If You Give a Dance You Gotta Pay the Band is a 1972 American TV movie. It was the first program shown under the umbrella ABC Theater.[1][2]
| If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Stanley L. Gray |
| Directed by | Fred Coe |
| Starring | Donna M. Bryan James Broderick Georgia Burke |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | David Susskind |
| Cinematography | Mike Liberman Jake Ostroff |
| Editor | Arline Garson |
| Running time | 73 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | December 19, 1972 |
The production (at the time referred to as a "dramatic special" or "teleplay" rather than a made-for-TV movie) was the first screen credit for Laurence Fishburne and led to him getting a role later on in the soap opera One Life to Live.[3][4][5]
The teleplay first aired on ABC at 8:30pm ET on Tuesday, December 19, 1972[3] and was rerun on Wednesday, June 6, 1973 at 9:00pm ET.[5] In TV listings of the era, the title was generally given as If You Give a Dance You Gotta Pay the Band without a comma.
Plot
editThe story of ghetto boy and girl trying to raise money for the girl to visit her father in prison. It was shot on videotape in November 1972.[6]
References
edit- ^ TV VIEW; THE NETWORKS HAVEN'T QUITE FORSAKEN QUALITY DRAMA: [REVIEW] O'Connor, John J. New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]03 Feb 1985: A.25.
- ^ TV: Flirtations With Reality . . . in Various Aspects: ' Stereotypes' Draw a Protest by Viewers A Slice-of-Life Drama Rings True in Details By JOHN J. O'CONNOR. New York Times ]27 Dec 1972: 79.
- ^ a b "Tuesday [television listings]". The Bryan Times. Bryan, Ohio. 1972-12-19. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
90-minute dramatic special
- ^ Monica Haynes (2008-08-19). "DeGeneres, de Rossi wed; Barr goes ballistic; the story of Stanley Gray". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
Quick, what was Laurence Fishburne's first movie gig? If you said it was a 1972 television film called "If Give a Dance You Gotta Pay the Band," you're right.
- ^ a b "Larry Fishburne, 11, Expands To ABC Teleplay". Jet. Vol. XLIV, no. 11. 1973-06-07. p. 66.
- ^ SET FIRST PLAY FOR NEW 'ABC THEATRE' Variety; Los Angeles Vol. 268, Iss. 11, (Oct 25, 1972): 33.