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Moe FonerMoe Foner
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Session:         Page of 592

Schwartz. I had been in Harry's house a couple of times and I'd seen the Charles Whites there. I started out by asking if we could borrow the Charlie Whites for the show, and he said, “If you guarantee the insurance and that kind of thing.” I said, “Sure, okay, and I have something else to ask you about,” and I started to tell him about “Bread and Roses” and what we were doing.

He was like teasing me, “Yeah? So what do you want?”

“We want you to come and perform it, to go to Lincoln Center.”

He says, “You know, I haven't performed in New York for seventeen years. Tell me a little bit more. What would the show be?”

I said, “Well, Ossie would be the emcee and I would be there, and I think that we have to have something Hispanic.”

He says, “Yes, you've got to have something Hispanic for the Hispanic members.”

I began to see he sounded interested.

I said, “We don't have a lot of money.”

He says, “Can you pay the musicians?”

I said, “Yes, we can pay the musicians.”

He says, “What if we wanted to bring in Letta Mbulu from the coast? Maybe it'd cost you a thousand bucks.”

I said, “Well, if you could do it cheaper, I'll do it.”

“Let me think about it. Call me up.”

I call him up, he says, “Come on over again. Let's talk some more.” I go to his office.

Q:

He lives in the city?

Foner:

He lives in the city. This time I went to his office. I knew his wife, too. I knew him through the civil rights thing. He was very close to Andy [Young] and Coretta [Scott King] and Martin [Luther King, Jr.], and his stepdaughter married Stony Cooks who was in Charleston. Shirley is now the head of cultural affairs for the City of Atlanta. Stony is a key aide to Andy.





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