watch this clip on You Tube - I have died and gone to

[AllenLowe]

famous lesbian of the Harlem Renaissance on You Bet Your Life - she was also a pioneer of same-sex marriage -

and listen to her play the piano - WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlosFG7WyUc

[AllenLowe]

whatsamatter Berigan, you were never married to a guy?

[AllenLowe]

what am I, the only one here who's into cross-dressing blues singers?

Edited January 18, 2008 by AllenLowe

[AllenLowe]

buncha homophobes - next you'll refuse to patronize pedophile necrophiles who sleep with pit bulls on Lent -

JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED

[Shawn]

Sounded pretty damn good to me, she had major chops. Thanks for sharing!

[AllenLowe]

the piano part was a complete surprise - I had no idea she had those kind of chops -

[Joe G]

Good stuff!

"NBC throws their money around like glue."

[Christiern]

Wonder what would have happened if she had chosen "Shave 'Em Dry"?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Wonderful! Thanks Allen!!!!

MG

[gslade]

Wonderful! Thanks Allen!!!!

MG

Great Clip!

[gslade]

I never knew she played at all

let alone that well!

[AllenLowe]

ah, Shave it Dry - amazing recording (the real one, that is) , and Chris - I have a little secret about the first good-quality CD release of that (on the Legacy reissue) -

[Kalo]

And Groucho, too. That was amazing, Allen. Thanks!

[AllenLowe]

bump this sucker - this babe is playing stride piano -

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

bump this sucker - this babe is playing stride piano -

And very exciting stride piano.

I'd never heard of her before.

MG

[AllenLowe]

there's actually a whole web site devoted to her - early and openly gay at nightclubs in NYC during the Harlem Renaissance - apparently marries a woman in NJ at some point - moves West and goes through a local anti-gay backlash, marries a few men as cover, does some performing, and than dies in a flu epidemic -

I love her 1920s recordings - sorta campy but substantial. But man, I had no idea she could play that kind of piano -

[Christiern]

Allen, tell me about "Shave 'Em Dry", please.

Interesting to note the use of the term "gay" as early as 1942. It remained an "in" term for years to come.

Edited January 19, 2008 by Christiern

[AllenLowe]

well, a few years ago I came across a private collection from a famous old pop/jazz musician, and among the collection were an incredibly clear test pressing of the original Shave 'Em Dry, unexpurgated, by Lucille Bogan - much better than any version extant; also a version of something called When the Cows Come Home , just as dirty, and hilarious - I cleaned them up and they were the sources for the Sony Legacy release of Bogan - I haven't made too big a deal of this because I had to sneak the test pressings OUT of the collection, master them, and then sneak them back in -

[Harold_Z]

Don't know that I had ever heard of her either, although I probably saw this Groucho show when I was kid. As I recall, You bet Your Life was on Saturday nights and we always watched it.

Great stuff - great stride!

[Christiern]

Thanks Allen. Did you ever read Paul Oliver's assessment of "Shave 'Em Dry"? As I recall, it was a song reflecting the suppressed sexuality of a downtrodden people, or something like that! Where would we be without these perceptive historians?

[AllenLowe]

well, for one thing, we'd have a lot more trees -