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1. #JACKIE ROBINSON SONG BUDDY JOHNSON MOVIE#
2. #JACKIE ROBINSON SONG BUDDY JOHNSON DRIVER#
3. #JACKIE ROBINSON SONG BUDDY JOHNSON FULL#

She eventually saved enough to buy a house, but while growing up in an affluent community in Pasadena, California - in poverty compared to neighbors who didn’t want them there - Robinson and other friends of color often were excluded from community recreational activities. Robinson was born in 1919 to a single mother of five who worked various odd jobs to support them.

#JACKIE ROBINSON SONG BUDDY JOHNSON MOVIE#

“I never thought there would be a movie about my life,” the actor added in rendering a statement Robinson might have made had he been alive to see the premier of “42,” a title that referred to his uniform number. “Knowing that so many people believed in me, it helped a lot,” Calhoun said in character as Robinson, who died in 1972, more than 40 years before a certain film was released. The fact Jackie Robinson came into prominence during a turbulent time in history - punctuated by segregation - can’t be ignored.īut Saturday’s program also was heavy on the message that anyone of any color who faces adversity through racism or otherwise can learn from the lessons of perseverance, leadership and good role-models which factored into Robinson’s success.

“I cut my teeth on baseball, so I had to come,” said one person there, Katherine Rose-Plum of Mount Airy, a retiree who played the sport while growing up in New Jersey. The audience also was engaged in the production.

#JACKIE ROBINSON SONG BUDDY JOHNSON DRIVER#

Among them were his drill sergeant in the Army boxing legend Joe Louis Branch Rickey, the general manager of the then-Brooklyn Dodgers who orchestrated Robinson’s historical entry into the big leagues a bus driver and a New York sports announcer.Īll came to life in a series of rapid-fire skits requiring constant costume changes by Lomax - yet carried out as seamlessly as a Jackie Robinson stolen base or the infielder’s snagging of a line drive. Those included Robinson’s mother, his wife and that of the elderly fan, along with several male figures prominent in the athlete’s life. The Bright Leaf Touring Theatre’s Cedric Calhoun portrayed Robinson and also an elderly man who had seen Robinson play as a youth, while fellow performer Jayla Lomax almost stole the show by tackling a variety of others. It was arranged by the Friends of the Mount Airy Public Library and the Surry Arts Council in recognition of Black History Month.Īlthough Robinson covered much ground before, during and after his baseball career and interacted with many key figures along the way, stories and events surrounding all that were highlighted Saturday through the talents of only two actors in just under an hour. Robinson was the first African-American player to break into Major League Baseball during its modern era, and a production by the Bright Leaf Touring Theatre celebrating his accomplishment proved to be a hit with the library audience.

#JACKIE ROBINSON SONG BUDDY JOHNSON FULL#

This didn’t occur on a local field - instead the venue was inside the city’s public library on Rockford Street, where an entertaining and thought-provoking presentation highlighting the life and times of Jackie Robinson was in full swing Saturday. Major League Baseball’s regular season is more than a month away, but a sneak preview of diamond drama was provided to fans this past weekend in Mount Airy.

Jayla Lomax enthralls Saturday’s library audience with her character range in portraying both female and male figures in Robinson’s life, here as a New York sports announcer.Ĭedric Calhoun displays his best Jackie Robinson batting stance.