Langston Hughes, meet Crosby Kemper: A review

Yesterday afternoon, about three hours before the cameras went on, I spotted Crosby Kemper III sitting at his usual table overlooking the Central Library’s Nine Muses Café. Legs crossed. Eyes pitched down at some reading. I figured he must be cramming some last minutes facts about his first interview subject for the KCPT Channel 19-produced series, Meet the Past With Crosby Kemper III.

Last year, the library director earned the institution a regional Emmy Award nomination when he interviewed local scholar Bill Worley as notorious political boss Tom Pendergast. That initial event has grown into a full-blown series this year, raising a handful of local historical celebrities from the dead to sit opposite Kansas City’s library director, Oprah Winfrey talk-show style.

Wondering if he’d spent the afternoon delving into the life of his pending subject, Langston Hughes, I caught up with Kemper a few minutes before the taping. I should have known that his preparation was far more extensive than a café cram session. He’d read the poet’s collected works, his autobiography and all 820 pages of Arnold Rampersad’s two-volume biography.

He’d met with the Hughes re-enactor, Charles Everett Pace, too. Not to script the conversation or rehearse but to outline the subjects they’d discuss. “It’s all about the spontaneity,” Kemper said.

So are you nervous, I asked, knowing this guy loves an audience.

“Of course,” he said. “Very.”