Book

The blues walked in

George, Kathleen, 1943- author

Overview

\"In 1936, life on the road means sleeping on the bus or in hotels for blacks only. After finishing her tour with Nobel Sissel's orchestra, nineteen year-old Lena Horne is walking the last few blocks to her father's hotel in Pittsburgh's Hill District. She stops at a lemonade stand and meets a Lebanese American girl, Marie David. Marie loves movies and adores Lena, and their chance meeting sparks a relationship that will intertwine their lives forever. Lena also meets Josiah Conner, a charismatic teenager who helps out at her father Teddy's hotel. Josiah often skips school, dreams of being a Hollywood director, and has a crush on Lena. Although the three are linked by a determination to be somebody, issues of race, class, family, and education threaten to disrupt their lives and the bonds between them.Lena's father wants her to settle down and give up show business, but she's entranced by the music and culture of the Hill. It's a mecca for jazz singers and musicians, and nightspots like the Crawford Grill attract crowds of blacks and whites. Lena table-hops with local jazzmen as her father chaperones her through the clubs where she'll later perform. Singing makes her feel alive, and to her father's dismay, reviewers can't get enough of her. Duke Ellington adores her, Billy Strayhorn can't wait to meet her, and she becomes all the rage in clubs and Hollywood for her beauty and almost-whiteness. Her signature version of Stormy Weather makes her a legend. But after sitting around for years at MGM as the studio heads try to figure out what to do with her, she isn't quite sure what she's worth. Marie and Josiah follow Lena's career in Hollywood and New York through movie magazines and the Pittsburgh Courier. Years pass until their lives are brought together again when Josiah is arrested for the murder of a white man. Marie and Lena decide they must get Josiah out of prison-whatever the personal cost.\"--Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Subject: Horne, Lena Childhood and youth Fiction. / Horne, Lena. / 1900-1999 / Singers Fiction. / Young women Fiction. / African Americans Fiction. / Lebanese Americans Fiction. / Female friendship Fiction. / Racism Fiction. / African Americans. / Female friendship. / Lebanese Americans. / Manners and customs. / Racism. / Singers. / Young women. / Pittsburgh (Pa.) Social life and customs 20th century Fiction. / Pennsylvania Pittsburgh.
• ISBN: 9780822945246, 082294524X

Item info:

1 item available

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Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
PS3557.E487 B58 2018	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE