Search Weight Loss Topics:

Home » How to lose weight safely » True Hollywood story: The producer and the Black Panther

More than three decades ago, as I was winding up a major investigation of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and its leader Huey Newton, I received a call from Abbie Hoffman, the antic anti-Vietnam War activist, then a fugitive from criminal charges for selling cocaine to a nark. Abbie and I had been friends and fellow street-fighting buddies on the Lower East Side in numerous demonstrations of the antiwar Yippies. His purpose, he said, was to talk me out of publishing that 1978 investigation in New Times. It would hurt the left and the struggle for black justice, he warned.

My story exposed Newtons bizarre leadership (for a time he carried a swagger stick la Idi Amin). Far worse was the extortion racket he presided over that shook down pimps, drug dealers, after-hours clubs and even a theater owner. Non-compliance left one club owner dead and undiscovered for days in the trunk of his car, which was parked at the San Francisco airport. The theater owner, Ed Bercovich, declined the tithe and refused to give jobs to Panther thugs. The theater burned down it was arson. Murders of rivals were also carried out on orders from above for perceived disloyalty to the Panthers; vicious beatings of lower-rank Panther males were regular punishments, along with turning out Panther women as prostitutes in the Panther-owned bar and restaurant the Lamp Post. The Panthers always needed cash for themselves and their programs. Paranoia was rampant, with internal schisms fanned by the FBI and local red squads of the police but also anchored in the egos and fear of rivals.

Newton had a way of being tough on the streets, the mean streets of Oakland he grew up in, but he managed to conceal it from his respectable friends, black and white. He cultivated liberal politicians such as U.S. Rep. Ron Dellums and state Rep. Tom Bates; a host of celebrities, including Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and Dennis Hopper; and opinion leaders such as Yale president Kingman Brewster, author Jessica Mitford and conductor Leonard Bernstein, all of whom became supporters of the Panthers.

At first, I was puzzled as to why Abbie would call me from the underground after a long silence he was a fugitive, after all. Suddenly, in a flash, I knew: Did Bert put you up to this? I asked.

Yeah, he admitted sheepishly. Bert Schneider, I already knew, had underwritten Abbies fugitive existence, just as he had for Huey Newton. I turned Abbie and Bert down: The Panther investigation would run.

- - - - - - - -

Bert Schneider was lionized after his death last December at 78 as the innovative producer and Oscar winner for the anti-Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds as well some of his generations best and most iconic movies: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show.

His films broke from old movie studio hierarchies and formulaic story arcs, and they were much cheaper to make. Schneiders low-budget, edgy films gave artistic directors (such as Bob Rafelson, Peter Bogdanovich and Terrence Malick) their creative freedom. In turn, the directors and his actors welcomed his friendship Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper remained friends for life. Under Schneider, filmmakers dominated financiers, Hearts and Minds director Peter Davis wote in the Huffington Post after his friends death.

Schneider moved into filmmaking after the success of the television series The Monkees, directed by Rafelson, with whom Schneider founded his production company (along with Steve Blauner). The movies tapped into the pulse of a seismic shift in American culture. They were critical and commercial successes, bringing to the screen rebel characters, stories and lifestyles that exhibited the youthful zeitgeist of the 1960s and early 70s shocking audiences with their relaxed nudity and drug-taking.

At the 1975 Academy Awards, accepting the Oscar for Hearts and Minds, a film critical of the governments war in Vietnam, Schneider angered old guard Hollywood by reading a telegram from Ambassador Dinh Ba Thi of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (the Viet Cong) thanking the American antiwar movement for all they have done on behalf of peace. Frank Sinatra countered by reading a Schneider-scolding letter from Bob Hope.

Go here to read the rest:
True Hollywood story: The producer and the Black Panther

Your Full Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number
Select your age (30+ only)	30313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120
Select Your US State	Select Your StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington,DCWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Program Choice	Select Your ProgramInjectable HGHInjectable TestoteroneInjectable SermorelinInjectable Weight LossInjectable HCG DietInjectable Vitamins
Confirm over 30 years old	Yes
Confirm that you resident in USA	Yes
This is a Serious Inquiry	Yes
Message:

Home » How to lose weight safely » True Hollywood story: The producer and the Black Panther