Bessie Smith

Saw a good show: "The Devil's Music, The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith" starring Miche Braden at St. Luke's Theater.  The theater is in the basement of St. Luke's Lutheran Church and has about 300 seats.  Besides this show they are doing in rotation: Black Angels Over Tuskegee, Channeling Kevin Spacey, Sam's Romance, My Big Gay Italian Wedding, and Danny and Sylvia.
About the show:  Ms. Braden is a fine actress with a good voice, but it's not Bessie Smith's voice.  What Ms. Braden does do very well is tell and act the Story of Bessie's life and she does sing a good version of "I Ain't Got Nobody."
This is the first show I've gone to where an audience member's cell phone not only rang but she answered the call.  Quietly and for a short period of time but still a shock.
There were a number of things the show taught me.
Bessie was bisexual and because of her sexuality, heavy drinking and late hours her adopted son was taken from her.  Her first recording in 1924 sold 760,000 copies and saved Columbia records from bankruptcy.
In the 1920's she was the highest paid black entertainer, earning $4,000 a week.  "Private establishments" all around the country called "buffet flats" were where Blacks could gather after hours for food, drink, gambling, lodging, entertainment, and according to this show, group sex.
In internet research I learned Bessie lived between 4/15/1894 and 9/26/1937.  Her first job was as a dancer in a show starring Ma Rainey.  She starred in the Broadway show "How Come" with Sidney Bichet.  She fought with the producer and was replaced by Alberta Hunter.  J.D. Salinger wrote a short story "Blue Melody" that was published in 9/48 in Cosmopolitan, about an African-American blues singer. The story has been reported to be based on Bessie Smith's life.  Because Cosmopolitan changed his title he never wrote for anyone else except the New Yorker.
Edward Albee wrote a play: "The Death of Bessie Smith" which repeats a story by John  Hammond that Bessie died because a whites only hospital would not treat her.  That story has been discredited.  There were 2 ambulances, one for whites and one for  blacks, at the scene within minutes of each other.  But even before the ambulances arrived a doctor was dressing her wounds.  It was too late; she died in The Clarksdale African-American Hospital.