All of this is sadly true to Billies life. Hulu's The United States v. Billie Holiday, streaming now on the platform, follows the titular music legend in her later years amid her long-standing battle with the U.S. government regarding her seminal song, "Strange Fruit." Her father was often out of the picture, himself a jazz musician. And I expected shed be glad to see me. Then I said, God bless the child thats got his own, and walked out. It would later be set to music by Meeropol himself and was recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939 as Strange Fruit. By that time, Holiday had already spent years recording prolifically and working with prominent jazz bandleaders like Duke Ellington, Teddy Wilson, and Count Basie, but its accurate to say her nationwide recognition did increase significantly after the release of that record. RHODES: (As Jimmy) Why don't you ever sing "Strange Fruit"? After she and a white friend had car trouble by the beach, Holiday was grateful when a familiar-looking man fixed their car and took them for a drink at a country club. Across the pond, the pharmacist for Queen Victoria, the global paragon of propriety, prescribed the royal family cocaine and heroin. Though Andra Day plays the jazz legend with conviction, The United States vs. Billie Holiday fictionalizes the particulars of Holiday's life, where the real story is dramatic enough. He said he found opium in her garbage can and a heroin kit in her bathroom. And when she starts crying, the next thing shes going to do is start fighting., And fight she did to be true to herself and her art, no matter what the cost. Who's there for you from the start? Then we'd have something closer to the real Billie Holiday story. From how she got the nickname "Lady Day" to the origins of "Strange Fruit," here are some facts about the famed jazz singer. According to her, she knew what was coming after closing a run at Philadelphias Earle Theater in 1947. Holiday after being arrested for heroin possession in 1947. Holiday tried rehab to kick her habit, but it didn't work, and besides having a metaphorical monkey on her back, Holiday also had theChief of the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Mr. Harry J. Anslinger, gunning for her, due to a personal vendetta against Holiday. The singer had been given methadone to aid her recovery, but she was cut off after 10 days on Anslingers request. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY"). I hollered to the chauffeur to get out from behind the wheel and leave the motor running. 5. As the Treasury agent came towards us, I stepped on the gas. The Slate Group LLC. 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. In the 1990s, Holliday lost a substantial amount of weight and talked about her health battles with clinical depression. Two years later, Holiday was once again caught with drugs by the police. All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. WebJennifer Holliday was born on October 19, 1960 in Houston, Texas, USA. Protesters sent the song to Congress in hopes of passing an anti-lynching bill, per the BBC. Twenty years ago when I was in 'Dreamgirls,' I was always a joke because I was huge. [It's about a] Black American woman living in America who's been in love with her country her whole life. I got to the point where I hardly ever ate, slept, or went to the bathroom without having a major NAACP-type production.. DAY: (As Billie) "Strange Fruit." It's not your fault. Federal authorities first targeted her shortly after she began singing the song. This newspaper does serve as an introduction to another major figure: Harry J. Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), then head of the Treasury Departments Federal Bureau of Narcotics and one of the primary leaders of the governments effort to stifle Holiday. This is true to Anslingers biography. Fletcher ultimately led a raid on Holiday, pretending to have a telegram to deliver. And tell me who thinks of you a million times a day and who's blue and lonely, honey, when you're away? A victrola was a big deal in those days, and there werent any parlors around that had one except Alices. RHODES: (As Jimmy) Never heard you sing it. All dope can do for you is kill youand kill you the long slow hard way. While the singer had initially stopped drinking on her doctor's orders, it was not long before she relapsed. 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. She was still a hero, no matter what they did to her, no matter how they persecuted her, she never stopped singing Strange Fruit. She never let them destroy her.. And like the Diana Ross movie, this one invents a good and loving man who faithfully stands by her. Still, he stayed true to his job. [September 2002], She sang "This is the Moment" at the 2004 July 4th Boston Pops Concert for Independence Day. Tragically, her personal life was marked by horrifying abuse. The song is central to Hulu's new biopic, "The United States Vs. Billie Holiday." Ad Choices, Donald Trump Still Collects Six-Figure Pension from SAG-AFTRA: Report, Bob Mackie Answers the Proust Questionnaire. View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Baby, darling, why, oh why didnt you come backstage to see me? Honey, dont you know? I told her. All I expected was a little helloafter all, she was working. She was first married to Joe Guy. During this time, Fletcher is seen listening to more of Holidays music and taking a liking to it, which, as weve established, we cant know, although Johann Hari noted in Chasing the Scream that Fletcher did come to regret his role in investigating Holiday. Copyright 2021 NPR. Worse, the story turned the last of her terrible husbands, Louis McKay, played by Billy Dee Williams, into a saintly figure who's always there for her. So she's given methadone and she starts to recover. That part of the story is fictionalized, but the agent did speak of her notable affection. And she kept singing "Strange Fruit" (posted on YouTube). For years I used to dream about it and wake up hollering and screaming. 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. Im a jailbird. Dont you say that! she exclaimed. McKay handled her burial arrangements. A: When Billie Holiday died in 1959 at age 44, she had lived longer than either her mother or her father, and longer than many of her jazz contemporaries, like Charlie Parker, who died at 34. Billie had been arrested on drug charges in 1947 and ended up spending months in jail for possession. But the humiliation was terrible." WHITEHEAD: Later, after he's exposed, Jimmy shoots heroin with her one time, which somehow makes him flash back to her unhappy childhood, a narcotic mind-meld. According to Jazzwise, as a young teen Holiday started drinking and smoking marijuana, which would be the start of a lifetime of running from her "personal demons" and toward "the pursuit of pleasure.". However, she had two godchildren who she cared about deeply. "Even after I lost weight, I was still the same person. His Anslinger is even worse than the real one, who was happy to crack down on drug-using jazz musicians, Black ones in particular, a surefire way to make headlines. TREVANTE RHODES: (As Jimmy Fletcher) Pardon me for asking, but why is that song so important to us? In our culture, there's one heroic story we tell about people with addiction problems, which is that sometimes they recover from their addiction, Hari says. However, it was originally written by poet, teacher, and activist Abel Meeropol, from New York. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Joan Baez Sings with Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, 8 Facts About Son of a Sinner Singer Jelly Roll, Selena Gomez Shares"Transformative" Lip Tint, 16 Musicians and Singers Named Knights or Dames, How Rina Sawayama Landed in John Wick: Chapter 4, Dolly Partons New Book: Inside Her Iconic Style, Niall Horan's Under-$30 Eye Care Must-Haves, Taylor Swift Has (Kind Of) Reunited The Civil Wars, 7 Musicians Who Are Connected to Bobby Caldwell, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Morgan Wallen. Biographer Farah Jasmine Griffin described Young as Holiday's "creative soulmate.". The best thing about it by far is singer and screen newcomer Andra Day in the lead. I thought he looked a little pale. What you looking at him for? We exchanged a few words. 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. Born Eleanora Fagan in Baltimore (or some say Philadelphia) in 1915, Holidays childhood was marred by horrific abusedespite the best efforts of her beloved mother, Sadie, who was only 13 when she had Holiday. ", Screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks said that when she was approached for the film, she could see the story "right away." In The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Andra Days performance reminds viewers of the power of the Holidays voice, more than 60 years after her death. Cocaine supposedly made Black people almost superhumanly strongNEGRO COCAINE "FIENDS" ARE A NEW SOUTHERN MENACE blared a 1914 New York Times headline. Billie Holiday Play Similar Music New Release album The Ladies of Jazz Billie Holiday & Nina Simone, Oct 14, 2022 Releases The Ladies of Jazz Billie Holiday & Nina Simone Solitude: The Legendary Billie Holiday Billie Holiday Brussels, Belgium. Never mind that she talks that way through the whole picture, as in this scene set in 1947. Dope never helped anybody sing better, or play music better, or do anything better. | Holiday ended up releasing the song on the Commodore label in 1939, and it went on to sell a million copies. Billie decided to give love a second chance and got married to Jimmy Monroe. Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in 1915, and grew up in Baltimore. (SOUNDBITE OF BILLIE HOLIDAY'S "WHO LOVES YOU"). {{#media.media_details}} {{#media.focal_point}}. Who loves you, sweetheart? Jennifer Holliday was born on October 19, 1960 in Houston, Texas, USA. DAY: (As Billie) And I've asked you over a hundred times, what people, Joe? Drugs were banned in the United States in a moment of deep, racist determination and hysteria, he says. Holiday had a top 10 hit with a song called "Riffin' the Scotch" in 1934, and the 1930s continued to be a time of career growth for the singer. When she came off she turned up her nose and walked straight by me to her dressing room without a sign. Nobody bothered to tell me Id have to travel 500 to 600 miles on a hot or cold raggedy-assbus; that it would cost me two or three bucks a night for a room; that by the time I was through having my hair fixed and gowns pressedId end up with about a dollar and a half a day.. She soon managed to win over people with her talent and become one of the prominent people in the jazz industry. But singing songs like The Man I Love or Porgy is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck., Many of Holidays signature songs were born of moments in her life both traumatic and trivial. Perhaps the most important song Holiday would ever sing was Strange Fruit. Written by communist poet and teacher Abel Meeropol after he saw a photo of lynched Black men, the song describes the bodies of lynching victims hanging from southern trees like the strange fruit of its title. 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. However, she had two godchildren who she cared about deeply. DUKIC: (As Joe) I've told you a hundred times, people in high places don't like you singing that song. Born on October 19, 1960 in Houston, Texas, USA passing an anti-lynching bill, per the.. Farah Jasmine Griffin described Young as Holiday 's `` creative soulmate..! Billie ) and I expected shed be glad to see me activist Abel Meeropol, from New Times! ' I was in 'Dreamgirls, ' I was always a joke because I was always joke! October 19, 1960 in Houston, Texas, USA ultimately led a raid on Holiday, to! Chance and got married to Jimmy Monroe 'd have something closer to the chauffeur to get out from the! 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