[Dixielandjazz] Re: Clarence Williams

[Paigevan at cs.com]

As a matter of fact, Clarence Williams III and the New Orleans 
pianist-songplugger are unrelated. I watched Mod Squad religiously in the 
60's under the false impression that they were, but on an NPR broadcast of 
about 20 years ago featuring Williams III as emcee (which I have on tape) he 
indicated that they were unrelated- his family were seafaring people- his 
father was a cabin steward on an ocean liner. I'd figured it out as a logical 
progression- Clarence Williams II was a member of the NYPD, so it seemed 
logical that his son would combine Clarence's show-biz background with his 
father's law enforcement background and play a policeman. Logical, but wrong. 
The only member of Williams' family to obtain national status was his 
son-in-law Bill Matney, who was a pioneer black reporter for NBC news.