A DAY IN "THE LIFE OF RILEY"

As we all sat around our brunch table (Richard, Kenny, Theo, Anthony, Chanel, & Me), we ended up having a conversation about attractive Cleveland women. The list may have only been as brief as Dorothy Dandridge, Ruby Dee, Halle Berry, Jayne Kennedy (and - as I joked - Arsenio Hall). But it conjured up the question from some of the "young'ns" at the table: WHO IS JAYNE KENNEDY? Here was a brilliant moment that gave us "old heads" an opportunity to remember what a BEAUTY ICON she was in our households. From EBONY to JET, she was a source of PRIDE and BEAUTY that never wavered in the '70s and '80s. She was so PRETTY and with her career as an actress, but most pointedly as a broadcaster, she was SMART with CHARISMA. SCANDAL would follow her and her husband -at the time- LEON ISAAC KENNEDY who directed "THE FIRST SEX TAPE" that made its way into people's BETA/VHS machines, making for some XXX, very racy scenes between the two. They also filmed "Body and Soul" together in 1981. Not so much a tour de force, but she had promise with the acting. After that marriage dissolved, she married model Bill Overton and would go on to have babies and stay closer to home. But what THEO reminds me is: she had an uncredited part in "Lady Sings The Blues" as Louis McKay's date (Billy Dee Williams) when a young Billie Holliday (Diana Ross) comes into the club (Jerry's Den) that she would years later take over as its star talent. It's a great scene where Diana sneaks in to observe the show and the action from the stairwell. When Louis McKay walks in (with Jayne Kennedy on his arm), he's dressed in white. Billie is in awe and has to be carried out. GOOD STUFF... THANKS THEO!