Nellie Lutcher Study Guide

Louisiana
Wonaen Originals Conapany
Study Guide
"Marie Thereze" Coincoin, "Clementine" Hunter, and "Nellie" Lutcher
Suggested use of guides for lesson plans:
--Compose a short quiz using information to test student's prior
knowledge (ELA-7-H3)
--Preview unfamiliar vocabulary words (ELA-I-Hl)
--Use cultural literacy terms for research by the students, online if
possible. Students can then share their discoveries with the rest of
the class (ELA-5-Hl)
--Discussions can be fostered with the Essential Questions. While
reflecting on the pre-performance discussions, Meaningful
Engaged Learning will be facilitated during the viewing of the
plays. (ELA-7-H4)
--Teachers may wish to compose a quiz to test students' knowledge
after the theater event, or they may require students to write a
review of the experience. (ELA-2-H4) and ELA-I-H3)
--Visit the website: louisianawomenonstage.com
Nellie Lutcher
Voc:abula ..y
scat
mandolin
.
.
ImprovIse
a capella
"jump blues"
risque
bebop
Cultuwal Lite ..acy Te..... s \.'
The Reynaud family of Lake Charles, Louisiana
Silent Movie Orchestra
Imperial Jazz Band
The Borealis Rex
Big Lake
Majestic Hotel
"The Blue Danube Waltz"
MaRainey
Earl Hines
"Alexander's Ragtime Band"
Lena Home
Art Tatum
Capitol Records
"Hurry On Down"
"He's a Real Gone Guy"
"Fine Brown Frame"
Nat King Cole
Peggy Lee
Mel Torme
The UK
This Is Your Life
Rosa Hart
Billie Holliday
Irving Berlin
Questions:
What does. it mean to be "true to yourself'? Can you be "true to
yourself' and still become famous? What does it cost to be
famous?
Nellie Lutcher Speaks:
"You're country folic So am 1. That's part of my secret. You hear my roots in
my rhythm!"
"Once I saved up ten dollars for a pair -ofshiny black shoes at Hyatt's."
"Mrs. Reynaud said I'd 'go straight to hell' for playing jazz."
"We slept in homes and boarding houses. There was no such thing as a hotel
room for a Negro."
"You might say I became a star. But that's dusty history."
"Everybody poured in! Some think that sped up the whole integration
process."
"I sang sassy, I sang soft, I scatted. I wowed 'em."
"Not many people in Lake Charles had TVs in 1952!"
"1 got the recognition I deserved for that. Not the money but the
recognition. "
"I play me!
r play
from my heart the way I feel it."
b. 15th October 1915. Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.SA
d. 8th June 2007, losAngeles,
California, U:SA
NeUie was a singer and pianist \'\Ihowas popular in tile late 1940's and
earty 1950's.
She was born in lake Charles, Louisiana to Isaac and Suzie Lutcher.
Her father was a bass player and she learned to play piano. She was the
eldest daughter of 15 children. Her brother was the saxophonist Joe
Woodman lutcher_
Initially, Lutcher played in a big band with her bass-playing father before
moving on to join the Clarence Hart band_
She played dubs on the west coast during the late 30's I early 40's and
signed to Capitol Recoros in 1947 following an appearance on a 'March Of
Dimes' charity show.
Her first release, the R & B-styled 'Hurry On Down', became a US Top 20
hit that same year and was followed by 'He's A Real Gone Guy', 'The Song
Is Ended' and 'Fme Brown Frame'.
The latter was a cover version of an earlier hit by bandleader Buddy
Johnson.
Nellie left Capitol in 1952.
She later moved on to Decca, Epic and Liberty Records, recording a highly
rated album, 'Our New NeUie'.
However. her popularity had faded, and during the late 60's and earty 70's
she took.a staff job with the Hollywood local Branch of the Musicians'
Union, still occasionally playing dubs and. also, raising her son.
Nellie continued to perfonn occasionally un1ilthe 1990's, enjoying a
resurgance of popularity at·the Hoilywoorl ~t
Cinegriii and Michael's
Pub in New York.
The Bear Family record company in-Germany Iatar issued a box set
containing her entire body of work
Nellie lutcher died in 2007. She was 94.
Albums:
Real Gone (1954)
Our New Nellie (Liberty 1955)
http://www.soulwalking.co..uWellie%20Lutcher.html
8128/2010
Nellie Lutcher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Page 1 of2
Nellie Lutcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nellie Lutcher (October 15, 1912 - June 8,2007) was an African-American R&B and jazz singer and
pianist, who achieved prominence in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She was most recognizable for her
distinctive voice, particularly her phrasing and exaggerated pronunciation, and was credited as an
influence by Nina Simone among others.
She was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the eldest daughter of the 15 children of Isaac and Suzie
Lutcher. Her father was a bass player, and her mother a church organist. She received piano lessons, and
her father formed a family band with Nellie playing piano. At age 12 she played with Ma Rainey, when
Rafuey's regular pianist fell ill and had to be left behind in the previous town. Searching for a temporary
replacement in Lake Charles, one of the neighbors told her there was a little girl who played in church
who might be able to do it.
Aged 14, Lutcher joined her father in Clarence Hart's Imperial Jazz Band, and in her mid-teens also
briefly married the band's trumpet player. In 1933, she joined the Southern Rhythm Boys, writing their
arrangements and touring widely. In 1935 she moved to Los Angeles, where she married Leonel Lewis
and had a son. She began to play swing piano, and also to sing, in small-combos throughout the area, and
began developing her own style, influenced by Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and her friend Nat "King"
Cole.
She was not widely known until 1947 when she learned of the March of Dimes talent show at
Hollywood High School, and performed. The show was broadcast on radio and her perfonnance caught
the ear of Dave Dexter, a scout for Capitol Records. She was signed by Capitol and made several
records, including "The One I Love Belongs To Someone Else" and her first hit single, the risque "Hurry
On Down", which went to # 2 on the rhythm and blues chart. lbis was followed by her equally
successful composition "He's A Real Gone Guy", which also made # 20n the R&B chart and crossed
over to the pop charts where it reached # 15.
In 1948 she had a string of further R&B chart hits, the most successful being "Fine Brown Frame", her
third # 2 R&B hit. Her songs charted on the pop, jazz, and R&B charts, she toured widely and became
widely known. She wrote many of her own songs and, unlike many other African-American artists of
the period, retained the valuable publishing rights to them.
In 1950, Lutcher duetted with Nat "King" Cole on "For You My Love" and "Can I Come in for a
Second". The same year, her records began to be released in the UK and were actively promoted by
radio DJ Jack Jackson. She headlined a UK variety tour, compered by Jackson, with great success, later
returning there to tour on her own.
With an orchestra for the first time, Lutcher recorded "The Birth of the Blues" and "I Want to Be Near
You" in 1951, but she was losing her appeal with the record-buying public and Capitol dropped her the
following year. She went on to record, much less successfully, for other labels including Okeh, Decca
and Liberty, and gradually wound down her performance schedule.
By 1957 she had joined the board of the Los Angeles Musicians Union, but continued to perform
occasionally until the 1990s, in N ew York and elsewhere. She also invested successfully in property.
htto:llen.wikioedia.org/wiki/Nellie
Lutcher
8/28/2010
Nellie Lutcher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Page 2 of2
She was the sister of saxophonist Joe "Woodman" Lutcher and aunt of Latin jazz percussionist Daryl
"Munyungo" Jackson.
References
•
•
•
•
•
Biography from Earthlink.net (http://home.earthlink:.netJ~jaymar41INellie.html)
Biography from Oldies.com (http://www.oldies.comlartist-viewlNellie-Lutcher.html)
Biography from Soul Walking (http://www.soulwalking.co.ukiNellie%20Lutcher.html)
Listing from Beauty in Music (http://www.beautyinmusic.com/artist.J)ages/nellie_lutcher.htrn)
Article from All About Jazz (verifYing 1912 birth year)
(http://www.a1laboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20299)
• Obituary from the Independent (UK)
(http://news.independent.co.ukipeople/obituaries/article2643064.ece)
External links
Retrieved from ''http://en.wikipedia.org/wikilNellie_Lutcher''
Categories: 1912 births 12007 deaths 1African American musicians 1People from Lake Charles,
Louisiana 1Women in jazz 1Capitol Records artists I Deaths from pneumonia
• This page was last modified on 23 August 2010 at 09:38.
• Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms
may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., _anon-profit
organization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wikilNellie_Lutcher
812812010
1
LOUISIANA
SETTING:
WOMEN:
NELLIE
(1968. An office in Local 47
of the Los Angeles Musicians'
Union. A rotary-dial telephone
sits on a wooden office desk and
chair. Nearby are a record player
and book shelf.
NELLIE LUTCHER, a vigorous, welldressed black woman, age 55,
hurries to the desk and answers
the telephone. She wears a wig,
and she often taps her pencil and
feet as if writing a song.
Throughout, Nellie will chuckle,
hum and scat. She loves diction
and grammar. She speaks in a low,
husky voice, weighs her words and
often jabs the air with her long,
pointed finger.)
(Phone rings. NELLIE
answers and listens.)
NELLIE
You perform?
Is your gig Union?
(Beat)
Young man, pay your dues! You must, you must! The Union
will fight for you (Aside)
or they should.
It'll write for you.
(Beat)
Your contracts, not your songs! Hurry on down. We're on
Vine south of Hollywood.
(Sing-song)
Hurry, hurry, hurry on down!
(Beat)
Your Mama likes that old lady?
(Beat)
Her name?
(Steely)
Nellie Lutcher.
(Beat)
Was the day everybody knew Nellie!
(Sighs)
Now, hurry on down. Ain't nobody home but me!
(Nellie hangs up. She sings
her song, moving her hands
2
as if swishing wire brushes
on a snare drum.)
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry! Hurry on down to my house,
honey, ain't nobody home but me! Oooh, I like the way Lee
Young swished those brushes.
(Beat)
I am cuckoo carryin' on so. Some days I need an audience.
(Scats.
At first startled
to see that she has
visitors,she teases them.)
Hello! Don't be shy. You're country folk. So am I. That's
part of my secret.
You hear my roots in my rhythm!
(Beat)
You're from Lake Charles? Go on. You know my brother Bubba?
He was the first black DJ in Lake Charles. We were born and
raised there on Boulevard. Unh, huh! We shopped at
Muller's. I was baptized in the River with my sister
Florida. We attended Second Ward Elementary and High
School.
(Beat)
When?
(Thinks)
Long ago. I turned six in 1918. We had excellent teachers!
Ms. Dickerson for grammar and diction. Ms. Reynaud, my
music teacher, knew math like you wouldn't believe. Our
little school had an orchestra band. Isn't that something!
I studied violin, mandolin and guitar and played in that
band. We had a very dedicated principal at Second Ward,
Professor Reynaud.
They say that, when I was a slip of a thing, I stood on a
pile of books to reach those piano keys! I've never
stopped. I had a lot of encouragement. Papa - everybody
called him 'Skinner' - was the best self-taught musician
I've met. During the daytime he worked at the Houston
Packing Company. He almost got to salesman. But after work,
he played many string instruments. Hands down he was the
best bass viol in the area. He played in the Silent Movie
Orchestra at the Arcade Theater. He played in Mr. Clarence
Hart's Imperial Jazz Band.
You may have heard about the old mail delivery boat that
sank? The Borealis Rex? Weekends white folk dressed up and
paid one dollar to ride it to a wharf on Big Lake where
they danced to Papa and the Imperial Jazz Band!
Mama was so excited when I showed an interest in piano she
took in Mrs. Reynaud's wash to pay for my lessons. She had
3
bought a piano for herself but never had the time for it!
You see, I was the oldest of her ten children who lived.
She worked hard to make our horne loving. NOw, we didn't
have electricity. We had kerosene lanterns ...
later on.
When we visited the "john" outside, we took the Sears and
Roebuck Catalog along, you understand. We all had our
chores and for fun we played ball across the street.
Mostly, I practiced piano.
Ms. Reynaud, my teacher, was not at all interested in that
New Orleans music - jazz! She could not improvise one
thing! If there was a fly on the page, she'd play it! Mrs.
Reynaud discovered right away that I could fake, so, she
carefully watched my fingering as she taught me to read
music. She soon had me playing for prayer meetings and
Sunday School collections in our church, New Sunlight
Baptist. Only hymns! I did earn a small salary.
Once I saved up ten dollars for a pair of shiny black shoes
at Hyatt's. That took forever! I was so proud of those
shoes, but Papa had me return them!
(Imitates Papa)
"If your sister Florida cannot have ten dollar shoes, then,
neither can you." with a broken heart
(Chuckles)
I returned them for a .••
simpler pair. That was a good
lesson to learn.
(Thinks)
I got a lot of encouragement! Miz Emma Michie who owned
that grand Majestic Hotel would send a fella over.
(Imitates Emma Michie)
"Tell Susie I want Nellie to play for our guests!"
Marna allowed it. I was but 11 or 12. They let me in through
the back, since I arnNegro, you understand. We Negroes had
to keep apart from whites. Nonetheless, I marched to the
piano in that fine dining room filled with white people and
played liThe Blue Danube Waltz". That meant an awful lot to
me.
This may sound odd when you consider the . . . situation
back then, but, 'though I'm black, as a little girl I never
experienced hate. We had Syrians, Italians, Germans and us
in our small neighborhood. It was international!
I was about 13 when the great blues singer, Ma Rainey, carne
to town to play at the Palace Theatre down the street from
us. She needed a piano man! The owner of the Palace, Buster
4
Mancuso, suggested me! "Little Nell the Wonder Girl" they
were calling me. Mama said,
(Imitates Mama)
"If Mrs. Reynaud says it's okay, then, it is". Now, I did
not play the blues, but I often listened to jazz on the
radio at my girlfriend's house! I loved the sharp piano
style of Mr. Earl Hines. Well, that evening at the Palace,
Ma Rainey had laid out the piano chords for me, and . . . I
did fine.
I loved jazz and went to Papa's band rehearsals. When the
piano player went home to Ohio, Mr. Hart, asked me to take
his place. I was only 14, and Mama was not happy. Mrs.
Reynaud said I'd IIgo straight to hell" for playing jazz.
But, Papa was for it. Later, when I dropped out of high
school, Mama was even more sad.
I took to the life. I traveled with Papa and the Band. We
played at dances, picnics, clubs. Catholics loved their
dances. Baptists might go to hell if they danced, but
picnics and barbeques were safe. We slept in homes and
boarding houses. There was no such thing as a hotel room
for a Negro.
When I married our old trumpet player, Mama and Papa were
furious!
(Beat)
I left that old man within two months. III never give his
name. There's a good reason for that."
I was about 21 when I joined the Southern Rhythm Boys.
That was a popular 16-piece group from Texas and Louisiana.
I began to arrange our pieces! I'd alter a melody, tease
secrets out of a well-known tune. Fans loved it. You might
say I became a star. But, that's dusty history.
(NELLIE sings sassy a
capella.
She imitates
playing the piano and
sounds of the brushes.)
"Oh, La-a-ake Charles, Oh, Lake Charles, Oh, Lake Charles,
Oh, La-a-ke Charles ..•
Now, this little ditty was named
after th' city where I-I was born!"
That was a later hit but not a greater hit. Four others
were bigger, but it was ...
(Teasing)
fun! It gave my "Rhythm" -- my trio -- a chance to show
their stuff.
5
Why did I leave Lake Charles? To ...
to better myself. My
dream was to arrange music for orchestras. Two of my aunts
had moved to Los Angeles. They wrote back, "Move here!
There are jobs for you!" I was 23, and I packed my bags.
Mr. Clarence Hart had already made the move. He tried to
convince Papa to come, but Papa was staying with his good
job!
A cousin out here talked the manager of the finest black
hotel, the Dunbar, into hiring me! So, within a week of
arriving I had landed an eight-week gig . . . six hours a
night for two dollars! Little did I know that I'd toil away
for twelve years singing in clubs. I thought I'd never be
discovered.
At the Dunbar I played only piano. I never sang, never
thought of it. But, the crowds urged me: "Sing, Nellie!"
The manager insisted. I was not trained in voice, but every
pianist has a favorite. I was no different, so, I sang,
liThe Object of My Affection".
(Sings phrase)
It went over!
Soon, I was styling the tunes of the day to suit me! Let me
explain. Think of a song. I'd stretch out a word, change
the accent, sing and play my piano with humor, surprise and
...
lift! Danceable. Swinging fun!
(Nellie drops the needle
on the record player. She
plays a few measures of
'Alexander's Ragtime Band'.
Delighted, she mouths the
words and imitates instruments.)
That old tune, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" was a hit all
over again when I'd finished with it!
I wrote songs, played the blues, torch songs, Broadway, you
name it •..
during those swingin' years on Central
Avenue. What an Avenue! The war was on, and you could
hardly get down the street what with all the sailor boys
and the girls. Los Angeles was growing. So many of us had
moved here ..•
for a better ...
life!
We played nine 'til two, then, we all moved to 'breakfast
clubs' and played 'til dawn. Everybody poured in! Some
think that sped up the whole integration process. Some
suspect the military brass got nervous with whites and
6
blacks mingling
down. Sad.
so, and that's what shut Central
Avenue
I was right in the mix! I was an intermission performer for
the likes of Art Tatum. I was willing to pay just to hear
him! I accompanied my friend Lena Horne.
(Reflective)
To keep my job I sometimes had to pay the club a part of my
night's earnings.
I had some breaks. Two weeks at Club Royale turned into a
three-year gig! That was good, for I was raising my son
Talmadge alone. I had married a second, and final, time.
It didn't last, but I worked hard to support my little boy.
(Sings My Little Boy)
Years later I could afford to send Talmadge to a school in
North Carolina, the Palmer Memorial Institute. It was what
you did if you could in those days, as a Negro, to get your
child an education.
Little Talmadge launched me into the spotlight. He had
heard of the annual March of Dimes Contest at Hollywood
High where DJs sponsored their favorite entertainers
. . .
famous people -- Bob Hope, Betty Hutton. Talmadge said to
me, "Mama, you're as good as they are!" I told him, "Son,
those people are movie stars. No one knows me."
Nonetheless, I sent a telegram to a DJ, Frank Bull. To my
surprise he read it aloud over the radio. "A Mrs. Loocher
says she wants to perform •••
well, I think she should!"
The contest itself ran out of time. Mr. Bull allowed me one
tune. I said,
Okay , I'll play 'The One I Love Belongs to
Somebody Else'." I was a hit.
(Sings phrase of The One I Love)
This is a story of the right people in the right place at
the right time. Mr. Dave Dexter, a big talent agent for
Capitol Records, was listening from home. I believe his
wife was pregnant. He immediately contacted me. Earlier my
brother Joe had tried to interest Capitol in us. Joe was a
fine saxophone player. Later, he had some hits! His music
style was called "jump blues". Anyway, we had made these
little homemade records of our music and had taken the
discs to Capitol. That didn't work. This did!
II
By April 1947 Mr. Dexter had my trio and me in a Hollywood
studio. We did a 'test record'. Not everyone records well.
We were fine, and we cut eight songs. My first tune, "Hurry
on Down", was an instant hit! A little risque for the pop
7
charts. It almost sounds like a hymn now, but not then! My
second song also hit the top of the R&B charts and broke
through the Pop Charts: "He's a Real Gone Guy".
(Sings phrase)
My friend Marl Young claims that song wiped everybody out!
Nobody had heard of me, and then, I was everywhere, he
says. It is true. Few performers had back-to-back million
sales records. A few years later I recorded "Fine Brown
Frame" .
(Sings phrase)
That too sold a million. That was not my original tune, but
it was my styling!
My career had taken off. I got an agent, Carlos Gastel.
Now, the first time Gastel heard me live, he offered to pay
me $125 to go home! He preferred his other clients:
Nat
King Cole, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme. Gastel came around. He
booked me into some high end clubs, then, big shows. He had
"King" Cole and me tour the U.K. together, and then, we
recorded a duet. It went over •.•
quite well.
Barney Josephson insisted I play in his Manhattan club Cafe Society Downtown. I wore one of my sister Florida's
most beautiful gowns. She designed all of my clothes. I
sang sassy, I sang soft, I scatted. I wowed 'em.
That tour of the U.K. was unreal! I needed bodyguards. We
broke attendance records! That war-weary audience was so
ready to smile and swing the Nellie way. They had heard few
black musicians before me. Hard to believe. It is fair to
say that I led the way.
New Year's Eve 1952 was a true Lake Charles evening! I was
the honoree on a national TV show. Not many people in Lake
Charles had TVs in 1952! Well, I was tricked into going on
that show, "This is Your Life". They had asked me to begin
the show with a piano tune.
(Laughs)
What a surprise! The show was all about my little life. I
cried right in front of everyone! Professor Reynaud, Maude
Reid, Rosa Hart, my sister Vydah each walked out to join
me! Rosa gave me the keys to the city! Mayor Price had
flown it to town himself!
(NELLIE picks up a letter
and reads it. It distracts her.)
Times changed. A new jazz, bebop, early rock & roll ..•
washed across America. I was not going to change my style.
8
After five years I left Capitol, and they left me. I went
with a few other recording companies, cut a few records,
but by 1957, I mostly quit recording. UMy music is rhythm
and jazz combined, and it's something that just got lost in
the shuffle." Now and again you can find me playing at a
club.
Agents.
(Bitter)
Entertainers often do not get what they earn! I got the
recognition I deserved, and I'm grateful for that. Not the
money but the recognition.
(Bitter)
I could have done so much more in my real estate
investments - and many, many other ways -- if I had gotten
what I earned!
(Points to the letter)
This young man and his employer must come before our Trial
Board to iron out these ...
developments! His gig was
Union, but what about his hours, his breaks, his doubles?
will he take the show on the road? Don't these young
musicians understand how hard we worked to gain these
rights?
Mr. Marl Young, who integrated our unions, plans to
nominate me to the Board of Directors. I'll be the first
African American female on the Board. It will happen.
(NELLIE drops the needle
again and plays a few
measures of 'Cool Water'.
She mellows.)
Different. All Nellie. I play Irving Berlin. My fourth big
hit was an Irving Berlin!
(Sings phrase of
'The Song is Ended')
I play my friend Billie Holliday. I play me! I play from my
heart, the way I feel it. If only the agents and the
companies would back us, but they sell what's hot today. I
think that's a problem.
(Fondly)
My fans stay true to me.
(Pause)
I'm their Real Gone Gal.
(The telephone rings.
She takes the call.)
Excuse me, please. Ain't nobody here but me!
The End.