<div><p> IF YOU GO</p><p>Who: Bill Cosby</p><p>When: 7:30 and 10 tonight</p><p>Where: Treasure Island</p><p>Tickets: $79-$99; treasure</p><p>island.com</p><p> Three months ago Bill Cosby performed in Las Vegas for the first time in years, headlining at Treasure Island.</p><p>He returns for an encore tonight.</p><p>It may be the last time fans have a chance to see AmericaÕs uncrowned raconteur laureate on a Las Vegas stage for a while.</p><p>ÒThe last time I played there,Ó Cosby says during a phone call to his home in Shelburne Falls, Mass., Òthe attendance was not good. The town was kind of down.Ó</p><p>ÒIf it doesnÕt do better this time then IÕll just lay out till it turns into a boomtown again,Ó the 72-year-old Cosby says.</p><p>He never seems to get angry. He says he can, but keeps it under tight control.</p><p>Rather than protest nightclub segregation in the early Õ60s, for instance, Cosby simply didnÕt perform in the nonintegrated ones.</p><p>ÒA club would call and say, ÔWeÕd like to have Bill Cosby play.Õ My agent would say, ÔAre you integrated?Õ ÔNo, weÕre not.Õ ÔOK, goodbye.Õ WhatÕs the reason for yelling at people?Ó</p><p>He used his growing star power in the Õ60s — when he co-starred in the hit TV series ÒI SpyÓ — and later years to quietly help change the face of Hollywood, including the introduction of black stuntmen.</p><p>From Õ69 to Õ71 Cosby starred as Chet Kincaid in ÒThe Bill Cosby Show,Ó not to be confused with ÒThe Cosby ShowÓ (1984-92), in which he played Dr. Heathcliff ÔCliffÕ Huxtable.</p><p>ÒWhat happened during the Chet Kincaid show — the union was all white on the lot except for the black people who were light in color, because the unions thought they were either Filipinos or Indians,Ó Cosby says.</p><p>He asked his producer about the situation.</p><p>ÒIt turns out they had a law that said that they didnÕt mind black people in the union, itÕs just that if (producers) wanted to do this then they had to pay the black interns and the regular white guy who was in the union — they both had to have regular salaries,Ó Cosby said. ÒI assumed since no blacks were in the unions, then every union had the same rule — whether it was painters or somebody polishing doorknobs or doing hair or makeup or wardrobe.Ó</p><p>Hiring blacks for entry-level jobs in order to get them into the union essentially doubled the cost of production.</p><p>Where others balked, Cosby didnÕt.</p><p>ÒThese apprentices would serve behind the union members, learn their trade and take a test and then be admitted into the union. I put all those people in line to join the unions — I even put in a still photographer to get a license and be in the union.Ó</p><p>Cosby wasnÕt angry during any of this.</p><p>ÒI would have been angry had they set up some kind of trickery,Ó he says.</p><p>He didnÕt even get angry when he ultimately fired a hairstylist — an older black woman — from ÒThe Bill Cosby Show.Ó</p><p>ÒEverybody loved her,Ó Cosby says. ÒShe worked behind a white woman who was doing hair on the show.Ó</p><p>The black worker refused to take the test to join the union and after more than a year Cosby told her she needed to take the test.</p><p>ÒI told her I had to put some more people in the union and she was the only one who had not taken the test,Ó Cosby says. ÒShe sat down and in great sorrow she said that she was scared because she would lose her friends, the white ones.</p><p>ÒI began to feel that I was talking to some child who was under peer pressure at school or something. I said to her, ÔYouÕre going to have to go. You have friends and you can work any place, but IÕve got to put people into the union.Õ Then they brought a black woman to me who did the internship in 16 weeks, passed the test and bam, she was in. She wasnÕt worried about making friends with anyone.Ó</p><p>Even today, he is slow to anger.</p><p>ÒWhat is there to really be angry about at this point?Ó he says. ÒI just know IÕm in a position (where) I donÕt have to put up with any foolishness. If you go behind my back and do foolish things then IÕm going to get angry. If your racism puts you in a position to where youÕre obsessed and want to do damage to my show, then IÕm going to get angry.Ó</p><p>Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=64368644&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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