Uprooted

By Mitchell Donian

I have been uprooted. After living in Greenwich Village for sixty years I am homeless. In an effort to regain a place in the community my good friend and publisher George Capsis of WestView News suggested I write my story with some biographical detail.

I had a rent controlled apartment, was being harassed and badly served by my landlord, and was offered what appeared to be lovely living quarters upstate with my niece and her husband. I took the jump, settled for a small buyout and made the move. Turns out the husband is a pot smoker 24/7 and a kleptomaniac. He rifled through my belongings, took everything of value that suited him, and a month later threw me out.

My name is Mitchell Donian. I moved to 204 West 10 St. in 1958 shortly after attending Columbia University. I attended on the GI Bill, having served in the Korean War. Most of my service was as a journalist for the military newspaper Stars & Stripes. I was a good student at Columbia and even lectured a class on Mary Shelley when my professor asked me to cover for him when he left early on summer sabbatical. I earned 184 credits but never graduated, having unfinished language requirements.

In my attempts at employment during the Eisenhower recession I proofread for the Village Voice and later for the Jewish Standard. I also built and ran a coffee shop restaurant, The Iron Cat, in Brooklyn Heights. I am an excellent cook…Armenian..Chinese…Italian…name it, and an accomplished masseur. Eventually I got in the film business as a technician, working on documentaries all over the country, South America and Africa. After a few years experience and friendship with the late Gordon Parks Jr., I worked as Director of Photography for the feature Super Fly. We started shooting at Boomer’s, a restaurant/bar between 10th and Christopher. Bobby Timmons played some mean piano there. The producer floated a rubber check for the equipment. My footage with Curtis Mayfield served to raise the initial money which brought the film into being.

One of my big accomplishments was to serve as Executive Producer for Last of the Blue Devils, a documentary about Kansas City jazz. In an effort to make it pay off to the backers I created a television series, writing the book and 13 episode outlines. Redd Fox signed on and Edgar Sherrick, a leading Hollywood producer, agreed to be the umbrella producer. This was in 1983. The only black presence on television at that time was a maid on one sitcom. All the networks turned it down, even start-up HBO. They didn’t like Foxx and turned down Flip Wilson and Bill Cosby, saying they were “has-beens.” Six months later—The Cosby Show. The way I laid out the series it would still be viable today. I gave up my producer credit for a time to Clint Eastwood at the request of Warner Brothers because Clint was promoting a Charlie Parker movie and needed a connection with jazz. I could use his help now in getting the Blue Devils project going.

One last biographical note. While on a visit to my mother in LA a few years back I was offered a try-out for the role of a Palestinian for an Aaron Spelling project. At the time I could not accept. I believe the project is still viable and am seeking agent representation to re-open the deal. Since then, I have written book and lyrics for two musicals, one of them complete with music from some very talented composers.

So much for biography. Right now, thanks to a friend, I am a guest. But being a guest has its limits. I am looking for a permanent place in Manhattan, preferably in the Village. Buy or rent, I can pay. If you can help please call George or email me, Mitchdonian@gmail.com. If there is a little studio in Westbeth, that would be ideal.