When I began this blog in 2014 I was still in the process of doing the research for the biography I wrote about my father. I had lots and lots of news articles about Eddie, I had pictures of Eddie that I didn’t even know existed before 2014 and I was finding more and more information about my father than I even suspected. As an entertainer in the early 1900s Eddie was busy. And his doings were routinely printed up in the local newspapers. Mostly the Black newspapers, but also in Billboard (which is still in business today). In the beginning they were just one-liners (Eddie Green at the Gayety), and then as time went by the articles became longer. Then interviews were printed as Eddie got more famous. Five yeas before Eddie died he was featured in the Paramount movie “Ed Gardner’s Duffy’s Tavern” (1945). The popularity of the Duffy’s Tavern radio program seemed like a good idea for a full-length movie in which the principal characters of the radio show were signed to play their same parts in the movie,  Ed Gardner as Archie, Charles Cantor as Finnegan, Eddie Green as Eddie the Waiter, and Ann Thomas as Miss Duffy. Paramount used almost their whole roster of stars in this movie:

Bing Crosby as himself; Betty Hutton as herself; Paulette Goddard as herself; Alan Ladd as himself; Dorothy Lamour as herself; Eddie Bracken as himself; Brian Donlevy as himself; Sonny Tufts as himself; Veronica Lake as herself; Arturo de Córdova as himself; Barry Fitzgerald as Bing Crosby’s Father; Cass Daley as herself; Diana Lynn as herself; Victor Moore as Michael O’Malley; Marjorie Reynolds as Peggy O’Malley; Barry Sullivan as Danny Murphy; Robert Benchley as himself. If you look this movie up on the Internet you can see a color poster of the whole cast, except for Eddie. But the longer I spent researching the book, the more I found. The photo at the top of this post (I hope it’s there), is a black and white version and Eddie is pictured at the bottom in the left hand corner, the only Black person in the cast. Being signed for a part in this movie was a good thing actually, for Eddie. Publicity-wise and money-wise.

Since publishing my father’s biography what I have discovered is that there exists much more information about my father that I did not find, but others have. Fans of my father have sent me pictures, articles and cd’s of Eddie’s radio shows. My publisher told me early on that I would probably find more information and that I should save it up for a second book about Eddie. Well, he was right. Even today 2020 in the past week I have been contacted by someone who has a couple of pictures and a Duffy’s Tavern (DT) beer mug from the 1948-49 season. I didn’t even know DT beer mugs existed. A Twitter friend sent me dozens of articles he found while doing some research. He said in his first email: “It’s been so interesting tracing Eddie’s career – he was really well-known, and liked.” This is so remarkable to me that these people have taken the time to trace Eddie’s career and have held on to items related to Eddie. If you are an old movie fan you will recognize the name Adolphe Menjou in the Lincoln Theatre ad. He was famous! And there’s Eddie Green appearing at the same theater.

Of course, I could go on and on about my father. Since I don’t really remember him, writing about and talking about him brings me a type of peace. Something that makes me feel good always. This is my Black History. This man though born in 1891 chose to drag himself out of his childhood poverty, taught himself to read and chose a path that he liked and was good at and became quite successful in the field of entertainment. Plus, he was a nice guy while doing so. He became well-known and “liked”.

Thanx, for stopping by and for new people to my blog: Eddie Green The Rise of an Early 1900s Black American Entertainment Pioneer is the name of my book. 🙂