Now that I have a new part-time job in Providence, I take the bus to and from work. Taking the bus is always an adventure, however, Monday’s trip home was extra interesting. I was waiting for the bus about 1:15pm when a tall, thin, African-American man came up to me and asked me if I knew which stop he should get off in order to get to Pawtucket Memorial Hospital. Now seeing that the part of my brain responsible for geography and giving directions is slightly impaired, I, unfortunately, could not provide this man with an answer. So, I politely told him that I wasn’t very familiar with Pawtucket, which is technically not a lie. (Editor’s note: My reluctance to even give him directions was spurred by the fact that just last week a nice woman asked me how to get to the Salvation Army on Pitman Street and I, of course, accidentally gave her the wrong directions and sent her down Waterman Avenue instead. I really am a dope when it comes to maps, streets and knowing my lefts from my rights. Taylor gets very frustrated that I still don’t know my left from my right. Oh, well. I’m blaming genetics.)
Anyway, the bus came and we all boarded. The tall, African-American man ended up sitting just two people away from me. Now being the nosy person that I am, I began to listen in on his conversation with another man. He was talking about how he was getting a royalty from L.A. check because his show aired the other night. Hmm. This seemed rather interesting, so I continued to listen. He went on to say that he was the first African-American actor on Laverne & Shirley, had played Nell Carter’s ex-husband on Gimme A Break for a few episodes and was on Good Times for an entire season. Now, if you’ve ever been to Kennedy Plaza in Providence, you know that some of the patrons can be quite eccentric. So, although I thought what this man was saying was interesting, I wasn’t sure how much of it to believe. As soon as I got home, I looked him up online. As it turns out, he was telling the truth. Although he has aged since the 80s, his voice is very distinctive and I recognized it the minute I turned up the volume. The man’s name is Ben Powers and he was an actor in the 1980s. He really did appear on Laverne and Shirley, Gimme A Break and Good Times. He also appeared on Laugh In and did a couple of movies. Long story short, he got into drugs and eventually got sick with liver cancer. According to the message boards that I was able to hunt down about him, he now lives in Providence with his mother and sister. I’ve yet to see him on the bus since, but the next time I do, I think I’m going to acknowledge him and his former work. I’ve posted a couple of youtube clips below. He was quite funny, it’s too bad that external circumstances got the best of him. So without further adieu, here is my Ben Powers tribute:
Ben Powers on Laverne & Shirley
Ben Powers on Good Times:
