Arkansas native TV scribe to be inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame

In body, young John Donley was chopping cotton in a field outside Gould with his mother and stepfather. In "heart and mind," though, he was playing baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers and hobnobbing with his baseball idols, Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays.

A professional baseball career eluded Donley, but he did hit a home run -- as a Hollywood TV writer whose credits include some of the most beloved situation comedies of the 1970s and '80s ... Good Times. The Jeffersons. Diff'rent Strokes. Benson. Who's the Boss?

Having to his credit nearly 100 TV-show episodes aired on national television, Donley's intent has been to get people not only laughing but thinking.

"My mission as a television producer and screenwriter is [also to impart] the values of equal justice, love for all people and unity among all people. We must learn to heal those things that divide us."

Donley will be one of the Class of 2019 inductees to the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame during its 27th annual induction ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Robinson Center Performance Hall. A VIP reception will begin at 5:30 in the DoubleTree by Hilton Grand Ballroom. Others to be inducted during the black-tie, Kennedy Center Honors-style evening: state Sen. Irma Hunter Brown; youth football coach Edward "Coach Ed" Johnson; opera singer Kristin Lewis; gospel and rhythm-and-blues artist Roscoe Robinson; and the late Wallace "Wali" Reed Caradine, architect and businessman. Proceeds from the ceremony will benefit the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Foundation, which, since 2004, has awarded more than $650,000 in grants to organizations that aid black and underserved communities throughout the state.

Donley hesitates to share his age -- "Please don't ask my age, because I will be forced to lie to you," he quips in an email interview -- but has been around long enough to have earned numerous awards for his work.

"But being inducted into the [Arkansas Black Hall of Fame], placing me in the company of such outstanding former inductees such as Maya Angelou [and] John Johnson ... is incomparable and humbling beyond words," he says.

HIS TURN AT BAT

Donley describes himself as the perennial dream chaser. The first dream he chased was the very one born on the farm he was determined to leave behind. After his graduation from Gould High School, he traveled to Chicago, where he tried out with the Cubs. He estimates that, at that time, he weighed "a whopping 129 pounds soaking wet. The bat boy was bigger than me."

The coach's assessment? "Listen, kid, you got talent, but do me a favor. Go home and eat ... and come and see me in a couple years."

Donley then landed a tryout with the White Sox but struck out his one time at bat. Still chasing dreams while in the military in Germany, he decided he'd be an actor instead. After his discharge, he went to Los Angeles and enrolled in acting classes, washing dishes and driving taxis to support himself. He also dabbled in stand-up comedy and singing.

Eventually, Donley discovered he had a talent for writing ... especially, writing material that made people laugh.

"I poured my heart and love for my people into comedic scripts and materials that tackled significant issues in black culture," he writes in his biography. "My scripts began to generate a lot of positive feedback from industry professionals, and one day I received 'the call' from legendary television writer and producer Norman Lear inviting me to pitch ideas for a new TV show." The rest, as they say, is history.

One of the proudest moments of Donley's career came when he co-wrote his second episode, as a professional writer, for the sitcom Good Times -- "The Checkup" (Season One, Episode 12). In the episode, the Evans family, after reading a magazine article about hypertension, tries to convince patriarch James to go to the doctor. The episode "was hailed as one of the most important episodes in television history in regard to saving lives by bringing awareness" to hypertension and was shown in schools and churches throughout the country's black communities.

ROOTS, DONLEY-STYLE

But it was "Roots" -- a Diff'rent Strokes episode in which Willis and Arnold try to prove to their old pals from Harlem that their adoption by a wealthy white man hasn't separated them from their black heritage -- that garnered Donley an NAACP Image Award for Best Situation Comedy Episode of 1984.

Donley says he resists any temptation to compare today's shows with the shows that defined his early career and cheerfully suggests that members of the mature crowd -- those who complain about the quality of today's media entertainment, compared with that of their youth -- do the same.

"The shows we see are designed to hold the attention of the audience long enough for advertisers to sell their products. The entertainment is merely a byproduct. So, if a show remains on the air, it means the advertisers are happy with the byproduct, and perhaps it's time for us older members of the audience to trade in the four-door sedan and step into a new convertible, put the top down and let the wind blow through what hair we have left."

Donley is excited about his up-and-coming project ... a new movie he just finished writing and, he hopes, will star Chris Tucker and Jim Carrey. It's about a black entertainer who finds his career in jeopardy after his fat-shaming video about obese women goes viral. Worse, the entertainer and his white physicist friend are accidentally zapped back in time to 1857 South Carolina, where the protagonist finds himself sold into slavery. But, "the soul of this [man] is ultimately transformed as he also discovers true love for the first time," Donley says.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles resident visits Arkansas as often as he can. There's a farm here that's been in his family since the end of slavery. "My visits to Arkansas provide me with time to reflect and renew, to get in touch with my core self."

But, Donley assures, he does no farm work during his visits.

"I still find myself closing my eyes whenever I am near a cotton field."

Style on 10/20/2019