Donald Bogle: "Heat Wave"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-02-15/donald-bogle-heat-wave
Few American entertainers have rivaled the success of Ethel Waters. Born to a teen mother as the result of a rape, she began her career in Black Vaudeville and reached new heights in the nightclubs of Harlem in the 1920’s. Her unique singing style ushered in the age of the modern popular song – and made her the highest paid woman in show business. Not content with just a recording career, Ethel Waters wowed audiences on Broadway and won an Oscar nomination. In her later years, however, she was best known for singing with Billy Graham’s crusade and spurning the civil rights movement. Diane and her guest, biographer Donald Bogle, discuss the complex life and career of Ethel Waters.
Guests
Donald Bogle
author
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Is it true that because Ethel Waters first performed for all-black audiences under a more segregated system than some other black women singers, and that this allowed her to develop a lighter, clearer style and broader range of material than did singers whose white audiences expected a narrower range of performance style.
As a very youg boy, about 16 I went to see MEMBER OF THE WEDDING at the Schubert theatre in Detroit. I went back stage after the performance, and she saw me standing and waiting.She called me in to her dressing room, as her door was open.She called BRandon and Julie in to meet me, and they all autographed my program. s he was so gracious