A Diller, A Dollar (1955) (continued)

[Wilson Gray]

When I lived in Los  Angeles, Andy Razaf lived around the corner from
me on Country Club Drive, next door to my girl friend's best friend.
Nat "King" Cole lived a couple of blocks away, primarily because he
wasn't allowed to buy a house in Beverly Hills and this area, the
Wilshire District - west of Western Ave, east of West Los Angeles and
north of Pico Blvd,, was as close as the colored could get. This was
back in the old days, when no amount of yellow could change black into
white. (Supposedly, there's a Brazilian saying to the effect that
"yellow," i.e. gold, money, "changes black into white.")  According to
a recent map in the NYT Sunday Travel section, this neighborhood is now
Little Korea. In any case, this Madagascarene story is brand-new to me.
In the 'Fifties, at least, the story was that Razaf was a full-blooded
- whatever that may mean - Ethiopian, according to black publications
of the day, e.g. Ebony, Sepia, Our World, etc.

-Wilson Gray

On Mar 30, 2005, at 10:52 AM, George Thompson wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: A Diller, A Dollar (1955) (continued)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> I believe that the lyrics to "Shine" were written by Andy Razaf.  If
> so, there is a biography of him: Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of
> Andy Razaf, by Barry Singer; foreword by Bobby Short.  New York:
> Toronto & New York: Schirmer Books; Maxwell Macmillan Canada; Maxwell
> Macmillan International, c1992.  Razaf was the child of an black
> American woman and a Madagascarene nobleman -- this sounds like a story
> his public relations guy thought up after kicking the gong around, but
> it is verifiable; he was raised in the U. S.  There is also a
> biographical sketch in the American National Biography, and I dare say
> one in the Grove Dictionary of Jazz and/or the Grove Dictionary of
> American Music.  He wrote the lyrics to a number of Fats Waller's
> songs.
>
> The version of Shine I know is the one Louis Armstrong made in the
> 1920s.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Robert Fitzke <fitzke at MICHCOM.NET>
> Date: Sunday, March 27, 2005 3:14 pm
> Subject: Re: A Diller, A Dollar (1955) (continued)
>
>> Dear Mr. Gray:
>>
>> I'm a 79 year old semi-retired lawyer and long-time ADS lurker.
>> I'm also a
>> long-time collector of jazz  records (since age 12) with something
>> more than
>> 1,000 albums. I recently bought a CD of Frankie Laine hits (he was
>> big in my
>> late teens/early twenties) that includes a cut of "Shine". In
>> listening to
>> it I think I really heard the lyrics for the first time. The
>> thought ocurred
>> that there must be something more behind these lyrics than it
>> appears from a
>> casual listen. Specifically it seems as if the lyricist has taken a
>> collection of derogatory racial comments and turned them into
>> compliments.
>> You seem to have an interest in music and a knowledge of these
>> matters. Do
>> you happen to know anything about the background behind this song
>> or if my
>> impression is on or off target?
>>
>> Will appreciate your comments.
>>
>> Bob Fitzke
>>
>