Viewing page 224 of 356

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

"ROOTS: The Next Generations"

"Roots: The Next Generations," the continuation of the landmark saga of the triumph of an American family, will air as a 14-hour "ABC Novel for Television" on the ABC Television Network during the 1978-79 season.

The epic drama, a David L. Wolper Production, in association with  Warner Bros., will follow four more generations of the family whose genesis was in Africa in the person of a youth from the village of Juffure in Gambia named Kunta Kinte. The story of this boy and his abduction into slavery plus the stories of his daughter, Kizzy, and her son, Chicken George, were the basis of "Roots," Alex Haley's best-selling book which became the most popular television program in history when it aired as an "ABC Novel for Television" in January, 1977.

"Roots: The Next Generations" traces the later descendants of Kunta Kinte through nearly 100 more years of turbulent and emotionally wrenching American history. Beginning in 1882, the film will chronicle the family's struggle to gain equality in American society against a backdrop of the turn of the century, the Depression and two World Wars.

The cast of "Roots: The Next Generations" boasts a list of stars whose extensive credits include films, stage and television. Those set to date are: Georg Stanford Brown, two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, Ja'net DuBois, Henry Fonda, Dorian Harewood, Paul Koslo, Avon Long, Lynne Moody, Roger Mosley, Harry Morgan, Greg Morris, Stan Shaw, Marc Singer and Richard Thomas.

As was the case in "Roots," many exciting newcomers will appear in key roles. Already cast are Bever-Leigh (cq) Banfield, Fay Hauser, Briant Mitchell and Debbie Morgan.

The film opens with Georg Stanford Brown cast as Tom Harvey, the son of Chicken George, who, although born a slave, has become a prosperous blacksmith and the pillar of the black community in the rural hamlet of Henning, Tenn. Lynne Moody portrays his wife, Irene. Both Brown and Miss Moody recreate the roles they played in "Roots." 

The major part of "Roots: The Next Generations" is being filmed on location in the San Fernando Valley where skilled craftsmen have built the [[text cut off]] of Henning, 1890 style.

As the story progresses, the town will change all the way up to the 1970s. By the end of production, the town will have aged 80 years.

The role of the aristocratic Col. Frederick Warner, Henning's leading citizen whose life is shattered when his young son marries a black woman, [[text cut off]] played by Henry Fonda. Olivia de Havilland is cast as his wife and Richard Thomas as his son.

Stan Shaw ("The Boys in Company C") plays Will Palmer, the tall, [[text cut off]] black man who marries Tom's daughter, Cynthia, and overcomes deep prejudice to become the owner of a lumberyard and a middle-class citizen in the early 1900's.

Simon Haley, the son of a rural sharecropper, who struggles against incredible poverty and hardship to work his way through college only to [[text cut off]] terrifying bigotry as a soldier in World War I, is played by Dorian Harewood. Simon and his wife, Bertha, the daughter of Will and Cynthia Palmer, were the parents of Alex Haley.

John Erman, who won a Directors Guild Award and an Emmy nomination for his sensitive direction of one hour of the original "Roots," will direct several of the two hour segments. Also set to direct is Charles. S. Dubin.

Ernest Kinoy, who was a co-winner (with William Blinn) of an Emmy writing the first three hours of "Roots," is supervising the scripts and has written the first three screenplays. Others writers set are Sidney Glass, [[text cut off]] Mumford and John McGreevey. The scripts are based on the book, "Roots," [[text cut off]] Alex Haley's new books "Search" which will be published this fall, and additional research material provided by Haley.

The film is being produced by Stan Margulies, who served in the same capacity on "Roots," and is being supervised by executive producer David Wolper (20 Emmys, three Peabody Awards and an Oscar).

[[image]]
[[caption]] Weddings, births and the sweeping winds of change carry the descendents of Kunta Kinte into a world he could not foresee in "Roots: The Next Generations," a 14-hour continuation of the epic drama that made television history last year.

In this photo from "Roots: The Next Generations," currently in production for airing on the ABC Television Network during the 1978-79 season, the family is gathered for a wedding in Henning, Tennessee. Pictured are: (Rear, left to right) Richard Thomas, Lynne Moody, Georg Stanford Brown, Debbie Morgan, Stan Shaw and (seated) Marcus Wyatt, Fay Hauser and Bever-Leigh Banfield. [[/caption]]

222