2011-11-30
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Staff Writter
The only drama that we have heard about Tyler Perry early days have been based around David Whitehead the play write and Whitehead's works as they relate to Tyler Perry character Meadea. Well, Perry past appears to be catching up with him with some alleged statements relating to drug money funding Perry's living , funding of early plays and promotional cost.
A former radio executive Melvin Childs talks about Tyler Perry early days in a new book. The Book is titled "Never Would have Made it". The Book talks about how Childs paid for Perry's motel stays , feed Perry , and put the money up for all Perry early day operations before he broke big in Atlanta. Perry was allegedly broke because Perry put all his money in the operations of his plays because failed.
Childs feels in the holes to the Perry homelessness and Childs talks about how drug money was used to support Perry.
Chapter 1 Just Act Normal, Producer/Promoter Melvin Childs talks about getting then struggling playwright/actor Tyler Perry’s first successful play "I Know I've Been Changed" off the ground.
If Nia and I had risked our life savings, he had already LOST everything he had trying to make this happen. And I’m not just talking about money. I don’t want to minimize what we had invested, but there was no question that his life literally depended on the success of this project. He could be a handful at times, but then again, what artist wasn’t? The important thing was he was talented and unquestionably committed to making this work. I believed in him, and his talent, from the start. So much so that I supported him financially for months as we tried to find a way to remount his show. Food, hotels, spending money, you name it.
I didn’t mind though. I considered him a friend and lord knows he needed the help. He was flat-ass broke when I met him and since he had already given up everything he had to get the project this far, I was just doing what I could to keep things going. It was almost unreal to think about how far he had come since we first met and honestly, I couldn’t have been happier for him. Especially now that he was going to have his shot. What I had in my carry-on was going to mean a lot to Nia and I, there was no question about that, but for Tyler Perry, we were literally about to change his life.
Chapter 2 Just Act Normal: Producer Promoter Melvin Childs describes his disappointment after seeing Tyler Perry again for the first time years after the abrupt and painful parting of the ways.
"That night was a turning point for me. Until that night, I had defended Tyler to anyone close enough to me to know the true story. I’m talking about the truth; not the spin he puts out on Oprah or the half-truth you can read on his website. I’m talking about the real story of how he went from being a failed playwright performing in churches for fifty people, to being Tyler Perry. I’m talking about the time in the beginning when I had lost my job and would take money from my wife and send it to Tyler to help pay his bills. I know what happened because I was there and, what’s more important, Tyler knows I was there.
His words, "Melvin here was my first promoter," rolled around in my mind as I got closer and closer to home.
The more I thought about it, the more it started to piss me off. Was I just a promoter when you came to me for a loan because you didn’t have the money to pay your cast? Was I just a promoter when you called me to borrow money to buy food or when I personally paid for the hotel you were living in while you were supposedly homeless? Maybe I was and if that’s the case, then so be it. But guess what? Regardless of what he wants to call me, I was there. And because I was there, I also have a story to tell.
Chapter #3 Setting The Record Straight: Producer/Promoter Melvin Childs discusses how he even with all his talent Tyler Perry wasn’t made into who he is today by himself as he would like everyone to believe.
Question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?â€
Answer: “Nobody cares.†That was Tyler back then. He had talent, there is no question, but since nobody was there to see it, nobody cared, and that’s the point. He was every bit as talented then as he is today. So what changed? He got some help. That’s the big revelation. He did not go from an obscure unknown talent in Alabama, or Saint Louis for that matter, to become the toast of Atlanta all by himself, while living out of his car. It took a lot of hard work, faith, and CASH to get him to the House of Blues. That sold out run is where the Tyler Perry, as we know him today, was born, but that’s not where he began.
Chapter 12# Fantasy Island: On Spike Lee and His Opinion about Tyler Perry.
What Spike doesn’t realize is that Tyler and his audience have done this together. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks because he is speaking directly to them in a way they want to be spoken to. The loyalty they have for him is reciprocated in the fact that their support shields him from having to conform to anyone else’s standard but theirs. He remains true to them because their dollars protect him. There aren’t very many artists throughout history who can claim this kind of relationship with their audience. It didn’t happen overnight, and he didn’t do it all by himself, but it did happen. And he must be given credit for his part in building something that has never before been seen.
Chapter 13# Back in the Game:
What I had done for him was nothing short of amazing. Less than six months ago I was paying for him to stay in a two hundred dollar a week hotel and now we were out on the road, performing in front sold out houses, and to top it off, he was getting paid very well to do something he loved to do. I had done nothing but right by Tyler and the least I would have expected is for him to show some appreciation by not acting like an ass because I didn’t provide him with freaking limo service. Then for me to give him the car and for him not to apologize for the way he carried on was unforgivable. Our relationship was never the same after that.
Chapter 15# We've Only Just Begun:
One thing was clear from the beginning--Tyler could spend some money. This was especially hard for me to deal with because this was the same person I saw eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when we were on the road the first time. Now I was looking at five and six hundred dollar room service bills? I gave him the money to pay his cast when he didn’t have it, and now he was sticking me up for car service because he was too good to ride for ten minutes to and from the venue with the cast?? The resentment was absolutely building up inside me and Arthur fueled it even more.
Chapter 17# You Done Lost Your Mind:
I didn’t see any of this coming. Arthur was more than just my friend he was my mentor. He was like a father to me and I brought him into this deal even though he had done nothing but bad-mouth the project from day one. I brought him into this deal even though I knew his reputation was shady. Was that a good decision? Obviously not, but in fairness to myself, I had never been anything but good to Arthur and his family so I didn’t think there was any way in hell he would steal from me. I was wrong. Not only did he steal from me, he had been setting me up all along.
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