Mabel King

A homeless man (Brian O'Mullin) performs a spontaneous song and dance routine for Chuck Barris, host and star of the television talent contest "The Gong Show," who is stopping at local Winchell's Donuts on his way to work. Barris dismisses the man's showmanship and spills coffee on his own shirt. At the television studio, Barris ignores an elderly violin player (Jack Bernardi), the singing group Satisfaction, a trumpet-playing comedian (Harvey Alpert), and dozens of other acts that accost him. When Barris arrives at his office, Buddy Didlo (James B. Douglas), network vice president of programs, says that the show's ratings have dropped slightly, making Barris ineligible for a raise. However, Barris carries on, auditioning 68 acts, which include strippers, folk singers, comedians, body-part playing musicians, street poets and human spiders. Later in the steam room, Barris' friend, Bernie (Harvey Lembeck), says that Barris looks tired and should pay more attention to his health. The next day, Barris tapes five "Gong Show" episodes. One act, Melvin Presar, a chicken-clucking singer, has a heart attack after being called on stage for several encores. At the hospital, Barris tells his girlfriend, Red (Robin Altman), that he feels guilty about making Melvin sick. However, Melvin is so happy to see Barris, he pulls off his oxygen mask and auditions his new act as a budding gingko tree. Barris leaves before Melvin finishes, but Dr. Jerry Queasley (David Sheiner), Melvin's doctor, auditions his "singing chef" act, which ends with Barris drenched in a bowlful of batter. As Barris and Red leave the hospital, Melvin performs until he is dragged back to his room. Red warns Barris to quit the show while he still has his sanity. She suggests he hire a substitute host, but Barris tells her the job beats working in a bank. To unwind, Barris plays guitar and sings with a group of friends called The Hollywood Cowboys. One night, the disgruntled sons of a failed contestant with plans for revenge approach Barris as he returns home. He persuades them to create an act instead of killing him. They later appear on the show and are eliminated by the same judge, who gonged their mother. Later, Didlo announces that ratings have improved, but too many television stations are canceling the show because of its offensive content. At a meeting at Matteo's restaurant to discuss the situation, Barris and Red are seated at a special table in the kitchen, as a cook auditions his singing act. When Didlo arrives, he complains that "The Gong Show" has turned into "The Goon Show." As Barris leaves for the men's room, Didlo follows, citing Barris' various offenses. Barris promises to behave, but then he pees on a man in the adjacent urinal after he is recognized. The next morning, Red fixes Barris breakfast in bed. However, Didlo barges in and insists that Barris sign a statement, agreeing to produce a tasteful show. Afterward, Barris meets with "Gong Show" judge, Jaye P. Morgan, who pledges to put an end to her double entendres. When Barris arrives late to work, multiple acts are waiting to audition and his secretary, Mabel, is worried that he looks tired. Nevertheless, Barris sits through auditions, reminding contestants to stay upbeat even if they are "gonged." Later, Red worries that Barris is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and sends him to a psychiatrist, Dr. Betsy Nolan (Cloyce Morrow), but the doctor determines that Barris is only suffering from exhaustion. He admits he is tired of the show and being known as a buffoon. He wants to do something meaningful. Dr. Betsy urges him to take time off and Red agrees. However, Barris cannot bring himself to stop, and suggests that he and Red end their relationship instead. As she walks out, he stares at photographs on the wall, documenting their love. Barris phones Mabel to announce that he is taking a hiatus and does not know when he will return. The next day, after buying a one-way ticket to Morocco, Barris walks aimlessly through the Moroccan desert until a helicopter appears and lands. A cloaked figure disembarks from the helicopter and approaches. It is Didlo with good news: the affiliate stations want Barris back, and so does Red. The whole entourage of the Gong Show appears to sing Barris "Don't Get Up". In the final scene, Barris returns to "The Gong Show" and receives a standing ovation. The audience is treated to acts like The Vatican Four, The Siamese Connection, Count Banjola, the Unknown Comic doing his impression of an Eskimo urinating, and the show goes on.

Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin), a homeless bum, directly addresses the camera and tells his story. Navin is the adopted white son of African American sharecroppers in Mississippi, who grows to adulthood naively unaware of his obvious adoption. The large family lived in a small shack. The family includes mother (Mabel King), father (Richard Ward), brother Taj (Dick Anthony Williams), sister Elvira (Ren Woods), Grandma Johnson (Frances E. Williams) and many more. He stands out in his family not just because of his skin color, but also because of his utter lack of rhythm when his adopted family plays spirited blues music. He is unable to dance in rhythm to the spirited folk songs played by the family, but finds that he can do so perfectly to a champagne-style song on the radio. One night, he hears the staid and starchy Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra song called "Crazy Rhythm" on the radio and his feet spontaneously begin to move with the urge to dance. He sees this as a calling (and believes that this is the kind of music that inspires him to go out into the world and be somebody) and decides to hitchhike to St. Louis, from where the song was broadcast. On the way, he stops at a motel, where a dog wakes him up by barking at his door. Navin thinks the dog is trying to warn of a fire and decides to name the dog "Lifesaver." He wakes up all the other hotel guests to rescue them, but when everyone realizes it was a false alarm, one Asian man angrily suggests he call the dog "Shithead," which Navin takes literally. Navin takes a lift from several motorists and eventually reaches St. Louis. Navin gets a job (and a place to sleep) at a gas station owned by Mr. Harry Hartounian (Jackie Mason). Harry pays Navin $1.10 per hour. Navin makes it a habit of sending his savings back home at regular intervals. Over a period of time Harry starts to trust Navin and even leaves him in charge of the gas station when he goes out on date with his wife. A car full of thieves rolls in to buy some gas. Navin says that they have to pay by credit card as he is all alone and the owner has asked him not to expose the cash at the gas station to customers. Navin realizes that the credit card is stolen. Navin calls the cops but then attaches a thick rope to the axle of the car and the other end to the wall of a nearby church. When the thieves realize that they have been made, they try to drive away, bringing down the church wall. He's thrilled to find that he's listed in the local phone book, as his name is "in print" for the first time. Not long after, a gun-wielding lunatic (M. Emmet Walsh) randomly flips through the phone book and picks "Johnson, Navin R." as his next victim. As the madman watches through his rifle scope, waiting for a clear shot, Navin fixes the slippery glasses of a customer, Stan Fox (Bill Macy), by adding a handle and a nose brake. The customer, Stan Fox, is an inventor who promises to try to market the device to split the profits 50/50 with Navin, then departs. Seizing his chance, the crazed sniper tries to kill Navin, but fails, hitting the oil cans in the station window and a soft-drink machine. The lunatic chases Navin to a traveling carnival, where Navin hides out, eventually getting a job with SJM Fiesta Shows as a weight guesser. While employed there, Navin meets an intimidating daredevil biker named Patty Bernstein (Catlin Adams) and has a sexual relationship with her, finally realizing what his "special purpose" (his euphemism for his penis) is for. Later, while operating a miniature railway, he meets a cosmetologist named Marie Kimble (Bernadette Peters) and arranges a date with her. Patty confronts them, but Marie knocks her out. While courting, Navin and Marie walk along the beach and sing "Tonight You Belong to Me", with Navin playing the ukulele and Marie on the cornet. Navin and Marie fall in love, but Marie reluctantly decides to leave him because of his lack of financial security. She writes a note and slips out while Navin is in the bath. Devastated, Navin takes Shithead and travels to Los Angeles. There, the gunman who tried to kill him-now sane and working as a private investigator-tracks him down and gives him a letter from Stan requesting a meeting. His glasses invention, now called the Opti-Grab, is selling big and he's entitled to half of the profits. Stan gives him a check for $250,000 as the first installment on his share of the profits. Now extremely rich, he finds and marries Marie, and they buy an extravagant mansion. Their life becomes one of splendor and non-stop partying. However, motion-picture director Carl Reiner (playing himself) files a class action lawsuit against Navin, claiming that the invention caused his eyes to be crossed and as a result, the death of a stunt driver in the film he was making. Nearly ten million other people have the same complaint (including the judge and prosecution) and are awarded $10 million in damages. Bankrupt, depressed, and now homeless, he abandons Marie and is soon living on the streets. He storms out into the street after yelling at and blaming Marie. Seeing how callous and superficial they've become, Marie wears her tattered dress from the beach, and regrets requiring Navin to be rich. His story now told, he resigns himself to a life of misery and memories of Marie, but to his amazed joy, she suddenly appears, along with Navin's family, and some more good news: Having carefully invested the small sums of money he sent home throughout the film, they've become wealthy themselves. They pick him up off the street, and he and Marie move back home into the Johnsons' new house - a much larger but identical version of their old, small shack. Once again Navin dances on the porch to folk songs, this time with perfect rhythm.

A shy, twenty-four-year-old school teacher named Dorothy (Diana Ross) prepares a holiday supper at the New York City apartment of her adoptive parents, Aunt Em (Theresa Merrett) and Uncle Henry (Stanley Greene). While her family enjoys the festivities, Dorothy wonders why she is unable to share their happiness. Later, Aunt Em encourages Dorothy to accept a new job and venture out of Harlem, but Dorothy is afraid to leave home. Just then, her dog, Toto, runs outside into a snowstorm. Dorothy chases after Toto, and the two are swept up in a magic tornado, created by Glinda, "The Good," (Lena Horne) a sorceress who lives in the mystical Land of Oz. When the storm subsides, Dorothy finds herself a sandbox at a dark playground, where children are embedded in the concrete of city walls. Peeling themselves free, the youths show Dorothy that her arrival in Oz killed Evermean, the Wicked Witch of the East. Her surviving sister, Evillene (Mabel King), is the Wicked Witch of the West. Evermean was the city parks commissioner, and she turned the young "munchkins" into graffiti when she saw them painting on the playground walls. As Dorothy is praised for liberating the youngsters, a shopping bag-toting sorceress named "Miss One" (Thelma Carpenter) arrives and magically transfers Evermean's silver shoes onto Dorothy's feet. The young woman is terrified and wants to go home, so Miss One advises her to keep Evermean's slippers on her feet and seek help from the miraculous "Wiz," who lives in Emerald City. She tells Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road, but she does not know where it begins. Miss One and the children disappear, leaving Dorothy and Toto alone. As the sun rises, Dorothy discovers a Scarecrow (Michael Jackson) near a burned out housing project. Ridiculed by four crows, the Scarecrow begs to be released from his perch and laments that he does not have a brain. Dorothy shoos the birds aside, helps the Scarecrow down, and invites him to the Emerald City so he can ask the Wiz for a brain. When the Scarecrow discovers the beginning of the yellow brick road, the friends follow the avenue to an abandoned amusement park resembling Coney Island. There, a Tinman (Nipsey Russell) calls for help, explaining that he is rusted and cannot move. As Dorothy and the Scarecrow carefully move his joints, the Tinman regrets he is unable to feel. They encourage him to ask the Wiz for a heart, and the three continue along the yellow brick road. At the deserted facade of the New York Public Library, a stone statue Lion (Ted Ross) breaks free and terrifies the companions, but he sobs when Toto nips his ankle. The Lion explains he is not brave, after all, and the friends persuade him to ask the Wiz for courage. In a subway train station, the foursome is followed by an eerie peddler and pursued by various monsters made up of support columns, but the Lion chases them away. Continuing along the road, the friends come to the "red light district" of Oz, where "Poppy Love Perfume" is pumped into an alleyway of half-dressed women. The Scarecrow realizes they have fallen into a trap, but Dorothy and the Lion are drugged by the poppy scent and become unconscious, whereas the Scarecrow and Tinman (who do not have internal organs, such as lungs to inhale the scent, are immune). Believing his friends to be dead, the Tinman cries, but his tears drip onto their faces and awaken them. Just then, the sun rises in the shape of an apple and the Emerald City appears in the distance as the skyline of New York City. The four cross the yellow brick road along the Brooklyn Bridge, only to find a heavily guarded vault door entrance to the city. A doorman refers them to the service entrance but notices Dorothy's silver slippers and quickly lets the travelers in. There, a cluster of enormous jewels are illuminated in green light between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As finely dressed citizens carouse in the jade glow, the Wiz makes an announcement over a loudspeaker, declaring that Emerald City's color has been changed to red. When the city takes on a scarlet hue, the Wiz changes his mind again, and announces that yellow is the new fashion. The courtyard turns gold. The Wiz demands to see Dorothy, but she refuses to meet him without her friends. Taking an elevator to the top of the building, the companions see an enormous, fire-breathing mask. Terrified, they ask the Wiz for a brain, a heart, courage, and a way home, but the Wiz wants Dorothy's silver slippers in return. When she protests, he orders the team to kill Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West. Outside the gates of Emerald City, the guards lead the companions to a sewer where Evillene runs a "sweat shop" and rules her slaves from a bejeweled toilet. She summons her foul-smelling flying monkeys to capture Dorothy and her friends, and the creatures go after them on motorcycles. When they are brought back to Evillene's warehouse, the witch demands the return of her dead sister's slippers. Dorothy refuses and the Scarecrow is cut in half by a power saw. Meanwhile, the Tinman is flattened by a steam press and the Lion is hung from the rafters by his tail. When Evillene threatens to throw Toto into a furnace, Dorothy agrees to surrender the shoes. As she sits to remove them, the Scarecrow nods toward a fire extinguisher. Dorothy sets off the overhead sprinklers and the warehouse is showered with water. Evillene is sucked down her toilet bowl throne. The witch's servants repair Dorothy's mangled friends, celebrate their freedom, and peel off their sweatshop costumes to discover human bodies beneath. The flying monkeys drive Dorothy and friends back to the Emerald City, and leave them at the "back door." Inside, they find the Wiz's mask head toppled over and realize they were manipulated by a false prophet. Apologizing, the Wiz (Richard Pryor) explains he was never powerful, but rather a failed politician named "Herman Smith" from Atlantic City, New Jersey. As part of a campaign to be elected Dog Catcher, he hovered above the city in a hot air balloon to distribute fliers. However, he was swept away by a storm and landed in Oz many years earlier. The residents of Emerald City had never seen an aircraft and proclaimed him "the Wiz." He has lived in solitude ever since, fearing his true identity would be revealed. Dorothy's friends lament they will never have a brain, a heart, or courage, but she reminds them that they had these qualities all along. Just then, Glinda, "the Good," appears in a starry sky. She tells Dorothy that home is not just a place. It is the understanding of one's own mind, heart, and courage. Glinda promises the girl that she can be at home anywhere in the world as long as she believes in herself. When Dorothy learns she can return to Harlem by clicking the heels of her silver slippers three times, the Wiz asks for help getting home. She advises him to go on his own journey of self-discovery. Dorothy bids her friends farewell, clicks her heels, and returns to the snowy street outside her apartment building.

Ragtime music publisher John Stark (Art Carney) watches Scott Joplin (Billy Dee Williams) walk down the back stairs of the Grand Opera House in New York City and recalls events from the composer's life. Joplin grows up in a musical family led by his mother, who washes clothes to pay for her son's piano lessons. When she dies, Scott's father considers music an activity for home and church and expects his son to labor for the railroad. Instead, Scott leaves home and finds work playing piano in a bordello. On his last day before leaving for Sedalia, Missouri, in 1899, Scott meets his replacement, Louis Chauvin (Clifton Davis), who decides to go with Scott and enter a "cutting contest," a head-to-head piano competition. The two agree to share the earnings if either one wins. In Sedalia's Maple Leaf Club, Scott tells the piano tuner that the A-flat key on one of the pianos is flat and introduces himself as a budding composer. The man advises him to seek out John Stark. Later, Chauvin informs his friend that the piano-tuner is Stark. During the competition, flashy performers eliminate one another, but Scott and Chauvin are the last men standing and Chauvin wins. However, the original tune by Scott catches the attention of Stark, who asks to see the music in his office the next day. Stark offers Scott $50 for the composition, called "Maple Leaf Rag," with ten percent royalties. Scott is ordered to demonstrate the tune by playing all day in Stark's store-front window, and to deliver the written composition that afternoon. Back at the Maple Leaf Club, the other piano players warn Scott that Stark is cheating him. Chauvin suggests they take their $100 prize money and move downriver to New Orleans, Louisiana. As Scott works on another song, he is seduced by a young woman and misses his appointment with Stark, who finds Scott at the Maple Leaf. When Scott announces that he can earn more playing saloons and brothels than by taking Stark's deal, Stark accuses the composer of fearing the challenge and Scott changes his mind. After signing with Stark, the sheet music to "Maple Leaf Rag" and other songs sell briskly, and ragtime music becomes popular. In 1901, a beautiful woman admires Scott's playing at Stark's store, so Scott follows her to a cemetery. He learns she is a widow named Belle Hayden (Margaret Avery) and they spend the day together. Scott tells her that Stark is moving his business to St. Louis, Missouri, and asks her to accompany him as his wife. They marry, move to St. Louis, and his publishing success continues. Later, Scott experiences some loss of control in his hand. Meanwhile, Sam Bundler (David Healy), the arts and music critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, comes to Stark's offices to interview Scott, wanting to write a piece decrying ragtime as the commercialization of a fad. Later, Scott sees a doctor who informs him that he has a secondary stage of syphilis. Scott has not yet infected Belle, but the disease could affect the child she is carrying, and the third stage could be debilitating for Scott. At the Joplin home, Chauvin visits with a prostitute on each arm. He teases Scott for his conservative appearance while Scott chides Chauvin for playing his music in ways other than it was written. Chauvin bears an invitation for Scott to play a gala gathering of madams at Tom Turpin's (Godfrey Cambridge) club and Scott dismisses the idea, despite longing for his raucous youth. When Belle says she does not mind if Scott plays at the club, he makes a surprise appearance and receives an ovation. As he plays, however, he remembers the woman who seduced and infected him in Sedalia and his hands begin to tremble. He recovers, but Chauvin observes the difference in his friend's performance. Sometime later, Stark notices that something is bothering Scott, who says he wants to distance himself from the past. Stark assures Scott that he is a great American composer and that he is proposing Scott to a committee staging the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. However, the committee, including Bundler, describes ragtime as crude and is reticent to feature Scott's music alongside John Philip Sousa. Meanwhile, Scott hopes for committee approval and writes a new rag for the fair. Receiving a note from Chauvin saying that he is ill, Scott reluctantly visits his friend, who asks him to transcribe his music so he, too, will be remembered. As Chauvin plays and Scott writes the notes, Chauvin loses control of his hands and says he will send for Scott when he has recovered. Afterward, on the street, Stark says that the committee has approved Scott for the World's Fair and that Belle has given birth to a baby girl. Scott rushes home to discover there is something wrong with the baby, so he confesses he has been deceitful. The World's Fair arrives and Scott's music is ignored, overwhelmed by the scope and volume of Souza and his orchestra. Scott rages at Stark for failing him and decides that he is going to write an opera in ragtime. Stark warns that it will be professional suicide, adding that he is moving to New York City and the Joplins should accompany him. Scott returns home in turmoil and finds Belle sitting alone in the nursery; the baby has died and Belle leaves him. Scott stops speaking to Stark and pours his energy into writing the opera. One day, he comes across the composition he transcribed for Chauvin and remembers his friend's request for help. In 1906 Chicago, Illinois, a derelict Chauvin returns to home to find Scott playing the piano and the old friends reunite before Chauvin passes away. In 1910, Scott goes to New York City to see Stark and hands him the composition he wrote with Chauvin, as well as a stack of newly written rags. After a celebratory dinner, Scott tells Stark that he has finished the opera, Treemonisha, and he wants Stark to finance it, but the publisher guesses that Scott is ill and tells the composer he will not pay penance for Scott's misdeeds. Later, Scott begins rehearsals with performers on his own, but they do not go well. Poor Alfred (musician Taj Mahal), Scott's piano player, tells Stark that Scott needs $3,000 to produce the opera and reports of the staging of a one-night, bare-bones showcase in Harlem. Although Stark claims he is penniless and is moving back to St. Louis, Alfred confesses that Scott is dying of syphilis and Stark agrees to find a backer. Later, Scott performs for one of Stark's potential investors and Stark reflects on Scott's career. While playing "The Entertainer," Scott's hands give him trouble and he is unable to finish. Later, Stark and Scott say goodbye on the back stairs of the Grand Opera House and Scott walks home alone as snow falls around him. In 1974, Joplin's music won an Academy Award® for The Sting (1973), Treemonisha was staged successfully on Broadway; and in 1976, the composer was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Joplin died in 1917.