Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Novak Zone

Aired February 21, 2004 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Alonzo Fields spent more than 20 years in the White House. But you've probably never even heard of him. Now, a new one-man show tells Alonzo's story. Actor Wendell Wright plays Alonzo in the show and joins CNN's Robert Novak in this week's The Novak Zone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to The Novak Zone.

We're in the historic Ford's Theater in downtown Washington, D.C., with actor Wendell Wright, who's starring here at the theater in a one-man show, "Looking Over the President's Shoulder."

Mr. Wright, you -- the person that you portray who is looking over the president's shoulder is a real-life person, Alonzo Fields. Who was Alonzo Fields?

WENDELL WRIGHT, ACTOR: Alonzo Fields was a man who was raised in southern Indiana, and wanted to be an opera singer, and ended up, through a series of circumstances after studying at the New England Conservatory, ended up working as a butler in the White House.

And he planned to come and stay and work for the winter. He ended up working at the White House for 21 years and three months for four administrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER")

WRIGHT: I've held the chair for four presidents, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. And as chief butler for the White House, I've come in contact with kings and queens, prime ministers, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), admirals, labor, races, political, church leaders, or some rabble-rousers too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK: What kind of person was Alonzo Fields?

WRIGHT: He was very dedicated to his work, and he was very precise in everything that he did. He took the idea of working as a butler, he (UNINTELLIGIBLE), worked at it as hard as he did as working to be an opera singer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER") WRIGHT: Working in the White House wasn't something I had planned on. I did not want to be a domestic. I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be a musician. I wanted to be a singer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK: Mr. Wright, he describes himself as being in the front row and watching the parade. Is that the way you depict him in the play, as somebody who was really watching this great procession going on?

WRIGHT: Yes. He was, you know, starting with the Hoovers, he was there watching -- and I'm sure he is privy to much more information than many White House workers are today, at that period of time. But, yes, he had a front row seat, and he took notes, and he saved all of these notes. The playwright was able to look at Alonzo Fields' personal notes and memorabilia, menus that he'd planned, different events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER")

WRIGHT: I started to write things down. Notes to myself, little scribbles, my own little shorthand, like a secret code. But I had to be careful. I didn't want people to think I was a snoop or a spy. I just wanted to remember. I wanted to remember how things happened, who was there, what was said. It was like having a front row seat watching the passing parade of history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK: Alonzo Fields said he was not a -- didn't consider himself a servant to individuals, powerful individuals, but to the country. What did he mean by that?

WRIGHT: He felt he was doing a service to the country by being there for each president that he served, and especially as diverse, you know, a field of presidents, from Hoover to Roosevelt, to Truman. He felt he was serving the country, that he was a true patriot.

I mean, he went on secret missions to minister to Winston Churchill, and yet he had all of this information, and he maintained it, he kept it, he didn't -- you know, he didn't attempt to write a tell-all sort of book on the backdoor politics of the White House.

NOVAK: The person you portray, Alonzo Fields, his favorite president was Harry Truman. Why is that?

WRIGHT: Because Truman was the first president he worked for who gave him respect as a man. He recognized the job that Alonzo Fields was doing. And it was under the Truman administration when the armed forces were finally integrated. And I think to Alonzo, that was a very big deal.

But he did have great respect from Truman, and that's why I think he always -- he said Truman understood him as a man.

NOVAK: More than Franklin Roosevelt?

WRIGHT: Yes. Oh, Roosevelt, to him -- he loved Roosevelt. He felt Roosevelt was a great man. But he also felt -- he says that Roosevelt was an aristocrat. And there was just always that barrier between them.

NOVAK: Among the many famous people that Alonzo Fields met at the White House and that you talk about in the -- in your play was Winston Churchill. Can you tell us something about that?

WRIGHT: Yes. They ended up having quite a wonderful relationship with Winston Churchill. He met him at the White House on Churchill's first trip, and he ended up being sent to tend to Churchill when Churchill came to Florida for secret meetings about the war. Alonzo was always amazed that Churchill's consumption of alcohol throughout the day. It was always an amazement to him. But he liked him very much.

NOVAK: And now, the big question for Wendell Wright.

Mr. Wright, what do the audiences who see you in "Looking Over the President's Shoulder: The Story of Alonzo Fields," what do you think they carry away from the theater when they go home?

WRIGHT: I think they see what I believe to be almost classic American tale about a man whose dream has been somewhat deferred, but he found another arena within which to fulfill himself. But his singing career was never able to take off. He had a family. It was the Depression. This was the only job he had.

And he deferred that dream to better his family, and yet he put as much love and care into working as a butler as he would have into being an opera singer.

NOVAK: And so he was a success.

WRIGHT: He was a success.

NOVAK: Wendell Wright, thank you very much.

WRIGHT: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

NOVAK: And thank you for being in The Novak Zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 21, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Alonzo Fields spent more than 20 years in the White House. But you've probably never even heard of him. Now, a new one-man show tells Alonzo's story. Actor Wendell Wright plays Alonzo in the show and joins CNN's Robert Novak in this week's The Novak Zone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to The Novak Zone.

We're in the historic Ford's Theater in downtown Washington, D.C., with actor Wendell Wright, who's starring here at the theater in a one-man show, "Looking Over the President's Shoulder."

Mr. Wright, you -- the person that you portray who is looking over the president's shoulder is a real-life person, Alonzo Fields. Who was Alonzo Fields?

WENDELL WRIGHT, ACTOR: Alonzo Fields was a man who was raised in southern Indiana, and wanted to be an opera singer, and ended up, through a series of circumstances after studying at the New England Conservatory, ended up working as a butler in the White House.

And he planned to come and stay and work for the winter. He ended up working at the White House for 21 years and three months for four administrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER")

WRIGHT: I've held the chair for four presidents, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. And as chief butler for the White House, I've come in contact with kings and queens, prime ministers, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), admirals, labor, races, political, church leaders, or some rabble-rousers too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK: What kind of person was Alonzo Fields?

WRIGHT: He was very dedicated to his work, and he was very precise in everything that he did. He took the idea of working as a butler, he (UNINTELLIGIBLE), worked at it as hard as he did as working to be an opera singer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER") WRIGHT: Working in the White House wasn't something I had planned on. I did not want to be a domestic. I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be a musician. I wanted to be a singer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK: Mr. Wright, he describes himself as being in the front row and watching the parade. Is that the way you depict him in the play, as somebody who was really watching this great procession going on?

WRIGHT: Yes. He was, you know, starting with the Hoovers, he was there watching -- and I'm sure he is privy to much more information than many White House workers are today, at that period of time. But, yes, he had a front row seat, and he took notes, and he saved all of these notes. The playwright was able to look at Alonzo Fields' personal notes and memorabilia, menus that he'd planned, different events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT'S SHOULDER")

WRIGHT: I started to write things down. Notes to myself, little scribbles, my own little shorthand, like a secret code. But I had to be careful. I didn't want people to think I was a snoop or a spy. I just wanted to remember. I wanted to remember how things happened, who was there, what was said. It was like having a front row seat watching the passing parade of history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK: Alonzo Fields said he was not a -- didn't consider himself a servant to individuals, powerful individuals, but to the country. What did he mean by that?

WRIGHT: He felt he was doing a service to the country by being there for each president that he served, and especially as diverse, you know, a field of presidents, from Hoover to Roosevelt, to Truman. He felt he was serving the country, that he was a true patriot.

I mean, he went on secret missions to minister to Winston Churchill, and yet he had all of this information, and he maintained it, he kept it, he didn't -- you know, he didn't attempt to write a tell-all sort of book on the backdoor politics of the White House.

NOVAK: The person you portray, Alonzo Fields, his favorite president was Harry Truman. Why is that?

WRIGHT: Because Truman was the first president he worked for who gave him respect as a man. He recognized the job that Alonzo Fields was doing. And it was under the Truman administration when the armed forces were finally integrated. And I think to Alonzo, that was a very big deal.

But he did have great respect from Truman, and that's why I think he always -- he said Truman understood him as a man.

NOVAK: More than Franklin Roosevelt?

WRIGHT: Yes. Oh, Roosevelt, to him -- he loved Roosevelt. He felt Roosevelt was a great man. But he also felt -- he says that Roosevelt was an aristocrat. And there was just always that barrier between them.

NOVAK: Among the many famous people that Alonzo Fields met at the White House and that you talk about in the -- in your play was Winston Churchill. Can you tell us something about that?

WRIGHT: Yes. They ended up having quite a wonderful relationship with Winston Churchill. He met him at the White House on Churchill's first trip, and he ended up being sent to tend to Churchill when Churchill came to Florida for secret meetings about the war. Alonzo was always amazed that Churchill's consumption of alcohol throughout the day. It was always an amazement to him. But he liked him very much.

NOVAK: And now, the big question for Wendell Wright.

Mr. Wright, what do the audiences who see you in "Looking Over the President's Shoulder: The Story of Alonzo Fields," what do you think they carry away from the theater when they go home?

WRIGHT: I think they see what I believe to be almost classic American tale about a man whose dream has been somewhat deferred, but he found another arena within which to fulfill himself. But his singing career was never able to take off. He had a family. It was the Depression. This was the only job he had.

And he deferred that dream to better his family, and yet he put as much love and care into working as a butler as he would have into being an opera singer.

NOVAK: And so he was a success.

WRIGHT: He was a success.

NOVAK: Wendell Wright, thank you very much.

WRIGHT: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

NOVAK: And thank you for being in The Novak Zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com