Holidays boxer dog was used as a way to transport drugs underneath the dogs collar. var append_element = append_element || function(e){if(void 0==e)return!1;if(! setTimeout(function () { [8], Kuehl's research revealed that Holiday's addictions were "becoming a crutch for a life beset with violence, misogyny and racism."[2]. Various biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material. var popupTrigger = jQuery("#captainformForm772605EmbedPopup63c877fb82c45"); Kuehl was white, born in the Bronx and relatively prosperous. That voice. Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. (The documentary has lots of images of cassette recorders and reel-to-reel tap machines in operation, to give a visual representation of these interviews.) She said of Young, who would become her constant companion: I returned the compliment and called him the President., In a 1972 interview, pianist Jimmy Rowles had this to say about Holiday and Youngs relationship: They had the funniest way of loving each other. Billie Holiday. Kim Nalley is on faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory and is writing her Doctoral dissertation on the Globalization of Jazz and Black Cultural Politics.. [2] Various other writers' biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material, as did the film Billie (2019), which is narrated by Kuehl's recorded interviews. jQuery(wrapper).css('top', jQuery(window).height() * 0.4 - wrapper.outerHeight()); Watching the footage of her face singing with no sound could reduce the watcher to tears alone without hearing a single note. [3] The interviews were a major source for the text in Robert O'Meally's book of photographs Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (1991)[12] and around the same were used for the script for a Masters of American Music series documentary of the same name. She was a woman of breath-taking talent and global popularity while also stirring controversy. Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 February 6, 1978)[1] was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. [2] Various other writers' biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material, as did the film Billie (2019), which is narrated by Kuehl's recorded interviews. Holidays time with Basie and his band ended on a sour note when she left. She had $750 to her name when she died, according to the documentary. Her name is eponymous with the phrase jazz singer. There is no jazz figure so well-known, yet shrouded in mystery, as Lady Day. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. And by the age of 14, Holiday was singing professionally in nightclubs. She wanted to have sex, mostly with women. Milt Hilton, a bass player who worked with Holiday during her last music recording sessions, remembers: She was in pretty bad shape. He took many of the widely published photos of her during these last sessions. Then, in the late 1960s journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible'); A more pertinent flaw would be the ending montage which shows images of current racism against African Americans over Drummer Papa Jo Jones voice. formId: '772605' She recorded from her teens until her untimely death in 1959 at age 44. [2] Various other writers' biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material, as did the film Billie (2019), which is narrated by Kuehl's recorded interviews. Detractors from the film will likely say there is too much emphasis on Linda Kuehl. The official cause of death was ruled a suicide, but her younger sister Myra Luftman (who is not interviewed on camera) says in the documentary that Kuehl probably died from foul play because of the research that Keuhl was doing for the book. Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. Because McKay was still legally married to Holiday when she died, he inherited Holidays estate and future earnings. Pigmeat Marham and white record producer John Hammond (instrumental in the lives of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman and more) both claim to have discovered her. Holiday co-wrote her 1956 memoir Lady Sings the Blues with William Dufty, and the book became the basis of the 1972 feature film of the same name, starring Diana Ross, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Holiday. Pulled out of school at 11, she worked in a brothel at age 12, and by age 14 she was in Harlem singing at the Hot Cha Club. Keuhl is also remarkable for not trying to angle the information in a Procrustean manner to fit her argument. Line: 68 } She wasnt making enough money. Her death was ruled as a suicide. There are great archival photos of East Baltimore and of the reform school and the jail she was sent to. For those who wish to delve more deeply into her interviews, the Julia Blackburn book With Billie is a collection of Kuehls transcriptions. When she was released from jail at age 14, she left prostitution for good and set her sights on singing for a living. There never was a black critic in swing music. [6] In 1971, she began plans for a biography of Holiday, who had died aged 44 in 1959. Lipstick and brow pencil are the hallmark features. Its hard to know much trust to put in his words, though Erskine builds a picture of a life carved out by desires. She began working on the Holiday biography in 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people. Dcouvrez la bande annonce du film Billie : BILLIE HOLIDAY est l'une des plus grandes voix de tous les temps. However, Linda's book was never finished and the tapes never heard . She was the singer for Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, who were all white. The documentary includes stories of people witnessing McKay (whos been described as a mafia enforcer) being physically abusive to Holiday. Line: 479 Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); }, 50); }); An epilogue at the end of the documentary mentions that because of the destruction of police records, investigations into Lindas death made during the film proved inconclusive., In the documentary, Luftman explains why her sister wanted to write a Billie Holiday biography: Even thought they came from totally different backgrounds, I think she really identified with Billie. Her family, however, believed otherwise. Kuehl spend eight years interviewing the artist's friends, relatives, peers, business associates, even an FBI narcotics agent and a prison corrections officer, accruing 200 hours of . She wasnt like a slut. Because of the power structure, [black people] never had a chance.. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772606EmbedPopup63c877fb834ac'); Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 - February 6, 1978) was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Holiday was promptly arrested and did time in Welfare Island (now known as Roosevelt); she lied about her age to make sure she did not end up in juvenile until she was the age of majority. The girl looks absolutely nothing like Holiday. Holidays eyes plead, her lips sneer and her single eyebrow rises suggestively and reproachfully. jQuery(wrapper).find('a').removeAttr('href'); Kuehl's parents were Sol and Ida Lipnack and she had a sister, Myra Luftman. Function: _error_handler, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/page/index.php John Fagan, a cousin of Holidays, says in the documentary of their upbringing in East Baltimore: It was a nice community to live. Kuehl died after attending a Basie concert in Washington, D.C. Luftman says that a big clue for her that it wasnt a suicide was that Kuehl had a cosmetic face mask on, which was her habit when she got ready for bed. Afterwards she ran errands at a whorehouse where she heard Bessie Smith records which Holiday claimed to be a seminal influence along with Louis Armstrong. One thing everyone agrees on is that Holiday grew up rough and grew up fast, which undoubtedly shaped the person she became later in life. Sylvia Syms, a singer and longtime friend of Holidays, comments on Holidays drug addiction: She really dug being high, but I never saw anyone with such a capacity., Its mentioned several times in the documentary that Holidays well-known drug problem and the controversy over Strange Fruit led to a conspiracy to bring her down, with the FBI involved. She changed her last name to Holiday to capitalize on her fathers connection as a guitarist with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, one of the most respected Black Big Bands of its day. resize77260563c877fb82c45(wrapper); She was a generous person, Id say, in thought anyway. Holiday is clearly listening to, engaging with, and nodding her approval and at times stony apathy for the licks the instrumentalists take during their solos. Linda Lipnack Kuehl IMDbPro Starmeter See rank Help contribute to IMDb. To describe it any other way is to diminish her musicianship. setTimeout(function () { textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";', var captainformThemeStyle = {}; According to Ida B. We dont call this entertainment. Jazz musician Charles Mingus says Strange Fruit was very impactful because it shows that Holiday was fighting for equality before Martin Luther King. For some eight years in the 1970s, Kuehl interviewed everyone she could find who had a personal association with Holiday musicians, managers, childhood friends, lovers and FBI agents among. She was a perfectionist, according to her sister, which is why it took so long for Kuehl to work on the uncompleted book. In the late-1960s - some 10 years after the performer's death - journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday (below). Yoshi Kato wrote inMetrowith a flowing tone, an articulate delivery and a formidable understanding of musical principles and history, Nalley is comfortable in many a vocal setting. She is the former owner of the San Francisco jazz club Jazz at Pearls and was awarded Most Influential African American in the Bay Area.. }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; The film consists almost entirely of Kuehls recordings she had 125 cassettes worth of interviews and snippets of her writing, the latter played out over dramatic reconstructions of hands hovering above a typewriter. Read the latest opinions on key events by our acclaimed critics today Her stillness is fantastic for the camera. Midgett says that Holiday would talk for hours about how she started in prostitution when she was 13 years old. [3] She interviewed almost 200 peoplefriends, family members, band members, peers from 1930s Harlem, piano players, psychiatrists and a pimpand was still finding people in 1978. The film opens with footage of Holiday that I had not seen before. Line: 192 They are particularly pertinent, showing what kind of child she was and what the neighborhood was like for poor African Americans. Before completing her work, Kuehl died suddenly in February 1978. Her death was ruled as a suicide. The film includes rare photos of Billie Holiday taken by Hugh Bell, licensed to the production by Gartenberg Media, the exclusive representative of . And the only way to save her was to have her knocked out by the government. George H. White, who was a narcotics agent at the time, says Holidays lavish lifestyle also made her a target for the FBI and other law enforcement: Billie flaunted her way of living.. The documentary Billie, now showing, does not start at Billies birth or death, but rather the date of Linda Kuehls death. captainform_preload_form_popup(popupParams); }, true); var captainformCustomVars = {}; Function: require_once. The scene in Harlem was dense with famous clubs, famous musicians and a seemingly endless supply of white patrons eager to slum and see African American entertainment. var wrapper = jQuery('#captainformForm772606EmbedPopup63c877fb829bf'); } A psychiatrist, at one point, weighs in with a diagnosis. She interviewed and interviewed. append_element({ else if ('' == 'right') else if ('' == 'right') There are so many photos in circulation of Holiday at the end of her life when she was skeletal it might be shocking for some to realize that for most of her life she was plump. Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. captainForm772605PreloadInterval63c877fb83722 = setInterval(function(){ Holidays mother Sadie (who took an interested in her daughters career) was nicknamed Duchess. if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ captainformCustomVars['772606'] = ''; Although it may seem counterintuitive to have more audio only interviews for a film documentary instead of videos, we quickly hear the ease and genuineness in the interviewees voices. When asked if the stories were true that Holiday had to darken her skin when performing with Basie and his band, because she was so much lighter-skinned then they were, Basie also claims ignorance about that issue. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. These incredible testimonies reveal Holiday's . On 6 February 1978, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl fell from the balcony of a Washington DC hotel. [4], She was a Jewish feminist[5] and a fan of Billie Holiday. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ That Holiday took the bottom of the barrel Tin Pan Alley tunes that no one wanted to record and made them works of art is never covered. View eatdrinkfilmsmags profile on Instagram, View eatdrinkfilmssos profile on Pinterest, BILLIE documentary is Actually Linda Kuehl on Billie. Enjoy our special Billie Holiday Gallery of photos, posters, record covers, surprises and film clips with lots of great music. formId: '772605' Linda Lipnack Kuehl (24 januari 1940 - 6 februari 1978) var en amerikansk konstjournalist med ste i New York City. elementType: "script", I do not see the same attention given to Miles Daviss or Charlie Parkers drug use or their abusive relationships. She sang in clubs in Harlem and. Memry Midgett, an Oakland pianist who played with Holiday in the 1950s and remained close with her, said Holiday confided that she was worried about the sins of her youth and Gods forgiveness. }); ("elementType"in e))return!1;var n=null;if(n=e.following?e.following.parentElement:e.inside?e.inside:e.replacing?e.replacing.parentElement:"script"==e.elementType?document.head:document.body,null==n)return!1;var l=document.createElement(e.elementType);delete e.elementType,l=jQuery.extend(l,e),e.replacing?n.replaceChild(l,e.replacing):n.appendChild(l)}; For eight years in the 1970s, a journalist named Linda Lipnack Kuehl researched a biography of Billie Holiday, interviewing as many of the great jazz chanteuse's friends, relatives and . That archive is where director James Erskine first began pulling . }); } jQuery(wrapper).find('a').removeAttr('href'); Funeral services Friday February 10th, 11 A.M. Parkside Chapel, 170th St . Tarkoituksena oli kirjoittaa Billie Holidayn elmkerta , hn haastatteli ystvi, muita esiintyji ja Holidayn elmn avainhenkilit, mutta kuoli ennen sen valmistumista. (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}};