Background
Mr. Elder was born in Americus, Georgia, United States, on December 26, 1927. He was a son of Lonne Elder II and Quincy Elder. Mr. Elder grew up in impoverished conditions during the Great Depression.
(Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, a classic of American theater...)
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, a classic of American theater, is the poignant story of a family in 1950s Harlem. In timeless prose, Lonne Elder explores the discontent of a generation that has grown old before its time, and the determination of the next generation to avoid such a fate. In the play, Russel B. Parker is a prodigal father and failed barber who exists on memories and "ceremonies" for survival. He spends his time recounting atmospheric tales of his life in vaudeville and tells, in darkly comic detail, about his days on the chain gang. Just beneath the surface of Elder's work lie the terrors of day-to-day life in a racist society--never directly mentioned, but always simmering unforgettably. Ceremonies in Dark Old Men had its debut Off-Broadway in 1969. It received enthusiastic reviews and moved into an extended run. Since its first performance, the play has been produced numerous times both on television and on the stage, with the leads being played by an honor roll of actors, including Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington, and Billy Dee Williams. Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, a classic of American theater, is the poignant story of a family in 1950s Harlem. In timeless prose, Lonne Elder explores the discontent of a generation that has grown old before its time, and the determination of the next generation to avoid such a fate. In the play, Russel B. Parker is a prodigal father and failed barber who exists on memories and "ceremonies" for survival. He spends his time recounting atmospheric tales of his life in vaudeville and tells, in darkly comic detail, about his days on the chain gang. Just beneath the surface of Elder's work lie the terrors of day-to-day life in a racist society--never directly mentioned, but always simmering unforgettably. Ceremonies in Dark Old Men had its debut Off-Broadway in 1969. It received enthusiastic reviews and moved into an extended run. Since its first performance, the play has been produced numerous times both on television and on the stage, with the leads being played by an honor roll of actors, including Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington, and Billy Dee Williams.
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(Sounder Screenplay by Lonne Elder III From the novel by W...)
Sounder Screenplay by Lonne Elder III From the novel by William H. Armstrong [Student Edition,118 pages] ..LOOSE LEAF UNBOUND EDITION NO BINDER.
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(Melinda (1972): Calvin Lockhart, Rosalind Cash, Vonetta M...)
Melinda (1972): Calvin Lockhart, Rosalind Cash, Vonetta McGee, Paul Stevens, Rockne Tarkington, Ross Hagen, Renny Roker, Judyann Elder, Jim Kelly, Jan Tice, Lonne Elder III, Hugh A. Robertson, Vonetta McGee, Rosalind Cash: Movies & TV
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Mr. Elder was born in Americus, Georgia, United States, on December 26, 1927. He was a son of Lonne Elder II and Quincy Elder. Mr. Elder grew up in impoverished conditions during the Great Depression.
As a small child, he was encouraged to read by his mother and storytelling often occupied his mind. Due to tragic circumstances, Lonne Elder III was orphaned at a young age. His aunt and uncle in Jersey City, New Jersey continued his upbringing, along with that of his four siblings.
Mr. Elder completed his formal education and attended New Jersey State Teachers’ College in Trenton in 1949, but dropped out before the end of his freshman year. He then moved to New York’s Harlem neighborhood, took classes at the New School for Social Research, and became involved in the growing civil rights movement.
In 1952 Lonne Elder III was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served for two years. Returning from the army, Mr. Elder immersed himself in the Harlem literary scene, receiving direct encouragement from poets Robert Hayden and Langston Hughes, among others and began honing his talent as a writer. Working as a stage actor, he landed the role of Bobo in the original Broadway run of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun in 1959. Inspired by Hansberry and his friendship with dramatist Douglas Turner Ward, Mr. Elder set his sights on becoming a playwright.
Sharing an apartment with Mr. Ward also helped inspire Lonne Elder III to write a play titled A Hysterical Turtle in a Rabbit Race (1961). It was an early expression of Elder’s chosen theme of the black family in a hostile America.
In 1965, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men was given a reading at Wagner College on New York’s Staten Island. The reading of the play propelled him to a fellowship in screenwriting at the Yale University School of Drama in 1966 and 1967, and won him several other financial awards. His one-act play Charades on East Fourth Street, which depicted a clash between community members and police, was performed at the Expo ’67 World’s Fair in Montreal, Canada. Mr. Elder served as director of the new Negro Ensemble Company’s playwrights’ division from 1967 until 1969, and when that company launched its first season at New York’s St. Mark’s Playhouse in 1969, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men was selected for production.
In 1981 his collaboration with Richard Pryor resulted in the screenplay for Bustin' Loose, a comic tale of an ex-felon who finds redemption through driving a busload of handicapped children to a farm-land oasis.
In the 1980s Mr. Elder became disillusioned with Hollywood. In 1990 he was called in to re-write the book version of King, a British musical about the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.. Lonne Elder died in Woodland Hills, California, on June 11, 1996, after a long illness.
(Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, a classic of American theater...)
(Sounder Screenplay by Lonne Elder III From the novel by W...)
(Drama ~ Anthology)
(a play)
(Melinda (1972): Calvin Lockhart, Rosalind Cash, Vonetta M...)
(Sounder: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Taj Ma...)
(Ghost Dad & Bustin Loose: Richard Pryor, Cicely Tyson, Bi...)
Quotations: "I wrote to write, out of my guts and my heart, I wanted to cause some kind of wonder in the minds of people. I don’t rant or rave about the terror of our racist society. It is never directly stated, it is just there."
Lonne Elder III married Betty Gross in 1963 and the couple had a son, (David Dubois Elder) but they divorced four years later. He married for the second time actress Judyann Elder in 1969, and the two had a son, Christian. In 1980, Mr. Elder and his wife welcomed a third child to the family, a daughter they named Loni-Christine.