“I am the one the movie’s about,” said this lady. “And the film’s a tearjerker.“
Rap champ Roxanne Shanté’s saga “Roxanne Roxanne” will do its thing on Netflix.
Teenager Roxanne battled her way to hip-hop hotshot in the ’80s. We’re talking a lifestyle. Domino’s Pizza five minutes away. Video store three blocks away. Raised in a tough NYC neighborhood, she hit with “Roxanne’s Revenge.”
“I am the one the movie’s about,” said this lady. “And the film’s a tearjerker. And the lesson is, stick it out. Never give up.
“I know what it’s like to live in a housing project at the Queensboro Bridge. I had no father. I was 14. I know what it’s like to have to hustle for the family.
“I know about foster care. I was raised by the system. I know what it’s like to be beaten. I also know what it’s like to beat ourselves.
“The lesson is we have to love ourselves. And drink in these dreams before we go to sleep.”
Roxanne, in white embroidered lace top, long black skirt and a handsome man alongside, was in West 23rd’s SVA Theatre VIP room. Her doc was being screened.
“What happened with me is I could rhyme with music at will, and I met a producer who said he heard I could freestyle.
“I was maternal, but this began a separation from my sisters and I felt I didn’t do enough for everyone. Now I have my own children — 22 and 32. My daughter’s interested in music. My son’s in investments.”
And her biopic airs Friday.
Another in this film is gorgeous Nia Long, who said: “I play her mother, Peggy.” Nia’s outfit was low-cut. Like seriously major no joking low-cut. And what was viewable was also gorgeous. It was tough not to be envious.
She said to me: “I would share these with you — but they’re the wrong shade.”
Coming is — oy! — Dover Publications’ cutout paper-doll book by Eileen Rudisill Miller.
There’s a book that goes with it with illustrations by Teresa Goodridge.
Cover’s HRH Harry Prince of Wales and his older, savvier, poorer, multiracial, American, Catholic-raised actress fiancée Meghan Sparkle. His Royal Highness and Her Whateverness are as cutout paper dolls. So perfect for the British throne. Or even to park near your studio apartment’s throne.
Pix of His Highness in shorts wearing a necklace and bracelet.
To dress in the corresponding page’s Brit Cavalry uniform. Photos of Her Sharpness in a bikini with the adjoining page’s suggested shmattas. Thirty pictures in all.
Price, $9.99. If the queen calls personally, she’ll probably get a discount.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan gets honored Sept. 18. Pierre ballroom. A Police Athletic League dinner that should raise, thanks to his eminent Eminence, $1 million for kids. .. AaronSorkin’s B’way shot of Jeff Daniels in “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set to also feature Samuel L. Jackson’s wife, LaTanya Richardson. .. Reese Witherspoon taught new mommy Mindy Kaling how to carry a baby car seat onto an airplane.
Sunday’s newspaper reported designer Oleg Cassini’s widow, Marianne, finally won her 30-year battle over evicting a tenant in her Upper East Side townhouse.
I don’t know the tenant, who I’m certain is a fine gentleman. I have only known Marianne and her late husband forever.
She was always gracious. Sent notes, gifts, kindnesses constantly. And I know — right or wrong — the angst, the cost and the labyrinthine trail inside our legal system.
So I say only I’m glad it’s over for her. And to say she’s always been a nice lady.
From Mike in Great Neck, LI: “This guy greeting a colleague in a Williamsburg bar: ‘Hey Jim — how’s your family? Your wife? Your girlfriend?’ ”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
