In her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, she wrote, "I don't think I missed a single picture Billie Dove ever made. In another scene at the caf, we see Holiday with Monroe, Glaser, and legendary saxophonist Lester Young (Tyler James Williams), who in real life played with Holiday for years, earning from her the affectionate nickname Prez and giving her the lasting alias Lady Day. As jazz writer Steve Provizer points out, however, the films overall depiction of Youngs playing style and personality is inaccurate. The fashion designer famous for besequining the stars from Marilyn to Cher on the importance of investing in a full-length mirror. For years, American pharmacists sold a product called Mrs. Winslows Soothing Syrup, which contained morphine and alcohol. Buy Lady Sings the Blues on Amazon or Bookshop. Needing money in those teen years, Holidayturned to sex work in Harlem for a period of time before she started singing in jazz clubs at the age of 18,Biography reported. Trouble is a thing Ive learned to smell, Holiday writes. DUSAN DUKIC: (As Joe Glaser) I cut "Strange Fruit.". And, as Hari told Esquire, she and the Pope drank something called Vin Mariani, which was wine laced with opium.. Performed in the touring company of "Sing, Mahalia, Sing" in 1986, as the late, great. Billie never had any children of her own. In this scene, they're just getting to know each other before Billie finds out he's a narc. "They bust her, and it's pretty clear, I think, from reading the historical documents, that he planted drugs on Billie Holiday that night," Hari told NPR of the raid. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. I was filthy dirty and had holes in the knees of my stockings, but I had sixteen hundred bucks and some change. During her childhood, she also used her stepfather's last name, Gough, after her mother married longshoreman Phil Gough for a time. So she's given methadone and she starts to recover. In 2001, she sang "America The Beautiful" on the first WWE pay-per-view to be held after the September 11th terrorist attacks. He was supporting the adoption of a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for first-time offender drug dealers. This is true to Anslingers biography. Made an appearance at the 6th annual United States Conference on AIDS at the Anaheim Hilton & Towers in Anaheim, California. At worst, "The United States Vs. Billie Holiday" is as heedless of the facts as "Lady Sings The Blues" was, even restaging that movie's fictitious episode where Billie comes on the scene of a lynching down South, as if she needed to see it to truly sing it. The same on-screen text also mentions that Billie Holiday rose to fame in part due to her song Strange Fruit, a lyrical, horrifying description of a lynching, which is true to the record. Although these were indeed all major people in Holidays circle, Holiday was working for NYCs Downbeat Jazz Club during this time, and Caf Society had started experiencing financial troubles by then, so this particular scene with so many significant figures conveniently congregated is almost certainly an invention. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. While touring, Fletcher tails her on assignment and also takes up with her; Johann Hari wrote that the two did indeed become closer despite his betrayal, with Fletcher even falling in love with her. And it can kill the people you love right along with you. Jennifer Holliday was born in Riverside, TX on Wednesday, October 19, 1960 (Baby Boomers Generation). "He said, You might want [Garland] to take longer vacations. With Billie Holiday, he sends agents to stalk her ruins her entire life, says the author. Thats where he was and where he walked around, going from hospital to hospital trying to get help. She is an actress, known for Ally McBeal (1997), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) and Below the (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY"). Despite President Harry Trumans tepid steps toward advancing civil rights for Black Americans, racist Democrats still held a tight grip over his partyincluding Anslinger, who despised jazz and its icons. Blackburn writes that lynching "was at its most virulent between 1900 and 1920." Later, Billie got married to Louis McKay. 3 Billie Holiday Oddly enough, Dove was actually the stage name of Lillian Bohny. She told The Hollywood Reporter, "I could see this love affair that she has with Jimmy Fletcher, because it tells the story of the love affair that Black Americans have with America. 5. RHODES: (As Jimmy) Why don't you ever sing "Strange Fruit"? Photos by Bettmann/Contributor and Takashi Seida/Hulu. I think the only way to tell Billie Tragically, her personal life was marked by horrifying abuse. Drugs became racialized, with cocaine coded as being associated with Black Americans, opioids with Chinese immigrants, and marijuana with Mexican immigrants. The pair became friends in the mid-1930s and later toured together with Count Basie. Holiday after being arrested for heroin possession in 1947. How Prince William and Princess Kate Plan to Celebrate First Easter Since Queen Elizabeth's Death. Russell Crowe Shares Sad News That 16-Month-Old Dog Louis Died in My Arms. She was previously married to Rev. Scarred by Vaughans reception, Holiday hid in the back of the Strand Theater watching Lena Horne rehearse. What you looking at him for? 7 Things You May Not Know About Billie Holiday, Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images, Joan Baez Sings with Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. I went out once to a birthday gathering for me, and the New York Post wrote that I had broken the chair because I was so big. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Born on April 7, 1915, Holiday once said, "If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all." Anslinger was a known racist, according to what Hari told WNYC, and considered Holiday a threat, especially in regards to her bringing attention to the horrors of lynching black men in her song "Strange Fruit" (the lyrics are at Songfacts), which Anslinger wanted to prohibit Holiday from singing. DAVIES: Kevin Whitehead is the author of the new book "Play The Way You Feel: The Essential Guide To Jazz Stories On Film." Holiday ended up releasing the song on the Commodore label in 1939, and it went on to sell a million copies. Shortly after she left West Virginia, a friend took her backstage after Vaughans show: The people hanging around there were wonderful, the air was full of Hi, baby and oo-papa-da and everybody telling me how great I looked. A previous headline misspelled Billie Holiday's last name as Holliday. I stayed sore for three weeks., Holidays philandering first husband, the trombonist Jimmy Monroe, would inspire the heartbreaking ballad Dont Explain. One night he came in with lipstick on his collar, she writes. They also recorded together on a number of different projects, including her 1957 television special The Sound of Jazz. TREVANTE RHODES: (As Jimmy Fletcher) Pardon me for asking, but why is that song so important to us? In the 1972 biopic "Lady Sings The Blues," she was played by Diana Ross, who looked and sounded nothing like her. Hari told WNYC, "She's diagnosed with very advanced liver cancer and she starts to go into heroin withdrawal. Her great talent, however, was later diminished by bad relationships and alcohol and drug abuse. Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in 1915, and grew up in Baltimore. But Holidays world was shattered at the age of 10 when a man she calls Mr. Dick attempted to rape her. She took enough of it to know, she writes. A voice-over from Devine mentions that a cast of important figures in Holidays life were all there that night, including singer and activist Lena Horne, actress Tallulah Bankhead, manager Joe Glaser (Dusan Dukic), and Holidays then-husband Jimmy Monroe (Erik LaRay Harvey). Billie Holiday never stopped being addicted. In "The United States Vs. Billie Holiday," federal agents wage a vigorous campaign for years to make her stop singing "Strange Fruit," that scathing portrait of lynching as a Southern tradition. Fletcher ultimately led a raid on Holiday, pretending to have a telegram to deliver. The singer managed to become a well-known name in the Two other scenes with Fletcher ring partly true to the historical record: Miss Freddy mentioning to him that Holiday was raped when she was 10, which is true, and Anslinger telling him that thenFBI Director J. Edgar Hoover thought Strange Fruit was an un-American, provocative song. But while the movie charts Holidays efforts to maintain her career while being hounded by law enforcement and struggling with substance abuse disorder, its not just a portrait of the life of one artist: The film also tells an important story about the origins of Americas war on drugs. All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. It is unclear what led to their split. Ive been told that nobody sings the word hunger like I do. While its widely known that Coca-Cola used to contain actual cocaine, that wasnt the only place you could find now-illegal drugs. The United States vs. Billie Holiday Tells A Story From the Racist Origins of the War on Drugs, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Hulus Oscar-nominated The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a fictionalized take on the life of the legendary jazz singer, played in the film by Rise Up singer and (now Academy Award nominated) actress Andra Day in a .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}Golden Globe-nominated performance. The phrase "Don't Explain" is what Holiday uttered to her first husband, Jimmy Monroe, when he came home with lipstick on his collar. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The United States vs. Billie Holiday: What Really Happened, The Weeknd's 'The Idol' to Premiere in 2023, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Later, he harasses her in the hospital as she's dying. To be fair, biographical movies are entertainments, not history lessons. Whether the two had such a long affair, however, is impossible to verify. Holiday was on her way, but the trauma of her childhood never left her. She made her first attempt to get clean in 1946but news of her stay in a sanitarium was leaked, and she began to be tailed in earnest by the feds, who were hoping to nail her for possession. When she was ten years old, she was raped by an adult neighbor. The United States vs. Billie Holiday According to Holiday herself, she really was forced off the stage after singing Strange Fruit at Philadelphias Earle Theater in The actor revealed that his pet died after being hit by a truck on the second anniversary of his father's death. RHODES: (As Jimmy) Never heard you sing it. All of this is sadly true to Billies life. Director Lee Daniels told the Hollywood Reporter that The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday isnt a biopic, and as longtime Canadian journalist Robert Fulford once wrote in the National Post, it is difficult for anyone to attempt to chronicle an authoritative Life of Billie Holiday anyway, because the documents dont exist, and the witnesses have often lied. The singer found herself addicted to drugs during her marriage to Monroe. They don't say, Oh my God, there's a 15-year-old girl here. 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