Showtime for Providence

The big buzz at Casa Diablo after the nationwide premiere of the NBC television show Providence last week was, "What were those really white-looking parents doing with all those ethnic-looking kids?" The explanation is that the mother was of Italian heritage, even though she looked like the person you get when you want Lauren Bacall but are working on a TV-series budget. But, hey, despite looking seriously Anglo herself, Bacall is Jewish, so what do we know?

The answer to that question, of course, is, "Only what John Martin tells us in the Other Paper." Indeed, we've always had a lot of faith in Martin's TV and radio reporting, mostly because management people at virtually every local radio and television outlet constantly complain that he is wrong and has it in for their particular station. This leads us to believe that 1) media people are the biggest crybabies of all and 2) John is definitely doing something right.

Your superior correspondents chatted with the BeloJo's TV writer, along with JAR-heads Jim Taricani and Gene Valicenti, at the big Providence premier party at the Biltmore last Friday. (By the way, kudos to Carol Conley, Nora Gumpel, Paul Campbell and the other folks at the Providence Film Commission for staging this hometown event.) And, after watching the first episode of the series, we think that Martin pretty much hit the nail on the head in his review -- the show is not as schmaltzy as most critics would have you believe, but it is definitely a "women's show."

Along with other hardcore Vo Dilunduhs, P&J did find plenty of flawed attempts at local color to kvetch about, though. There was a definite gasp in the room, for instance, when the Kyle character mispronounced Pawtucket with the accent on PAW. While this makes some sort of aesthetic sense, considering the wealth of cloven-hoofed inhabitants in the town that Brian Sarault couldn't stop, it's still a linguistic no-no.

And, of course, your superior correspondents were also deeply disappointed when the two-guys-in-the-shower scene was abruptly terminated to return to the action back home. We were hoping that they'd stay with these obviously superior actors for a while rather than feature the world's fastest at-home birth in Providence. We wonder whether the rest of the country now believes that all wealthy East Siders have babies at home -- babies that emerge from the womb fully six months old.

Such tiny inconsistencies, however, were overwhelmed by more profound local touches. While early scenes of the Providence skyline and the East Side were heartily applauded by the Biltmore crowd, there was also a huge response when Providence actor Richard Donelly, playing a local cabdriver, told the lead character what a great job the mayor had done fixing up downtown. Was the Bud-I consulting on the script, or what?

Of course, the mayor was in his glory, emceeing the event and then, after the screening, waltzing around the room Vegas-style, microphone in hand, and eliciting testimonials to the show from the audience. Hizzoner also thoughtfully presented a video clip from a future show featuring (surprise!) the Bud-I himself in a scene in which the Mayor's Own Marinara sauce wins a cooking contest. This was, inadvertently, the most true-to-life Providence moment of the evening -- a rigged cooking contest.

Union busters

Anyone who doesn't believe that Women & Infants' plan all along has been to break the union must live in the fantasy world of Providence, the TV show. Indeed, the lockout tactics, the exorbitant prices for the scab workers being transported in, and the statements made by the hospital throughout this drama all have been calculated to irritate the union, in hopes of spurring the picketers on to more unfortunate melees like the one that took place on December 29. Seems like now that the locked-out workers will get unemployment compensation, the hospital administration's only option is to try and paint the union as the bad guys.

There's also the issue of an advertisement that the union tried to place in the BeloJo. It never ran because the paper demanded unacceptable changes to it. Gee, wonder if they ever demand alterations to those Red Alert ads paid for by that old union-buster himself, John Hazen White.

Turning a blind eye

Hats off once again to Governor Bigfoot for his wonderful sensitivity to race relations. Phillipe and Jorge are referring to the kind treatment a reporter and intern from the BeloJo received at the Missing Linc's inauguration last week at the Providence Convention Center.

According to an appalling and dismaying account in the BeloJo by Karen Davis, a reporter who was off-duty at the time, she and intern Alisha Pina were accosted by Rhode Island National Guard members working as security at the event. The pair were then accused of being protesters and were shadowed by the paranoiacs on the security force throughout the inaugural ceremonies. Needless to say, not one of the many white males in suits in attendance were afforded such concerned treatment.

At a seminar on cultural diversity the following weekend, Reginald Centracchio, adjutant general of the state National Guard, described Davis's reaction as a "perceived insult." But in speaking with Davis after the incident, she said the problem was essentially the same: the eyes of minorities very often see insults (without the softening and guilt-avoiding modifier "perceived" attached) to which white folks are blind. And when there are no African-American or Latino eyes to review that kind of behavior, the problems will continue.

At the BeloJo, editor Tom Heslin was the hero for getting Davis's story into print, while Karen claims that she also received support from many other reporters and editors at Fountain Street who read her column. Governor Almond, on the other hand, failed to offer even a modest apology to Davis, although many other community leaders contacted her, from state Senator Charles Walton and the NAACP's Cliff Monteiro to Steve "Bad Hair" Brown of the ACLU. Instead, Bigfoot's office told her to take it up with the National Guard, a no-win pissing match if there ever was one.

Perhaps Bigfoot should be reminded at whose party Davis received such shabby and insulting treatment. Hey, maybe he should even do something to prevent this type of incident from happening again and deign to say that he's sorry. Mr. Sensitivity strikes again.

The low moral ground

Speaking of race relations, kudos and congrats to New York Times columnist Bob Herbert for his January 10 piece, "The Real Disgrace." Herbert picked up on the front-page, dog-and-pony act of US Senator Strom Thurmond, the 96-year-old segregationist of Tang-colored hair, swearing in former drug addict Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the erstwhile fashion designer. (Yes, Sandy O'Connors's ex-boyfriend came up with those cute little gold chevrons on his robe all by himself.) Most news photos revealed Rehnquist, once in the thrall of pain pills, looming over Thurmond and looking like he was about to smack him upside the head.

While P&J are no great fans of President Billary or his Oval Office behavior, we don't think he deserves the likes of these two. As Herbert reminds us, Thurmond was a virulent racist in his time who filibustered against the Civil rights Act of 1964, while Rehnquist, as a law clerk during the time of Brown vs. the Board of Education, wrote memos supporting segregation and once owned houses with deeds prohibiting their sale to a "Hebrew" or anyone "not of the white or Caucasian race." If these are indeed the guardians of truth, justice and the American way, then your superior correspondents say, "B.J.s all around!"

Thanks for reminding us

A tip of the beret and sombrero to Sports Illustrated media columnist Steve Rushin for remembering a great moment in Providence lore in his column last week. In his piece on obscenities on the air, Rushin recalled the magic moment 18 years ago when P&J's good friend, Charles Rocket, let slip the "f-word" at the end of Saturday Night Live, which resulted in his dismissal toot sweet.

Longtime ProHo denizens will recall Rocket in a previous incarnation as Charlie Claverie, a member of the local band the Fabulous Motels (a precursor of the Young Adults); a bartender at the late, lamented Leo's; and a Channel 12 anchorman (despite the fact that he claimed to have read only one book in his life, which is about par for the course for today's TV anchors). Charlie then took his new name and act on the road to New York and Hollywood, where he continues to pop up on TV and in movies.

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