If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band (1972)
1h 13m
Running Time
December 19, 1972Release Date
If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band (1972)
1h 13m
Running Time
December 19, 1972Release Date
Plot.
Life in a black ghetto isn't easy for 14-year-old Billie Jean Sims, who has a father in jail, a blind grandmother, and a brother with a drug habit. Growing up among drug pushers, prostitutes, and pimps, Billie Jean still has some things going for her: fierce pride, a loyal friend named Fish, and, at last, enough savings to visit her father 1200 miles away in prison.
Where to Watch.
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Cast & Crew.
Donna M. Bryan
Billie Jean Sims
James Broderick
Trick
Georgia Burke
Grannie
Sonny Jim Gaines
Mr. Sims
Laurence Fishburne
Fish
Arthur French
Customer
Fred Coe
Director
Moses Gunn
Mr. Miller
Stanley L. Gray
Writer
Albert Hall
T-Bone Sims
David Susskind
Producer
Dots Johnson
Jim
Jake Ostroff
Cinematographer
John Marriott
Jessie
Arline Garson
Editor
George Miles
Shake-a-Hand
Haywood Nelson
Ronnie
Jim Pelham
Eddie
Joseph Ray
Walkin' Willie
Dick Sabol
Prison Guard
Lee Dichter
Sound Mixer
Robert Gundlach
Art Direction
Richard Merrell
Set Decoration
Hal Schaffel
Production Manager
Michael Lieberman
Director of Photography
Ferd Manning
Lighting Director
Pamela Susskind
Associate Producer
Maury Beaumont
Unit Manager
William Pelt
Production Assistant
Blake Norton
Sound
Jacob Stern
Music Supervisor
B.J. Bachman
Continuity
Martin Begley
Supervising Technical Director
Tom Horin
Technical Supervisor
Details.
Wiki.
If You Give a Dance You Gotta Pay the Band is a 1972 American TV movie. It was the first program shown under the umbrella ABC Theater.The production (at the time referred to as a "dramatic special" or "teleplay" rather than a made-for-TV movie) was the first screen credit for Laurence Fishburne and led to him getting a role later on in the soap opera One Life to Live.The teleplay first aired on ABC at 8:30pm ET on Tuesday, December 19, 1972 and was rerun on Wednesday, June 6, 1973 at 9:00pm ET. In TV listings of the era, the title was generally given as If You Give a Dance You Gotta Pay the Band without a comma.