Transcription
I want to go back to 1941. You appeared in the movie, Hela Poppin—uh, Hela Poppin was 1940, 1940, 1941. We went to Rio de Janeiro, 1940, 1940.
Olson and Johnson. Please describe that project for us.
Well, uh, Olson and Johnson was, you know, the great team of that typical zany type comics. They were doing a Broadway show, and we auditioned for the Broadway show, which we opened in Boston. And, uh, always in a Broadway show, they have the opportunity after the first two or three weeks to shake—do a shakedown—who, who, what works, what doesn't work. So the production number we were in did not work, so we left the show in Boston. But they promised us that when they ever do a movie, they would bring us back, and which in turn they really did. Olson and Johnson wound up bringing us back. And then, of course, I worked with Olson and Johnson for five years as the opening act when they did their show. Oh, good. I was with them with all the arenas and whatnot.
But O&J, um, did the—well, you know, they were five years on Broadway with Hela Poppin, and then they brought us back to the movie, which was really one of the best dance sequences ever produced on the screen. And, of course, we had Nick Castle, the great dance director, who opened the doors for us on that one.
So you were treated fairly?
Oh, yes, and given lots of support. It was amazing. We were traveling with O&J, and we reached—um—uh, Tex—we were—we were playing Texas, this big arena in Texas. Now, Texas had segregated laws. There, we have a big drum number with all the chorus girls around the stage, and we were in the center with this big number. Now, now these were black chorus girls or white ones. We were only black in the show, so they—because we were the black act and these white girls were surrounded with—they had the drums move—move to the edge of the arena—so that such stupid stuff. You—you can't believe this was a big production number. I mean, we were the Olson and Johnson show with the skating vanities, How Steinman with the dancing waters and whatnot. In Texas, we had to move all the way back to the edge. And then when we went to the train station—not the white—uh, show was at one part of the—the—the train station, and the act had to be in the colored waiting room. That was the first time Bobby Johnson—Al—Chick Johnson's grandson—knew—what—first time he ever realized what segregation was.
Wow.
And he said, "Why are—why are they over there in that—in—in that waiting room and not with us?" And I remember them telling them that, uh, this was the laws of Texas because of segregation. And we were playing the—the—the Mapes Hotel in Reno, and one of my dancers—loved—I had my guys—everybody loved my—my—my dances, and they loved—they—they were kids, anyway. So this—they—he said, "Come on, Stony, let's go swimming." Now, Stony's black as this pole, and Stony said, "I don't think I could go swimming." He wanted to know why. "Cuz you black people did not swim in the pool at Mapes Hotel in Reno—in—in Nevada." And that was uh, some of the things that happened incidentally with the group that they didn't—it—it wasn't their fault, but this was the laws of the cities that we played in, and we played a lot of Southern cities.
Yeah.
And it was embarrassing. It was dehumanizing.
Yes.
And I used to—that's what annoyed me. I—I wanted to hit somebody every time. It was such a dumb thing to do. And—and you know, Las Vegas was—that was a—it—they did it there. But once again, there you were dealing with this, you know, these horrors—horrors pertaining to segregation. But still, it didn't seem to beat you down emotionally. I mean, you still valued yourself despite that.
Because we were—we were—you see, it's one thing to be the best. We were the best at what we did. You couldn't—and that way—
Oh, yeah. Well, we wouldn't be there. We were the best—ain't no question about it. So like we were in Rio—we were the top act in Rio de Janeiro. We hang out with the best and come back to Florida. You understand how dare—I mean, we're—we're the—we're the—so nobody give a darn about us, but that's how we had that—you can't do this to me. And I guess I had that always—obviously we were the—I mean, I was always the best. So I mean, you're going to turn the best down? But you know, I've seen people who are the best at what they do, but they still don't value themselves. I mean, you—you are holding on to both—that—that is self-esteem.
Self-esteem, absolutely.