All language subtitles for Billie.2019.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG.eng

[POLICE SIRENS WAIL]

[POLICE RADIOS CHATTER]

[CASSETTE REWINDS]

[BILLIE HOLIDAY SINGS]:
♪ Saddest tale on land or sea ♪

♪ Was when my man
walked out on me ♪

[CASSETTE REWINDS]
- LINDA: I'd like to write

something that is real, you know

that is really Lady, and, uh...

people who don't see her
in any sentimental way

you know, really as she is.

[JIMMY ROWLES]: I'd like to hear
what Bobby Tucker said...

What'd he say?

[LINDA]:
I can't say.

[JIMMY ROWLES]:
But you can give me an idea.

[LINDA]: I can't. I never talk,
and nobody ever hears the tapes.

[CASSETTE WINDS]

[JO JONES]:
Are you interviewing me

or am I interviewing you?

When I tell you something,
you print it!

Billie's dead,
you're talking to me now.

[RADIO PRESENTER]:
Well, my friend today is

a gal who has been singing jazz
for a good many years now.

Long enough to earn
for herself the title

"The world's greatest
Jazz vocalist".

Miss Billie Holiday.
- [APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC: "Now or Never"
by Billie Holiday]

♪ Hey there, baby,
make up your mind ♪

♪ Cos I've been waiting
such a long, long time ♪

♪ Now, baby, or never,
I've been so sad and blue ♪

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

♪ I've been so lonesome, too ♪

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

♪ If I mean anything to you ♪

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

♪ Cos I've wasted so much time ♪

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

♪ And it ain't no fault
of mine ♪

♪ It's gotta be yes or no ♪

♪ It's either you stay or go ♪

♪ You can't leave me
on the shelf ♪

♪ You gotta commit yourself ♪

♪ It's either you will ♪

♪ Baby, or you won't
fall in love with me ♪

[CASSETTE CLICKS]

[LINDA]: An interview
with Sylvia Syms

January 20th, 1973.

[SYLVIA SYMS]:
To the people in our industry

she was the great lady
of all time.

She was the queen bee.

♪ I've been so sad and blue ♪

[SYLVIA]: Without even trying,
she was the most sensual

of all of the lady singers.

♪ I've been so lonesome, too ♪

[SYLVIA]: I saw the whole world
in that face...

all of the beauty
and all of the misery.

Billie Holiday sang only truth,
she knew nothing else.

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

♪ I've been so sad and blue ♪

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

[TONY BENNETT]:
Met her in Philadelphia, once.

There was a funny situation
because I was very unknown

I was just a fan, and she just
kinda lifted up her skirt

and went right into her stocking
and took out a bill

and said get me some gin, son.

[TONY AND LINDA LAUGH]

♪ I'm gonna call you once more
on the telephone ♪

♪ I'll give you till twelve,
then I'll be gone ♪

[LINDA]: In what way
do you think of her

as being innovative?

[TONY BENNETT]: Well, the fact
that she just told

her own story,
just by being herself.

♪ Now, baby, or never ♪

[TONY BENNETT]: Must be
a pretty interesting story

that you're writing.

She's had a wild life.

[BILLIE HOLIDAY]:
♪ You gotta commit yourself ♪

♪ It's either you will, baby,
or you won't ♪

♪ Fall in love with me ♪

[TONY BENNETT]: I wanna know
why all girl singers crack up.

[APPLAUSE]

They all crack up!

When they hit the top,
something tragic happens.

I wanna know what causes that.

[BOAT HORN BLOWS]

[MUSIC: "God Bless The Child" by
Billie Holiday and Tony Bennett]

[BILLIE]: ♪ Them that's got
shall have ♪

♪ Them that's not
shall lose ♪

♪ So the Bible said
and it still is news ♪

♪ Mama may have ♪

♪ Papa may have ♪

♪ But God bless the child
that's got his own ♪

♪ That's got his own ♪

[BILLIE]:
The things that I sing

have to have something
to do with me and my life

and my friends' lives.

They have a meaning.

♪ Empty pockets don't ever
make the grade ♪

[BILLIE]:

♪ Money, you've got
lots of friends ♪

♪ Crowding round... ♪

[BILLIE]:

[JOHN FAGAN]:
We used to stay together

as small kids.

[LINDA]:
How old were you?

[JOHN FAGAN]:
Eight or nine years old.

Her and her mother were
very close.

They were very close.

The area she came up in,
as a kid...

everybody knew each other,
you know.

It was just a nice community
to live in

even though we were poor.

It was a different type of poor
what they call today, you know.

If we made it and we were happy
with what we had.

[SONG CONTINUES]
♪ Crowding round no more ♪

♪ Rich relations give... ♪

[JOHN FAGAN]: In the bloom
of her youth, she was pretty.

[HE CHUCKLES]

♪ You can help yourself ♪

♪ But don't take... ♪

[JOHN FAGAN]:
People played on her.

[LINDA]: Did they play on her
when she was a kid?

[JOHN FAGAN]:
Of course.

[LINDA]: Who? Who?
- [JOHN]: The men folks.

♪ Papa may have ♪

♪ But God bless the child
that's got his own... ♪

[LINDA]:
You hung out with Billie?

[JOHN FAGAN]:
That's right.

[LINDA]:
You called her Eleanora.

[MARY]: That's her name,
Eleanor, Eleanora Fagan.

That's the name
that we knew her by.

[LINDA]:
You never knew the father?

[MARY]:
No, I never knew her father, no.

[LINDA]: Did she curse a lot
when she was a kid?

[MARY]: Yep.
- [LINDA]: What'd she say?

What were her favourite words?

[MARY]:
"Motherfucker".

[LINDA]: Every other word
was motherfucker. What else?

[MARY]: "Cocksuckers",
that was her word.

"Motherfucker", "cocksucker"...

She would say, "You suck
my ass, motherfucker".

[THEY LAUGH]

[MARY]: A lot of people didn't
like you calling 'em

"motherfucker",
they would beat you up.

A lot of men.

[LINDA]:
Right there on the street?

[MARY]:
Yeah.

[LINDA]: Think she liked it?
- [MARY]: She must'a liked it.

But the fellas that liked her,
she didn't dig them.

[LINDA]: Let me ask you
something, John...

[JOHN FAGAN]:
Go ahead.

Did Billie...
did she turn tricks?

[JOHN FAGAN]:
Sure, of course.

During them times,
you had to survive

and she had to survive.

[LINDA]: Was she younger
than most girls?

[JOHN FAGAN]: No. Girls start
young, some of 'em, you know.

She wasn't like a slut.

No, no, no, no...
she just lived fast.

[MUSIC: "Symphony In Black"
by Duke Ellington]

♪ The saddest tale on land
or sea ♪

♪ Was when my man
walked out on me ♪

[LINDA]:

[SKINNY DAVENPORT]:

[LINDA]:

[SKINNY AND LINDA]:

[LINDA AND SKINNY]:

[LINDA]:

[SKINNY DAVENPORT]

[LINDA]: Yeah?
- [SKINNY LAUGHS]

[LINDA]:

[SKINNY DAVENPORT]:

[HE LAUGHS]
- [LINDA]: Why?

[SKINNY DAVENPORT]:

♪ My man's gone,
I feel forlorn ♪

♪ I've got those
"lost my man" blues ♪

♪ He didn't treat me fair ♪

♪ It's more than I can bear ♪

♪ I've got those... ♪
- [LINDA]: Did you ever hear

her sing?
- [SKINNY]: Yeah.

[LINDA]: When she was a kid?
- Yeah, yeah.

She used to sing every night.

♪ I've got those
"lost my man... ♪

♪ ...can't get him
back again" blues ♪

[BILLIE]:

[INTERVIEWER]: Well, now
wait a minute, it's quite a jump

from Baltimore to New York...
- [BILLIE]: Listen...

Well, it was a jump.

[INTERVIEWER]: So, you were
15 years old then, weren't ya?

[BILLIE]:
No, I was 14.

[INTERVIEWER]:
I beg your pardon.

[TRAIN CARRIAGES RATTLE]

[LINDA, VO]: My first encounter
with Billie Holiday

was as a listener...

not as a biographer or critic.

Age 14, I happened
to spot an album...

"The Essential Billie Holiday"

and curiously listened
to the voice.

A strange voice...

that was more real and true...

than anything
I'd ever heard before.

It told of experiences
so deeply felt...

wailed huskily
from some netherworld...

that I had no choice...

I had to listen to where
that voice was coming from.

[MYRA LUFTMAN]:
Linda was my big sister

and she was my protector,
and, uh...

she was my best friend.

We grew up in the Bronx Borough
of New York.

My father was
a labour union organiser.

Our family was Jewish
but non-religious.

Linda was
a public high school teacher

but she had been doing
interviews on women

and women's rights

as a journalist for Paris Review

for the New York Times Sunday
magazine section.

That's when she decided
to start writing a biography

on Billie Holiday.

Even though they came
from totally

different backgrounds...

I think she identified
with Billie.

I think she felt the pain
of someone's struggles.

She did not like seeing her
as a victim

which I think is the way
she had been portrayed.

[BIG BAND MUSIC PLAYS]

[DETROIT RED]:

[LINDA]:

[DETROIT RED]

[LINDA]:

[DETROIT RED]:

[LINDA]:

[DETROIT RED]:

Hello Pigmeat, how are you?

Why hello, Mabel.

It's good to see you.

Yeah, where in the world
is you been?

[PIGMEAT MARKHAM]:
Someone told me about this girl

who could sing so beautiful.

And I went by to see her
and hear her.

That's when I discovered her...

a week or two after she started
coming the Apollo Theatre.

And that's where she made
her stage appearance

first time in her life.

[LINDA]: Why'd you think
she was so nervous?

[PIGMEAT]: Well, she was
stage-frightened

she'd never been
on a stage before.

And a lot of people can sing
in them little small places

with eight, ten, 15,
45 people...

and then when you put 'em
in front of a big audience...

a thousand, two thousand people,
they just freeze up.

[LINDA LAUGHS]
It must've been something!

[INTERVIEWER]:
Tell us something, Billie

about the background that, uh...

brought about
your interest in jazz.

[BILLIE]:

♪ My man... ♪

[INTERVIEWER]:
And that was it?

[BILLIE]:

[JOHN HAMMOND]: Well, I was
the first white guy

who ever heard Billie, you know.

I was the first one
who introduced her around.

About the eighth stoop up here

is where I first heard
Billie Holiday.

It says laundry there, see?
And that's the place

where Billie Holiday made
her debut

as far as I know in New York

in about February of 1933.

What did you hear
that said to you

"I have to let the rest
of the world know about this?"

I heard a singer who was
an improvising horn player.

Horn player?
- Yeah, well, that's how...

that's how she sounded.

Any specific horn player?

Well, I think she liked Louis...

Louis Armstrong.
- Louis Armstrong, I'm sorry.

I need to add that last--
That's quite alright.

And I knew, you know,
that these two would...

would find, uh...

would make music together
that was unprecedented.

And it was.

[MUSIC: "The Blues Are Brewin'"
by B. Holiday and L. Armstrong]

♪ When the moon's kinda dreamy ♪

♪ Starry-eyed and dreamy ♪

♪ And nights are luscious
and long ♪

♪ If you're kinda lonely ♪

♪ And all by your own-ly ♪

♪ Then nothin' but the blues
are brewin' ♪

♪ The blues are brewin' ♪

♪ When the wind through
the window... ♪

[JOHN HAMMOND]:

♪ If love goes a-thirstin' ♪

♪ Till you feel like burstin' ♪

♪ Then nothin' but the blues
are brewin' ♪

♪ The blues are brewin' ♪

[JOHN HAMMOND]: I persuaded
the American Record Company

that they should record
the hits of the day

with the wonderful girl singer,
and hit the jukebox trade.

I says "It costs so little".

We would do these records,
you see

for less than $300 a session.

♪ Suppose you want somebody ♪

♪ But you ain't got nobody ♪

♪ You only got a gleam
in your eye ♪

[JOHN HAMMOND]:

[LINDA]:

[JOHN HAMMOND]:

If you went to Harlem just
for music and no sex

it was the strangest thing
in the world.

And I went just for music.

[CASSETTE CLICKS]

[RUBY DAVIES]:
First time I met Billie was...

in a place behind
the Apollo Theatre

and she asked me
to take her home

because some of her friends
that were there

she says, "I don't want them
to take me home".

The apartment was in Harlem,
that was considered a ghetto.

When we got there, she asked me
to stay with us.

I ended up staying,
oh, about six months.

Her mother used to tell me
about her

when she was a little girl.

[LINDA]:
What would she tell you?

[RUBY]: That she was still
in love with Billie's father.

And a lot of times when she used
to talk about it, she'd cry.

[LINDA]: Somebody told me that
Billie used to go with girls.

Now, is there any truth in that?

[RUBY DAVIES]:
Oh, of course!

Her nickname among the men...

they called her
Mister Billie Holiday

because she was seldom seen
with fellas.

And I will always believe

that her mother was
the cause of it

cos she never wanted Billie
to get close with any fellas.

She would tell her
they're no good.

"I heard this about him"
and "I heard that about him"...

Her mother pushed that
in her mind to be careful

cos they'll break your heart.

Just like Billie's father.

[LINDA]:

[SANDY WILLIAMS]:

[LINDA]:

[SANDY]:

[LINDA AND SANDY]:

[LINDA]:

[SANDY]:

[LINDA]:

[SANDY]:

[IRENE KITCHINGS]:

[LINDA]:
What was he like?

[IRENE]:

[LINDA AND IRENE]:

[LINDA AND IRENE]:

[STEAM HISSES]

[LINDA, VO]: Whether the men
who Billie went with

treated her well or not...

she always chose them
for a reason.

They played for her,
they protected her...

and in the man's world
of the night club...

they allowed her to do
the one thing that mattered...

which was to sing.

Music didn't bring Billie
to Harlem...

but it was her voice
that would allow her to escape.

Attention everybody!

♪ Now, here's a boogie-woogie,
solid beat ♪

♪ Come on you dancers,
on your feet ♪

♪ The winners get a prize
as you all know ♪

♪ And we pick 'em by the speed
and the class they show ♪

♪ Let's go! ♪

[INTERVIEWER]:
Billie, I'm just wondering

if you might tell us how people
began to call you "Lady Day".

[BILLIE]:

[HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON]:

[LINDA]:

[HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON]:

[LINDA]:

[HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON]:

[LINDA]:

[HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON]:

[LINDA]:

[HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON]:

[LINDA AND HARRY]:

[COUNT BASIE]: What would be
a good question

for you to ask me...

[LINDA]: You?
- [COUNT BASIE]: About Billie?

[LINDA]: You said that
you used to alternate

riff-raff joints, and then you'd
play some big white hotel.

Go from one extreme
to the other. Is that true?

[COUNT BASIE]: Well, I don't
call no place a riff-raff

that pays me.

[LINDA]: She said you weren't
your own boss...

that you had too many
managers.

[COUNT BASIE CHUCKLES]
- [LINDA]: It's true?

[COUNT BASIE]:

[LINDA]:

[COUNT BASIE]:

[LINDA]:

[COUNT BASIE]:

[LINDA]:
Both.

I can't write about Billie
Holiday with your band

if I'm not gonna talk
about your band.

[THEY LAUGH]
- [LINDA]: Am I?

Can I?

[CASSETTE CLICKS]

[JO JONES]: My name is Jonathan
David Samuel Jones

professional name Jo, J.O.

And everybody professes
to know her...

they knew nothing about her.

All that they knew was
what was in it for them.

[LINDA]: What happened with her
and Count Basie?

I mean, why did that--

[JO JONES]:
Count Basie?

Can't you leave
Count Basie alone?

That's no problem.
That was no problem.

That was no problem.

[LINDA]: Well, why did
she leave the band?

[JO JONES]: She didn't leave
the band, she was fired!

[LINDA]:
Who fired her?

[JO JONES]:
John Hammond!

[LINDA]:
John Hammond fired her? Why?

[JO JONES]: That's a big
question, if you can answer that

they wouldn't have the UN.

[LINDA]: About Basie, um,
why did Billie leave the band?

[JOHN HAMMOND]: Well, you see,
here's the thing...

there was a real problem
with Billie and Basie.

She weren't making enough money,
simple as that

and this is really one of
the principal reasons

why she left the band.

[LINDA]: How much was
she getting paid then?

[JOHN HAMMOND]: I think
100 and a quarter a week

something like that,
at the most!

[LINDA]:
She quit?

[JOHN HAMMOND]:
Oh sure, sure.

[JO JONES]: John Hammond wanted
her to sing the blues.

So, since she wouldn't sing
the blues, he fired her.

[LINDA]:
How can I verify it?

[JO JONES]
His number's 0803 4173.

Call him up and I'll tell him

and I'll give him
another heart attack.

Call him.

[LINDA]: I'm... I'm not...
- Call him!

I'm not gonna call him now.
- [JO JONES]: Call him!

[LINDA]: Listen, I'm gonna
call him, I'm gonna to ask him.

No, call him!
- You know I'm not gonna

get through to him.

[CASSETTE CLUNKS]

[LINDA]:
I guess you've heard by now

that Jo Jones said
that you fired her.

[JOHN HAMMOND]:
Oh, absolute lie.

Absolute lie.

[LINDA]: ...because she wouldn't
sing the blues.

[JOHN HAMMOND]: How can Jo say
a thing like that?

Did you talk to Jo?
- [LINDA]: Yeah.

Jo said I...?
Oh, Jo's out of his mind.

[JO JONES]:
He's a garbage-mouth liar!

[LINDA]:
Why didn't... would...

[JO JONES]: He fired her because
he wanted her to sing the blues!

He wanted her to be
a coloured mammy!

Didn't I tell you

not to let me catch you
at that piano again?

I'm sorry, Mam. If I'd have
heard you coming

I wouldn't have let you
catch me.

Well, let me fix you
a good hot tub.

[JO JONES]: I'm telling you this
in front.

He wanted her to just be
yassa boss, yassa boss.

And everybody talk about how
he's the great white father.

Don't give me that shit.

But nobody got guts enough
to tell the people that

because they're afraid of him.

[JOHN HAMMOND]: The problem
with Jo is, you know, that...

Jo is not always
the most reliable, uh...

I just saw Jo last week.
I'll have to ask him

how he could possibly have
given you such a personal...

[LINDA]:
Sure, do indeed.

[JO JONES]: It happened.
That was a long time ago.

How in the hell can I tell you

what happened 40 years ago?
- [LINDA]: How can I prove it?

[JO JONES]: You don't have to
prove it, it happened!

[LINDA]: I believe you!
- [JO JONES]: No, it happened!

[LINDA]:
OK!

But when I put
something in print...

[JO JONES] I don't give a damn.
Put it in print and quote me.

It happened.

So don't you ask
if you're interviewing me

and when I tell you something,
you print it!

Are you interviewing me
or am I interviewing you?

Where were you 30 years ago?

[LINDA]:

[MYRA LUFTMAN]:
Linda was very conscious

of being a white writer
and writing about Billie.

[JO JONES]: You don't know what
we was going through.

[LINDA]: What were you going
through?

[JO JONES]:
We was going through hell.

Miss Billie Holiday didn't have
the privilege of using

a toilet in a filling station.

The boys at least could go out
in the woods.

You don't know anything
about it

because you've never had
to subjugate yourself to it.

Never!

[MYRA LUFTMAN]:
Most neighbourhoods

where we were,
were segregated by race.

But we were very much
aware of what was happening

in the world, racially.

Violations of
people's civil rights.

The horrors of dogs attacking
black people in the South.

The African-American struggle
resonated with Linda.

And it was always an outrage
to Linda

that people walked in
the front door

who were coming to see her

but Billie Holiday had to walk
through the kitchen to perform.

[BIG BAND PLAYS]

[INTERVIEWER]:
This is no secret, of course

that wherever musicians gather
and talk about singers

they generally elect you
as their favourite.

Now, who is your favourite?

[BILLIE]:

[MUSIC: "Prisoner Of Love"
by Billy Eckstine]

♪ Alone, from night to night,
you'll find me ♪

[LINDA]:
Jo Jones told me that, uh...

Hammond fired Billie
from the Basie Band

because she wouldn't
sing the blues.

Is that the truth?

[BILLY ECKSTINE]:
It's probably... sure.

[LINDA]:
Could be? She never told you?

[BILLY ECKSTINE]:
No, she never told me, but...

I wanna be known as a singer
who can sing the ballad

who can sing up-tempo things.

Don't tell me I'm only
a blues singer

that that's I all I can do is
the blues.

[LINDA]: And that's what--
- That's what they did!

[LINDA]: Did you two ever
talk about this?

[BILLY ECKSTINE]:
We would've had to.

See, now, you've got
the misconception

that black is the blues.

[BILLY ECKSTINE]:
Sure.

[LINDA]: It seems as if
the people who were running

the recordings were white...

I mean the powers, the agents...

let's say 7/8ths
of the musicians were black.

[BILLY ECKSTINE]: You see what
people do to suppress you...

the frustration of what
connected with black performers.

The difference in being,
quote, a "black star"

in relationship to it being
a star.

Billie Holiday,
she's a black singer.

Billy Eckstine,
"Oh, you mean the black singer".

And not Peggy Lee,
she's a "Slav singer"

or Barbara Streisand,
she's a "Jewish singer".

Not that, you don't get that.

Get a load of the critics
for God's sake

the people who judge our music
as being good or bad...

there isn't a black critic.

There was never
a black critic in swing music.

[LINDA]:
Why?

Why? Because of the power
structure is such

that you never got a chance.

You have all white critics
to decide

whether or not
you were good or bad.

It's a pleasure, always,
to welcome Mr Billy Eckstine.

[APPLAUSE]

Do black people get bugged...

I think this is one
of the most ironic things

that a man named
Paul Whiteman...

was known as the "King of Jazz".

[BILLY CHUCKLES]
- Paul Whiteman was a white man.

And, err, jazz is supposed
to be--

Benny Goodman was
the "King of Swing".

[THEY LAUGH]
- [STUDIO AUDIENCE LAUGHS]

[SWING MUSIC PLAYS]

[BILLY ECKSTINE]:
We used to laugh at the fact

that Benny Goodman was, uh,
King of Swing.

Paul Whiteman, King of Jazz,
you know, these things

they're absolutely comedic!

[APPLAUSE]

Look at Tom Jones.

Tom Jones openly declares
that he got his style

from Otis Redding,
from Jackie Wilson

from Chuck Berry

and that he started learning
how to sing ballads

by listening to my records.

Now, all four of us
that they named

where's ours?
Where's our compensation?

Where's your payday?

[AUDIENCE CHEERS]

[INTERVIEWER]:
The most remarkable things

about jazz performers...

you're way ahead of so many
of the rest of us

when it comes to de-segregation.

Why is it that the colour thing
has not ever really been

that important with musicians?

[BILLIE]:

[CLARINET PLAYS]

[INTERVIEWER]: Who was it
that brought about the job

you did with Artie Shaw
in the old days, you remember?

[BILLIE]:
Well, Artie Shaw.

He asked me, did I want a job?

So, I says,
"Yeah, I want a job".

[INTERVIEWER]:
And there was still a policy

of no coloured singers
being with a white organisation.

Would you tell
that story to us now?

[BILLIE]:

[CASSETTE CLICKS]

[ARTIE SHAW]: I first met Billie
back in around 1930.

Billie was just a young kid then
and I was almost as hungry

in those days as she was.

I remember saying to her
one day, "Billie...

if I ever make the grade

and get a band of my own,
you're gonna sing with it".

And sure enough,
that's what happened.

[LINDA]: Do you remember
when Billie first came to sing?

[SID WEISS]: To the best of
my knowledge

it would've had to have been
in either '36 or '37.

We were a travelling group
of minstrels.

We got a bus
and travelled 300 miles.

And the way we carried it out
was part of the life.

[LINDA]: Did Billie have
any trouble

as a black singer
with a white band?

Yes, the normal kind
of problems

that would exist for any
black person in those days.

[MAE WEISS]: She was remarkable
in that she was a trailblazer

without really, you know--
- [LINDA]: Being conscious?

[MAE WIESS]: Yeah, she wouldn't
make a thing or anything.

Today, it's hard to even
describe the climate, you know

like waitresses refusing
to server her.

After we would eat, she always
ordered an extra hamburger

and she'd put that
in her purse...

because she never knew

when she would not be able
to be served.

[AL AVOLA]:
The incidents concerning Billie

were mostly concerning finding
a place to stay

wherever we went.
- [LINDA]: Mm-hm.

The usual racial problem.

[LINDA]:

[AL AVOLA]: We'd get in
in the early morning hours

you see, and many times
she either slept in the car...

the bus, or... wherever.

[LINDA]:
And where would you go?

[AL AVOLA]:
To a hotel.

[LINDA]:
How did she take it?

[AL AVOLA]:

[LINDA]:
Do you remember an incident

by any chance,
when you first hit Kentucky

and, uh, the sheriff,
he came up to the band stand

and said, "What's that black
bitch going to sing?"

And there was a brawl
or something?

[LES ROBINSON]:

[LINDA]:

[LES ROBINSON]: Well, he didn't
fire her, she left on her own.

She had a lot of pride.

[LINDA]:
How'd she take it?

[AL AVOLA]: Uh...
philosophically, I guess...

in her vulgar language method.
[HE CHUCKLES]

If she had other words
at her disposal

she would've used them.

The only words she could speak
were those in the song.

This beautiful soul she had
that she could only do

by expressing herself singing.

[BILLIE]: And now a little tune
written especially for me...

"Strange Fruit".

[MUSIC: "Strange Fruit"
by Lewis Allen]

[PIANO PLAYS]

♪ Southern trees ♪

♪ Bear a strange fruit ♪

♪ Blood on the leaves ♪

♪ And blood at the root ♪

♪ Black bodies swingin' ♪

♪ In the southern breeze ♪

♪ Strange fruit hangin' ♪

♪ From the poplar trees ♪

[MILT GABLER]: Around '39, she
actually was a Columbia artist

and they gave me permission
to record "Strange Fruit"...

which they didn't want
to record.

[LINDA]:
Why not?

[MILT GABLER]:
Because of the social content

of it, I guess.

And how unusual
it was to do a protest song.

That was the thing that made
all the publicity and noise.

♪ Pastoral scene ♪

♪ Of the gallant South ♪

♪ The bulging eyes ♪

♪ And the twisted mouth ♪

[BARNEY KESSELL]:
It was actually a shocking

piece of material.

She would come close
to breaking up

when she was singing
"Strange Fruit".

[LINDA]: You can hear the crack
in the voice, huh?

[BARNEY KESSELL]: Yeah, yeah,
also in the eyes.

And almost a reflection
of what she had had to do

in her lifetime
in order to make it.

The fact that negroes did not
have equal chances...

this was something that
she felt very deeply...

and about the only way
she could really

crusade or bring these
thoughts together

would be to sing
songs like that.

♪ Scent of magnolia ♪

♪ Sweet and fresh ♪

♪ Then the sudden smell ♪

♪ Of burning flesh ♪

♪ Here is a fruit ♪

♪ For the crows to pluck ♪

♪ For the rain to gather ♪

♪ For the wind to suck ♪

♪ For the sun to rot ♪

♪ For the tree... ♪

♪ ...to drop ♪

♪ Here is a strange... ♪

♪ ...and bitter... ♪

♪ ...crop ♪

[LINDA]: Do you remember
the first time she sang

that song at Café Society?

Sure, it's unforgettable.

Every time she sang,
it was unforgettable.

[BILLIE'S VOICE ECHOES]:
♪ Scent of magnolia... ♪

♪ Sweet and fresh ♪

[BARNEY JOSEPHSON]: Soon after
the Time Magazine appeared

and the caption read...

"Most unusual song ever
to be heard in a night club".

[BILLIE'S VOICE ECHOES]:
♪ Of burning flesh ♪

[BARNEY JOSEPHSON]:
When she sang "Strange Fruit"

she never moved.

Billie stood there...

all service stopped
at the bar, everywhere.

[LINDA]: Can you remember
any time where anybody

might have caused any commotion?
- [BARNEY]: Oh, yes.

I had people walk out.

[LINDA]: These are white people?
- [BARNEY]: White people.

One party after another...

"We come to your nightclub
to be entertained...

and we don't call this
entertainment".

[CHARLES MINGUS]:
"Strange Fruit"...

What is that, man?

The Treasury Department intends
to pursue a relentless warfare

against the despicable
dope peddling vulture

and public enemies.

And we hope to place
the drug addicts arrested

under institutional care.

[GATES SLAM]

[LINDA, VO]:
It was Billie's interpretation

of "Strange Fruit"

not the song itself
that changed the direction

of American music.

But not everyone stood
to applaud her primal howl

against the bloody history
of white America.

And her refusal
to stop singing it...

would give vindication
to those powerful men

already circling the decadent
world of jazz

in search
of a high-profile target

to burnish their reputation.

And now that Billie's star shone
so brightly...

she could not easily retreat
back into the night.

[MUSIC: "Fine and Mellow"
by Billie Holiday]

[JIMMY ROWLES]: I ought to
get myself ready for this.

You know, I'd better have
a couple of drinks

cos if gonna talk about her,
I wanna feel good.

She's something else,
she was really something.

[LINDA]:
When did you first meet her?

[JIMMY ROWLES]:
I met her in 1942.

I was just a kid,
I was only, like, 20 years old.

She used to call me
in there, and...

"You gotta write out the chords
to this tune".

[LINDA]: Where was this,
in her dressing room?

[JIMMY]:
Yeah!

And she'd stand there
with nothing

but a pair of shoes on.

That was it!

No clothes.

♪ My man don't love me ♪

♪ He treats me oh so mean ♪

♪ My man, he don't love me ♪

♪ He treats me awful mean ♪

♪ He's the lowest man ♪

♪ That I've ever seen ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]:
Her boy was Lester Young...

cos she was always happy

when she knew Pres
was playing for her.

[SAX PLAYS]

The way he played behind her...

she was just like
she was in her mother's arms.

[BILLIE]: I liked Lester's
feeling, you know.

When he first started

everyone felt his tone
is too thin

but I told him it doesn't matter
because, you watch

after a while, everybody's gonna
to be copying you.

♪ He wears high-draped pants ♪

♪ Stripes are really yellow ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]:
They had the funniest way

of loving each other.

It was brother and sister,
but it was another thing.

♪ ...fine and mellow ♪

Anybody that ever knew him
would tell you

he's one of the strangest people
on earth.

He was like a visitor, really.

And she was too, so you can
figure the two of 'em together

is pretty wild.

That was the way it was,
all the time.

But everybody loves
a wild woman.

[JIMMY AND LINDA LAUGH]

♪ But you're so mean
to me, baby ♪

♪ I know you gonna
drive me away ♪

[JIMMY]:
She sang from her crotch.

You bet she had the greatest
crotch in life!

[LINDA LAUGHS]

[JIMMY]: And, now that I look
back, I'm sorry I missed it.

[HE LAUGHS]

[LINDA]: How do you envision
her sex life?

[JIMMY]: It had an awful lot
to do with the way she was

with everything she did.

So, you look at Lady Day,
you've gotta include

her sex life,
or you don't look at her.

♪ Sometimes when you think
it's on, baby ♪

♪ It has turned off and gone ♪

[PLANE RUMBLES]

[JOHN SIMMONS]:

[HE LAUGHS]

[INTERVIEWER]: I know a couple
of good friends of yours

who are not musicians.

Orson Well... Tallulah Bankhead.

[BILLIE]:

[LINDA]:

[DETROIT RED]:

[ROY HARTE]:

[SYLVIA SYMS]:
The bar used to be packed

with hero-worshippers.

She looked like a panther...

is the only way
I can describe her

with the most unbelievable
face in the world.

She really dug being high

that's one thing
I've got to say.

But I never knew anyone
with such a capacity.

[JAMES "STUMP" CROSS]:
All the doormen

along 52nd Street

had what Lady needed.

[LINDA]:
Like what?

[JAMES "STUMP" CROSS]:
Like pot.

[LIGHTER CLICKS]

[JOHN SIMMONS]:

[LINDA]:
Why?

Why all those extremes?

Why?

[BOBBY TUCKER]:

[LINDA]:
And why shouldn't she?

[CASSETTE CLICKS]

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[CAMERA CLICKS]

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[KEYS JINGLE]

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[CAMERA CLICKS]

[LINDA]: And would you say
Billie was extremely smart

in protecting herself?

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[LINDA AND JIMMY]:

[JIMMY]:

[LINDA AND JIMMY]:

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[GUNFIRE ECHOES]

[LINDA]:
And she was in the hotel?

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO
CHATTER]

[DISTANT SIREN BLARES]

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[LINDA AND JIMMY]:

[DOG BARKS]

[VIRGINIA MCGLOCKEN]:
Here at Alderson...

the system was that
when a person came in

who was on drugs at the time

that they were sent
to the hospital

and remained there
until they were drug free.

[ALARM BELL RINGS]
- [DOG BARKS]

This prison was segregated
as to race.

[SEWING MACHINES WHIR]

She really went into
the woodwork here.

She had made up her mind
that she was just going

to do her time and get out
as fast as she could.

[JEAN ALLEN]:
This was the room she occupied.

She certainly was
no trouble ever.

She was a...

generous person,
I'd say, uh...

in thought, anyway.

She never bothered anybody.

[VIRGINIA MCGLOCKEN]:
It's almost impossible

to say how quiet she was.

To my knowledge,
she never sang a note.

[WIND CHIMES JINGLE]

[MYRA LUFTMAN]: It took Linda
a long time to work on the book.

Eight years of her life.

She had some bad times,
and, uh, we would get calls

in the middle of the night.

[CARMEN MCRAE]:
I just don't feel like doing it.

All this shoulda been done
about this woman before she died

not after she's dead,
and everybody's...

just going through all kinds
of shit about it now

cos I've had it up to here
with that shit.

[MYRA LUFTMAN]: As the time
went on, she kept pushing

her own set deadline
further and further.

At one point, I remember
we had a discussion

and I said, "You know,
maybe it's just time

to finish it, and to leave it
imperfect".

But she couldn't,
it was so much part of her.

The reason that Linda struggled
so much

was that inside her own head

she heard the voice that
she wanted Billie to have...

but she couldn't get
that correct voice on paper.

[MUSIC: "Just One More Chance"
by Billy Holiday]

♪ Just one more chance ♪

♪ I've learned the meaning... ♪

[INTERVIEWER]: Haven't you gotta
find a piano man

of your own
that you bring in there?

[BILLIE]: Yes, he goes
everywhere with me.

His name is Bobby Tucker.

Bobby's been with me four years,
and he's a very great musician.

[BOBBY TUCKER]:
After she came out of jail

she was so glad to get back

and she was so amazed that
people hadn't forgotten her.

♪ Still I'm hoping... ♪

[BOBBY TUCKER]:
We did Carnegie Concert Hall.

I remember opening night.

There was a line
around the block

and the people were standing
out there in really waiting

to see what a women prisoner
looked like.

[INTERVIEWER]: What happened
in Carnegie Hall?

Were you frightened?

[BILLIE]:
Oh, I was scared to death.

I waited until the last minute

and I said I wasn't going
to go on.

There's too many people.
[SHE CHUCKLES]

And I couldn't control my knees!

Boy, you could see my knees
is going

and people didn't know
if I was going to dance or sing.

[THEY CHUCKLE]

[BILLIE'S SONG CONTINUES]
♪ Still I'm hoping... ♪

[BOBBY TUCKER]:
She would walk out

and before she opens her mouth

she had everybody in the place.

♪ ...somewhere... ♪

♪ I said that I... ♪

[BOBBY TUCKER]: She didn't
really think that she was

a very good singer.

She could tell a story.

[LINDA]: She had no confidence
in her voice?

[BOBBY TUCKER]: No.
- [LINDA]: None at all?

[BILLIE]: Actresses, artists,
I look at them

like "woah".

[INTERVIEWER]:
And you don't consider yourself

in the same league?

[BILLIE]:
No, my God, no!

[INTERVIEWER]:
Why not?

You've thought as much about it.

You have developed a style,
a technique, just as much

as they have done,
you please just as many people

so, why are you not just
as much an artiste

as any one of them?

[BILLIE]:

[INTERVIEWER]:
Oh, I think you do.

I think you do know that.

[LINDA]: What was the difference
between what Ella did

and Billie?

[BOBBY TUCKER]:

[SYLVIA SYMS]: She taught me
that if you almost

laugh out loud

but never quite make it,
the audience will laugh.

If you almost cry,
but never quite make it

the audience will cry.

[LINDA]:
When would she cry?

[SYLVIA SYMS]:
She'd cry about a lot of things

but never when she thought
anybody was watching her.

♪ ...to cry my heart out ♪

♪ For just... ♪

[JAMES "STUMP" CROSS]:
Nobody could sing like Lady.

Not ever.

We worked
the Club Ebony together.

That's when John Levy
came into the spotlight.

["JUST ONE MORE CHANCE"
SONG ENDS]

[LINDA, VO]:
John became manager

sometimes called
"husband-manager"...

though he never married her

because he was already married
and had a son.

But Billie did not care about

such legal considerations,
anyway.

She did not relate
to legal codes.

She did what she wanted
to do with a vengeance.

[MUSIC: "My Man" by
Jacques-Charles and Pollock]

♪ It costs me lot ♪

♪ But there's one thing ♪

♪ That I've got ♪

♪ It's my man ♪

[MARIA BRYANT]:
John Levy, right!

The bastard!

The dirty, rotten,
stinking bastard!

[LINDA]: There is nothing good
you could say about that man?

[MARIA]:
Not one thing, sweetheart.

I try to say something good
about, you know...

[LINDA]: There's no reason
to say anything good...

[MARIA]: No reason to say
anything good about him.

♪ All of this I'll soon forget ♪

♪ With my man ♪

[JAMES "STUMP" CROSS]:
John Levy is a pimp.

A parasite.

I wouldn't wanna brush up
with him if I had overalls on.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]:
♪ He's no hero ♪

[JAMES "STUMP" CROSS]:
See, these kind of guys

with the Cadillac,
or whatever...

they represented
something to Lady.

[LINDA]: They represented
what she came up for.

[JAMES]:
Yeah.

♪ Yes, I love him ♪

♪ Two or three girls has he ♪

♪ That he likes as well as me ♪

♪ But I love him ♪

[BOBBY TUCKER]: I usually spit
after John Levy.

If she'd ask him for 50 dollars,
he'd knock her down!

[LINDA]:
How'd he knock her down?

[BOBBY]:
With his fist!

[LINDA]:
His fist in her face?

[BOBBY TUCKER]:
You darned right!

In the stomach, anywhere.

♪ He beats me too ♪

♪ What can I do ♪

[MARIA BRYANT]: If she was
hooked, she was hooked.

And I mean on...

men, chick, dope...
whatever it was.

She was hooked.

♪ But I don't care ♪

♪ When he takes me in his arms ♪

♪ The world is bright alright ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]:
She's up there singing "My Man".

See, a masochist is what
she was.

All she wanted was a guy
who'd tell her he loved her...

you know, but not all the time

because she digs punishment.

So, when he does say it

it's gotta mean something
real wild

you know, like in the middle
of something crazy.

♪ I'm his... ♪

♪ ...forever... ♪

♪ ...more ♪

[APPLAUSE]

[MELBA LISTON]:

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[LINDA AND JIMMY]:

[LINDA AND JIMMY]:

[COLONEL GEORGE H. WHITE]:

[LINDA]:
Why not?

[COL WHITE]:

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[LINDA]:

[JIMMY FLETCHER]:

[DR JAMES HAMILTON]:
Billie was indicted.

As soon as she was arrested

I immediately put her
in Twin Pines

kept her under
full psychiatric controls

for five days and proved

that she was not addicted
to an opiate.

[LINDA]:
Now, you made observations.

You have to, especially
if you're a psychiatrist.

But what's made her
the way she is?

What drove her to a series
of John Levys, to heroin?

[DR JAMES HAMILTON]:
I don't like to use this word

and it's not a good word, but...

she's really a psychopath.

[LINDA]:
A psychopath?

[DR JAMES HAMILTON]:
An impulse-driven...

strong, talented...

but not dependable individual...

who does this because this is
what she has the impulse to do

right now, and she gets
into all sorts of trouble.

[LINDA]:
A psychopath.

[DR JAMES HAMILTON]:
Key to this thing

is the impulse.

[LINDA]: Was there
any perversity in this?

When I said "perversity",
I meant a demon.

You know, there's a demon
sometimes eating away at...

It kinda forces you to...

do something that's going to
illicit some kind of shock.

And this is something
I can identify with.

[CASSETTE STOPS]

[MYRA LUFTMAN]:
As Linda went on

the identification
became much more intense.

Like Billie, she was attracted
to men who were not bringing out

necessarily the best in her.

She was married twice,
and she was divorced twice.

While she was writing
the book...

Linda became close with some of
the people she interviewed.

One time we were in
our apartment

the phone rang,
and a man's voice said

"Can I speak to Linda?"

Of course I asked,
"Who's calling?"

and he said, "Well, it's Bill".

Linda said,
"Do you know who Bill is?"

I said, "No".

And she says,
"Well, you do

it's Count Basie".

[APPLAUSE]

[LINDA]:
Ask me a question about Billie.

[COUNT BASIE AND LINDA]:

[THEY CHUCKLE]

[COUNT BASIE]:

[LINDA]:

[COUNT BASIE]:

[LINDA]:

[COUNT BASIE]:

[MYRA LUFTMAN]: I'm not sure
what Linda's relationship

with Basie actually was.

It's an impression that
there was a closeness

based on what she had said
to me.

[INTERVIEWER 1]: I understand
that one of the reasons

for your present happiness
is your husband Louis.

How does he react to some
of your more suggestive things?

Ah, no, he tells me how to sing
and what to sing

and, oh, it's just getting
terrible.

[SHE LAUGHS]

[INTERVIEWER]: Well,
your husband's right here

in the dressing room with us.
Mr Louis McKay.

[INTERVIEWER 2]:
Mr McKay, tell us something

about how you two work together.

[LOUIS MACKAY]: Well, we have
something like

a private agreement.

I handle all the business,
she handles all the music.

Though she tells me
sometimes

"You stay outta my music".

[INTERVIEWER 2]: And does she
stay out of the business?

Yes, she does.
- Then you'll get along fine.

[INTERVIEWER 1]: What else are
you doing besides the records

and touring around the spots?

[BILLIE]: Well, 12th October,
my dream is

supposed to come true.
I'm going to Europe.

[INTERVIEWER 1]:
Oh, you've never been there?

No.
- Oh! Well...

[BILLIE]:
I've always wanted to go.

[INTERVIEWER 3]: Is this
a vacation trip to Europe, or?

[BILLIE]: No, honey,
no vacations, all work.

♪ Are the stars out tonight? ♪

♪ I don't know
if it's cloudy or bright ♪

♪ For I only have eyes
for you, dear ♪

♪ The moon may be high ♪

♪ Millions of people go by ♪

♪ But I only have eyes for you ♪

♪ I don't know
if we're in a garden ♪

♪ Or on a crowded avenue ♪

♪ You are here, so am I ♪

♪ Millions of people go by ♪

♪ But they all disappear
from view ♪

♪ And I only have eyes for you ♪

[INTERVIEWER]: What is it that
you're after

out of life
yourself, Billie, now?

[BILLIE]:

[DOROTHY WINSTON]:
She'd always wanted children...

never able to have any.

I just had two girls then.

She used to love to paint
them fingernails.

And she would sing to 'em

and she would
take them shopping.

♪ You are here, so am I ♪

♪ Millions of people go by ♪

♪ But they all disappear
from view ♪

[DOROTHY WINSTON]: It was
her dream to retire someday

with enough money
to buy a big spread

and have a home for children
who had no mother and father.

♪ And I only have eyes ♪

♪ Big bulging eyes ♪

♪ Great big eyes ♪

♪ For you ♪

[DOROTHY WINSTON]: But he was
just using her

to get control of her money.

[APPLAUSE]

[PLANE ENGINE ROARS]

[MEMRY MIDGETT]: I was with her
during the return to New York.

This was a tremendously big
concert.

I'm sure you've been told
all the people that were on it.

Duke Ellington's orchestra,
Sarah Vaughan, Bird, Prez...

Count Basie.

But it seemed like
everybody there

had come to see one person.

[INTERVIEWER]: And now I'd like
you to know America's

number one song stylist,
Miss Billie Holiday.

[APPLAUSE]

[MEMRY MIDGETT]:
She closed the show.

And she sang encore
after encore after encore.

If we stayed on that stage
an hour...

we stayed on
an hour and 30 minutes.

Well, after the concert
was the fight.

Louis began to loudmouth,
and that started a big rumble...

which then we all ended up
out in the street...

and he literally knocked her
across the street.

But she loved that punishment.

This is the nature
of a masochist.

[CAMERA CLICKS]

After he had just beaten her
severely and kicked her...

is that after they had gotten
the punishment

then they had been
so completely gratified

then they can just enter
into a sexual tryst.

[CAMERA CLICKS]

Louis had a technique going
of trying to control her mind.

It was like hypnotism.

"You can't depend on anyone
but me".

"You have no friends but me,
you must stay in here

and keep yourself away
from everyone but me".

There were days when he just
kept her under lock and key.

He'd boss her around...

and tell her
she "couldn't do this"

she "couldn't do that".

And she wanted something
to eat, and he'd say

"Go on to bed, you don't need
anything to eat".

And she lost so much weight.

She looked like a skeleton.

[EARL ZAIDINS]:
If you were to talk to Louis

he would probably tell you
an entirely different story.

He's a pathological liar.

And he'd probably ask for money.

There was a time he came up
to the apartment

after he hit her on the head.

[LINDA]: He said he hit her
on the head with a telephone?

[EARL ZAIDINS]: Yeah,
I locked her in my bathroom.

He came and he said,
"I got a gun here".

[CASSETTE WINDS]

[LINDA]:
See, I can't... I can't write

whether you're telling me
something about Louis or not.

I can't say it, write it

because I'm liable

and he's alive and he's tough.
- Yeah, mm-hm.

[LINDA]:
I'm in trouble, not you.

[MYRA LUFTMAN]: In the process
of interviewing for the book

Linda had been threatened...

by people within the world
that she was travelling.

I don't know why
she was threatened.

She was a journalist,
she was interviewing...

but I think the threat
was personally motivated.

At times, she said there was
discomfort

with how she was spoken to

in terms of having
a relationship with Basie.

I don't know whether it was
because of the age.

I just know she had been
threatened.

Not by Basie, but by some
of the people surrounding him.

[LINDA]:
OK, uh...

I guess we're gonna end now.
Do you know something?

This is the end
of our interview.

[CASSETTE CLICKS OFF]

♪ I'll never smile again ♪

♪ Until I smile at you ♪

♪ I'll never laugh again ♪

♪ What good would it do? ♪

[RAY ELLIS]:

I was in love with Billie...

not necessarily Billie,
but somebody.

That voice, it turned me on.

But when I met her,
she was a repulsive.

She looked a little scabby,
a little dirty.

[MILT HINTON]: Poor Billie,
her heart was just broken.

[INTERVIEWER]: Of all the songs
you've written, Billie Holiday

which one most clearly tells
your story?

[BILLIE]:
Oh, I think "Don't Explain".

[INTERVIEWER]: Did you write
the words and the music?

Yes.
- Both of them?

[BILLIE]:
I had help with it.

[INTERVIEWER]: Close your eyes
and speak the words like a poet.

[BILLIE]:
Um, hush now, don't explain.

I know you raised Cain.

I'm glad that you're back.

Don't explain.

Quiet, don't explain.

You mixed with some dame.

Skip that lipstick.

Don't explain.

♪ You know that I love you ♪

♪ And what love endures ♪

♪ All my thoughts are of you ♪

♪ For I'm so completely yours ♪

[MEMRY MIDGETT]: She would call
me up maybe three

three thirty, four o'clock
in the morning...

and it seemed like she was...

almost hallucinating...

and she would say,
"Oh, I'm so scared

I'm here all by myself".

But she would talk to me
for hours

and tell me about how
she got started in prostitution.

She was 13 years old

and at that time, she had
her own girls on the street.

She was terribly worried

about whether or not
God would forgive her.

♪ My life ♪

♪ Yours, love ♪

♪ Don't explain ♪

[EARL ZAIDINS]:

[LINDA]:

[EARL ZAIDINS]:

[MEMRY MIDGETT]:
As far as I'm concerned

her use of narcotics was just
another way of self-punishment.

[RUBY DAVIES]: She told me
that when she was a little girl

down in her hometown...

she was raped.

[BILLIE COUGHS]
- [LINDA]: Who raped her?

[RUBY DAVIES]:
She didn't tell me.

There were tears in her eyes.

[MARIE BRYANT]: She was always
a vulnerable child to me.

I don't think she was ever
really in love in her life.

Nor ever knew what it was.

She just suffered.

[MEMRY MIDGETT]:

[JO JONES]: She went to hospital
on the Sunday.

She knew she was dying.

That damn hospital.

They had her under arrest,
this woman laying in bed.

[DOROTHY WINSTON]:
But she did tell me one time

that if they ever
arrested her again

that she couldn't go through
that experience

and she'd rather be dead.

[JO JONES]:

No innovator was like her,
nobody!

And all she wanted
to do was sing.

She ain't bothering nobody.

Billie had a Cadillac
and a mink, so what?

What's wrong with that?

Wasn't she entitled
to have a Cadillac?

Wasn't she entitled
to have her mink?

Wasn't she entitled
to have diamonds?

"Oh, you ain't supposed
to have that...

you're a negro!

Stay in your place, you know".

All y'all need to do is get some
black-eyed peas and rice

and that's all ya'll need.

I'm talking about
what we went through.

No vocalist had ever went
through what she went through.

"Greatest country in the world".

The most stupid, most
prejudiced, racial people...

even as of today.

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]

I'm leaving, quick as I can.

I will not be a part
of this farce.

July the 17th.

That's when she died.

I closed up
Miss Billie Holiday's casket...

and put two flowers on it.

[INTERVIEWER]: And the question,
Billie, that I was going to ask

was that why so many jazz greats
seem to die so early?

[BILLIE]: The only way I can
answer that question is...

we try to live
one hundred days in one day.

I, myself, try to please
so many people.

I guess we all suffer.

[WIND WHISTLES]

[MYRA LUFTMAN]: It was
in the middle of the blizzard

of 1978.

Linda was going to
Washington D.C.

for a Basie concert.

And, um, we received
a phone call from my mother...

and...

she said you have to
come home, Linda just died.

The police told my parents
that she had committed suicide

and jumped out of the window

and we were just devastated.

And also...

yeah, unsure that that...

was how she died.

To our knowledge,
there was no note.

She was a writer,
and there never was a letter.

At the time,
the Washington D.C. police

did not have
a great reputation

for integrity,
and we really questioned

how much they had actually
investigated Linda's death.

My thought is that, uh...

somebody had pushed her.

Uh...

I have absolutely no
evidence of it...

only what I know of Linda,
and, um...

the surrounding situations.

When Linda died, it appeared
that she had been getting ready

to go to sleep,
because one of her rituals

was to put on a facemask.

When she was found,
she had the facemask on.

[MUSIC: "I Loves You, Porgy"
by George and Ira Gershwin]

♪ I love you Porgy ♪

♪ Don't let him take me ♪

♪ Don't let him handle me ♪

♪ And drive me mad ♪

♪ If you can keep me ♪

♪ I wanna stay here ♪

♪ With you forever ♪

♪ I've got my man ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]:
I just thank the Lord

that I did know this girl

when things were different.

[BILLIE]:
♪ I know he's coming ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]: And I would pray
that she'd come back.

♪ He's going to handle
me and... ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]: Wouldn't that
be nice, just one day?

♪ ...told me so... ♪

[JIMMY ROWLES]: But you had
to get a good ticket

to get there.

♪ It's going to be... ♪

♪ Like dying ♪

[SYLVIA SYMS]:
I can't cry about Billie now.

I don't even cry about her
when I listen to her.

She makes me smile, even sadly.

And it's just too bad that it
took all this time

for all of this shit
to come up.

♪ I'll have to go ♪

♪ I love you Porgy ♪

♪ Don't let him take me ♪

♪ Don't let him handle me ♪

♪ And drive me mad ♪

♪ If you can keep me ♪

♪ I've gotta stay here ♪

♪ With you forever ♪

♪ I've got my... ♪

♪ ...man ♪

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC: "Funeral In New Orleans"
by The Sonhouse All Stars]