European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine she s grown up now bittersweet return to Broadway by Dena Kleiman new York times Eslie Uggams is Back on Broadway starring with Chita Rivera and Dorothy Louden in Jerry s girls a revue of Jerry Herman songs from such shows As Mack and Mabel la Cage Aux Folles mame and hello Dolly but it s a bittersweet return. It s a reminder Uggams says of How much she loves the Broadway stage and How Long it has been since she has appeared there. She has Felt the frustration of being trapped by the stereotypes and expectations of an earlier time a plight shared by Many performers who achieve Success at an Early age. Except for two shows that closed shortly after they opened Uggams has not appeared on Broadway since 1967, when she had the Lead in hallelujah baby for which she received a Tony award and was voted by new York theater critics As the season s most promising new actress. Walter Kerr of the new York times lauded her in that performance As one of the most Complete personalities to have descended upon us in Many a Mournful Moon adding Leslie Uggams has a secretive smile that suggests she knows something we Don t know and i imagine Broadway is going to keep her around Long enough to find  yet in the 19 years in Between the actress Singer and dancer now 42, has been seen primarily in nightclubs and in several television films far less dramatic roles than she says she would like. The problem she said is one of image. I do so Many things it has a tendency to confuse people. They did t know where to put me. So they put me  in some ways Uggams could be regarded As a Case study of a performer who is seized upon because he or she embodies the style of a particular time and place but then is abandoned As tastes change and becomes a victim of the very characteristics that launched the earlier popularity. Like Doris Day Dinah Shore Julie Andrews and other popular female entertainers of the 1960s, Uggams found that her wholesome Good looks and Ladylike manner got lost in the face of an emerging preference for the kind of Strid ency Black self awareness and sexuality embodied in such performers As Diana Ross. It was not overt prejudice that stood in her Way she said but her Early Success which was predicated on being palatable to a general audience that was not accustomed to seeing Blacks on network television. Uggams got her big break in show business in 1961, when Mitch Miller invited her to appear on his television show As a teen Ager. She was a Pixie faced Gamin with a big Toothy smile and was permitted to sing Only cutesy songs. She was pegged a sepia toned Shirley Temple a caricature she said that came to haunt her at a time of dramatic changes for Blacks in particular and entertainers in general. I was caught in the Middle she said. Referring to her status As one of the first Black entertainers to appear regularly on . Network television Uggams said i was a Pioneer in doing one thing but it Hurt me in another. I would have liked to Leslie Uggams has had a difficult time finding a Niche in the entertainment world. A photo have had a record career but i was stuck with Mitch  the Public did t want to see me grow up. They Only wanted to hear the Sweet songs. It was Tough to shake. Motown was happening. So much was happening. I think it Hurt me a  Uggams got her Start in show business at age 6 when she appeared on the television series Beulah. Born to Middle class parents in the Washington Heights Section of Manhattan her father was a plumber her Mother a waitress she never had to struggle As so Many Black performers of her generation and before amid poverty and the anonymity of Harlem dives. She attended the professional children s school and by age 9 had been discovered by Milton Berle and Arthur Godfrey who featured her on their shows. Wearing Patent leather pumps and frilly White party dresses she would sing dance do imitations and beam into the camera. At 14, during an appearance As a contestant on name that tune she was spotted by Miller for whom Uggams then always Clad in demure dresses belted out Irving Berlin tunes such As / love a piano. In her Early Days on Miller s show when it was still rare to see Blacks on television it was a heavy Load i was responsible for having a clean image. I wanted people to have respect for Black  at 20 she left the show to carve out a successful nightclub career. But from the Start her Little girl image stayed with her and plagued her. In 1963, when she appeared at the Plaza she spoke of wanting to Stop being seen As the girl next door. I m not knocking that image she said following a performance in which she wore a Slinky dress and a sophisticated Hairdo. But even the girl next door has to have sex  in one nightclub act at the Copacabana in 1965, she announced she would perform All the sexy songs Mitch would t let me  yet the ghosts did not disappear. After hallelujah baby her career became a string of false starts and disappointments. She could t shake the image of being acceptable rather than provocative. In 1969, at the age of 26, Uggams became the first Black woman to have her own network variety show replacing the smothers Brothers on lbs but critics questioned whether she was ready for it. She has come a Way from her Early Days on sing along including her Success on Broadway the new York times Jack Gould wrote of her show but she is not a Singer of much personable or emotional  ten weeks later the show was pulled off the air a blow Uggams said she Learned about from a newspaper in her dentist s office. It was my first big setback she said. It came on the heels of her performance opposite Richard Kiley in the Broadway musical her first roman which received mixed notices and closed after 17 performances. It was about this time that she returned to the Safe Harbor of nightclubs where she has by and Large remained. My husband said you have to learn Success from failure Uggams said. Her husband of 20 years an australian businessman named Grahame Pratt who had spotted her one night in a Sydney nightclub recently became her manager. It was Pratt she said who encouraged her to continue  out More television appearances. In 1977, she was nominated for an emmy award for her role As Kizzy an elderly woman in the acclaimed television miniseries roots. But she said that role Only helped compound confusion about her image. People have a tendency to think of me either As a Little girl or As very old she said. I m not old. I m not a kid either. I be grown up. I can be elegant. I can be sexy. I can be  saturday March 8, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13