Of Jaguars and Men

Back in 1977, my mentor Brock Peters lent me to Lonne Elder to get some practical writing experience before I set out to write a script on an idea for a sequel on "To Kill A Mockingbird." Brock thought I had good ideas and talent but needed experience. Lonne was working on "A Woman Called Moses" and he took me on as an assistant. I wrote a passage one day describing Harriet Tubman saddling a horse. Lonne called it 'really good.' I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. Of course, it probably wasn't and Lonne was being kind to the kid. He was an actor in the original cast of "Raisin in the Sun" and playwright "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" and screenwriter. In 1973, he and Suzanne de Passe had become the first Black writers to be nominated for the Academy Award for writing. Lonne for "Sounder" and Suzanne for "Lady Sings the Blues." He was a giant, Lonne was--about the same height as me with a towering talent and a huge spirit. At the time, I didn't have a car and Lonne had an extra one and said I could use it. Can you believe it was a Jag, a BIG Jag, an XJ12 with all that gorgeous burl wood, painted a bright Turquoise? Every time you pressed your foot on the gas, you could see the fuel indicator move downwards. It was too loud and too expensive to operate, but oh god, I loved it. It also went to the shop every five minutes being constructed for the damp weather in England, not Southern California. But I loved it anyway. Just about the time I decided to buy another Jag, they became Fords and it didn't seem to hold all the luxurious allure... I do have a thing about cars. Ask me about the collection of Austins I once owned-all six of them-I'm the hard-driving Ruth Adkins Robinson.