and others EVERYONE turns off his set. make topical comments,,, not
t and told them what he had in eTelevision is paying lip service only racial ones. A newsnlaga-
he case with Cicely Tyson in.mind~' to integration next season, we zine. guy called me and askedli
season's "East Side/West
Side." "Sheldon and his associates )noted, by casting a number !ofif I had any. Goldwater jokes.)
I are very respectable, responsi- 1Orientals-but, nary, a-. Negro- He'll be an integral part of~;ble men, and everything they've tas series regulars.
every episode, as one of twof contlnuar
CIA undercover agents abroad.!..''ut out has been in good taste. is !Itt's.aster`tp ,,aave face with
b
'
I R
emem
er one
Dick Van Dyke
-l'Iarrs? call for filming the series]
Silow in which Nero actors
in Los Angeles, with frequentg f i
were used very well.
"location" treks'to places like "I don't know if my doing
Bon
Kong
site of the proposed
o
,
this part would ;represent a
pilot, Tokyo, Athens and Rome. 'breakthrqugh on TV but it
Although Brill presuntes he'll
be coniributinn ""comic n+would certainly b'e a break-
.