Becoming Richard Pryor (72 page)

46     
she would try to beat the disobedience out of him:
Vanocur, “Richard Pryor,” p. F5;
“Anything you want to know about fear”:
Scott Cohen, “Richard Pryor,”
High Times
, Dec. 1977, p. 61.

46     
Richard walked on eggshells:
Richard Pryor Live in Concert
;
“The guy says you have no soul”:
Interview with Richard Pryor, on
Only in America, with Greg Jackson
, aired Dec. 12, 1985 (CBS) (in author’s possession; hereafter “
Only in America
interview”);
“scared to death” . . . “afraid to make a sound”:
Author’s interviews with Matt Clark, Dec. 6, 2010, and Dec. 28, 2010.

47     
rustle and straighten out his newspaper:
Kraft Summer Music Hall
, aired June 13, 1966;
Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
, aired Jan. 12, 1979 (NBC).

47     
“If you don’t go to sleep”:
Kraft Summer Music Hall
, aired June 13, 1966.

47     
When other kids . . . His father would brag:
Richard Pryor, “Peoria,”
Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974)
, Rhino R2 78490 (2005) (hereafter
Evolution/Revolution
);
A Peoria police officer:
Rovin,
Richard Pryor
, p. 17.

47     
“I was weird”:
The Mike Douglas Show
, aired Nov. 11, 1974.

48     
he had been playing by himself:
Pryor Convictions
, pp. 28–31.

48     
Red Skelton:
Ibid., p. 44;
lifelong fascination with cartoons . . . twenty-five cartoons in a row:
McPherson, “The New Comic Style of Richard Pryor,” p. 41.

49     
would delight himself by drawing:
Author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer, May 27, 2011;
imitating the Road Runner:
Lurlena Pieters, “‘Hurt Pride’ Leads to Comic Career,”
Cleveland Call and Post
, Apr. 20, 1974, p. 3A.

49     
a compelling backstory:
Oregon Trail Scouts
(Republic Pictures, 1947);
rescuing Red Ryder:
Cheyenne Wildcat
(Republic Pictures, 1944),
Vigilantes of Dodge City
(Republic Pictures, 1944),
California Gold Rush
(Republic Pictures, 1946).

49     
pointed lesson:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 44;
“one of my first big traumatic experiences”:
Maynard, “Richard Pryor: King of the Scene-Stealers,” p. 11.

50     
first performance as a comic:
Pryor Convictions
, pp. 14–15;
“That was my first comedy routine”:
“Slippin’ in Poo Poo,”
Evolution/Revolution
.

50     
Richard was one of a minority of blacks:
Author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer, May 27, 2011;
the minstrelsy behind popular radio programs like
Amos ’n’ Andy
:
Melvin Patrick Ely,
The Adventures of Amos ’n’ Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon
(New York: Free Press, 1991), pp. 11–13. The year that Richard arrived at kindergarten, Peoria’s high school tried to stage a blackface minstrel show complete with “pickaninnies,” and revised its script only under pressure from the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality. See Jim Ralph, “Patterns of Protest: The Civil Rights Struggle in Peoria, Illinois, 1945–1970,” African American history folder, Peoria Public Library, p. 11; Hazel Fritchell, letter to George Houser, June 3, 1946, Congress of Racial Equality Papers (microfilm), Reel 14, Series III, No. 67.

51     
“Apparently unstable emotionally”:
Pryor school records.

51     
During the middle of his second try:
Ibid.;
“The farm” . . . “Yes, sir”:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 33; David Handelman, “What Happened to Richard Pryor?,”
Lakeland Ledger
, Jan. 29, 1992, p. 5C.

51     
back in Peoria schools:
Pryor school records;
third grade:
Author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer.

52     
sole brothel with white prostitutes:
The Barbara Walters Special
, aired May 29, 1979 (ABC); “Joe Eagle Indicted on Lie Charges,”
Peoria Journal
, July 2, 1954, p. 1.

52     
“three oddball brothers”:
Author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer.

52     
relatively decent grades . . . two Cs, four Ds, and one F:
Pryor school records.

52     
Richard’s poor grades in “conduct”:
Rovin,
Richard Pryor
, p. 24; author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer.

53     
Irving School’s basketball team:
Interview with Michael Grussemeyer;
the toast of the black community:
Rob Thomas,
They Cleared the Lane: The NBA’s Black Pioneers
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002); John Christgau,
Tricksters in the Madhouse: Lakers vs. Globetrotters, 1948
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

53     
Richard found trouble in a whole new way:
Pryor Convictions
, pp. 43–44. Another account of the same incident is given in Maynard, “Richard Pryor, King of the Scene-Stealers,” p. 11.

54     
saw his father unleash his anger in his defense:
Pryor Convictions
, pp. 43–44.

54     
“You could almost set your watch by it”:
Author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer;
“S[tudent] can’t return”:
Pryor school records.

54     
the realm of private fantasy:
Rovin,
Richard Pryor
, pp. 22–23.

55     
“I’d write a lot”:
Pieters, “‘Hurt Pride’ Leads to Comic Career,” p. 3A.

55     
Born in New Orleans:
“Mrs. Viola Pryor,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Jan. 3, 1968;
a prostitute at China Bee’s,
Pryor Convictions
, p. 34;
a freckled Creole . . . elegant dresses cinched with belts:
Family photographs in author’s possession; author’s interview with Margaret Kelch, May 15, 2011.

55     
pleaded with the principal:
Author’s interview with Michael Grussemeyer;
calling her “Mom”:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 34.

56     
“Why’d they kick me out of school?”:
Ibid., pp. 40–41.

56     
Peoria’s longtime mayor was defeated:
“Triebel and Madden Win Mayor Races,”
Peoria Journal-Transcript
, Feb. 14, 1945, p. 1.

57     
by
15 percent:
“Bluff Outvotes ‘Valley’ Wards,”
Peoria Journal-Transcript
, Feb. 14. 1945, p. 17;
cleared out the city’s slot machines:
Frank Sturdy, “Gamblers Tell Why They Quit Peoria Rackets,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, Oct. 20, 1948, p. 21;
sharpshooter hiding in some nearby underbrush:
“Dry Era Gangster Killed in Ambush,”
New York Times
, July 27, 1948, p. 46; “2d Shelton Brother, Leader of Gang, Slain in Ambush,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, July 27, 1947, p. 1;
a recording of an emissary:
“Shelton’s ‘Voice from Grave’ Charges $25,000 Bribe Plot,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, Aug. 8, 1948, p. 1;
a sweeping investigation:
“State Names 2 to War on Crime, Vice,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, Sept. 13, 1948, p. 1;
bombed a year after:
“Bomb Blasts Peoria Home of Prosecutor,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, Dec. 17, 1949, p. 1.

57     
ex-GIs returning to Peoria:
Friedan, “Now They’re Proud of Peoria,” pp. 94–95;
breaking the hammerlock:
“John C. Parkhurst Memoir, Volume I,” Illinois General Assembly Oral History Program, Norris L. Brookens Library, University of Illinois at Springfield, pp. 43–46; Herbert Gamberg, “The Escape from Power: Politics in the American Community” (Monticello, IL: Council of Planning Librarians, 1969), pp. 6–9; Martin, “The Town That Reformed,” p. 26;
thirty-five raids:
“Eleven ‘All-American’ Cities of 1953,”
The American City
, Feb. 1954, p. 113.

58     
Since the early 1940s:
“Business and Civic Leaders Join in Call for Solution of Midtown Bridge Problem,”
Peoria Journal-Transcript
, Sept. 1, 1940;
In 1951:
“Fayette-Jackson Is Area for New Span,”
Peoria Star
, July 26, 1951;
Fourteen buildings:
“State to Clear 14 Buildings Here,”
Peoria Star
, July 9, 1953;
1950 U.S. Census:
1950 Housing Census Report: Block Statistics, Peoria, Illinois,
Volume V, Part 142 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952), p. 6.

58     
In late 1951:
Pryor school records;
Famous Door had closed . . . beauty shop:
Polk’s Peoria Directory
(St. Louis, MO: Polk, 1948), p. 106;
Polk’s Peoria Directory
(St. Louis, MO: Polk, 1950), p. 14;
cheaper rents and
less ramshackle housing:
1950 Housing Census Report: Block Statistics, Peoria, Illinois
, pp. 6. 14;
pool hall:
Polk’s Peoria Directory
(St. Louis, MO: Polk, 1952), p. 115.

58     
Blaine-Sumner elementary:
Pryor school records.

Chapter 4: Glow, Glow Worm, Glow

59     
Mrs. Yingst struck a deal with him:
Eric Sandstrom, “Deal with Teacher Gave Pryor First Audience,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Dec. 26, 1982;
Pryor Convictions
, p. 47;
rarely late for school again:
Pryor school records.

60     
especially inspired by Jerry Lewis:
The Merv Griffin Show
, aired Aug. 1, 1966. When Pryor met Lewis in person on
The Merv Griffin Show
in 1966, he earnestly recounted how he “fell in love” with him while watching the 1952 film
Sailor Beware
and called him “the god of comedy.”

61     
a prime-time show:
“Classmate Recalls Pryor’s School Days,”
Peoria Journal Star
, May 10, 1985; author’s interviews with Margaret Kelch, Jan. 21, 2011, and May 15, 2011.

62     
“When I heard their laughter”:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 47.

63     
Cs in reading:
Pryor school records.

63     
and the bottom fell out again:
“Classmate Recalls Pryor’s School Days”; interview with Margaret Kelch, Jan. 21, 2011; “Dempsey” was not the surname of Pryor’s seventh grade teacher; I have changed her name, as I was unable to contact her to confirm her treatment of Pryor.

63     
target of a federal narcotics sting:
“Eight Arrested Here in Narcotics Raid,”
Peoria Journal
, Apr. 8, 1953, p. A1, A4; “8 Jailed Here in Narcotic Raid,”
Peoria Star
, Apr. 9, 1953, p. B6;
twenty-nine heroin capsules:
On the 1950s heroin trade and law enforcement, see Eric Schneider,
Smack: Heroin and the American City
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008). Dickie’s alleged fellow “ringleader” was Jimmy Bell, a jazz musician who had fronted a group that played regularly at the Famous Door (“Bell Sought, Six Held in Dope Case,”
Peoria Journal
, Apr. 9, 1953, p. B1; and “Bell Captured in St. Louis on Dope Charges,”
Peoria Journal
, Apr. 10, 1953, p. B1).

64     
box of counterfeit money:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 52;
confrère
Bris Collins:
“Collins Gets Year, Day on Money Count,” p. A3;
federal penitentiary:
Pryor Convictions
, p. 52.

64     
“What happened?” she asked:
“Classmate Recalls Pryor’s School Days”; author’s interviews with Margaret Kelch, Jan. 21, 2011, and May 15, 2011.

64     
she followed the precedent:
Author’s interview with Margaret Kelch, Jan. 21, 2011.

46     
“He wanted to be included” . . . she might have fallen for him:
Ibid.

65     
One day, Marie received a phone call:
The Mike Douglas Show
, aired Nov. 29, 1974; Pryor school records.

65     
He was placed in Roosevelt Junior High:
Pryor school records.

66     
“closely split”:
E-mail communication with Willis Smith, May 15, 2011.

66     
spring of 1955:
Sidney Baldwin, “In My Opinion: Children’s Theater of Carver Center,” March 15, 1955, p. 10;
a squat, unassuming brick building:
“Push Plan for Negro Center,”
Peoria Journal Transcript
, Nov. 30, 1943, pp. 1, 16; “
Mecca of the black community”:
Author’s interview with Kathryn Timmes, July 21, 2011;
three-quarters of black Peorians . . . “teenage hangout”:
“Push Plan for Negro Center,” pp. 1, 16; “Tenth Anniversary Report of Carver Community Center,” Carver Center folder, Peoria Public Library; Eunice Wilson, “Red Feather Agency Builds Useful Life,”
Peoria Journal
, Oct. 15, 1952; “Carver Center Given ‘Once Over’ by Student,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Oct. 20, 1957, p. 5; “Billy Smiles,” Carver Center pamphlet, Juliette Whittaker folder, Bahai Center, Peoria, IL.

67     
behest of a friend:
Author’s interview with Matt Clark, Dec. 6, 2010;
Colored Women’s Aid Society:
“George Washington Carver Community Center Association” pamphlet (n.d.), Carver Center folder, Peoria Public Library;
Carver’s
teachers:
Author’s interview with Kathryn Timmes, May 15, 2011;
black women’s club movement:
Wanda A. Hendricks,
Gender, Race, and Politics in the Midwest: Black Club Women in Illinois
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996); Nikki Brown,
Private Politics and Public Voices: Black Women’s Activism from World War I to the New Deal
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006); Elizabeth Lindsay Davis,
Lifting as They Climb: The National Association of Colored Women
(Washington, DC: National Association of Colored Women, 1933).

67     
Juliette Whittaker:
Steve Strahler, “Juliette Whittaker: ‘If You Shoot for the Moon, You’re Bound to Hit a Star,’”
Peoria Journal-Star
, Mar. 8, 1981, p. B1; “F. S. Whittaker, Lawyer, Father of Peorian, Dies,”
Peoria Journal Star
, Apr. 7, 1965; Channy Lyons, “Whittaker’s Expressive Arts,”
Peoria Times-Observer
, Nov. 27, 2002, p. B1.