Friday, October 5, 2012

...AND STILL CHAMPION! THE STORY OF ARCHIE MOORE (1967) written by Frank Chin

In Frank Chin's 1972 play, The Chickencoop Chinaman, the protagonist -- Tam Lum -- takes a trip to Pittsburgh, PA to gather information for a documentary he's making about Ovaltine Jack Dancer, a former light  heavyweight champion of the world. In a seedy porn theater, he finds the owner-operator of the place: Charley Popcorn, Ovaltine's former trainer and father. But as Tam soon finds out, what Ovaltine claimed about his alleged "father" may not be the real story at all.

Like most writers, Frank Chin borrowed from his own life in crafting his plays, novels, and short stories. During the late 1960s, he worked for four years at KING-TV and King Screen Productions, writing TV documentaries and other films. One project that emerged from his tenure at King Screen Productions was ...And Still Champion! The Story of Archie Moore (1967). As one might expect, this documentary traced the career of boxer Archie Moore from childhood to the mid-1960s. Moore, who still holds the record for the most knockouts (131) and even played Jim in Michael Curtiz's 1960 adaptation of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, makes for a fascinating interview subject, as the narration -- written by Frank Chin -- suggests, but doesn't say outright that some of Moore's childhood memories may be self-invented . While Chin served as writer and associate producer, ...And Still Champion! was directed by Loy Norrix, with narratation by Jack Palance (Shane, City Slickers), with a special appearance by Moore's Huckleberry Finn co-star, Tony Randall (The Odd Couple).

Thanks to Youtube user Carbon Titanium (aka Frank's son, Sam Chin), the documentary is now widely available for everyone to see.


SOURCE: YOUTUBE, CARBON TITANIUM