By Deardra Shuler
The founder of the H.A.D.L.E.Y Players, Gertrude Jeannette,
who was born November 28, 1914, celebrated her 100th birthday at the
Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem on Sunday, November 30th where theater
people, friends, press and community folks came out to honor Gertrude and
remember her birthday.
A playwright, actress, director and producer in her own right, Gertrude has appeared on both stage and screen. She appeared on radio and performed on Broadway in Tennessee Williams “Vieux Carre.” Also in “The Skin of our Teeth,” “The Great White Hope,” “Lost in the Stars.” “Amen Corner,” “Nobody Loves an Albatross “and “The Great White Hope,” et al.
A playwright, actress, director and producer in her own right, Gertrude has appeared on both stage and screen. She appeared on radio and performed on Broadway in Tennessee Williams “Vieux Carre.” Also in “The Skin of our Teeth,” “The Great White Hope,” “Lost in the Stars.” “Amen Corner,” “Nobody Loves an Albatross “and “The Great White Hope,” et al.
In film, Ms. Jeanette was memorable in “The Legend of Nigger
Charlie,” “Black Girl,” and appeared in “Shaft,” “and “Cotton Comes to Harlem.”
She has lent her talents to both film
shorts and documentaries. A playwright in
her own right, Gertrude wrote plays like:
A Bolt from the Blue, Light in the Cellar, Glady’s Dilemma, This Way
Forward, and Who’s Mama’s Baby, Who’s Daddy’s Child? She has also featured and directed the works
of other playwrights.
Born in Urbana, Arkansas, Gertrude made Harlem, NY, her home. An innovator, in 1935 she became the first
woman to get a license to operate a motor cycle and later became the first
female cab driver in New York City. Jeannette
received the Harlem Business Recognition Award from the National Council of
Negro Women. She was honored as a Living Legend by the National Black
Theater Festival in Winston Salem, NC . She
received the Outstanding Pioneer Award
from AUDELCO in 1984. She also received the
AT&T and Black American Newspaper 1987 Personality
of the Year Award. She was inducted into
the Hatch-Billops Oral History Collection by the Schomburg Center for Research
and Black Culture. As well as inducted
into Philadelphia’s Bushfire Theatre Walk of Fame. The Giving Back Corporation endowed her with
their 2004 Giving Back Award, and Gertrude was given the 2006 Professional
Women’s Award from the Riverside Club/National Negro Business and Professional
Women organization. She received the
Standing on Our Shoulders Award from the Delta Sigma Theta, Bronx Chapter, and
the Lionel Hampton Legacy Award for her outstanding work in the Harlem
community. In 2002, Gertrude Jeannette
received the prestigious Paul Robeson Award from Actor’s Equity. She was also honored by Harlem Is…Living
History, an educational project by Community Works.
Letters wishing Ms. Jeannette “Happy Birthday” came from
Congressman Charles Rangel, Assemblyman Keith Wright, State Senator Bill Perkins
and Councilwoman Inez Dickens. The
Master of Ceremony was producer Voza Rivers. Ebony Jo-Ann sang “You Will Never Grow Old.” The Classical Productions led by Patricia
Hancock Rogers sang a medley of Gertrude’s favorite songs. The invocation was done by actress, comedian
and reverend Dorothy Fox.
Among the
guests were former HADLEY Players Artistic Director Ward Nixon, actors Albert
Eggleston, Ralph McCain, photographer Ronnie Wright, Don Thomas (NY Beacon),
Woodie King (New Federal Theater), Patricia White, Elizabeth Van Dyke, David
Downing, Hazel Smith, Vinie Burrows, organizer Margaret Jackson, Sirlouis Jones, Shirley
Scott, Micki Grant, Mary B. Davis, Johnnie Mae, Joe B. Hunt, Barbara Horowitz, Larry Thorp, June Terry,
Janice Jenkins, Louise Mike, Dee Dixon, director Eric Coleman, Margery
Johnson, Kimberly Monroe, playwrights Roger Parris and J.E. Franklin.
Many of the attendees
have presented their plays and/or appeared in some of the Hadley
Productions. Others were supporters and
long time friends. People such as actress
Joan Valentina, Cherryl Thomas, Ms. Bobbi Willis, Kim Weston-Moran, journalists
Joan Allen, Peter Cooper and Michael J. Feeney, actress Johnnie Mae, Tommie
Thompson, Kelly Marie Berry, costumer Kathy Roberson, Ed Lawrence, Debbie
McIntire, Ajene Washington, Alice Garcia, Michelle Wilson (Ms Jeannette’s great
niece), Alvin Alexis, Juanita Howard, Loretta Abbott, and Lillian Harrison came
out to celebrate Gertrude’s 100th birthday milestone.
Ms. Jeannette appeared to have a lovely time and invited all
her guests back to her 110th birthday party to do it all over
again. God willing Gertrude, we’ll all
be there.
