Barney Josephson
Barney Josephson was born in 1902 Trenton and died in 1988 New York City. His parents were immigrants who landed here in 1900 from Latvia. When he was 36 years old, in 1938, he opened a basement nightclub in Manhattan that launched boogie-woogie and stride piano-playing nationally. Café Society, as it was known, also became the room where Billie Holiday, in 1939, introduced “Strange Fruit” to the world.
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit/
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze/
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.”
It was written exclusively for her to sing by Bronx schoolteacher Abel Meeropol. She sang it at the end of every show, and when she went to do so, Josephson made sure his waiters would completely stop what they were doing, the room would be plunged into silence and darkness as he had all the lights in the room turned off save for one lone spotlight on Lady Day’s face. In 1939, coming from her mouth, those lyrics shocked. Then she would simply walk off. Never an encore.
“Pastoral scene of the gallant south/
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth/
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh/
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.”
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Josephson’s production garnered immediate attention. Crowds started forming around the block. Lady Day, as she was known, would forevermore be associated with that first protest song. Later in life, Josephson would open The Cookery which revived the career of Alberta Hunter. I saw her there, and got to ask Josephson a few questions about his bravery debuting that song by that singer. He was humble, seemed preoccupied, and instead of answering my questions, bought my wife a drink and disappeared. Married four times, with three children, it took a proud Jersey Jew like Josephson to rail against the segregated policies of The Cotton Club in Harlem where only rich whites went to see black performers.
“Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck/
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck/
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop/
Here is a strange and bitter crop.”