{"id":34210,"date":"2016-03-08T13:20:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T19:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=34210"},"modified":"2016-03-08T13:20:23","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T19:20:23","slug":"behind-the-hit-sitcom-227-hollywood-living-legend-christine-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/behind-the-hit-sitcom-227-hollywood-living-legend-christine-houston\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind The Hit Sitcom ‘227’: Hollywood Living Legend Christine Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Branden Hampton <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before there was a Shonda Rhimes or \u201cScandal,” there was someone in Hollywood that paved the way.<\/p>\n

Christine Houston, a Chicago native, is the creator of the hit 1980s sitcom \u201c227\u201d that aired on NBC from 1985 until 1990. She is the first African-American woman to receive a \u201ccreated by\u201d credit in primetime television.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Houston now teaches screenwriting at Chicago State University and is also an alumni of the school. She enrolled at CSU to finish her bachelor\u2019s degree in 2003 and graduated in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get up every morning knowing that I have an opportunity to affect someone and be an inspiration in at least one, hopefully more than one, of these students’ lives,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n

Marsha Johnson, a student in Houston\u2019s screenwriting class, explained what inspired her to take Houston\u2019s class.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to sit right here in class and learn so much from her because of her history and where she has been. Also, for her to take the time out and still be in her 70s..and still come to class everyday,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring to me and she motivates me to want to be the best I can be and to write.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christine
The late Esther Rolle (left), who played Florida Evans in the hit sitcom “Good Times,” poses for a picture with Christine Houston (right). (Photo courtesy of Christine Houston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Write what you know<\/h2>\n

Houston said that she really wanted to be an actress and once she enrolled at Kennedy-King College, she got involved with the theater department. During her first year at Kennedy-King, Houston auditioned and landed the lead role in a play called \u201cFive on the Black Hand Side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston noted that when students asked what her major was,\u00a0 she lied and told them journalism — she didn\u2019t want them to know she aspired to be an actress. The students encouraged her to write a play and enter it into the Norman Lear and Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting contests.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy English teacher taught us, if you want to be successful with the first thing that you write, then write about something you know,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n

Houston wrote about the mother of one of her close friends, who\u00a0 lived in the same apartment building she lived in growing up: 227 E. 48th Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it came to me that my girlfriend\u2019s mother was very funny. She sat down on a crate and talked about everybody in the building and she knew everybody\u2019s business,\u201d Houston said. \u201cI don\u2019t know about being a comedy writer, because I just think everything in life has its funny moments. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s play, \u201cTwo Twenty Seven,\u201d premiered at Kennedy-King College in 1977 and was a huge hit. The play went on to earn Houston first place in the Norman Lear Playwriting contest and second place in the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting contest. (Norman Lear is a renowned writer and television producer. Lorraine Hansberry was a renowned African-American playwright.)<\/p>\n

The first place prize for the Norman Lear Playwriting contest took Houston to Hollywood for two weeks, where she was able to choose to write an episode on one of Norman Lear\u2019s television shows. Houston chose \u201cThe Jeffersons\u201d and was invited into a pitch meeting with the executive producer and was told to \u201cgo home back to Chicago, write the script and then send it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obstacles in Hollywood<\/h2>\n

Houston wrote the episode entitled \u201cGeorge Who?\u201d on \u201cThe Jeffersons,\u201d which aired on television in 1978.<\/p>\n

Even though the episode aired on TV, Houston said, \u201cnot one single thing in my script was in that show. I got credit for it, but all their writers rewrote everything I wrote. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sitcom \u201cThe Jeffersons\u201d ran on television from 1975-1985.<\/p>\n

Houston started working in Chicago afterwards, but wanted to come back to Hollywood. She called Norman Lear, who sent her a one-way ticket to Hollywood and hired Houston to write story ideas for one of his shows every six weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they wouldn\u2019t hire me on [one] show, he would switch me to another show. I loved \u2018All in the Family,\u2019 but their executive producer had won Emmys without a black writer on his show and especially a black woman,\u201d Houston said. \u201cNorman paid me a check every week I went to his office. Six weeks at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christine<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Christine Houston poses for a picture in the Department of Communications, Media Arts and Theatre at Chicago State University. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Christine<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Christine Houston posing for a picture with film producers she worked with in Los Angeles. (Photo Courtesy of Christine Houston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Christine<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Christine Houston on stage speaking at her birthday party in Los Angeles given to her by Marla Gibbs. (Photo Courtesy of Christine Houston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Christine<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Christine Houston celebrating her birthday in Los Angeles and speaking with the late Reynaldo Rey who played Ray the mailman on “227.” (Photo Courtesy of Christine Houston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Helen<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The late Helen Martin, who played the neighbor Pearl Shay on the show “227,” poses for a picture at Christine Houston’s birthday celebration. (Photo Courtesy of Christine Houston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Christine<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Christine Houston passing out an exam to students enrolled in her screenwriting class at Chicago State University. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

How “227” was picked up by Hollywood<\/h2>\n

In 1983, San Jose State University premiered the \u201cTwo Twenty Seven\u201d play because the head of the Kennedy-King theater department sent the script all over the United States, according to Houston.<\/p>\n

Houston said that eventually Marla Gibbs, one of the stars from the \u201cThe Jeffersons,\u201d picked up Houston\u2019s play and premiered it at her theater. The play was a huge success and Gibbs invited different networks to see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNBC saw it first and jumped on it right away. She took out an option so that I wouldn\u2019t take it anywhere while she shopped it around and she got the network interested and they bought it,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n

NBC adapted Houston\u2019s play \u201cTwo Twenty Seven\u201d into the hit television series \u201c227.\u201d<\/p>\n

NAACP Image Award<\/h2>\n

Gibbs won an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress for \u201c227,\u201d while Houston received the NAACP Image Award for Playwriting, according to Houston. When asked to describe winning the award at the awards ceremony, Houston said, \u201dI wasn\u2019t there. Marla accepted the award for me and I never got it. I don\u2019t have it as of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston mentioned that she wasn\u2019t able to attend the awards ceremony because she had just left Los Angeles and couldn\u2019t turn around to make it back.<\/p>\n

When asked what\u2019s one thing that people should remember her by, Houston said, \u201cMy blonde hair, because I tell [people] blondes have more fun. I want them to remember that I believe no matter what your age is, if you\u2019re still on the planet, still able to walk, talk and breathe, you should do something with that gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at the top: The original 1977 cast of the play “227” pose for a picture at Kennedy-King College in Chicago.(Photo Courtesy of Christine Houston)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Branden Hampton Before there was a Shonda Rhimes or \u201cScandal,” there was someone in Hollywood that paved the way. Christine Houston, a Chicago native, is the creator of the hit 1980s sitcom \u201c227\u201d that aired on NBC from 1985 until 1990. She is the first African-American woman to receive a \u201ccreated by\u201d credit in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":35252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,675,585],"tags":[2061,2064,2062,2070,2069,2063,2066,2065,2068,2067],"class_list":["post-34210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-2061","tag-chicago-state-university","tag-christine-houston","tag-good-times","tag-helen-martin","tag-marla-gibbs","tag-naacp-award","tag-norman-lear","tag-reynaldo-rey","tag-the-jeffersons"],"yoast_head":"\nBehind The Hit Sitcom '227': Hollywood Living Legend Christine Houston - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/behind-the-hit-sitcom-227-hollywood-living-legend-christine-houston\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind The Hit Sitcom '227': Hollywood Living Legend Christine Houston - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Branden Hampton Before there was a Shonda Rhimes or \u201cScandal,” there was someone in Hollywood that paved the way. 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