Post by Jonel on May 10, 2003 20:47:21 GMT -5
Robin Buckson / The Detroit News
Maxine Powell's duties included teaching such stars as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Temptations and Diana Ross and the Supremes how to conduct themselves in the Motown image.
'Miss Manners' hasn't lost her touch
Maxine Powell reigns as supreme motivator
By Mike Murphy / Special to The Detroit News
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Many people stood in the shadows of Motown, and Maxine Powell remains a standout among them.
What's more, the sophisticated lady who taught personal development at Wayne County Community College for nearly 15 years following her 1969 departure from Motown still gives instruction. Unlike some of yesterday's hit records, Powell says the gist of what she has to offer remains relevant today.
"They don't call me a teacher," said Powell, seated on a sofa in the library of her East Jefferson apartment building. "I am a motivator and an image builder. I am a specialist."
Some of the images she helped build in the 1960s remain formidable. As part of the artist development department at Motown, Powell taught stars such as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Temptations and Diana Ross and the Supremes how to walk and talk and carry themselves.
"She taught us that we were all flowers in a garden," Reeves said. "And she made ladies out of tomboys and gentlemen out of guys. She gave us great information."
Despite her age, which she declines to reveal, Powell's face is still a familiar one that elicits greetings in the community college's halls downtown, where she still gives instruction through private arrangement.
Wendy Ridgeway, who describes herself as an inspirational or positive rapper, began taking lessons from Powell in March to improve stagecraft essentials such as presence and diction. "It's been wonderful," said Ridgeway, who uses the stage name Ms. Wendy. "I'm learning a whole lot. Not just about the industry, but life lessons."
Life lessons are something Powell had a world of experience in long before she came to Motown.
Born and raised in Chicago as part of a middle-class family, the former actress and model was a pioneer in race relations before arriving in Detroit in 1945.
Powell was a member of the first black theater group performing at the Chicago Theater. "I always got in places where blacks were not supposed to get," she recalled. "I never saw prejudice, I just saw human beings. I knew if you had class, style and refinement that it would make you outstanding around the world."
When she visited Detroit to explore new career opportunities, Powell stayed at the Gotham Hotel, which catered to African-Americans at John R and Orchestra Place. During her 11 days there she made helpful connections and was introduced to prominent members of Detroit's black community. Within a year, she had moved and has been a Detroiter ever since.
"I had an idea that everybody was rich in Detroit, because in that setting there was a lot of money," Powell said. By 1951, Powell's entrepreneurial skills had paid off with her establishment of the Maxine Powell Finishing and Modeling School, the city's first black school of its type.
She operated out of her apartment until 1953, when she bought a large house on Ferry Street where she housed the finishing school and rented space for social functions and for other businesses. As a member of the Zonta Club, a women's service group, Powell negotiated to bring black productions and black artists to Orchestra Hall and the Latin Quarter.
And as the head of her own agency, Powell broke ground by placing African-American models with several of Detroit's major auto companies and with advertisers that bought space in local daily newspapers.
"In the 1950s, there was no market for black models and blacks didn't make the papers unless they committed a crime or did something naughty," Powell said.
Berry Gordy Jr.'s sisters -- Loucye, Esther and Gwen -- attended Powell's school and Gwen Gordy Fuqua became one of Powell's top models. She brought Powell to Motown in 1964.
"Berry Gordy didn't think it mattered at the time (to teach poise), but he later admitted it did," Powell said.
Powell said she had her work cut out for her at Motown, where the recording artists were required to attend her classes for two hours a day.
"Some of them were crude and rude and some of them were speaking street language. All they wanted was a hit record," Powell said. "I'm the woman who gave them class."
Now, almost 35 years after she left the legendary label, Powell still maintains that "class will turn the heads of kings and queens." And while the majority of her thousands of students over the years were not Motown stars, many learned they could be somebody special under her tutelage.
Madge Anderson, who has been working in real estate for 20 years, took Powell's class at Wayne County Community College in the early 1970s, and contacted Powell last year for further instruction. "I just wanted to polish myself and stay honed," Anderson said. "She really made a difference in my life and because of her I felt I was the lady I wanted to be. Her name should be Maxine 'Miss Manners' Powell."
1951-64: Ran the Maxine Powell Finishing and Modeling School, Detroit's first black modeling program.
1964-69: Directed a finishing school for Motown Records through its Artist Development department.
1971-85: Wayne County Community College instructor of personal development course, which she created and compiled a textbook for students to use.
1985-present: Powell offers individual consulting. For information, call (313) 331-4333.
Mike Murphy is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.
www.detnews.com/2003/detroit/0305/07/s12-156464.htm
