How About A Bessie Smith Film Bio
Hollywood keeps churning out crap--sequels to sequels and remakes of TV shows that were remakes of Broadway that were remakes of films to begin with. There have been a lot of musician biographies in the movies, and whether they are about Billie Holiday, Mozart or Buddy Holly, they're usually very enjoyable. However, one artist of major stature who'd be a great candidate for a film bio is the Empress of the Blues herself, Bessie Smith. Anyone out there with connections in Hollywood to make this happen? Queen Latifah, of course, is the natural choice to play the lead, but if for some reason she can't or won't, a good alternate candidate is one of today's underrated stars, Gabrielle Union. Both Queen and Gabrielle have the dimples to make appearance a cinch. PS: the film ought to be at least PG. In spite of the many "double entendre" songs Bessie sang, kids today would benefit far more listening to her music than the junk they currently ingest.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brad Vickers on
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What a great idea! Even made-for-TV would be fine! Oh, and Oprah has some sway w. Hollywood, too.
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Permalink Reply by Will Cornell on -
Is Oprah a LiveBluesWorld member?
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Permalink Reply by Ward on -
Now I think that would be a great film. However, we talking about the 1920-30's where "you had to pay your dues, to sang the BLUES", a Juke Joint Woman! I think the movie would have to be rated R. Bessie Smith stood about 6 feet tall and probably weighed over 200 pounds (sorry Bessie)! She was know to have a temper, dranked like a sailor, and would not hesitate to fight man/woman or anything else that pissed her off! She also had a very interesting intimate life....
She knew how to project her voice and had great performances on stage; it's said she sounded better while singing to large audiences. I would be interested on how they would protray her tragic death.
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Permalink Reply by Will Cornell on
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I long for the days when Hollywood could hint at interesting intimates and instead could focus on the artistic contributions of the subject. The film should set the matter straight about her demise--the story about her being denied access to a white hospital is a falsehood that John Hammond at Columbia apparently spread around to not only bring indignation to segregation, but probably to spur interest in Bessie's posthumous disc sales. It was still a grisly death though--might wind up being the most graphic since "Bonnie and Clyde".
One would hope the film to show how many others she influenced. Bob Wills was supposed to have ridden on a mule all night to get to one of her gigs, and when he couldn't get a ticket inside, he just sat by a window outside and listened. Thus: Western Swing.
She was also reputedly the wealthiest singer in the country at one point. Pretty amazing given the times...
6ft, 200# --Queen Latifah could pass on film (sorry Queen), but Gabrielle Union will need a bit of digital enhancement so to speak--maybe she could play the younger Bessie.... It would be wrong to get Miss Union to purposely put on weight for the part.
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Permalink Reply by Ward on
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I agree with the film focusing on her incredible talent, but people still (myself included) want to know what the real person (Bessie) was like.
I have not researched Bessie Smith since the late 80's, and it was brief then. The common story about her tragic death was that she died because she was not admitted to the closet hospital (An all white hospital) in time. Today, the story is believed to been false, like you said. That's why I said it would interesting to see what the real story actually is or would Hollywood "put a spin" on that ending.
Check out her only known film St Louis Blues1929. You can "YOUTUBE" or "GOOGLE" most of it. The film is only about 16-17 minutes long, but it makes you want to see more of Bessie and what she could have done in film.
It is not hard for me to believe that the story about her death due to racsim to be true, even if it is false. I grew up in the Mississippi Delta right after the Civil Rights Movement of the late 50's- 60's "ended". There was so much racial hate (against blacks) and anger surrounding me. I mean racial hate so intense, you could just feel it at certain times and places. Many of my earliest memories go back to the discrimination I went through in Mississippi.
Bessie's death took place in Mississippi in 1937! Think about that for a minute. It's the Great Depression, millions and millions of people out of work; Bessie is traveling through one of, if not THE most Militant of the Southern States when it came to Racism towards blacks back then. She's rich, wearing nice clothes, had a car-not a far stretch to say something like that couldn't have happened!
Still, I will have to do more research to make an honest opinion.
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Permalink Reply by Will Cornell on
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Yes, it's just a great story, something Hollywood seems to be unable to do anymore.
Rarely do I find a musical bio to be a bad film, and so many have slipped thru the cracks--Prince playing Little Richard (which was being talked about 20 yrs ago)...I confess I have not seen Cadillac Records yet--I was a bit put off by the innuendos that may have been put there for gratuitous purposes, but I'll get around one of these days. Would have liked a film focusing in on Muddy or Little Walter by themselves.
It's a good thing we live in an age when racists look like the idiots they are--look at the judge in Louisiana that refused to marry an interracial couple just the other day. He'll likely lose his job. But his reason: he did not feel the children of such a marriage had much of a chance. Um...judge, uh, how about Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, and I hear the new Nobel Peace Prize winner is a mixed race kid too. It's not political either--many well known conservatives (Clarence Thomas, Phil Gramm) are in mixed marriages, maybe more of them than liberals!
Bessie was striving for a comeback at the time of her death too...that always makes for a good story.
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Permalink Reply by Vince Agwada on -
I agree, her's is a truly great story that really needs to be told. Hey Spike Lee, are you listening???
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Permalink Reply by Will Cornell on
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He may use too much artistic/political license like he did with Malcolm X. There is absolutely no truth to the incident in that film where a young white female came up to Malcolm and asked about what she could do to help and he coldly replied "Nothing". Likewise, Oliver Stone would be a poor choice ("The Doors" dealt more with Morrison's antics than their musical contributions). Clint Eastwood did a pretty good job with Charlie Parker and I suspect he truly admires Bessie's work--he could even play the piano on the soundtrack....Halle Berry's Dorothy Dandridge I liked and she's at the point in her career where I think producing or directing might be she wants more of. Something tells me though, if Queen Latifah is a Bessie fan, she may be able to pull the whole thing off herself.
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