Mable John appears in 'Honeydripper'
UniSun Editor Karlayne Parker reports:
At 77, Mable John, former lead of the Raelettes with Ray Charles, a gospel singer and now a minister in Los Angeles is adding another dimension to her long career in show business – acting.
Though not a major star of John Sayles' Honeydripper, which opened today at the Charles Theatre in Baltimore and earlier this month at the Crown Harbor 9 in Annapolis, John portrays blues singer Bertha Mae Spivey, whose role is symbolic of the changes needed at the Honeydripper club, where the owners realize they must change the nightly act to compete with a neighboring dance and rock n’ roll club that is hopping with young people.
Spivey, the main attraction for many years at Honeydripper in the town of Harmony, Ala., has lost her audience.
Fans of gospel will enjoy the dynamics at work in Honeydripper as well. The saving graces of the church (there are several tent revival scenes) are juxtaposed against the "wicked" nature of man and his music. In the end, there are characters that must make choices about "the road they will take."
For John, it would seem the theme of this movie fits right into her beliefs and her calling. After a long career in blues (she had a 1966 single’s hit "Your Good Thing Is About to End"), she turned to gospel singing during the 1970s. In the past two years, she’s co-authored two Christian novels, Sanctified Blues (Harlem Moon, 2006) and Stay Out of the Kitchen (Harlem Moon, 2007), which she co-wrote with David Ritz. The pair has a third novel, Love Tornado, which will be out in June. The books are a series based on the life of a former blues singer-turned-minister.
John is the founder of Joy in Jesus Inc. in Los Angeles, which serves the poor. Go here for more information.
Honeydripper also stars Danny Glover, Charles Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton and Stacy Keach.(Photo from "Honeydripper" courtesy of Emerging Pictures)
