Solid Meddlin'
with Marienne Boyd
May 1, 1943
p. 18
(Pinch-Hitting for Marienne Boyd)
It is reported that Lt. Eddie Thompkins’ (former trumpet player with Jimmy Lunceford’s orchestra) name has been added to the growing list of service men [sic] killed by southern civilian police.
PV’s gift to Uncle Sam, Lou Layne has been moved from Camp Dix, where he visited his wife and new heir each week end [sic], to Camp Butner, N. C. According to Lou, he has trained harder in one week there than in the eight months he spent at Dix.
Shada Wright, just out of the hospital with a bad case of malaria, and twenty-eight pounds lighter, is conducting a Red Cross club somewhere in Australia. Says the boys back from the front are interested most in wine and women both of which are sky high and scarce.
Aside to Duke Ellington: The boys overseas are pleading for a transcript broadcast of your band with a special word from you to them. These boys are a part of that vast public which made and perpetuated the name of Ellington. I know you won’t let them down. Arrangements can be made through the Office of War Information, for such a transcript.
Corporal Harold Supriano, another New York boy, would like his friends to know he is in officer’s training and would appreciate an occasional letter from them. He can be reached at Co. 26th Specialists School E.T. Ft. Leonard Wood, Md. Mrs. Supriano please note, your husband would like especially to hear from you.
The Lunts will close the Pirates tonight while still playing to capacity crowds in order to rest for a month before going overseas to entertain the fighting boys. This means another forced vacation for both white and colored members of the cast.
Pearl Premus, interpretive-dancer, who opened at downtown Cafe Society last week, has gotten rave notices from the daily papers. Funny, Barney Josephson heard about her, and was trying to locate her while she sat in his outer office getting the round-around!
Elliott Carpenter is the person who played As Time Goes By for Dooley Wilson in Casablanca. They are both appearing for one week at Greenwich Village Inn.
You ought to read A World To Live In, by Dorothy Norman. This gal hits hard at discriminatory practices of State and City, The N.Y. Post carries this one as well as a lot of other swell stuff.
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Ellington’s latest hit tune, seems to be on the Hit Parade, for the duration.