REMEMBERING PETEY GREENE

Excellent recent TV documentary, "Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene." Find it wherever you can and then read "Laugh if You Like, Ain't a Damn Thing Funny: The Life Story of Ralph 'Petey' Greene as Told to Lurma Rackley." Both are musts for anyone interested in the cultural history of the capital.

Lurma Rackley, Washington Post - Legendary broadcaster Petey Greene sits on the set of his television talk show, "Petey Greene's Washington," burying his face in a huge chunk of watermelon. "I just can't understand why black people started eating watermelon in the closet," he announces, eyes stretched wide with wonder. "I've seen y'all cut it up in little slices . . . but all you got to do is pick it up like this here. ."

So begins "Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene," which tells the story of the D.C. radio and TV personality who overcame poverty, drug addiction and multiple arrests to take his hometown by storm in the late 1960s (and continuously for 16 years). . .

"Adjust Your Color" features clips that highlight the range viewers saw when tuning in to Greene's TV talk show. There's Greene with shock jock Howard Stern in black face, but still not out-shocking his host; Greene interviewing Midge Costanza, then a special assistant to President Carter; and Greene as a proud parent talking with his then-young children about their future dreams.

Interspersed among those scenes are interviews with D.C. notables -- including Ben's Chili Bowl owner Virginia Ali, sportscaster James Brown, city council member Marion Barry and actor Robert Hooks -- talking about Greene and how he touched their lives. . .

A natural comedian who could rhyme off the top of his head, Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene started broadcasting in 1967, two years after getting out of Lorton Reformatory, where he served time for armed robbery. At Lorton, he built on his already locally well-known talent as a stand-up comic by spinning tunes and talking jive as a DJ over the prison's public address system.

Upon release, he took a job as a community organizer at the United Planning Organization, an anti-poverty agency, and worked there until he died.

Once a week, the District native got his chance to elevate civic issues, first on R&B radio station WOL. His shows combined biting humor, homespun advice he learned from his beloved grandmother, information for poor people to find social services, and unusual political commentary. They also showcased how well Greene knew the District's streets, its people and the problems they shared.

Greene launched his Sunday talk show "Petey Greene's Washington" on WDCA-TV in 1972. . . And when cable network BET launched in 1980, Greene's show was selected for the initial lineup. "Petey Greene's Washington" aired nationwide for four years. . .

When Greene died of cancer in 1984, thousands of people lined up in freezing weather outside Union Wesley AME Zion Church on Michigan Avenue NE to pay their respects.

LURMA RACKLEY, WASHINGTON POST, 2007 - Washingtonians of a certain era knew Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene in his various life phases: as a raggedy kid who could "play the dozens" better than anyone in 1930s black Georgetown; as an often inebriated yet phenomenally funny young comedian at "picnics" in Wilmer's Park; as a rapping, rhyming emcee at Lorton Reformatory, where he served time for robbery; and finally as a legendary broadcaster who charted new territory in straight talk and community activism until his death in 1984 at age 53. . .

In late 1981, Petey asked me to help him tell his life story. . . I spent most of my time cracking up with laughter. He told me that he honed his rapping, rhyming and "joning" skills as a preschool kid dead set on taking the focus off his disadvantages. His father was in jail more often than he was at home, and his mother had her own brushes with the law. His beloved pipe-smoking grandmother Maggie Floyd, known as A'nt Pig, instilled in him a fortitude and an optimism that carried him through the worst of times in his personal life. From the age of 3, Petey heard A'nt Pig say: "Boy, I know your mouth is gone get you killed or get you rich one day. 'Cause you the talkingest damn boy I ever seen.". . .

Toward the end of his life, Petey began to step into his A'nt Pig's full vision for him. He stunned his friends in 1979 when he finally gave up binge drinking. In 1981, he was baptized by the United House of Prayer's Bishop Walter "Sweet Daddy" McCullough. . .

DC Gazette, 1970 - [Activist Petey] Greene "testified" [at a council hearing on marijuana] on behalf of his grandmother, whose opinions on marijuana are based on practical experience. She once told her grandson to quit: "Petey, you gotta stop smoking those reefers because they make you too hungry, and I can't buy all that extra food." Later, on comparing its effects with those of alcohol, "She said she'd rather me smoke reefers and just sit and smile at people than drink that old wine and come in throwing chairs around. "

PETEY GREENE ON HOW TO EAT A WATERMELON