Inside PBS Blog
Insights into PBS programming and personalities
Asking Producer Charles Hobson...
Emmy award winning producer Charles Hobson has been delivering documentaries about African American cultural, history, arts, and politics for more than 40 years. He's worked with the BBC, ABC, NBC, Court TV and PBS stations WETA and THIRTEEN/WNET New York. This month, the team at THIRTEEN is digging through the PBS archives and showcasing programs by black producers in celebration of Black History Month. Its Broadcasting While Black website is updated regularly with interviews, news stories and video of classic programs, including Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant, produced by Charles Hobson, and Soul!, a "sensational all-black variety show" that aired between 1971-1973 and is now available online (also check out an interview with Mr. Hobson about Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant on WNET's site).
We asked the prolific Mr. Hobson to answer a few questions for us while he completes his latest documentary, Harlem in Montmartre, a 90-minute performance film about jazz in Paris in between World Wars I and II. The film is scheduled to air nationwide on Great Performances this summer.
As a young boy, what did you want to be when you grew up?
My first serious goal was to be a comedian, but I was so shy it was almost a joke.
What is the best joke you've ever heard?
Why do ducks have webbed feet? To stamp out fires.
Why do elephants have flat feet? To stamp out burning ducks.
You've been a role model for many in the PBS community; who are your role models?
Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, and Jackie Robinson are a few of my role models. Less well known, but also important, were two pioneering African American filmmakers, Spencer Williams and Oscar Micheaux. Williams was the first black to work regularly in Hollywood. He produced crude but culturally authentic films on religion and black nightlife, including Go Down Death and Dirty Girty from Harlem U.S.A. Micheaux produced numerous feature films with racial and jazz themes in the 1930's and 1940's.
If you could trade places for a week with any other person -- famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional -- who would it be?
I would want to trade places with Duke Ellington to be able to work with those great musicians in his band.
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
I would want to be able to become invisible at will.
What is your greatest wish?
No more wars and lots of lobster.
What are you thinking right now?
I have been looking at the Worldfocus and The NewsHour websites and still feel amazed when I see the image, or hear the words, "President of the United States Barack Obama."
What is your theme song?
Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry." There is some historical truth here because I am Jamaican. I have a familiarity with the images conveyed in the lyrics.
What do you think is the secret to success?
Hard work, confidence, timing, and luck, I believe, are the secrets to success.
What is your motto?
Follow through.
What is the word or phrase you most overuse?
It's complicated.
Who are your favorite writers?
Langston Hughes, Eric Ambler, John Le Carre, Toni Morrison, PD James.
Who are your heroes?
Paul Robeson -- he was an exceptional athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author, and political activist.
What is your favorite YouTube video?
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie's bebop performance.
What is your favorite Web site?
Google
Do you have any other questions you'd like to ask Charles Hobson? If so, post them using the comments feature below.
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Great Interview!
Thanks for the interview and links. I enjoyed watching the clips from Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and will be forwarding this to my family and friends.
That was very informative
That was very informative and enjoyable.
self-promotion
Blogs are intended to be self-serving, self-oriented reflection of self-oriented people. For years I didn't care for it, didn't read it and didn't want any part of it. As time went by, I realized I couldn't survive in this society if I didn't focus on myself more, it's a self-oriented society. So now, I too am blogging about whatever comes to my mind. I became self-centered and self-oriented and I'm using this blog as a way of shameless self- promotion just like everyone online is doing... I'll try to keep my posts short and to the point and true to my own self-serving new habits, I don't care if anyone reads it.