Jonelle Allen

It wasn’t until the spring of 1989 with the premiere of NBC TV’s Generations, the first daytime serial in which one of the two major families was Black, then Allen settled down for a substantial two-year run. It was the support of this vanguard series and her continuing efforts to expand the opportunities of minority actors that Allen appeared on the floors of Congress and saw her impassioned testimony published in The Congressional Record.  Soon after the demise of Generations, Allen embarked upon what promises to be the extended run of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

 

Generations 

The NBC soap was the first to feature a Black family from its debut. 

Generations is an American soap opera that aired on NBC from March 27, 1989, to January 25, 1991. The show was groundbreaking in that it was the first soap opera to feature from its inception an African-American family. 

Original cast
Marla Adams (Helen Mullin)
Anthony Addabbo (Jason Craig)
Jonelle Allen (Doreen Jackson)
Jack Betts (Hugh Gardner)
Taurean Blacque/James Reynolds (Henry Marshall)
Sharon Brown/Debbi Morgan (Chantal Marshall)
Patricia Crowley/Dorothy Lyman (Rebecca Whitmore)
George Deloy (Rob Donnelly)
Elinor Donahue (Sylvia Furth)
Rick Fitts (Martin Jackson)
Vivica A. Fox (Maya Reubens)
Bruce Gray (Phillip Webb)
Lynn Hamilton (Vivian Potter)
Ron Harper (Peter Whitmore)
Andrew Masset (Trevor McCallum)
Joan Pringle (Ruth Marshall)
Gail Ramsey (Laura McCallum)
Barbara Rhoades/Linda Gibboney (Jessica Gardner)
Richard Roundtree (Dr. Daniel Ruebens)
Kelly Rutherford (Stephanie “Sam” Whitmore)
George Shannon /Robert Gentry (Jordan Hale)
Nancy Sorel (Monique McCallum)
Kristoff St. John (Adam Marshall)
Robert Torti (Lt. Kyle Masters)
Joseph Whipp (Charles Mullin)

 

Her most notable roles are Lucinda Cavender, the vampire witch in the horror-comedy film The Midnight Hour, and the flamboyant and outspoken Doreen Jackson on the NBC soap opera, Generations.

 

 

 

The famous catfight between Doreen Jackson (Jonelle Allen) and Maya Reubens (Vivica A. Fox) on the soap opera Generations. This clip also features Kristoff St. John as Adam Marshall.
“The thing with Generations was that even before we aired people were saying we were canceled!  I went and talked to the NAACP to try and have them give us a special award or acknowledgment because at that time the IMAGE Awards did not recognize daytime programming…

 

Kristoff St. John (Adam Marshall) and Jonelle Allen (Doreen Jackson)

However, now Daytime TV is recognized by the IMAGE Awards (I believe) and I hope that Generations helped in making that change. I know that it gave larger storylines of color, as opposed to the three or four actors that were represented before. The wonderful late Judi Ann Mason and the award-winning writer Michele Val Jean were a part of that creative team.  Although in fairness All My Children  had wonderful storylines for us before Generations.”  

GENERATIONS— Pictured: (l-r) Jonelle Allen as Doreen Jackson, James Reynolds as Henry Marshall — (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

GENERATIONS — Pictured: (l-r) James Reynolds as Henry Marshall, Jonelle Allen as Doreen Jackson, Brandon Tartikoff — (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

 

GENERATIONS ~ The Original Cast

Vivica A. Fox (Maya Reubens)
Tony Addabbo (Jason Craig)
Jonelle Allen (Doreen Jackson)
Jack Betts (Hugh Gardner)
Taurean Blacque (Henry Marshall)
Sharon Brown (Chantal Marshall)
Patricia Crowley (Rebecca Whitmore)
George DelHoyo (Rob Donnelly)
Rick Fitts (Martin Jackson)
Lynn Hamilton (Vivian Potter)
Andrew Masset (Trevor McCallum)
Joan Pringle (Ruth Marshall)
Gail Ramsey (Laura McCallum)
Barbara Rhoades (Jessica Gardner)
Kelly Rutherford (Stephanie “Sam” Whitmore)
Nancy Sorel (Monique McCallum)
Kristoff St. John (Adam Marshall)
Robert Torti (Lt. Kyle Masters)

African-American jazz musician George Duke and Jonelle Allen playing the piano, 1982. GENERATIONS  (Photo by Afro-American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)

Generations (1989)
Anthony Addabbo, Jonelle Allen, George DelHoyo, Rick Fitts, and Linda Gibboney

 

‘I wanna wipe this floor with you’: An oral history of Generations‘ iconic catfight

Back in 1990, NBC’s short-lived soap opera “Generations” gave us one of the best catfights of all time. Stars Jonelle Allen and Vivica A. Fox shares their memories of filming that iconic showdown.

By

Kristen Baldwin
Published on February 28, 2024

Generations: Catfight (Full Scene)

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“The show was a trendsetter! We have to look at the full picture. I’m telling you all that the penchant to control our images, is great! I will forever remember that the only way that we got the movie Red Tails was because George Lucas had the 93 million dollars to personally fund it…in their faces! Generations were our Dallas… our All My Children, it was a fun show and the cast did good work.
It was not Macbeth,
it was Soap! ” 

GENERATIONS  Honored at the National Black Caucus and after that, the IMAGE AWARDS.
Acknowledged Daytime Dramas

 

GENERATIONS Memorabilia  Courtesy of Ryan Rong

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iforcolor

ARCHIVIST, EDUCATOR, HISTORIAN, and ARTiST
Dale Ricardo Shields is a 2017 winner of The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award®, 2017 and 2015 Tony® award nominee for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award, the 2017 AUDELCO/"VIV" Special Achievement Award, 2020, 2021, and 2022 ENCORE AWARD / The Actors Fund and winner of the 2022.

Recently, he won the 2022 Legend Award from his alma mater Ohio University.

He is the 2021 winner of the Paul Robeson Award, presented (jointly) by the Actors Equity Association and the Actors Equity Foundation.

Research Accomplishments:
His extensive professional credits as a Director, Stage manager, and Actor (Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Regional) As an actor he has appeared on Saturday Night Live, Another World, Guiding Light, The Cosby Show, and the ITV television series "Special Needs" and commercials and film.

Professor Shields is a member of the Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the American Guild of Musical Artists performance unions and an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

He began his artistic academic career in New York City at Playwrights Horizon, The South Bronx Action Theatre, and Mind Builders, and then was invited to join the teaching staff at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre (New York Shakespeare Festival). He represented the United States for Theatre Young Audiences at the ASSITEJ Theatre Festival in London, England.

He has been a Professor and Visiting Artist at Ohio University, The College of Wooster, Denison University, Macalester College, Randolph- Macon College, Susquehanna University, and SUNY Potsdam.

He holds B.F.A and M.F.A, Degrees from Ohio University.

Website(s)

Iforcolor.org [Research]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Ricardo_Shields [Career]