Notícias

Olga James, the singer, actress and nightclub performer who portrayed the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte’s character in the landmark Otto Preminger-directed film musical Carmen Jones, has died. She was 95.

James died Jan. 25 at an assisted living facility in Los Angeles of complications from a fall in which she broke her pelvis, her niece, actress and acting teacher Janet Adderley, told The Hollywood Reporter.

James also portrayed the fiancée of Sammy Davis Jr.’s struggling showbiz entertainer in the 1956-57 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, and she recurred as Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of Bill Cosby’s high school gym teacher, on the comedian’s eponymous 1969-71 NBC sitcom.

James had attended the Juilliard School of Music and was a trained opera singer when she was cast as the heartbroken Cindy Lou, who loses her troubled man, Joe (Belafonte), to the bewitching title character (Dorothy Dandridge) in 20th Century Fox...

"This is the year two thousand and twenty. The place is the Challenger Sea Mount, the top of an underwater mountain, a complex beneath the sea. Two hundred and fifty men, women and children live here. Each of them, a scientist pioneer. For this is our last frontier, a hostile environment which may hold the key to tomorrow. Each day, these oceanauts meet new challenges as they build their city beneath the sea. This is Sealab 2020."

These words set the stage for the Saturday morning TV series known as Sealab 2020. The oceanauts of Sealab face seaquakes, sharks and falling satellites -- while finding the time to serve up lessons on environmentalism and teamwork. Featuring the voices of actors like John Stephenson, Ross Martin, Jerry Dexter, Pamelyn Ferdin and Ann Jillian, the TV show ran for just 13 episodes and one season on NBC.

“This is the year two thousand and twenty. The place is the Challenger Sea Mount, the top of an underwater mountain, a complex beneath the sea. Two hundred and fifty men, women and children live here. Each of them, a scientist pioneer. For this is our last frontier, a hostile environment which may hold the key to tomorrow. Each day, these oceanauts meet new challenges as they build their city beneath the sea. This is Sealab 2020.”

Hanna-Barbera had to change with the times and as the 1970s dawned, kids and adults alike were tuning into the difficulties planet Earth was facing. Ecology and Earth Day were on everyone’s lips. At the same time, parents’ groups were insisting Saturday morning cartoon shows do more than shill cereal and have characters hit one another.

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Their answer was Sealab 2020, which lasted a mere season comprising just 13 episodes.

The 1970s remained a good time to be a kid, as the three networks continued to program Saturday mornings with hours and hours of programming aimed right at them. On the other hand, it was clear that finding new series to click with the evolving kiddie set was harder and harder so series seemed to come and go at a faster clip with shows from earlier years revived to fill gaps or revamped to bring the familiar to new audiences.

While super-heroes were largely done, magic, fantasy, and real adventure found their niches with series starting to be aimed at the younger set earlier and slightly more mature offerings as the hour grew later. All told, the dozen shows represented in Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s , out tomorrow from Warner Home Video, are snapshot into the decade.

For that younger set, there is Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch, which...