Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 176, Ed. 1 Monday, January 25, 2016 Page: 7 of 18
eighteen pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
LOCAL
7A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Monday, January 25, 2016
From Page 1A
AWARD PRESENTATION
Hall
What: Irma P. Hall Lifetime Achievement Award and Reception, on the
opening night of the Denton Black Film Festival
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Presentation will be at the Campus Theatre, 214 W. Hickory St.
Reception will follow at UNT on the Square, 109 N. Elm St.
How much: $20 for adults, $16 for seniors 65 and older and students with
valid ID, and $12 for ages 2-12. Event ticket sales end Friday. For tickets,
visit www.dentonbff.com.
\
■3'4
t \
*■ i
Hall’s professional life began
in the classroom, before Brown
vs. Board of Education struck
down laws that required black
and white students be educated
in separate schools.
Hall recalls the poor state of
segregated schools, and how
teachers often bought textbooks
for students in their classes who
didn’t have them. After the Su-
r -
l
V
t
t.
DENTON BLACK FILM FESTIVAL
What: a three-day festival of film and spoken word
When: Friday through Sunday
Where: Screenings and most events are at the Campus Theatre, 214 W.
Hickory St. Spoken-word performances will be at the PointBank Black Box
Theatre, 318 E. Hickory St.
How much: VIP all-access passes cost $155 for adults ($140 in advance),
$125 for students with ID and seniors 65 and older ($112 in advance).
Single-day passes cost $26-$54. Tickets for individual film blocks and
performances cost $10 for adults ($9 in advance), $8 for students with ID
and seniors ($7.25 in advance), $7 for children ($6.25 in advance).
On the Web: For schedules, tickets and more information, visit www.den-
tonbff.com.
-
V
3
preme Court integrated the
schools, she taught in Dallas for
more than 20 years.
“I taught foreign languages
— French and Spanish,” Hall
said. “One year I taught Latin,
and in summer school I taught
French, Spanish and Latin.”
Hall said teaching felt like a
calling.
w
3*
H
&
.
Film Critics Association Award
for her role as Aunt T in A Fami-
ly Thing with James Earl Jones
and Robert Duvall in 1996.
Hall said she still doesn’t
know much about acting tech-
‘I liked the interaction with
“I’ve known all of
these women, and
all of them are
special to me.M
— Irma P. Hall, on the
characters she’s played
Dallas Morning News file photo
Irma P. Hall played Lady Red in Theatre Three’s production of “For Colored Girls Who Have
Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” in Dallas in 1980.
the kids,” she said. “I’m one of
those people whom other people
laugh at and look at strangely
because I like teenagers. Teen-
age years can be so difficult.
That’s what I wanted to do —
help them get through those
rough patches.”
Hall concedes that perfor-
mance was in her blood — even
though she was much more of a
bookworm than a ham. She was
bom in Beaumont in 1935, the
only child of Samuel and Joseph-
ine Player. Her father, a jazz mu-
sician who played saxophone,
moved the family to Chicago.
“He played on the road a lot
with what they called the territo-
rial band,” Hall said. “He got a
job playing with Milton Larkin’s
band, and Joe Louis, the boxing
champion, and Charlie Glenn
bought a club in Chicago called
the Rhumboogie Club, and they
hired him.”
Hall said her parents thought
the job would last a good, long
while, but after three years, the
band leader was drafted into
military service. After that, Hall
said, her father decided to get
back into his second profession
as a mechanic. He worked for
General Motors Co. He learned
the trade in his father’s black-
smith shop, where he forged
metals and fixed things.
“I had a wonderful child-
hood,” Hall said. “My parents
poured everything they had into
me. My father was always quot-
ing Shakespeare, and when I got
in trouble, I wasn’t allowed to
talk back. But my father encour-
aged me to write down the
things I wanted to say instead of
talking back. I credit my father
for helping me to love writing.
And reading.”
Hall said her mother took
her to meet Pulitzer Prize-win-
ning poet Gwendolyn Brooks
and poet-playwright Langston
Hughes when Hall was just 8
years old.
mque.
“To me, acting is about telling
the truth. I always want to tell
the truth when I’m acting,” Hall
said. “My agent says I turn into a
different person when I act. My
daughter says I’m a case of ar-
rested development. Well, I
guess they’re both right. When
children play, they really become
the people they are playing.
When I was a kid, that stick you
were playing with was your
horse. I do what I call going
‘through the looking glass,’
where the reality of the story and
the character and their lives mo-
*!■
students to see that they could
do something positive.”
She also stepped onto the
stage. Hall then launched the
Dallas Minority Repertory The-
atre with Reggie Montgomery at
age 37.
%
*
4
V
Jfl
/
j;
j**
“I knew nothing about the-
ater,” Hall said. “Reginald would
patiently teach me the exits and
entrances, parts of the stage. All
you need to do,’ he said, ‘to devel-
op your acting is to do it.’ I
learned about making sets, cos-
tumes, programs. I cleaned the
floors and served refreshments.
i
_ ■
Irma P. Hall
played Mrs.
Munson in
the Coen
brothers’
2004 remake
of “The Lady-
killers,” with
Tom Hanks,
left, and Mar-
lon Wayans.
A
PT m
t: 'l
mentarily
character.”
Hall said she plays a lot of
older women because she wants
to honor the women she has
known.
they become the
*
In community theater, you learn
it all. If you can’t go to school to
learn howto do theater, commu-
nity theater is where you learn it.
It was invaluable, and I loved it.”
Hall kept winning roles for
television and film until she be-
came a “daily” player — a sup-
porting actor who arrives on set,
shoots their portions of the pro-
ject in a day or two, and then
heads on to the next job. She de-
cided to take a break from film
and television when she re-
turned to care for her parents —
something her agent begged her
to reconsider.
“They told me, ‘You’ll never
work again,”’ Hall said. ‘And I
told them, Well, I guess I’ll nev-
er work again.’ I was determined
to care for my parents.”
Back in Chicago, she got of-
fers to work at the Steppenwolf
and Goodwin theaters, both of
them iconic regional stages. And
after she buried her parents,
Hall went back into film and
television. She earned critical
raves for both screen and stage.
Hall said she is probably most
proud of her win in the Chicago
“Back when I started this, I
told my agent, ‘I want to play
older women,”’ Hall said. “I
know all of these women. Even
the woman who is a voodoo
priestess. I know what it’s like to
have faith be important to you.
I’ve known all of these women,
and all of them are special to
Touchstone
her family’s apartment building
in Chicago, and when the actress
returned to Texas, she read the
Dallas Examiner, where she
found she had a copy editor’s
eye. She turned up in the news-
room with an offer to help out.
She was already teaching in Dal-
las at the time. The offer to help
led her to a job at the paper, and
eventually to meeting the man
who would change her life.
Raymond St. Jacques, the
first black actor ever cast in an
American television Western
(Simon Blake in Rawhide) went
to Dallas in search of players for
his 1973 film, Book of Numbers.
Hall interviewed him for the Ex-
aminer beforehand and when
St. Jacques saw the piece, he of-
fered her a job as his film pro-
moter.
She sang in church, and Hall
studied until she was 21. During
her college years — first in Iowa
and then at the historically black
university Texas College, in Tyler
— she stoked a dream of fashion
even
what a press promoter was,” Hall
said. “Raymond told me I’d meet
the people who will be in it, and I
said, ‘OK, that sounds like a lot
of fun.’ It was in the summer, so I
had plenty of time to do it.... We
were all so excited to meet some-
one who was a black film direc-
me.
And now, at 80, Hall said she
is working on more religious
projects. She appears as a
beloved grandmother in the
short film Red, screening at
4:20 p.m. Saturday at the Cam-
pus Theatre, during the film fes-
tival. Last year, Hall appeared in
two feature films at the festival.
“I finally figured out 15 years
ago that, you know, I don’t have
to memorize the entire script,”
she said. “I realized, finally, that I
just needed to memorize my
scenes. And that that would be
OK.”
merchandising,
studying voice and piano.
“I wanted to be a buyer for
Marshall Field’s,” Hall said.
“That was my big dream.”
But Texas College was a
teachers college, and Hall had a
knack for it.
When you’re at a teachers
college, you have to do student
teaching, of course. I fell in love
with teaching,” she said.
Hall said she has never had
too much interest in leisure.
Since her childhood, she de-
voured newspapers — especially
black newspapers. She sold cop-
ies of the Chicago Defender in
while
tor.’
St. Jacques decided to hold
auditions at an event for a writ-
ers organization that Hall was a
member of, and when Hall read
a poem, St. Jacques urged her to
read for her first-ever film role:
Georgia Brown. She got the part
at age 36.
Hall has been acting ever
since, though she continued
teaching.
‘Acting was a sideline for me
for a long time,” she said. “I
wanted to keep teaching. I
thought it was important for my
LUCINDA BREEDING can
be reached at 940-566-6877and
via Twitter at @LBreedingDRC.
‘I said, ‘Sure.’ I didn't know
OBITUARIES
From Page 1A
From Page 1A
Eureka
Retreat
«j
Tommy Lee King
Tommy Lee King, 73, of Corinth, Texas
passed away on January 23, 2016 in Dallas,
Texas. Tom was born to Thomas and
Geraldine (Keck) King on September 30, 1942
in Nocona, Texas.
He was a graduate of Nocona High School
and earned a bachelor’s degree in
Mathematics from Texas Tech University. He married Sara
Walker on June 1, 1963 in Nocona, Texas.
Tom was a lifelong member of the Church of Christ,
serving as an elder, teacher, and ministry leader in a number
of congregations including Nocona, Denton and Argyle. Tom
began his professional career as a geophysicist and later
moved into computer programming where he spent the bulk
of his career. During his early years as a programmer, Tom
designed the first 401 (k) computer software system. In 1993,
he founded The Support Source Corporation, a software
company dedicated to the employee benefit niche of the
banking industry. In his spare time, Tom worked in many
volunteer capacities including coaching Little League
baseball, serving on the Nocona City Council, and mentoring
the youth of his community as a Bible school teacher and
youth minister. Tom enjoyed traveling with his wife and
family during his retirement years. His true passion was his
family, especially his grandchildren, and he could routinely be
found in a local gym watching them play basketball.
He is survived by his wife, Sara King, sons, Scott King,
and wife Lekky of Denton, John King and wife, Christy of
Argyle, five grandchildren, Wesley and wife Michelle, Kaylie,
Jake, Macy and Sara Kate.
He was preceded in death by his mother, father, and
step-father, Ray Farquhar.
The family will receive friends at DeBerry Funeral
Directors on Monday evening from 6-8 PM. Funeral services
will be held on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at the Argyle
Church of Christ in Argyle, Texas at 1:00 PM.
Interment will follow at Roselawn Memorial Park in
Denton. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that
donations be made to World Bible School or The Children’s
Home of Lubbock in Tom’s honor.
S/h/Z (fiekoe/vv/ Z$ime**aZ
2025 W. University * 333-4200
www.Jcbcrryfuncraldircctors.com
playground in November.
“Now, stepping away from it,
I think of that community spirit
and that experience was perhaps
as much of a benefit as the play-
ground itself”’ Tampke said.
Last week, the project met its
funding goal thanks to an anon-
ymous donor who covered the
remaining costs. At that point,
the foundation had raised about
$480,000 of its $500,000 goal.
“This was a donor who I did
not know had any interest in Eu-
reka,” Tampke said. “It shows
great generosity, as does all of
this. We had people who gave
anywhere from $20, to DATCU,
who gave $100,000. The variety
of people and organizations that
supported this just makes you
feel good about this community.”
For more information and
updates, visit www.eureka2
denton.com.
RHIANNON SAEGERT can
be reached at 940-566-6897
and via Twitter at @miss
musetta.
retreat.
In 2014, they had seques-
tered themselves twice. In Janu-
ary 2014, as then-Mayor Mark
Burroughs and Mayor Pro Tern
Pete Karnp approached their
term limits, city leaders met for a
day and a half at a resort on Ray
Roberts Lake. Then, in Septem-
ber 2014, they met again after
three new members joined the
council.
The council saw more turn-
over in May 2015 with the elec-
tion of Keely Briggs and Kath-
leen Wazny. Currently, four
members on the council, includ-
ing Mayor Chris Watts, are in
their first term.
IF YOU GO
What: Denton City Council retreat
When: Thursday and Friday, beginning at 8 a.m.
Where: Dallas/Fort Worth Marriott Solana, 5 Village Circle, Westlake
On the agenda: “Discuss and give direction concerning the long, mid, and
short term accomplishments, goals, objectives, plans, vision, mission,
values, and strategic plan of the City of Denton as it relates to city
services and infrastructure, streets, parks, finances, budget, planning,
zoning and development, environmental issues, technology, public utilities,
taxes, engineering, economic development, codes enforcement,
transportation, purchasing, management, intergovernmental relations,
boards, commissions and committees, meetings, and, without limitation,
any and all operations of the City of Denton city government.”
and objectives for the corning
months. Sometimes they break
up into small groups to brain-
storm issues or concerns and re-
port back to the larger group.
The council’s retreat is open
to the public, although the for-
mat does not provide for public
participation.
ter downtown development.
They called for measurable ini-
tiatives for the city’s economic
development. They also told the
staff they wanted more candor
and data to inform their deci-
sions and policy.
Planning retreats don’t have
a prescribed agenda for the
council, the way regular meet-
ings and work sessions do. A
person with specialized training
typically helps city leaders focus
their discussion on shared goals
The decisions they make in
their planning retreat do not
usurp other plans that govern
the city, such as the mobility
plan (for roads, bike lanes and
sidewalks), the sustainability
plan (for water, energy and other
finite resources), the land use
plan (for zoning), the compre-
hensive plan (for growth and de-
velopment), the historic preser-
vation and small area plans, the
downtown
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE
can be reached at 940-566-
6881 and via Twitter at
@phwolfeDRC.
^im&L oJ, Sowumaj-
implementation
plan, or the city’s actual strategic
plan.
That 34-page plan lists goals
and objectives for the city staff in
the coming year and ostensibly
guides priorities in the city bud-
We can help ease your burden by making the necessary
arrangements to honor your loved ones’ memories.
j
get.
I
After the second retreat in
2014, council members had
agreed to focus their time and
energy on encouraging the tech-
nology sector to grow in the city,
seeking a healthier mix of hous-
ing stock, and continuing to fos-
*
■ ]
Mulkey-Mason
FUNERAL HOME
JaxJc Schmctz, &t Sotv
705 N. Locust • Denton • 382-6622
www.dentonrc.com
M
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 176, Ed. 1 Monday, January 25, 2016, newspaper, January 25, 2016; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1127329/m1/7/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .