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Access equaled opportunity
By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- The man who is driving Hillsborough Commissioner Ronda Storms crazy with his sexually explicit public access television show used to be an assistant manager at KB Toys. That was before he started an auto repair shop on one of Tampa's seedier strips, where he advertised "Crackhead Prices" on his storefront in day-glo graffiti. For kicks, he once bought a 1968 Cadillac hearse and put lettering in the window that read "Perkins Funeral Home & Food Catering." One of his heroes is Dr. Paul Bearer, the late host of WTOG-Ch. 44's Saturday series of B-grade horror movies. Then came the day Charles Perkins turned on the television news and heard about a show called Lifestyles of the Up and Coming on Hillsborough County's public access station. Commissioners were enraged with its sexually explicit depictions and were seeking to pull the plug. "I had never even heard of public access television," said Perkins, the 26-year-old producer and host of The Happy Show. "I was amazed you could do your own television show. And it was free." Now it's Perkins who is causing the ruckus. Storms wants him criminally prosecuted for The Happy Show, which recently began including closeup footage of nude women. She is seeking to cut off funding for the public access station, saying it has breached its contract with the county by not properly policing the show. Those decisions are pending. Meanwhile, a puppet named Ronda has debuted on the program, which was renamed The White Chocolate Show, taking Perkins' on-air name. Lorenzo Anderson offers this explanation for his close friend's now well-chronicled antics: "He's not this big Larry Flynt porn freak or anything. But the thing that's got him so upset right now is that someone told him no. That's where he sparks off." Perkins was a teenager when he got his first video recorder. Soon he was making movies with his friends. He created a cooking show that included a Russian chef who prepared his dishes with the help of a chain saw. He liked to drive up to a neighborhood golf course, film people at the tee, then run into the fairway to steal their ball while filming their reactions. "That was funny," Perkins said. When he graduated from Chamberlain High School, he had no plans for college. He wanted his own business because that's how a person makes real money, he said. With little experience, he started Saturn Subs in what was then the East Lake Mall, peddling a one-dollar hot dog and soda special when he realized more pricey offerings wouldn't sell. He grew bored, sold the business for a profit and returned to KB Toys, where he had worked in high school. There, he had access to toys and other props for his films. All the while, he was learning television at the public access station and producing his own show. His first attempt was called The Happy Dog Show. Then it became The Happy Boy Show. It featured puppets and raunchy humor, along the lines of South Park or comedian Andrew Dice Clay, Perkins said. There was Mr. Waffles, the alcoholic puppet, and a homosexual police officer who liked to frisk people. "Originally, this had nothing to do with nudity," Perkins said. "It was just me being a wacko." He started a new business, Cheap Auto Repair, near Hillsborough and Nebraska avenues. Again he got bored, sold the business, got divorced after a short marriage and returned to public access. His latest effort became The Happy Show and featured him more prominently as White Chocolate, a pimp and religious figure. He was recently told he would get an 11 p.m. time slot after he had sought something closer to prime time. Station officials say he got the assignment by lottery. Perkins thinks he was being censored. He turned to a couple of friends, including Deanna Morrell, a 19-year-old stripper, who agreed to bare all, becoming the new star of the show and the focus of Storms' protest. "If they were going to give me a mature audiences time slot, I was going to give them a mature audiences show," Perkins said.
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From the Times City Times - South Tampa North of Tampa |
