I know little about this show. It aired in 1972 and featured an early performance from Howard Rollins. If anyone knows more please let us know.

From the October 1972 Daytime TV (Sterling House Inc).

improve their lives by making full use of the educational, social, political and employment resources that already exist.

The black cast is headed by Barbara Mealy, who portrays the mother, Mae Robinson. Miss Mealy has appeared with the Howard University Players in Washington and the Arena Players in Baltimore. Jet, the oldest of Mrs. Robinson's children, is played by Curt Stewart, whom many will remember from the films, Putney Swope, Cotton Comes to Harlem and The Landlord.

Slick, the middle son, is portrayed by Howard Rollins, Townson State College dramatics major and member of the Rockville, Maryland, Community Players. Tony, the youngest son, is played by newcomer to the dramatic arts, Tyrone Jones. He's 13 years old and has shown remarkable talent and development as an actor.

Sandra Sharp plays Kathy, the daughter. Sandra was in the film, The Learning Tree and has done commercials. Arthur French plays J.T., Mae's half-brother. Arthur has had small parts on As the World Turns, the Bill Cosby Show and was a member of the Negro Ensemble Theatre in New York. He was also in the films, Dirty Mouth and Out of It, and is currently in the Broadway play, Ain't Suppose to Die a Natural Death.

The grandmother is portrayed by Alfredine Parham, formerly a member of the Ethel Waters Touring Company and of Cleveland's Karamu Theatre.

Where is Our Street? The story tells us that it is any urban street where a black family lives, with all the hopes and despairs of any family and the additional ones imposed by its blackness, amid the echos of slow dying prejudice.

Stations carrying Our Street

WGBH Boston, Mass.

WNET New York, N.Y.

WHYY Philadelphia, Pa

WMPB Baltimore, Md.

WETA Washington, D.C.

WLVT Bethlehem, Pa.

WITF Hershey, Pa.

WNED Buffalo, N.Y.

WCNY Liverpool, N.Y.

WMHT Schenectady, N.Y.

WTTW Chicago, Ill.

WQED Pittsburgh, Pa.

WTVS Detroit, Mich.

WTCL Chattanooga, Tenn.

KQED San Francisco, Calif.

KTPS Tacoma, Wash

WYNE Omaha, Neb.

WHRO Norfolk, Va.

WOSU Columbus, Ohio

WTVP Peoria, Ill.

WNVS Milwaukee, Wisc.

Never heard of this, but oh my God, I totally would have watched it. Produced in my neck of the woods, a fine cast of black theatre actors, airing on PBS like Degrassi did in the '80s/'90s, wow... This actually sounds like something WHUT (Howard University's channel in D.C.) would have rerun in the '80s, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see if they have it in their archives. When Googling, it only appears to pop up in obits of Howard Rollins.

It's the type of thing I wish PBS could have done more of - a continuing drama about the struggles of daily life. The cast sounds great. I guess it probably only had a limited run in mind from the start, but I'd love to know the stories, or if the writers or producers had any other ideas.

The early/mid 70s was probably when PBS was last allowed to be quite so creative.

This seems to be the only TV credit for Parham?

Some links:

http://www.film.com/tv/our-street/21330952

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112982/

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1250779.html

Thanks. I didn't know her other name. So 71-73. That's a longer run than I thought.

56 is way too young.

It certainly is, I lost my mom in her early 50s. I'm not familiar with the actress, I Googled and the IMDb page popped up with her other name.

I agree, I was fully prepared to hear that the show ran for like 13 episodes. Would love to see it. I wonder if it was daily, weekly...?

I'm sorry about your mother. I hope my comment didn't sound too flip.

I don't know if you're a fan of Olivia Cole, but one of the magazines from around this time also had some photos and an interview of her. I'm going to post it in the GL thread. I never even knew she was on a soap.

Thank you, and no offense taken at all my friend.

Wait, she played the crabby nosy old neighbor in The Women of Brewster Place, right? Wow, I Googled her a couple of years back, I was really taken by her when I saw her on Oprah looking sleek and beautiful out of the old age makeup and I wondered what happened to her (kind of like Margaret Avery). I figured she must have been a theatre actress, like a young Gloria Foster, because I don't recall her having a lot of TV/film credits. Please post, I'd be interested in reading.

@jam6242 The reopened thread.

Thanks!  I've found some synopses and I've been typing up those. 

Here's the link to the very short clip from Maryland Public Television, with Barbara Healy (Mae) and Alfredine Parham Brown (Grandma) for those who didn't see it. 

https://av.lib.umd.edu/media_objects/1544bp847

2 minutes ago, jam6242 said:

Thanks!  I've found some synopses and I've been typing up those. 

Here's the link to the very short clip from Maryland Public Television, with Barbara Healy (Mae) and Alfredine Parham Brown (Grandma) for those who didn't see it. 

https://av.lib.umd.edu/media_objects/1544bp847

Thanks!

@Vee @SFK 

The newspapers made a hash of spelling the actors and characters names so keep that in mind when reading, lol.  It seems Howard Rollins was originally slated to play the oldest son, Jet, but later he played the middle son, Slick, which seemed like a juicier role based on the synopses I've seen.  The Robinsons also had a 12-year old son named Tony.

The Encyclopedia of Television Programs lists the following actors and roles:

Mae Robinson, the mother (Barbara Healy)

Bull Robinson, her husband (Gene Cole; Clayton Corbin)

Jet Robinson, eldest son (Curt Stewart)

Slick Robinson, the middle son (Darryl F. Hill; Howard Rollins)

Tony Robinson, the youngest son (Tyrone Jones)

Kathy Robinson, their daughter (Sandra Sharp)

J. T. Robinson, Mae's half brother (Arthur French) --- has the same last name as her husband so don't know the story behind that

Grandma Robinson (Alfredine Parham)

Cynthia, a friend (Janet League)

Emily, a friend (Frances Foster)

Mrs. Ryder, grandma's friend (Birdie Hale)

Pearlina, Slick's girlfriend (Pat Picketts)

 

Director Whitney J. Leblanc went on to work on several shows, including "Good Times," "227," "Benson" and GENERATIONS and Y&R.

And I'm wondering if that was the same Frances Foster who played Alexandra's maid, Vera, on GL, as well as the infamous "Gertie Vinson" on "Good Times."

Edited June 28, 20241 yr by Khan

One of the writers, T. Diane Anderson.

Adrienne Britt died in 1974.

11 minutes ago, Khan said:

Director Whitney J. Leblanc went on to work on several shows, including "Good Times," "227," "Benson" and GENERATIONS and Y&R.

And I'm wondering if that was the same Frances Foster who played Alexandra's maid, Vera, on GL, as well as the infamous "Gertie Vinson" on "Good Times."

I don't know about playing Vera, but she WAS on GL, though it was pre-Alexandra.  This is from 1973.

Ted Shine was another writer.