ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: JAMES ENDRST THE HARTFORD COURANT
You're going to be seeing a lot of Tracey Ullman next year.
All in one place, on HBO. In a new comedy series called ``Tracey Takes On
But you may not always recognize the 35-year-old, Emmy-winning British actress because, as her fans know so well, Ullman is such a character.
Twenty-two characters in all, in fact, before the 10-episode ``Tracey Takes On ...'' is through.
Each half-hour show, which comprises sketches and character monologues, will examine a single topic such as romance, royalty, fame and even death.
Addressing the issues at hand are some of the personalities Ullman used in her two 1993 HBO specials ``Tracey Ullman: Takes on New York'' and ``Tracey Ullman: A Class Act'' (which explored the British class system) including: Trevor, the gay flight attendant; Janey Pillsworth, the super-upper-crusty magazine editor; Fern Rosenthal, the Long Oyland matron and Linda Granger, the Broadway star on a never-ending comeback.
And now there are new standouts - a super-opinionated cab driver of indeterminate Middle Eastern origin named Chic, eternally up 18-year-old college student Hope Davis, 70-year-old bigoted makeup artist Ruby Romaine, and Chris Warner, the lesbian companion to star golfer Midge Dexter (played by Julie Kavner).
``I think it's a bit easier for me to succeed through HBO,'' said Ullman on a recent visit to New York.
Though her Fox Broadcasting comedy-variety series, ``The Tracey Ullman Show'' (which ran from 1987 to 1990) was highly regarded, Ullman says she has no interest in going that route again.
She's proud of the work she did, she said, but recalled how ``The show became overwhelmed by the success of `The Simpsons' - which in retrospect was good stuff. But who knew?''
What really turned her off to network series work, though, was what was demanded of her off screen.
``You know it's what you want to do to become really famous,'' she explained, saying she couldn't bring herself to ``tour the country and do all the kinds of magazines that they wanted me to do, make myself acceptable to America, be in photographs with my kids ... I wasn't prepared to do that. That is too intrusive and not what I do.''
Then, too, she said, ``I don't want to do that 8 o'clock show ... with the staircase in the background and [the network] telling me Johnson & Johnson wouldn't like that joke. So I thought if I have a central theme like royalty, romance, fame, law, death, anything - to take on - I can develop a sense of familiarity with the show for the people who tune in every week.''
And Ullman is keeping busy.
In addition to her ``Takes On'' show, she's the voice of ``Little Lulu,'' HBO's animated version of the classic cartoon and will appear in Woody Allen's next feature film.
``I love working for him,'' said Ullman, whose feature film credits include Allen's ``Bullets Over Broadway'' (as well as ``Ready To Wear,'' ``Plenty'' and ``I Love You to Death.'') ``He's a genius. He's a legend and we'll be discussing his films in 100 years time at the N.Y.U. film school.''
Ullman likes working most, however, for herself. She and husband Allan McKeown are executive producers of ``Tracey Takes On ...'' a partnership she jokes is a ``Blake Edwards/Julie Andrews'' kind of thing.
``He's a great money raiser, my husband, and there are so few people that want to do that and are any good at it,'' she said.
As for the content of her new show and its characters, Ullman jokes, ``I love being a Long Island Jew so much, it's frightening.'' Lately, however, she has noticed ``I like being men more,'' though, ``It's easier being homosexual men.''
As the title implies, ``Tracey Takes On ...'' isn't all in fun.
``I do like to challenge myself, to take on different subjects and to be able to say something as well,'' she said.
``The lesbian piece is probably quite brave,'' she ventured pointing to the romance episode in which she is seen snuggling in bed with Kavner and giving her a tender kiss or two. ``Couldn't have done that on network TV. ''
With much of her time divided between Los Angeles and New York as well as London, Ullman said ``My point of reference is very American now. That's why I can't just do a show about England. And I can't just do a show about America. I have to mix them all up.''
When she was working with super producer Jim Brooks on ``The Tracey Ullman Show,'' she said, ``I was part of someone else's vision. ... Now it's really my own vision.''
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Ullmanby CNB