Judge — November 15, 1930 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

100,000 Black Crows . Simms Camp- G ATHERING bell, the noted quick-sketch man and authority on Hahlem, { took a midnight stroll thra the New York Licorice Belt to see if things ‘looked as black as usual, I can report in the af- firmative—altho there is a tinct shade of café au lait ¢ ing in. I wish the cullid race’d show more taste and stay away from Broadway actors. Simms and I set out at the © * corner of 132d St. and strolled 7th Ave The Lafayette re gleamed out at us, display- ing large, lurid posters of Aframeri- can confections within with titles like “Ease on Down,” “Equal Got League,” “It's a Lily” and further informed that “Butter Beans and Susie” were getting off their stuff in- side. They imms offered, one of the few negr dis- teams her over fifteen nd they spe in low-down, lower than a sna lumor, essentially negroid. At this point we Hudgins, the ps Hips” Tucker, years s hips passed Billy tomimist; ‘Snake originator of the snake-hips movement in the dance, something designed for the Girl at the Better Boarding School; and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the genial ncing genius talking it over on sidewalk. “Bojangles,” I was in sa gold gun, presented him by the New Jersey police, which he checks with his hat everywhere. Simms has seen Richard B. (Green Pastures) Harrison, Oscar (Con- gressman) de Priest, Harry T. (com- AIG. Bo- hair and their which is like Lord, a Noble Experimenter, a Tin Panner and a Hoofer, were all shorn at once, something only pos- sible in Hahlem, All the while sepia-tinted gentle- men went by with extraordinary shoulders — padded — and top-coats looking like kimonos striking ankle- length. Most of these cakies subsist on the 12 dinner: a hot dog, cup of hot chocolate rette, tap- dancers for whom there is no work, there being a surplus of foot-workers. Curiously, all these chaps, tho broke, can produce the poser) Burleigh jangles getting cut all and 2c for a ¢ These chocolate drops are slic always necessary {les and for an cnere, ho 7 Plays the *World Wat “/ $1.50 to have their hair straightened ind slicked like « i Into 133d St. we tacked, going east. Pod’s and Jerry's was our first stop. Like the Café de la Paix of Paris, everybody Hahlem-famous drops in at some time or other. extremely cheap. “Willi est piano player in the w there, chords, Onc aroul Prices are "the fast- Id, plays creating new blue ergeant in the Army, 1 wee in the morning he grows sentimental and can be coaxed into playing reveille, after which he will hop off his stool, stand to attention, xo thru a drill, hop back to the keys and execute the whole World War. Of a Satdee night Alelia Walker, the World's Richest Colored Woman, and party, always strike Pod’s. She made her fortune from the hair-straight- ener she invented for negroes. Yet she never straightens her own, always wearing a tight-fitting, shiny turban, which gives the illusion of unkinkiness but preserves her dignity underneath. Next door to Pod's is Tillie’s —2 — Chicken) Dinne where you can a piano-player phttting an iw paniment to himself. — Prices too, are not Delmonico. And_ they don’t like you to bring your own, Aha! now we come to the Clam House, hard by, Here Gladys Bent ley queens it) (wearing one of double-breasted suits or which she 1 Gladys p blues another renc et swell chicken. Here yuts on a t while her tuxedos, of with real pants). s piano and sings very a husky, whiskey v round the place on a stool her with out- stretched finger, the while rumbling— “Boo-de-da-d. She gets a tremendous hand, Her tones are low down, coming up from her toes and rumbling around her short, stocky frame before they exit. Here, if you fortunate enough to be sepia tinted, you get half-price on) what- otherwise the O'F trade the price double. Everybody called for “St. James’ In- firmary’ from Gladys, and — she obliged, singing it better than I've ever heard it before, adding several verses better left unsung. And so out we went fresh air, still going east s four hoo-boo.” are for some comicbooks.com