I have been having difficulty beginning a new post so I decided to search for ideas and I found the above quote that seemed to speak just to me.  I thought, man, that is deep.  Turn the faucet on.  Start writing.  Write anything.

So,  I decided to write about a song my father, Eddie Green, wrote in 1923 titled “King Tut Blues”.  I found out that for this song, Eddie was responsible for words and melody, and arrangement was by W. Benton Overstreet.   W. Benton Overstreet was an African-American pianist, composer and bandleader, who, in 1917 composed the song “There’ll Be Some Changes Made”, along with a man named Billy Higgins.

This has nothing to do with King Tut, but I also found out that In 1929, six years after working with W. Benton Overstreet, Eddie composed a song with Billy Higgins titled “Big Business”, that was performed in the Broadway production “Hot Chocolates”. Billy Higgins, wrote the words to “There’ll Be Some Changes Made”, to which W. Benton Overstreet wrote the music.   Billy Higgins was an African-American who was born in 1888 in Columbia, South Carolina, and became a singer and comedian. By the late 1910s, he was a top performer in a string of vaudeville shows, traveling troupes and burlesque revues.  I actually own a copy of a recording of “Big Business”.  The production “Hot Chocolates” also showcased such performers as Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Andy Razaff.

Some of the names on this recording are still recognized today, but Eddie’s name has sunk into obscurity.  Maybe because Eddie died in 1950.  Or, maybe it’s like my mom said, Eddie was low-key.  One of the reasons I have begun writing a book about my father, is that I want Eddie to be remembered for his contribution to the entertainment industry that flourishes today.  Because he was there.

You know, it’s hard to stop once you get started.  I guess Louis L’Amour was right.  You have to turn the faucet on.

It’s 1921, and my father was now a music publisher with his own office.   Each of the above songs was written by Eddie.   I like the first title “You Can Read My Letters, But You Sure Can’t Read My Mind”, I can only imagine what was going on in his life at the time.

According to records, Eddie is now 30 years old.  The song-writing thing seems to be working, he has an office on 135th Street, in New York, and he has also contracted to play for two years as a dancer and a singer of his own songs in the “Girls-de-Looks” burlesque show.

By 1925, Eddie had an office in D.C., had appeared in a few more plays on the Columbia Circuit and had moved his mother to Gotham, as it was called in the newspapers, or New York, as we know it.  January, 1925 Eddie began working stock at what was then Minsky’s “Little Appollo Theater” on 125th in New York which featured Burlesque.  By 1925, topless girls frozen in tableaux vivants were old news, permitted by law as long as they didn’t move, but in April of that year one of the girls moved and Minsky’s was raided.   My father was there that month and for a year after that which was news then because he was the only person of color in the show.

Somewhere during this time, Eddie married his first wife and had a daughter.  His daughter was born the same year my mother was born, 1923.  By 1935 Eddie had another wife and by 1944 Eddie had made plans for the next wife, I know that because according to a newspaper article, Eddie had bought a house in Los Angeles and was “just waiting for the next lovely to come along.”

When I look at pictures of my father, I see a short (5′ 2″),  bald-headed guy, average looks, kinda turned-down mouth and dreamy eyes (I look just like him, except I’m not bald), and I wonder how in the world he managed to attract my mom, and how did get on so famously with women? (My mom once told me Eddie loved to be surrounded by women.)  My mom was gorgeous.  She was taller than he was. she was educated in a convent school, my mother spoke Latin, for Heaven’s sake, and Eddie was self-taught.  One thing I know now is that my father had ideas and he acted on those ideas. Eddie was a man of action.  He was a fun-loving, happy, hard-working man.  And Eddie is the reason I read as well as I do now, he bought me my first set of literary classics, which included Moby Dick and Last of the Mohicans.

I believe his attitude is mirrored in how people saw him, he could always get the gig and once he got it he was extended for two years or asked to come back.  He had a busy mind and he planned ahead.  I see him as a man with a vision for himself.   He was pretty much a self-made man.  He had drive.   I would love to tell Eddie how much I admire him as a man.  I was able to tell my mom that her ability to overcome rough times in her life was an inspiration to me.  She had drive, also.  Are there people you know who inspire you with their drive?  I would love to know.

In 1990 I walked into a room with a bunch of people sitting around swapping stories and drinking coffee.  I met a man in this room who became a very special friend to me.  Today this man passed on.  He was not only a friend to me, but to my mom, my brothers and sister, my daughter, my grandson.  He even knew my favorite cousin that I grew up with.  Each of these people, especially my mom, thought highly of my friend.  I though highly of my friend.  He helped me to learn how to have patience and tolerance, he was kind, respectful and never sugar-coated his advice.  He helped me grow into the woman I am today, though he was younger, he had a bit more rational wisdom than I did when I met him.  By watching him, I learned how to have loving relationships with others.

He spent a lot of time talking and listening to me (even when he obviously wanted to be somewhere else).  We would sit behind the building in which that room was, and I would  try to explain my situations to him and he would try to give me answers.  A few times his answers rubbed me the wrong way, and I would stomp off only to call him later.

We spent so much time on the telephone, he would fall asleep while I was talking!  That always pissed me off.  I was always the one who got pissed off.  He never once hung up on me or talked down to me.  He shared his family with me, his lady and in the past few years, his granddaughter, who is only about four or five.  She loved him so much.  He was a great example to me of how to live life when life hands you lemons.  He had great physical difficulties, but was usually just glad to be living the life he had.

He gave me the chance to have a person in my life who was not a significant other or relative, that I could love the way I wish all people could love each other.  A love that helps make life a little smoother.  He was a good friend to me.  I will miss you, Johnny.

May you rest in peace.

Today I found a free photograph of my father, Eddie Green, that I could use without having to pay someone some money.  This is a head-shot of Eddie during the time he played Stonewall, the Crooked Lawyer, in the 1940’s radio program, Amos N Andy.

Before I started this blogging adventure and writing a book about Eddie, I thought a lot about what my focus would be.  Should I focus on Eddie’s accomplishments as a black man in a white oriented society, or should I focus on his achievements, period, simply to show others what can be accomplished in life.  I wanted the publication of my father’s story to provide inspiration, first of all to my grandson, then also to anyone else who needed a bit of motivation.

Today I watched a 1962 movie called “The Intruder”, that blew me away because the subject was racism in a small southern town and the “N-word” was in use by everyone in this movie, even the old proprietor woman.  I was surprised that I could go on the net and view this movie.  I watched it.  There was some underlying drama that showed the star of the movie taking advantage of someone’s teenage daughter, then someone’s wife.  There was almost a lynching.  This was in 1962.  I do not want to write a book about racism.

My father’s entertainment career began in the 1920’s and lasted until 1950.  I cannot begin to imagine what he may have gone through in order to achieve his dreams.  But I am pretty sure it was not easy.  Eddie became a prominent, well-known figure during his life. According to my mom, Eddie formed very close bonds with his fellow show business performers.  Friendships for him were not about race.  Eddie was about being the best he could be and putting in the work to acquire what he wanted,

What I have learned through my research, though, is that Eddie had pride in who he was as a person of color.  In 1938 Eddie wrote a letter to the editor of the California Eagle newspaper giving a critique of a radio program called “The Negro Hour”. One portion of his letter said “The news items were GREAT, but they should be read that way.  They were the record of achievement of the Negro.  They were something to be proud of”.

I want to inspire people to follow their dreams.  I want to provide a story or a thought that might help another person to look at themselves and see their potential and take it out into the world.  My father was a Black man who prospered in this world.  I am writing a book about my father.

People like to laugh.  Laughter is good for us. In living life on planet Earth, we need stuff to laugh about now and then.

While searching burlesque comedy the other day, the word “double-entendre” caught my eye. According to my dictionary, double entendre is a figure of speech for sayings or jokes that have two different meanings, usually one of the meanings is sexual, but not always, as is the case in the story written by Damon Knight titled “To Serve Man”.  This title had two distinctly different meanings.  There was even a Twilight Zone episode with the same name, I won’t tell the plot even though everyone of any age must have seen this episode, but maybe not, suffice it to say, I loved the ending.

In Burlesque, most of the jokes told by comedians like my father, Eddie Green, were double entendre jokes in which one of the meanings was of a sexual nature.  I haven’t found any of Eddie’s jokes, yet, but I did find this one that was told by the Bellamy Brothers, “If I said you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?”   Then there is this one-liner from (my favorite lady) Mae West, “I feel like a million tonight, but only one at a time!”  Raunchy jokes seem to get a lot of laughs.

Todays jokes have gotten so bold, I had trouble finding one I could post without seeming indecent.  But, hey we are all adults here and reality is what it is. Question:  What should you do if your girlfriend starts smoking?  Answer:  Slow down, and possibly use a lubricant.

Me being me, one thing I noticed about the jokes or one-liners, is that they all have one theme in common, they tend to have the focus of a sexual nature, it is just that one era was subtle and one era is in your face. They are just wrapped and presented in different ways.  Like free speech ideas.  Seems to me sometimes free speech ideas are wrapped in different ways depending on the circumstances.  Like, I believe you have the right to say whatever you want, but that person over there said something that they ought to be banned for saying!

Maybe you have guessed why I am on a search for a good laugh.  I am one who really just likes the simple, silly jokes like, Question: Why did the little boy put his father under the steps? Answer:  So he could have a STEPdad!  Or one-liners like this:  A magician was walking down the street and turned into a grocery store.

Thank you, thank you.  

Pioneer: A person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area

Trailblazer:  A person who makes a new track through wild country.

Andrea Crouch has passed away.  I read an article that said Pastor Crouch composed “The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power”.  I come from a baptist church background and that is one of the songs I knew by heart.  But I never knew who wrote the song.   Pastor Crouch was also a gospel singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer.  I found a video that shows Pastor Crouch at a crusade in New Mexico in 1975, where he got a standing ovation.  In the video he said that he found the inspiration that started him on his path at about 11 years old.  Pastor Crouch was a man of many talents.  In a statement from the Office of the Press Secretary, the President called Pastor Crouch a pioneer.  According to one definition a pioneer is a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area.  Pastor Crouch certainly explored and settled new areas.

My father, Eddie Green died in 1950 after a career as a comedian.  In Eddie’s own words in 1938 “I am known in big time radio from coast to coast having appeared many times on the major chains and television programs.  I am a government licensed radio operator.”  Eddie was also a songwriter, producer, actor and director.  Eddie was a man of many talents.  Eddie was a trailblazer.  His inspiration was poverty.  A person who makes a new track through wild country.  And America in the early 1900’s was a wild country for black folks.

My mom, to me, was a pioneer and a trailblazer.  She went through most of her childhood and early adulthood believing she was adopted by a task master mother, and she was not sure what her ethnicity was.  My mom trained  to become an opera star from about the age of seven. By age 18, she was on her way.  Before she became Mrs. Eddie Green she was Norma Amato.  Here is an article I found in my research for the book on my father:

The California Eagle, June 29, 1944

Talented Protege Of
H. McDaniel To Sing
For Garner Dinner

The beautiful and talented protege of Miss Hattle McDaniel, the first Negro actress to win an academy award, will sing at Garner Music Center tonight.  Her name is Norma Amato, and she has a voice as lovely as a tune by Jerome Kern!

She had the voice.  But, she chose to marry my father and put her plans on hold because by 1945 Eddie was a “star”.  My mom’s life changed drastically when Eddie died five years later.  Her years from then on were filled with a lot of drama and personal chaos, while raising five kids, working as a waitress, going back to school.  My mom was a woman of many talents, when it comes to living life.  As a pioneer, my mom was one of those people who explored new areas in 1944 as an opera singer, as a trailblazer she showed me how to get through life, no matter what.  She was 87 when she died.  And feisty.

One of the reasons I started this blog is to write about those who have provided inspiration, who have paved the way for the coming generations.  I want to remember these pioneers and trailblazers because they contributed to my progress.  My father was an accomplished man but he has faded way into the background.  The biography that I am writing is my way of bringing Eddie back into the light, to honor him for showing me what can be accomplished in wild country.

Let’s not forget.

I have been wondering why, when we ask for something and get it tenfold, we question it. We question getting what we asked for in the first place.  Did we not really want it?  Or did we not really believe we would get it when we asked for it?  Or maybe we ask with a preconceived notion of what we think we will get, which places a limit in our own minds on what we could get.  Or maybe, we don’t really have faith in our ability to handle that which we asked for. It would seem as though our faith is lacking somehow, when we receive exactly what we ask for and then sit down to ponder the receiving.  If we are putting in the work to achieve something and being the best we can be, and we are trusting in the faith of our beliefs, achieving our goals should be a joyous occasion.

I believe my father, Eddie Green, had faith in the process he chose to progress in life.  Eddie  wrote “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” when he was 17.  This song went on to be recorded by more than 30 artists over time.  People such as,  Marion Harris, in 1918, Wilbur C. Sweatman’s Jazz Orchestra, in 1919,  Bessie Smith, in 1919, Eddie Condon & His Band, in 1927 and Frank Sinatra, in 1947.  Too bad Eddie was not psychic because he sold his song in 1918, however, he was able to take this song out on the road for about two years with a company he called the “Deluxe Players”.

By January of 1920, the St. Louis Argus newspaper was posting “Last Chance To See Eddie Green’s Deluxe Players” because he was on his way to New York.  And he had written another song “Don’t Let No One Man Worry Your Mind”.  He had begun the process of building on that which he wanted to achieve, and by December of 1920 Eddie was in New York in a new burlesque show doing comedy.   Eddie was from a poverty-stricken background and became a comedian.

Eddie’s faith in himself and his process secured him a break into burlesque theater.   Eddie was in Tampa, Florida in 1920 touring with his company when he noticed an advertisement in the Billboard for a comedian.  Eddie had an engraver make him a letterhead with a fancy border and big letters that read “De Luxe Players”. There were 18 players in his company so he listed himself as “Eddie Green, owner-comedian-manager-director-organizer”.   He got the job.  He also got the job because he was truly funny.  According to an article I found in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1923,   “Eddie was the funniest black-skinned comic of them all.”

In December of 1920 “The Billboard” newspaper received a letter from Eddie that they said “was the most unselfish communication that has come to us since the department as been started”.  The letter was to tell other actors about the most convenient place to get a room in New York.  The newspaper editor noted that Eddie writes something other than letters, that he also wrote “A Good Man is Hard To Find,” This information helps me know that the Eddie Green they were talking about was indeed, my father, which helps the building process of the writing of my book about Eddie.  The Editor’s note also stated,  “He has also written himself into a class of regular fellows with the above letter.” This statement shows me what other people thought of Eddie’s character.  So it is probably a good idea to be seen as a regular fellow in life.

Faith, effort and being a regular fellow, that is what helps us get on in this world.  Belief in yourself and belief in that from which you expect help.  I believe if you truly have faith and you are doing the work, expect great things to happen in your life, and when they do, share it, because there are people like me who really need to hear stories of inspiration.