In an article celebrating Richard Pryor’s national TV debut in 1964, “Juliette Whittaker of Carver Center” is name-checked for urging Pryor to “move into any and every stage he could find.”
Peoria
A digital companion to the biography Becoming Richard Pryor
National TV Debut For Peoria Entertainer
Date: 08/31/1964
Citation:
"National Television Debut Set for Peoria Entertainer," Peoria Journal Star, Aug. 31, 1964.
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1. Who Was Juliette Whittaker?
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She Lends Many Talents to Corn Stock
–06/11/1957–A closer look at the Carver Center's resident playwright, director, stage manager, and set designer
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F.S. Whittaker, Lawyer, Father Of Peorian, Dies
–04/07/1965–The death of Juliette's father, a poet, artist, playwright, and lawyer, was honored by Peoria from afar.
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If You Shoot For The Moon…
–03/08/1981–An in-depth profile of the remarkable woman who first mentored Richard Pryor as an artist
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Whittaker’s Expressive Arts
–11/27/2002–“The artist part of me has always chosen a storytelling style,” explained Whittaker
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2. Children's Theater in the Era of Richard Pryor
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Blues in Cuba
–04/27/1950–Juliette Whittaker's first original work for the Carver Center -- a lively musical set in the Cuba of 1950
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‘Hopalong Hamlet’ Will Ride At Carver
–1950s–Shakespeare's classic re-imagined by Whittaker in an original Carver Center Youth Theater production
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The Carver Center’s 10th Anniversary
–1954–Celebrating ten successful years, the Carver Center released a report on its progress.
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Children’s Theater of Carver Center
–3/15/55–A review of “Rumpelstiltskin,” Richard's first stage appearance.
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Carver Center Steps Toward Expansion
–08/21/56–Pryor's time onstage at Carver was the era of its greatest expansion
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270 Sign Up For Carter Program
–09/20/1957–The 1957 Center curriculum ranged from baton-twirling and canasta to scenery building and choir
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Swinging Into Action
–11/08/1957–Presenting the Silicons - a doowop group featured in a Carver Center talent show that Pryor may have emceed
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The Enchanted Cage
–11/27/1962–Carver Center teens, including later Black Panther Mark Clark, rehearsed a scene from “The Enchanted Cage”
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National TV Debut For Peoria Entertainer
–08/31/1964–Juliette Whittaker encouraged Pryor to “move into every and any stage he could find.”
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3. Playwright, Artist, Activist
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Types of Work Vary — Reach to Professions
–4/11/1957–Juliette Whittaker was among the professionals spotlighted in “What Negroes do for a living in Peoria”
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Billy Smiles
–1961–A story of Juliette Whittaker's mentorship — and one of her paintings — grounded this Carver Center fundraising appeal
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The Friendship Tea
–06/13/1962–Juliette Whittaker was among the ladylike faces of this Peorian Civil Rights initiative
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Carver Variety Show Satire Provides ‘Touch’
–12/06/1963–From the imagination of Juliette Whittaker, a Dixiecrat senator's tour of Hell
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I, Too, Sing America
–02/1966–A glimpse of a musical number from Whittaker's Civil Rights inspired pageant, “I, Too, Sing America”
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Malcolm X Asks: “Who Will Help Mend America?”
–1969–Juliette Whittaker's Civil Rights fresco
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4. Steady in the Line of Fire
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Gunman Slain As Pupil Held Hostage In School
–05/02/1973–In a high-stakes hostage standoff, the gunmen refused negotiations with anyone but Juliette Whittaker
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Whittaker: Young Man of Great Potential
–05/02/1973–Juliette Whittaker remembered gunman (and Black Panther) Melvin Burch as “a very gentle man”
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Peoria Chief of Police Commends Whittaker
–05/17/1973–Juliette Whittaker was praised for her bravery by the Chief of Police as a hostage negotiator in the line of fire
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5. Remembering Juliette Whittaker
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Matt Clark Recalls Richard’s Early Love for Performance
–12/18/2005–A portrait of the young Richard, courtesy of his childhood friend Matt Clark
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Juliette Whittaker
–05/04/2007–After 80 years of living creatively, Whittaker peacefully passed away in 2007
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A Quiet Storm
–05/08/2007–At her funeral service in the Carver Community Center, Whittaker's gift for nurturing talent was fondly recalled
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Remembering Juliette
–2010–Juliette Whittaker was “my angel,” wrote Richard's childhood friend Matt Clark
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