2015 has been a good year for me. I have written a book, my first ever. In the process of writing this book, I have increased my knowledge of show business, of people and of life in general. In order to write, I have had to read. Through careful reading, I have found helpful information that I would not have found otherwise.
I have met wonderful people who have provided me with great information, and hooked me up with other wonderful people, from the US to the UK. I have even met the family of a woman who was in one of my father’s (Eddie Green) movies from 1939.
I have enjoyed every minute of this experience, well, maybe not every minute, proofing my own work proved to be tiresome, after all, there is spellcheck, and one has to concentrate when proofreading, you can’t just skim through your manuscript. Anyhow, I do love it. I recommend biographical writing as a good way to learn history.
I have acquired a following. Haha, who would have thunk it! My brother told me it would happen. Keeps a smile on my face.
When I began this blog, I searched a certain site for images of my father and I could not find one picture. Now, I think there are three pictures of Eddie on the site and one of ME.
January will be the beginning of the proofing and editing of my book.
May you all have a glorious new year’s eve and a happy, prosperous 2016.
Happy Holidays to everyone!! My brother, Brad Beasley, has told me from the day I started writing a biography on my father, Eddie Green, that Eddie was just like Jay-Z, who is a hard-working man who has made a name for himself as a rapper and as an entrepreneur, and who is married to a gorgeous, talented woman. I put off mention of any similarities, cause I couldn’t figure out how to write a relevant post. At last I have found what I needed! A picture of Jay-Z and friends at a holiday charity.
This provided a link that I could work with, because, not only was my father, Eddie, also a hard-working man who made a name for himself as a songwriter, actor and as an entrepreneur, and who was married to a gorgeous, talented woman (my mother), Eddie was also involved in holiday charity work. Thanks to the research I have done, I just happened to have a newspaper article that covered Eddie’s act of charity on Christmas of 1940. Following is the article.
As per the New York Age, Saturday, December 21, 1940: Eddie Green to Play Host to 250 Poor Christmas Eve.
“Eddie Green will play host to 250 of New York City’s poor on Christmas eve morning. Along with Arthur Oliver, manager, and about a dozen of the girl employees of Eddie Green’s Bar-Bee-Q, they will assemble at the Eighth avenue link of this popular chain of restaurants where they will pack and hand out Christmas baskets containing roasting chicken and all of the fixings that go to make up a good dinner. Tickets for these baskets have been distributed among quite a few responsible persons who in turn are giving them to families that they know to be needy.”
Then and now these two gentlemen had and have the spirit of Christmas. Decades apart, yet similar in outlook. Role models.
I wish you a safe and happy holiday season. Thank you so much for stopping by!
*Jay-Z holiday picture courtesy http://www.fuse.tv and Google Advanced Images
I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it
I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!
Hi, there! I have been working diligently on the biography of my father, Eddie Green, for the past couple of weeks, because I am so close to finishing and I want to get the manuscript sent out for proofreading before I send it to a publisher. One year ago I bought my first laptop and started this project. AND THEN, last week, out of the blue, I received a message from a lady whose 90-plus year old Grandmother, whose name is Millicent, had been in one of the movies my father directed, produced and starred in, “What Goes Up.” The movie was made in Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1939.
Evidently, Millicent had for years been telling the younger members of her family about those days, but no one really listened until one family member decided to investigate. She went on line and found my blog (yay!) after typing in Eddie’s name, and now I get to add a bit more information to my book, and I get to share a little of Millicent’s story (she played a chorus girl in the movie) with my readers. This is exactly the type of thing I wanted to happen, though I wasn’t sure it would.
Millicent is the shorter woman in the front in the black dress. I have had a copy of this photo for a long time, but had no idea who these women were. Now I know one of them. Millicent and I live in different cities and have never met, but, boy, am I glad her relative found me. (Laugh Jamboree was a Toddy Pictures production, though the movies, Dress Rehearsal, What Goes Up and Comes Midnight, were Eddie’s.)
Through her granddaughter, Millicent has provided me with more insight into Eddie as an entertainer and as a movie producer than she will ever know. For instance, she says that Eddie was “all business”. Well, in a Baltimore Newspaper article from around the same time that Millicent knew Eddie, the headline reads: ” As a Comedian, He’s Very Funny, As a Business Man, He’s Very Sensible and Comedy is a Business.” The article goes on to say “The fact that Eddie is so funny on the screen, stage and radio is due to the highly intelligent and efficient manner in which he conducts his work.”
The other thing about this contact with Millicent, is that, had my mother, Norma, still been alive today, she would have been 92 years old. For those that don’t know Eddie married my mom when he was 54 and mom was 22. So Millicent was a cast member in Eddie’s movie, about the same time Eddie first met my mom. I love Millicent, I don’t know her, but that’s ok. I have a few more tidbits to share (Millicent was a beauty contest winner), but I will save them for another post.
Being able to look back and “experience” the past through my book and this blog, brings me so much joy. I mean, just because its 2015 does not mean past times are inconsequential. Past times, older people, are extremely important to who we have become today, and well worth the attention, in my opinion.
Thank you, Sharon.
And, thank you, for stopping by.
Lyrics for “I’m So Excited” courtesy of The Pointer Sisters
Hello Family: Personal, wordpress and FB. Yesterday I got a chance to attend a mini-fair and community gathering at the William Grant Still Community Arts Center in the West Adams District of Los Angeles, California. William Grant Still (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony (his first symphony) performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television.
The Art Center focuses on the artistic efforts of the community and has a variety of programming throughout the year reflecting the multicultural diversity of its neighborhood where Still resided for twenty years. It has been serving the Westside of Los Angeles since 1978.
My mom, pictured above, had aspirations to become an opera star, and I thought by attending this mini-fair I might be able to hook up with someone who remembered those days, the late 1930s through 1945. Well, I did. I also discovered a lot more information about the 1940s and 1950s and what was then a mostly Black neighborhood that was home to many entertainers, architects, doctors and lawyers.
I am focusing on entertainers in this post because that is what my mother and father did. I chose to go to the gathering at the William Grant Still Center because I also figured I would find people there who had an interest in opera. My mom used to sing at weddings at the Wilfandel Club on Adams Boulevard, and I found out yesterday that the club is still active. Possibly I will be able to find more information when I visit them.
I was actually able to provide some new information to the people I met, who were very interested in who Grandma Norma was. I forgot to mention while I was there that mom was Hattie McDaniel’s protege’, (Hattie McDaniel, first Black female to win an Academy Award,) though I did show them a picture with mom and Hattie, which a couple of people copied for themselves. I also had the following article, but I didn’t get a chance to share it yesterday. ” Representing Miss Hattie McDaniel as guest of Miss Lena Horne at her “after theatre,” party closing her Headline Orpheum appearance, was Miss Norma Anne Amato and her mother, Sinclaire White Amato, violinist and pedagog.” The Caifornial Eagle newspaper, June 22, 1944.
I was able to share information about mom’s mother, Sinclaire, who like Mr. Still, played the violin and was the sponsor of the Music Arts Association back in the day. 1931 to be exact. I was able to become acquainted with someone who would like to begin some type of Art Appreciation club here in L A. again for our kids.
Of course, I also took pictures of Eddie, my father, songwriter, producer, comedian, to share with the people I met. As I suspected, even though there were older people at this function, not one of them remembered Eddie. However, I found people who knew of people that Eddie worked with. So I was able to acquaint them with Eddie and I got a chance to exchange cards with other writers of black history.
Bringing Eddie’s accomplishments in the entertainment industry out of the shadows is my quest. I was able to accomplish that, somewhat, at yesterday’s event. I found one one-page article with information on it that I could connect to Eddie. Such as: The article mentioned Clarence Muse, actor, director, composer. I have this picture of Eddie and Clarence Courtesy of L. A. Public Library, donated by Attorney Walter L. Gordon, Jr., my godfather.
The article I saw yesterday also mentioned Lena Horne, I have an article from the Pittsburgh Courier, 1945, in which the columnist wrote: “Last Monday through the courtesy of the NBC broadcasting studios, I witnessed the second production of “Jubilee” to be sent to those fine fellows across the sea: Eddie Green did a comic script with Santa Claus (Whitman) and Lena Horne.”
This same one page article that I found yesterday mentioned Sydney P. Dones, former actor and producer, well I found an article from The California Eagle, March 20, 1947, that mentioned Eddie and my godfather being at the same function, as Mr. Dones.: “Dropped in on the candlelight introduction of Les Dames club Sunday evening, Atty. Walt Gordon seemed to be having a grand time greeting old friends, as did Norma and Eddie Green, Sidney Dones.”
The point here is that though Eddie was a visible, well-known figure in those days, it seem to me that he has faded from view. I hope to rectify that.
These folks lived near each other in the Adams Historical District in the 40s and 50s. Hattie McDaniel on Harvard, Sidney Dones, on Hobart, Clarence Muse on 24th Street, Rochester, a friend of the family lived off of 37th Street and we lived on Second Avenue, near 36th Street.
I got the chance yesterday to network and share Eddie’s history, and mom’s. And I will go to great lengths to do that. It took me 4 hours on the bus to get there, same to get back (MTA and Red Line), but I did it.
I will leave you with a few lines from the Eddie Green, Ernest Whitman, Lena Horne skit.
SANTA(Ernest Whitman): Well, my boy, I brought you something that you’ll like. This is your package.
EDDIE: I guess I’ll open it. Well, looka here, it’s a Lena Horne mamas doll, ain’t that nice. It’ll be good if when I squeeze it, it says mama.
LENA (seductively): Oh daddy.
EDDIE: Well, That’s good enough!
By folks, thanks for stopping by, and thank you Kristina, for giving me the idea to research Grandma Norma’s singing career.
Hi, there. Well, I would like to wish you a Happy Halloween, although the guy in the above photo would probably not agree with me as he doesn’t think Halloween should be a fun holiday like everyone else does. But since it’s the season, I chose Oogie Boogie to lead off this post. (Thank you, Mr. Burton.) I also chose Oogie because of his last name, Boogie.
My father, Eddie Green, was doing well in radio entertainment career in the 40s. According to the Syracuse New York Journal One of the radio programs Eddie appeared on was the Canada Lee show on WEAF, ” Eight to the Bar.” In the 1940s, the phrase “eight to the bar” was up-tempo slang meaning “a boogie beat.”
New York Post, Thursday, July 24, 1941, HIGH SPOTS OF THE DAY’S BROADCAST OFFERINGS
WEAF- Benny Goodman’s Orchestra. Joan Bennett.
8:15 WOR—Drama. Florence Reed in “An Englishman’s Home.”
8:30 WEAF—Drama. Canada Lee, Eddie Green in “Eight to the
Bar.”
WABC—Barber Shop Quartet Society.
There was a boogie-woogie dance:
In 1945, a person could buy a Two-piano Boogie Woogie album for Dancing for $2.50.
When I found the “Eight to the Bar” Canada Lee program in the Syracuse newspaper, I remembered that I have in my possession a DVD of a Jubilee radio program from 1943 with Mr. Lee and my father doing a comedy skit together. Being a good researcher, I looked up Mr. Lee, and I am so glad I did. Canada Lee is another of those famous, successful, Black pioneers, like Eddie, who seems to have been forgotten by the general public.
Canada Lee was born Lionel Cornelius Canegata in 1907. At one time he was a jockey, and then became a boxer, welterweight division, until he sustained an eye injury. Before he had his radio show, Mr. Lee began an acting career. He was cast in his first major role, that of Banquo, in the legendary Federal Theatre Project (a New Deal program started to help struggling writers, actors, directors, and theater workers) production of Macbeth (1936), adapted and directed by Orson Welles, with an all-black cast. Macbeth was sold out for ten weeks at the Lafayette Theatre. Mr. Lee played Banquo (When Macbeth kills the king and takes the throne, Banquo—the only one aware of this encounter with the witches—reserves judgment for God.) Having never read Macbeth, I had to read it to understand what the heck I was writing about in this post. Anyhow, The play debuted in 1936 at Harlem’s Lafayette Theater and was performed for segregated audiences. It was so popular that it exceeded its initial run, then toured the country, spending two weeks in Dallas at the Texas Centennial Exposition.
Canada Lee appeared on Broadway in Anna Lucasta. He also appeared in the movie Lifeboat in 1944, directed by Alfred Hitchcock:
There is much more information out there to be found on Canada Lee, if you care to look it up.
Below is the comedy skit I referred to earlier. Canada Lee and Eddie performed in 1943, on Jubilee, a radio program that was broadcast to the nations military to help ease the stress of war. The skit was titled “Boxing”, from January 5, 1943: I have heard this skit and Mr. Lee has a nice, strong voice, where my father’s voice was a tad higher which Eddie said himself in a newspaper article. Hattie McDaniel acted as Mistress of Ceremony:
MISS McDANIEL: The clock says it’s laughing time. And when it’s time to laugh, then it’s time to listen to Eddie Green and Canada Lee!
CANADA LEE: Remember some time ago, Eddie, I told you that I think you would make a good prize fighter?
EDDIE, laughing: .Yea, I member that, I do.
CANADA LEE: Well now, listen Eddie. Just like I told you. You’ve got the makings of a great fighter. I’m gonna build you up to be a champion.
EDDIE: No, is you?
CANADA LEE: Yea, I can see the whole thing.
EDDIE: You can.
CANADA LEE: Yea, First, I’ma have you fight some ham and eggers.
EDDIE: some what?
CANADA LEE: Some ham and eggers.
EDDIE: Oh, right away I get scrambled.
CANADA LEE: No, no. I mean these fights are free, see. We pay these fighters to lay down.
EDDIE: Well, why can’t they pay me to lay down?
CANADA LEE: Oh Eddie, don’t be silly, you’re honest. When it comes to fighting you’re upright.
EDDIE: Yea, but not for long.
I started this blogging project as a way to get noticed by publishers, as a writer, which would help me when I was ready to publish the first book that I have written about my father for my grandson, because the general consensus is publishers want to see something other than just one book. The blog is also a way for me to get over a fear of putting my writing out into the world. What I did not expect was the education I would get from this process, through research. Nor did I expect to have ideas about the possibility of continuing to write after this first book. But I do. Have ideas. But first, I must finish proofing my first endeavor.
I like to finish my posts with something that refers back to the beginning:
Hi there, welcome and welcome back. Today my brain is empty, well, almost. I have been focusing on which photos I want to put in the book I am writing and as I have a one track mind, I have not been able to come up with a post. My main issue is that some of the photos I want must be purchased from newspapers or museums before I can use them, so I have to spend my money wisely. Do I want ten photos or twenty? The photos will be sent to the publisher along with my manuscript., and I am shooting for a month or so from now. So, with this post I am going to cheat a little and let the newspapers do the talking.
In 1943, Duffy’s Tavern and the Jack Benny programs were big hits. The two main stars were Ed Gardner and Jack Benny.
Ed Gardner
.
Jack Benny
However, the popularity of these shows was also due, in part to two other gentlemen: Eddie Green and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson:
Eddie GreenEddie “Rochester” Anderson
In 1943, both Eddie and Rochester appeared together on “Duffy’s Tavern”. The following article appeared in The Pittsburgh Courier, January 1943, with the title, “Rochester, Eddie Green Steal the Show” – Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and Eddie Green climaxed the season’s laugh riots with a battle of wits on the popular Blue Network show “Duffy’s” on Tuesday evening. The comedians, together for the first time, were featured prominently during the hilarious half-hour, contributing much to the success of the show. Although old friends since vaudeville days, when Rochester was a dancer and Eddie a comedian their opportunity to appear on the same entertainment bill did not come until Jack Benny’s show began a tour of service camps in the East. Rochester’s success in pictures has paralleled that of his work in radio, having been featured in “Jezebel,” “Gone With The Wind” and several Jack Benny films. Eddie Green is heard regularly with Ed “Archie” Gardner on the Duffy’s program; following a successful run on Broadway with Bill Robinson in “The Hot Mikado.” He started as a boy magician and now owns the Sepia-Art Pictures, film producing company, servicing over 500 theaters.” Pittsburgh Courier, January, 1943.
I am proud of Eddie and Rochester. Rochester remained a family friend after my father died and would visit us periodically. I have had the pleasure of having a conversation with Rochester’s son, during the past year, and I have also had the pleasure of communicating with Ed Gardner’s son.
Eddie Green, Ed Gardner, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and Jack Benny were a show business family. They showed us how it can be done.
For the past week or so, my mission has been to get permission to use certain photos in the book I am writing, order the photos, re-read the book before I send it out for copy editing, and looking for a copy editor. And for some reason, it seems like these things have to be done right away. Which they don’t. I am not working on a schedule. I don’t have a contract that says 4 books in 4 weeks. I don’t HAVE a contract. I started this project because I had a goal. To bring my father, Eddie Green, out of obscurity to highlight his achievements as a Black man in the early 1900s, and to put the information in book form for my grandson. Which is what I have done and what I am doing. I shared in an earlier post that, I look forward to my day because I can see the goal, and I am working towards that goal. I am on track. I need to remember that.
As I get closer to my book being a finished product, I realized that I have put next to nothing in this blog about my mother, Norma, Eddie’s fourth, I think, wife. I have a chapter in the book on her, so I will just take from that for this post.
My mom, Norma, was born on November 17, 1923, Her mother, Sinclaire was a very light skinned Black woman who chose to live as something other than Black, so by the time my mom entered school, Sinclaire was listing herself as Spanish on my mom’s school records. My mom was born Norma Murcock, but by age sixteen, Sinclaire had remarried and mom’s last name became Amato. Norma began singing, violin and piano lessons very young, and began performing for audiences when she was seven, usually at the Second Baptist Church, or at the Murdock Music Arts Association, and as she got older, she would sing at weddings at the Wilfandel Club in the Historic Adams District in Los Angeles.
Norma Amato, about 17
When mom was 18, an article appeared in a Los Angeles newspaper which helped me verify my mother’s heritage. Here is a portion of the article: “An assistant highway surveying engineer in the business world, Norma Amato, who sings fluently in Italian, French and Spanish, will render a selection. Norma Anne Amato, 18 years old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Guiseppe (Joseph) Amato, who majored in music and graduated from St. Cecilia and Romona Convents was the young lyric soprano soloist featured by the Daughters of the American Revolution at their National Convention banquet in Los Angeles.” Mom was studying to be an opera singer.
As time went on, Norma would appear in more articles: “Miss Norma Amato is the protégé of Miss McDaniel of Gone with the Wind fame.” The group picture here is Norma, Eddie, Louise Beavers, Miss Beaver’s dad, Hattie McDaniel and an unidentified woman,
In 1944 The California Eagle, printed this glowing tip: “Tip to Talent Scouts: Keep your ears on Norma Amato’s delightful thrushing. She has the kind of voice you hear only in a dream.”
“Only in a dream.” This was the path on which mom was working.
On November 17, 1944, Norma became 21 years old. At the time, she was still living with her mother, Sinclaire. One year later, she was married to Eddie.
I am realizing a dream in real time. Something anybody can do.
Hello there, this is so funny to me. I was trying to crop a picture and this is what I got. A hand-drawn cropping, almost looks like somebody’s profile. Anyhow, my mom used to say, “You learn something new everyday.” Here is something I learned while looking for information on my father, Eddie, from when he played “Koko” in the Hot Mikado in 1939. I found this article from 1962, in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Tonight at 8:00, the esteemed Sir Arthur Sullivan would have rarely looked more dour . . . and Sir William Gilbert might have returned to his law practice were they alive to hear the liberties taken In the late 30s version of Mikado. Tonight we take a second listen as “Ko-Ko”, “Nam-Poo”, “Yum-Yum”, “Katisha” and friends go modern in Hot Mikado with Bill Robinson and Eddie Green.”
A good little blurb to add to my book.
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson turned sixty-one while starring in the Mike Todd version of Hot Mikado as the Mikado. A local newspaper ran this ad:
“A second negro production of “The Mikado” in modern swing tempo, entitled The Hot Mikado opens tonight at the Broadhurst with Bill Robinson, the tap dancer, in the lead role.”
Michael Todd, producer of the play sponsored an after-theater party on stage at the Broadhurst Theater, where the cast of the play, members of the Cotton Club and a bunch of friends drank a toast to Bill’s health and wished him many happy returns.
Bill Robinson-Wikipedia
According to the New York Age, “following the toastmaking, Eddie Green, “Koko” of Hot Mikado on behalf of the cast presented Mr. Robinson with a silver plaque on which was inscribed: “Happy Birthday ‘Bill’ Robinson from the cast of the Hot Mikado Co. Broadhurst Theatre, May 28, 1939.” A silver stage crew, the onlv one of its kind in America, was another gift from the cast to its leading star.”
And here is an article from the Brooklyn Eagle, specifically about Eddie:
“Eddie Green, who has been funny all the time but has not quite seemed to get his teeth into anything, is singing “Titwillow” to Katisha and his “Titwillow” turns out to be completely delightful. The song has, no doubt, been sung many times by better voices, but it could hardly be done more amusingly. With it Mr. Green makes himself one of the jewels of the Hot Mikado.
In 1940, Eddie went on to appear on the Tommie Riggs radio program:
TONIGHT’S BEST RADIO BETS 7:50— “Blondie,” …Tommy Rlggs and Betty Lou. David Ross, Freddie Rich Orchestra. Eddie Green WEAF. 8:30— ..Brooklyn NY Eagle1940.
Eddie also found time to appear with Miss Hazel Scott on the dramatic mystery program The Bishopand The Gargoyle.
The show was about a former Bishop and an excon who teamed up to solve crimes. It’s very gritty, I listened to about five minutes of one of the shows and here is a sample of the kinds of lines in the script: “Aw listen, man, don’t try to make a chest outta that stomach.” So funny.
On the show, Eddie and Hazel did a skit titled “The Item of the Voodoo Doll”. Miss Scott was a jazz and concert pianist, normally, who, according to the papers, put her own interpretation into Bach and Beethoven. The reviews of her acting ability were good, and of course, Eddie was funny.
Hazel Dorothy Scott, born in 1920 became a star in her own right and while she was at it, she married Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who became the first person from New York ofAfrican-Americandescent to be elected to Congress, representing Harlem, New York, from 1945 to 1971.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was also pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and as such Rev. Powell christened me. How’s that for a good ending?
Otay. Comes Midnight is the third picture my father made. It is a story about two men (played by Eddie and Jimmie Baskette) who will receive $100 if they stay in Old Man Mose’s deserted house overnight in order to dig up his body and get the gold that has been placed under his body, and return it to the rightful owner.
It’s got really corny jokes in it such as: 1st person: You know, old man Mose had a million dollars in gold ore. 2nd person: Gold or what?
Supposedly, Eddie filmed this movie in a real haunted house in New Jersey. The older residents of the neighborhood said they had heard weird groans and had seen a pale face pressed against the window. One of the original cast members bowed out because he was too afraid to enter the house.
The movie had a great cast, though.
Jimmie Baskette, who you might remember as “Uncle Remus” or the man who sang “Zip A Dee Doo Da”.
And Amanda Randolph. She was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont’s The Laytons. Miss Randolph also starred in “Beulah” in 1953. She also appeared in 71 episodes of “Make Room for Daddy” with Danny Thomas. (Anybody out there remember at least one of these shows?) I found the following information on the net, and it kind of upsets me: Amanda Randolph appeared in a few Oscar Micheaux films. The reason I get upset is also one of the reasons I am writing a book about my father. Eddie made movies with the current stars of his day, the same stars who appeared in Micheaux films and films produced by Whites, yet as far as the media goes, it is as though Eddie and his work with these actors has simply dropped through the floor. I am a champion for my father.
The movie was a short, only twenty-one minutes, but it was a “real laugh-riot.”
Eddie, “Harlem’s favorite Hollywood comedian” was quoted as saying this about his movie making skills:
“The first thing I try for,” he said, “is naturalness. I write my own stories, building them around some incident that has been interesting, but not offensive. Then I select the actors that I think are best suited to the parts, so that they need only be themselves.”
The movie had its first showing at the Brooklyn Apollo Theater at 1531 Fulton Avenue. The theater closed in 1965.
On Tuesday afternoon of July 30, 1940, if anyone was looking for a good short movie, according to the Television column, of The New York Sun, you could catch “Comes Midnight” at 3:55 p.m. that afternoon, right after the 3:48 p.m. film “Tour of the World’s Fair.”
Just before Eddie started making “Comes Midnight”, he went to Hollywood from New York to audition for the part of “Pork” in Gone With the Wind. He did not get the part, but, hey, nothing beats a failure but a try, right?
The update on my first try at writing a book is that I now have a 48,061 word manuscript, including title sheet, TOC, dedication, introduction, appendices and bibliography. I’m done, basically, I know I am. I am sending it piecemeal to my brother, who is helping me with editing, and, of course I am proofing also. I will be looking for a “real” editor any day now.
I am still having fun. And I thank you effusively for stopping by and hanging in.
I am left-handed. When I was still in elementary school learning how to write, we had to have a writing pad to practice with.
These pads were set up for right-handed people, because one was supposed to “slant” ones letters to the right. And my mom was determined that when I wrote, first, I would not right with my left hand all twisted around (bad enough I was left-handed), and second, I would make those letters slant the right way. My mother was right-handed and had beautiful hand-writing. I still don’t think my writing slants correctly, but I do not write with my left hand curved around in a circle. Only because I got hollered at if I did. Anyhoo, my mom was just doing what she thought best, and I do not have a problem being left-handed. Except when I have to sign one of those machines at the pharmacy after I slide my card-they are only made to turn to the left to make it easy for right-handed people to sign.
The other day I went to lunch with my daughter, Melony and my grandson, Edward, because Edward is moving to Nevada. We had a ball. As you can see, Edward is right-handed so I couldn’t sit too close to him as our elbows would crash together, My original idea for writing a book about my father, Eddie Green, came to me when Edward was about six years old. You can see how long he has been waiting for me to write this book.
Of course, today, in regard to writing my book, I don’t actually write anything.
It has all been done on my trusty laptop. And I think I am happy to say that I hope to be ready to hand over my manuscript for outside editing by the end of the month. I think I am happy because I feel slightly queasy. Although, this endeavor has never been about fame and fortune, only a way to share with Edward and others, that a person can achieve their goals against all odds. Eddie did.
I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it
Courtesy of L. A. Public Library, donated by Attorney Walter L. Gordon, Jr., my godfather.
pininthetush 