John Levy, Billie Holiday & Me
(Billie Holiday wearing the infamous earrings)
Excerpt from Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson by Mayme Johnson
I went out a lot during that time. Men were always asking me out, and I often went. I wasn’t going to bed with them, but I did let them take me out and show me a good time. Nothing wrong with that. And I was always most attracted to men who had money. I always said you don’t need a man who doesn’t have money because you can do bad by yourself.
One guy I was really attracted to, though, was John Levy. I knew his sister, Gert, and she introduced us. This was about 1945. He used to come into Hagar’s all the time, and ask me out. I was kind of leery at first because I’d heard his reputation as a ladies man, but after awhile I let my guard down and went out with him. John was a good looking man, and such a sweet talker, and he showed me such a good time – before I knew it we were at his house, and I was sitting on the bed with my shoes off. I knew what was coming next, but I didn’t care. I was really feeling John Levy. That is until suddenly someone started banging on his door screaming in a high-pitched female voice, “John, you no good nigger. I know you got some woman in there! You got me out whoring in the street and your no good-ass is cheating on me with some bitch.”
Well, John hurried up and hustled me into a closet, and pleaded for the woman on the other side of the door to go away, saying he was just in there by himself trying to get some sleep. She finally left, after about a half-hour, and he let me out the closet. I didn’t say a word to him. I politely put on my shoes, picked up my pocketbook, and I caught a cab home. I didn’t want anything else to do with John Levy. He might have been good looking and a sweet talker, but no man was worth fighting over in my opinion. Besides, from what I could gather from the things being said by the woman banging on the door, John was a man who took money from women. Hell, he’d want to pimp me and I’d want to pimp him. Wasn’t going to work. And – I found out later – if John didn’t get what he wanted from a woman fast enough, he’d beat the hell out her. He hooked up with blues great Billie Holiday in the late 40’s while she was still married to Jimmy Monroe, and it was a shame the way he treated that poor woman. He used to beat her right out there on the street, on Seventh Avenue. It was she who put up most of the bankroll for him to open the Vets Club. And years later, I can remember him bringing her to a party Bumpy and I had after we moved into the Lenox Terrace. She was all bruised, and looked like she was crying, and John – bold as day – said “Bumpy, come here. I got something to show you.” He pulled out a pair of her exquisite and expensive jade earrings - crusted in gold - from his pocket and offered to sell them to Bumpy right in front of everybody. Billie didn’t say anything, she just averted her eyes in shame.
Bumpy was disgusted – John was his boy from way back, but Bumpy liked Billie and didn’t think John had to embarrass her like that, selling her jewelry at a party right in front of her. Bumpy pulled out fifty dollars and gave it to John, then snatched the earrings out his hand. I think he did it so John wouldn’t go around hawking it to other people at the party and shame poor Billie even more. After the party Bumpy gave me the earrings and said he never wanted to see them again. I still have those earrings. John was a real bastard. That woman banging on the door when she did back in 1945 might have been the best thing that happened to me.
From the upcoming book Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson by Mayme Johnson (copyright 2007 - Mayme Johnson)
Why I'm Writing This Book (aka Frank Lucas is a jerk!)
About the Author - Mayme Johnson
"Madame Queen" Stephanie St. Clair
Karen E. Quinones & Bumpy (why Karen agreed to co-author)
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Hoodlum, Cotton Club, American Gangster
Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson Bumpy Johnson
Since November 21, 2007