From an Article in the The Pittsburgh Courier:
“BLACKBERRIES OF 1932”
With one of the largest casts yet
to appear on Broadway . . . Lee (Harlemanla)
Posner has conceived the
idea for “Blackberries of 1932 which
opens at Max Rudnick’s Liberty The”
ater. West 42d street. Easter Monday
. .book by Eddie Green, who was featured
with “Hot Chocolates”
The Eddie Green mentioned in this article was my father. According to numerous Playbills, archives and Library of Congress documents, “BLACKBERRIES OF 1932” was an original Broadway musical revue, with music by Donald Heywood and Tom Peluso; and book by Lee Posner and Eddie Green. And book by. Wow! I read this article about four years ago and I was flabbergasted, mom never told me Eddie wrote a book! They weren’t married yet, but still. It’s things like this that I am finding out 64 years after his death.
In 1932, Eddie was 36 years old. He had been in the entertainment industry since he was too young to receive a wage. He had already been on the stage for 18 years and had pretty much begun to make a name for himself. As you can see from the Hudson Theatre program below, Eddie had also appeared in a number of skits in a show on Broadway titled “HOT CHOCOLATES” in 1929. Eddie was popular and became more so as the years went on.One reason that I am writing a book about my father is that even though Eddie was a well-known, highly visible, funny man who hung out with other well-known entertainers and business-men, today it is as though Eddie never existed. I picture my father in the company of some of the greats of his era and what I see is a an empty space where he should be standing. With my book, I would like to re-place my father into that empty space by bringing his accomplishments to light and by keeping the memory of his achievements fresh in the minds of those who have come after him, so that they may find inspiration to take that leap to a better life.
I have to reiterate here that Eddie was born in 1896 or thereabouts into a poverty-stricken home that he left as early as he could. Eddie made the determination, at quite a young age, to have a better life and he made it happen. Despite the obstacles ahead of him. Actually, it seems to me that my father decided to do whatever he wanted to do, and then he went out and did it. My father lived his life as if there were no obstacles.