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
The horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers or nuts. The horn originates from classical antiquity, it has continued as a symbol in Western art, and it is particularly associated with the Thanksgiving holiday in North America and with harvest, prosperity and spiritual abundance.
This time last year, I had just started my blog. I was a bit discouraged about the world situation at the time, as I still am today, however, this year I am experiencing more hope. I have finished 90% of a goal that I set for myself, and I have stuck with this blog for a whole year.
My first post, Can’t is Not in My Vocabulary, explained how I came up with the bright idea to enlighten my grandson, in book form, on what a person can accomplish, by telling him about his grandfather, Eddie Green, a Black man born in poverty in 1891, who rose to prominence despite many obstacles, and, I discussed how I would use my posts as a way to chronicle the writing of the biography about my father.
While doing the research for my book and verifying information for my posts, I discovered way more than I expected, not just about my father’s rise, but also about what motivates people, and about determination and how much work actually goes into achieving one’s goals, and how that work can be extremely rewarding. What I hoped to impart to my grandson, morphed into a desire to share inspiration to any person who feels they “can’t”. I want the experience of reading my posts to be as uplifting and inspirational as possible to those who could use a boost.
In America, Thanksgiving is traditionally a celebration of the blessings of the year. I am celebrating the achievement of my goal. I am celebrating the friendships I have acquired over this past year. I am celebrating the fact that people “follow” me. Yee haw! I am celebrating the fact that I am still just as gung ho about the research and the writing, as I was when I began this project.
I have a vague memory of my mom putting out her yearly Horn of Plenty for the Thanksgiving season, way back when I was a child, and it seems to me that, though I could not articulate this, I knew then that her well-used bamboo horn signified a never-ending source of good things. May you experience an abundance of thanksgiving.
Charlie Cantor, Eddie Green, Ed Gardner, Florence Halop, Alan Reed. Duffy’s Tavern Cast. 1942-1943
Hi. The picture at the top (I hope, WordPress may place it differently) of this post, is the cast of the Duffy’s Tavern radio program, in the early years. For those of you who may be too young to remember, Duffy’s Tavern ran on the radio from 1941 until 1950, once a week. Ed Gardner was the creator of the program and had been active in radio as a producer, writer and actor for many years. Ed portrayed “Archie”, the star of the program. My father, Eddie Green, who by this time was a well-known comedian, and movie producer, played “Eddie, the Waiter”. The others in the photo I will touch on in a separate post. Duffy’s Tavern always opened with the ringing of the phone, after which “Archie” would answer, “Hello, Duffy’s Tavern, where the elite meet to eat, Archie speakin’, Duffy ain’t here.” After which the half-hour program would proceed with funny banter between Archie and Eddie, the waiter, and their assorted bar patrons and their weekly celebrity guests.
It is said that Duffy’s Tavern has inspired references in popular culture formats, such as in the TV show, The Simpsons, where you see Moe’s Tavern and Moe answers the telephone with “Moe’s Tavern, where the elite meet to drink.”
And, Cheers, which was co-created by James Burrows, the son of Duffy’s Tavern co-creator Abe Burrows.
John Ratzenberger, Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Pearlman, George Wendt, Ted Danson, Shelley Long
In 1948, Ed Gardner took his program, Duffy’s Tavern, to the stage. The New York Strand, to be exact,where the program received a mention in Walter Winchell’s Broadway column in the Albany New York Times, “Orchids to Ed (Archie) Gardner’s Duffy’s Tavern at the Strand.” My father, Eddie was showcased during the stage production, according to Martin Grams, Jr., in his book, Duffy’s Tavern, A History of Ed Gardner’s Radio Program, where he wrote, “Green was even given an opportunity to take the spotlight for a deftly contrived pantomime routine about poker playing.”
Sixty-Six years later, I found a picture of Eddie on stage at the Strand doing his pantomime. I cannot post it because I have to purchase it first because it belongs to a local museum. Evidently, someone asked Eddie to autograph a picture of himself and so he wrote: “May you never be as puzzled as I am here”. Seems like a strange thing to write, however, it gives me an insight into my father as a person and not just as an entertainer. And I don’t feel too bad when I become “puzzled”, about the process of writing a book and choosing the best pictures and marketing and networking.
My father was a man who chose the direction he wanted to go in life and stuck with it, despite the puzzling aspects, Inspiring, don’t you think?
Hi there. In recounting my father’s (Eddie Green) life in the entertainment business on this blog, I have also been writing a biography of my father. Eddie died in 1950 and I am now in the year 1949 when he began to experience his medical problems. So, I am almost finished with my first draft, minus add-ons and proofreading. I have deliberately let this blog lag behind the book so no one will get the whole story before the book comes out. I have to leave something for which folks will clamor. Or, not.
My father, Eddie Green
I have shared in my “Hookups” post about a radio show that Eddie was on in 1935, “Uncle Charlies Tent Show” starring Charles Winninger, and about Eddie being on the Rudy Vallee show, and about Eddie appearing in and writing comedy sketches for “Hot Chocolates” in 1929, with the music of Fats Waller and Andy Razaf, and Louis Armstrong. And today I would like to share a bit of my father with you, as he appeared on the first public broadcast demonstration of television. Woo Hoo!
First, however, I am going to post some information about Mr. George Wiltshire. George Wiltshire was my father’s “straight man” in an act Eddie had going in 1936. I needed to do some background searching on George before writing about him, so yesterday I looked him up and while doing so I became aware of the fact that there are a lot of people who have had successful careers in show business of whom we no longer hear.
GEORGE WILTSHIRE
What a handsome man. George Wiltshire was born in 1900. I read that he was an actor, known for Killer Diller (1948), Midnight Menace (1946) and Hi-De-Ho (1947), that he first appeared in the 1930 Broadway revue play “Hot Rhythm” at the Times Square Theatre, that he made his first film appearance in the 1938 all-black film “Keep Punching” and, more recently, that he had appeared in a couple of episodes of “Sanford and Son” in 1976, as Elroy Pitt, a sidekick of Hutch (Arnold Johnson), and a friend of “Fred” (Redd Foxx). Imagine that, one person who was alive in 1976, besides my mom and my Godfather, who knew Eddie. I found an article that spotlighted George in 1939 as having been one of the leading straight men and as the only “straight man” still carrying on. George died in 1976 in California. What I found in only one place was this:
EDDIE GREEN AMD GEORGE WILTSHIRE
ON TELEVISION TRYOUT BROADCAST
NEW YORK CITY, July —Eddie Green., popular stage, radio and screen comedian, and George Wiltshire, well-known “straight-man,” are the two men of color chosen to lend their bit to the firsttest television broadcast by the Radio Corporation of America. The program was specially broadcast to a select group of listeners and watchers. The program, announced by Milton Cross, also featured Ed Wynn, Graham MacNamarra, Henry Hull and the Pickens Sisters.
July 7 – At David Sarnoff’s request for an experiment of RCA’s electronic television technology, NBC’s first attempt at actual programming is a 30-minute variety show featuring speeches, dance ensembles, monologues, vocal numbers, and film clips. It is shown to 225 of RCA’s licensees on 22 centimeter screens.
The film can actually be found online as “First Television Broadcast NBC/RCA July 7, 1936 Part 2 of 2.” Eddie and George’s act is at the very beginning of Part 2. Trust me, I was a bit shocked at first at the way they looked, but there they were in 1936, on television, because these two men were who the people wanted to see. As far as I have been able to ascertain, Eddie Green and George Wiltshire were the first two black men to appear on television. Be aware, the film may begin in the middle on my site, so you might have to run it back to the very beginning which is where you will hear Milton Cross make the introduction, Eddie and George are the first act to appear, then the Rockettes, etc. If you would like to see an explanation of this broadcast with David Sarnoff go to “First Television Broadcast NBC/RCA July 7, 1936 Part 1 of 2.”
I did not type the whole act, but simply as clarification, I have typed in a portion of Eddie’s “Grandfather Joke”, the last joke of the skit, because the sound portion of the film is not very good. This was one of Eddie’s stock in trade jokes that his audiences got a kick out of. This particular joke was about how fast his grandfather can cook a meal in his restaurant (I typed a mini version):
(Eddie) “75 people were coming from L. A. to New York and they only had 10 minutes for lunch. (George) There were 75 people and they only had 10 minutes for lunch? (Eddie) That’s right. (George) I bet it scared him (grandpa) to death. (Eddie) It didn’t even scare the waiter. Grandpa was back in the kitchen smokin’ a pipe. The waiter just walked over to the kitchen door and yelled “HAM AND EGGS FOR SEVENTY-FIVE”. (George) And what did grandpa say? (Eddie) TAKE ‘EM AWAY BEFORE I BURN THEM!
Ha ha, so funny. I didn’t even get the joke for about two weeks, probably because I was so busy focusing on the white lips. I got over it, though. I love seeing my father on stage, especially since I was only three years old when Eddie died. I have come to realize that Eddie put in the work necessary to get where he eventually got. I actually found the script for the joke in the library last month. I did not put the film up on the internet, but I thank those who did. I thank Mr. Wiltshire’s people, if there are any left out there, for the chance to bring him a bit of recognition. And I certainly thank those of you who have stopped by and are hanging in here with me.
I downloaded the form to send for my father’s separation papers from WWI today. I was going to write about this process until I remembered that: Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Eddie did not die while serving in WWI or after he signed up in 1942. But he was a Veteran for which they have Veteran’s Day, which I had to take myself online and read up on to find out the difference, which is: Veterans Day is an official United States holiday that honors people who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. I’m sure most people know the difference, but, well, you know, I had to be sure.
While I was online I read about the efforts at Arlington National Cemetary for continuing to provide room to bury our war dead, including Chaplains, Nurses and persons who are permitted to be buried at Arlington through their efforts in working for the good of those serving this country. If only we could somehow, see our way clear to the cessation of wars, these are national holidays I would not miss.
1939 Downtown District-Manhattan-Courtesy Google Images
I am deep into writing my book about my father, Eddie Green, and his life as a star of Stage, Screen and Radio, and how he has become literally wiped from most people’s memory, I believe, because he died in 1950, and when he died his works were put aside by those who knew him, and life moved on. Now, for me as an adult with a grandson, I am trying to document Eddie’s time on this earth because Eddie contributed much to society, despite the poverty of his family, and the segregation of his time. As I began to discover, through my research, what my father had accomplished, I was rather upset that even though Eddie worked with some of the greats of the 30s and 40s, he is not remembered as they are remembered. So I am trying to change that with my book.
Unfortunately, I wind up putting my posting aside. I know there is no one I need to apologize to for not posting more often, but I also know had I not started this blog, I may not have started actually writing my book. The research began some years ago, and, for someone who may be contemplating book-writing, research is on-going.
Over the past month I have discovered a Paramount Contract Eddie had in 1945, I have read scripts from some of his movies (I will get to those later), and I have found about fifteen original photos from the sets of Eddie’s movies. It’s fascinating and absolutely unexpected.
But before I get to that part of Eddie’s life, I will share with you what I found today. I have been searching the World Wide Web for just the right thing to share and lo and behold, I came across the best picture.
Eddie lived in New York for a large part of his career. He lived in Manhattan and worked in Harlem. He was called “The Harlem Funster”. In 1937 Rudy Vallee had a Radio Program on NBC-Blue Network and when Mr. Vallee went on his summer vacation, he convinced his sponsor, Fleischman’s Yeast, to hire Louie Armstrong to host the show for the summer. In 1937, at Vallée’s insistence, Louis Armstrong hosted the show during Vallée’s summer vacation. This made Armstrong the first African American to host a national network program. Guess who shared billing with Mr. Armstrong as one of the shows comedians.
According to BALLSTON SPA DAILY JOURNAL, BALLSTON SPA, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1937:
A new variety show, an all-negro revue, makes its debut on* WJZ-NBC revue, at 9 p.m. Based on the hot rhythm of Harlem as dispensed by Louis Armstrong’s orchestra, together with his trumpet, it will present Eddie Green and Gee Gee James, comedy team, and guest artists. The script is being put together by Octavus Roy Cohen.
Below is the picture I mentioned, celebrating this huge event.
.
Left to right are Luis Rusell, Eddie Green, Gee,-Gee James and Louie Armstrong, •/ho on Friday night, over station WJZ, under the sponsorship of the Flelschman Yeast Company, made show world history.—Photo by Continental News.
RECEIVE CONGRATULATIONS FROM COAST-TO-COAST
APRIL 17, 1937
T h e Pitttburgh Courier
The first time I have ever seen this picture. It’s too bad Mr. Armstrong is difficult to see, but it’s an old picture and I have a cheap printer. Anyhow, there they are. Making history. But who remembers Eddie Green? Well, I guess I do and I am sharing him with the world of today, not just because Eddie became “somebody”, despite the obstacles, but because there are still people who believe they cannot achieve their goals because of seeming obstacles.
Of course, we have to put in the work, acquire as much knowledge as we can about our pursuits, and if we have a talent, put it out there. I read that my father said that talent is respected in his business, and you have to keep at it because all the work and practice and time you put in pays off in the end.
Speaking of work. Right after the ending of the Fleischman Yeast’s Summer Program, Eddie was off to Hollywood where he appeared on “Showboat” a radio program which I talked about on my previous post. But before he left New York, Eddie had another bit of business to attend to, per the Pittsburgh Courier “Eddie Green, the radio comic, has gone Into the restaurant bis. He’s now the proud owner of a Bar-Bee-Q eatery off 139th” street on Seventh avenue. .”
It’s too bad this play had only seven performances. According to the critics, it was a flop. However, the critics were in agreement that, Eddie Green as “the cast’s lone Negro actor” gave the best performance. Eddie, in the role of butler and coachman for the Foster family, was “genuinely funny.” The newspaper articles mentioned also that Eddie had appeared many times as a guest on Rudy Vallee’s radio hour, and that he had also held a spot with Gee Gee James over the airways with Louie Armstrong and his revue.
The Pittsburgh Courier said “Even Walter Winchell, in his review of the play published in the Daily Mirror agrees “that the most popular member of the earnest little troupe is Eddie Green.” And “to him is entrusted a few sallies.”
Walter Winchell worked for theNew York Daily Mirrorwhere he became the author of what would be the first syndicated gossip column, titledOn-Broadway.
Using connections in the entertainment, social, and governmental realms, he would expose exciting or embarrassing information about celebrities in those industries. . His newspaper column was syndicated in over 2,000 newspapers worldwide, and he was read by 50 million people a day from the 1920s until the early 1960s. His Sunday-night radio broadcast was heard by another 20 million people from 1930 to the late 1950s. It was a big deal then to get a thumbs-up from Mr. Winchell. My mom did not have a lot of information about Eddie before she married him , but she did know about the mention from Mr. Winchell, so this was one item I grew up having knowledge of, and I knew, even as a child the importance of a Walter Winchell mention.
Growing up I knew so much less about my father than I do now, but I always had a sense of pride in his accomplishments, though for a long time I wished he hadn’t died and left me. Anywho, Eddie did die in 1950, and with the book I am writing I have gotten as far as 1940. Soon I will need to have a title, something like “Eddie Green, Star of Stage, Screen and Radio” or, Eddie Green, Renaissance Man, or “Who Was Eddie Green?”, or “An In-Depth Look At A Forgotten Star”. I have had sixty different titles in my head. Suggestions are welcomed.
In the 20s and 30s New York’s Harlem was rockin’ despite prohibition or economic woes. Though people were struggling and Blacks even more so, because of Jim Crow laws.
During the Harlem Renaissance, if you were a Black artist, or musician, or an actor or a dancer, you were known nationally, and you could make money. The gentleman who painted the above picture was one of these artists. I, myself, have never heard of him until two days ago while researching my father, Eddie Green. Mr. Motley was born in 1891, same year as my father. I have looked at some of his other paintings and I have decided what will be my next obsession. His depictions of everyday life are bright and beautiful, in most cases. Seems like times were good.
.Eddie was still with Minsky’s, and he was also busy with a new project:
BLACKBERRIES OF 1932
Liberty Theatre
Opening Date: April 4, 1932
Closing Date: April 23, 1932
Performances: 24 Opening night production credits
Eddie Green Book
Lee Posner Book
Donald Heywood Music
Tom Peluso Music
Donald Heywood Lyrics
Tom Peluso Lyrics
Also, Eddie appeared in “Brighton Follies of 1932” at the New Brighton Theater, with Watson and Cohan, in 1933 he was in “Red Hot Tots” in Brooklyn, and in “Temptations of 1933” with Shorty McAllister. In ’34 Eddie was back at the Apollo with Pigmeat Markham, Jimmie Baskette and Ralph Cooper. The struggle was there, but people were working through their troubles.
Just like today, unless they were rich, people struggled monetarily. And rich folks had their struggles also. My education on the history of the United States and it’s people is expanding dramatically.
photo-Kowalfamilyhistory
In 1930 Eddie had a new wife. I think she was wife number three. I only know, so far, that her name was Anna, she was born in 1901 in England, of Russian parents who had emigrated to the United States in 1905. Anna was an entertainer in a nightclub in 1930 and Eddie was working as an actor in a show when they met. Anna’s family probably came here to escape their economic woes and to have a better life in the USA.
In March, 1932 Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was kidnapped and later murdered. There were songs written about this tragedy. Eddie and three other men collaborated and wrotre “Find that darling baby”. Words were written by Frank Ceints and W. A. Wright, music by Morton Levine and Eddie Green, copyrighted on April 14, 1932. The Lindberghs were devastated. Just like any average everyday parent.
voting 2008-Googe Advanced Images
Roosevelt became president in 1932, but the average American Black person had to struggle if they wanted to vote in those days. I n 1952, however, a Black woman was nominated for Vice-President. Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass (February 14, 1874– April 12, 1969) was an American educator, newspaper publisher-editor, and civil rights activist. Bass was probably the first African-American woman to own and operate a newspaper in the United States; she published the California Eagle from 1912 until 1951. In 1952, Bass became the first African-American woman nominated for Vice President, as a candidate of the Progressive Party. Today women can run for President, and, well, you know the rest.
The California Eagle printed the first blurb about Eddie in Los Angeles in 1936, saying in part that Eddie Green was a fine comedian who appears occasionally on the Rudy Vallee hour.
I saw an article yesterday about a survivor of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the lady was celebrating the fact that she has finally received a prosthetic ear and can now wear an earring!
Average everyday people just looking to have a good life.
I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it
where the program received a mention in Walter Winchell’s Broadway column in the Albany New York Times, “Orchids to Ed (Archie) Gardner’s Duffy’s Tavern at the Strand.” My father, Eddie was showcased during the stage production, according to Martin Grams, Jr., in his book, Duffy’s Tavern, A History of Ed Gardner’s Radio Program, where he wrote, “Green was even given an opportunity to take the spotlight for a deftly contrived pantomime routine about poker playing.”
pininthetush 