Contents
1. Transcript
1.1. Session 1 (December 7, 2006)
-
Patterson
- Interview with Miss Bette Cox, and it's December 7, 2006. Hi, Bette. One
of the first things I wanted to ask you was about your family origins,
your grandparents and your parents and where they were born.
-
Cox
- Well, I'll be happy to share that with you. I was born in Twin Falls,
Idaho, so Idaho was the state that I probably have more to tell about,
because I lived there. But I do know from talking with my father that
before he was married, or maybe he might have been married at the time,
but he saw them hang a slave, hang a black man, and this was in--he
lived in Joplin, Missouri. That was his home. That's where he was born,
and as he grew up and he saw this happening he said he would never bring
up his children in a place where they hang people, hang black people.
And he packed up and moved, he and my grandmother. This is before--I
guess they were married then at the time, but he had found that out, had
seen it happen, and he said if he got married and had a child, he would
never--he just wouldn't do it. He wouldn't live there.
-
Patterson
- What year was that? When did he move from Missouri?
-
Cox
- I don't know the year, but I know it was before he married my mother. He
just was old enough to know that that's wrong and that would happen to
somebody like him, because he was a black man.
-
Patterson
- Did he marry her in Missouri?
-
Cox
- I think so. I really don't know that part of it. I know that they were
married before they moved to Idaho. I think, as I remember, they stopped
in someplace in Montana, because he came west from Missouri. I think
that they lived in Montana for a short time, but then they came on to
Idaho, to Twin Falls, and maybe it was because two of his brothers lived
there. I never thought about it, but they were a little older than he
was, and it could be that he wanted to be with the rest of his family.
His mother was married to Charlie [Charles] Yarbrough. This is my
father's name. So that's where I was born. My brother [Herman Norman
Yarbrough] was born there, and my mother [Elizabeth Rice Yarbrough] was
from Seattle, Washington, but my dad met her at some point when he was
living in the area of Portland, Oregon, which wasn't very far really
from Seattle, Washington. So that's their background. That's where they
had lived.
-
Cox
- My mother had a nice background, because her mother was an artist of
beautiful paintings, just beautiful, and one especially was a painting
of John the Baptist, and it showed the minister of a church I think that
she belonged to, and the minister was pretending to dip someone in the
water and let them be baptized. That's what he was supposed to be doing,
baptizing one of his-- [Interruption]
-
Cox
- My dad came from Oregon and happened to meet my mother somewhere. Then he
had to go back home. He kept thinking about her, and he thought about
her so much, he wanted to go back to Seattle and really get to know her,
because he just met her but he didn't really know her. So he came back
and he asked her mother, he said, "I want to marry Pauline," and his
mother said, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. You have to
talk to his sister." There were two other girls in the family, and he
said, "But Mrs.--," her name was--what was my grandmother's name? I know
it very well, but I'll get it later. I don't quite have it in my mind.
But when she said that, he said, "Mrs., I don't want to marry your
daughters. I want to marry Pauline." And they always told this and
everybody laughed, because it was just so quaint.
-
Cox
- But anyway, at some point near there he and his best friend, who was
getting married at church, were planning that he would be the best man
and they would just trade places and get married, and I think by then my
grandmother had agreed that it was all right. So they married at a
double wedding, because he best friend, when they announced that they
were man and wife, they switched places and there he was with Pauline,
and then they put them through whatever they had to do and say for the
wedding, and there they were, Mr. and Mrs. Yarbrough. I think they lived
there in Seattle for maybe a couple of years, because after the first
year their first child was born there. It's a girl, and at that time
they didn't have any knowledge about caring for this disease that's
where they were--how can I say this? I can't think of the name of it,
but it a childhood disease that was very difficult to handle, and they
couldn't help. So anyway, she passed away, and all of their friends had
their babies and all, and they were so heartbroken.
-
Cox
- That's when they left and went to--I think they went to Twin Falls,
Idaho, because his mother lived there, my dad's mother and father. So
that's how it happened that when they moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, and
then they had a second child who lived, and a third one. I was the third
one. But my brother and I lived there and had a wonderful life with
them, the only black children in the whole town of Twin Falls.
-
Patterson
- So both of your parents were African American?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So you joined your--there were other family members that lived in Idaho.
-
Cox
- Well, two brothers lived there. The other one lived in Seattle where my
mother had come from, but there were two brothers. Bert Kelso was one,
and the other was Arthur Barker, Art Barker. They were both married and
Barker had two stepchildren. His wife had been married before and had
these two children, and they were older than my brother and I, so they
weren't like we could play together. They were quite a little bit--they
were probably late teenagers when we were just little, tiny tots. But
anyway, I think that probably my dad moved to Twin Falls because his
mother and two of his brothers lived there. Perhaps that was why. But
that was where I spent my life up until I finished high school, and I
was barely sixteen. I think the week that I graduated, my brother was
eighteen or nineteen.
-
Patterson
- What was Twin Falls like?
-
Cox
- Well, to us it was wonderful, because my dad had his own business. There
was no prejudice toward us and there was no problem my dad had. He had a
shop of his own. He blocked hats and he could do strange things with
leather. Like he could change--I don't remember if it was changing suede
to a different kind of leather, or changing something to suede. I don't
remember, but it was something special he knew how to do, and he took
some studies when he was in Portland in how to do that. And as I say, he
blocked hats also, and he had a stand where his employees could shine
shoes for other people. My dad usually was in the back of the office
doing these other things, but there usually were white people, white
men, young men who wanted the job, and they would stand and do the
shoe-shining thing, and Daddy did the other things that were a little
higher level. But he did very well.
-
Cox
- Well, Twin Falls was a happy place for my dad and my mother, and then we
had a wonderful family, and we never had any problems at all. My mother
wanted us to know history about our people, and I know they subscribed
to the "Chicago Defender" and the "Pittsburgh Courier," and my brother
and I could read something in the newspaper that was about our people,
not just all the white people, but we got acquainted with some things in
that way. And then there were people often, black people who would come
through Twin Falls en route to maybe a performance, if they were
musicians, in California, or just whatever it was. But my mother and dad
were always very nice to these people, and some of them they knew,
because they had come from Seattle or come from somewhere where my dad
knew the people. So we got acquainted now and then. We never had
any--they didn't have any children. They were just people who were
coming through. Maybe they were going to perform and they were
musicians, and otherwise they would just be there.
-
Patterson
- So your father knew musicians from Washington, from Seattle.
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Was your father involved in music, or your mom?
-
Cox
- No, he wasn't. No. My mother, she loved the readings of Paul Laurence
Dunbar, well, just reading in general. She read a lot, and my dad did,
too. But my mother saw to it that we learned readings of these famous
people of our race, and we got acquainted with that. We had to give
readings on programs with some of the white people. They were all nice
to us, but some of them were a little extra chummy with my mother. They
liked her so much. And my mother went through a college called Gooding
College in Idaho, and she learned a lot about stage things. She really
wanted to be an actress, and so she studied something about acting. But
she insisted that we learn these readings of our people and that we
study music.
-
Cox
- And my dad one day, after I began studying piano--I don't know where this
little piano came from, but my dad wanted me to have a better one, and
he bought a piano, had it brought home, and I was so thrilled about this
beautiful new piano, and I studied piano from the time I was five years
old until I finished high school, which I was just barely sixteen the
week I graduated. They really moved me up a little, because my brother
was going to graduate, and my mother wanted him to go to college, so she
didn't want me to be there alone. So she talked to the principal and the
teachers, and they said that my grades were good and they moved me up,
passed me to the senior, or whatever they called what came before
college. But I was supposed to graduate the next year, but they said I
could make it up in college, because I was a good student. So we both
graduated together and came out here to go to college.
-
Patterson
- What was it like growing up? You were born in 1921, and your brother was
born when?
-
Cox
- He was born--it must have been 1919.
-
Patterson
- Okay, a couple of years before you. And you started playing the piano at
five?
-
Cox
- Yes, and he started--he had violin and drums. He was quite a drummer and
learned to play the violin, and some of the people in this town knew
that, and they'd ask us to be on programs. Then I was given dance
lessons, and I learned how to tap dance, and I learned how to do
interpretive dancing and ballet. I remember the lady that had the little
dance school downtown, and I'd go. My mother would take me up to have my
lesson. I had to learn all of the things dancers learn. Then one day
they had a big, fat contest, I guess, and I won the state contest in tap
and ballet, or in interpretive dancing.
-
Patterson
- How old were you when that happened?
-
Cox
- I was about maybe thirteen, fourteen. I think that my mother--I don't
know if it was her idea or mine to learn an African dance. I have a
picture of me. My mother made my costumes for all the things I would
dance in, and this one particular one showed me barefoot with like a
little something around here, and I was supposed to be being an African.
And then at the end of it I had to scream. So I went all the way to the
end, and then I jumped up and came down screaming, and I have a picture
of it. But I did win the contest for that, and also the piano contest. I
won playing Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata. I won the state contest
when I think I was about fifteen or sixteen.
-
Patterson
- Did you have a private teacher--
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- --that would come to the home?
-
Cox
- Well, no. We'd go to the teacher. And I remember my mother, at least one
time I know she baked a cake, and I think money was a little short. So I
took the cake, and I think there was an understanding that that would
pay for my lesson. And I remember a time when the teacher had a husband
who drove one of these--oh, it was an old car, it was like a Model A. It
was a big car, and I just remember that he came to get me and took me to
the lesson, because I wasn't going to be able to get there that day. I
think maybe we had trouble with transportation or something. But he came
and got me and took me to his wife for my piano lesson. She was a great
teacher--Mrs. Regan was her name--and I learned everything I knew from
her.
-
Patterson
- So she taught you classical piano mostly?
-
Cox
- Yes. I loved it, but I loved when I would hear jazz. And a couple of
times, some people that my dad knew had come from Salt Lake City en
route to California somewhere. It was like an orchestra or band, and
there was one woman with them. They were all black, the woman was black,
and this one woman came over. I think she stayed at our house, and she
was like--I always called her Aunt Gaidy . Her name was Gaidy, and she
could really play. And, oh, I wished that I could play jazz like that,
but I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know about a black church,
where there's so much in the church music that is related to that, and I
wanted so much, but I had never been to a black church, never heard a
black preacher do his usual thing. But when I would hear it, I would
want so much to learn to play it. It was many years before I did have a
chance to do a little jazz.
-
Patterson
- Was there any radio, African American music, jazz?
-
Cox
- Oh, there was all kinds of music. Jazz was on the radio, along with Jack
Benny and all the old ones that we all remember. Yes.
-
Patterson
- Did you know about the African American jazz artists? Did you play the
records in your home?
-
Cox
- Well, I don't think we had any records of any of them, but we'd read
about them in the paper, that newspaper that my parents subscribed to,
and they knew. They would tell me a lot of things that they knew.
-
Patterson
- What was your school like, your elementary school like?
-
Cox
- It was a very, very good school. It was nice, and I think it was only
about three blocks from where we lived.
-
Patterson
- So you walked to school in the morning?
-
Cox
- Yes. And then we had a dog named Sport, a collie who was wonderful. He
would walk me to school and then he'd come back home, and when it was
time for me to come home he'd come and get me. He just knew it was time.
You know, dogs have this strange sense, and when I would leave the
building and start walking, I saw Sport coming for me, and he'd come and
walk back with me, beautiful big brown-and-white collie. It was great.
-
Patterson
- What was the environment like around your neighborhood? The pictures I
see of Idaho, everything is so beautiful, lots of trees and lakes and
rivers. What was it like in Twin Falls?
-
Cox
- It was nice. We lived in a nice little neighborhood, but it wasn't a
wealthy neighborhood or it wasn't anything that was unusual in terms of
things that may be evident in some others. It was just a simple little
neighborhood, and there were no other blacks in the neighborhood,
because as I told you, there were so few in the whole town. Like my
uncle and his family and my other uncle and his family. I don't know.
There was one little girl that the family would let her play with me.
Her name was Dorothy Hayfer [phonetic]. And one day three or four years
ago, a woman came to my door, and she was Dorothy's aunt. She remembered
me because Dorothy and I would play together, and I asked her about
Dorothy. I think she lives up north somewhere, but she said that I would
be disappointed, because she was drinking a lot. So I guess she had
nobody to really teach her. I think she lived with her aunt a lot, and
it wasn't like having her own mother.
-
Patterson
- And she grew up in the same neighborhood that you did?
-
Cox
- Yes, she did. It was about the same.
-
Patterson
- Was that your only playmate, the only playmate you remember when you were
a little girl?
-
Cox
- Yes. There was one other girl who in high school was so nice and so
friendly. We didn't play together, but she seemed like she was more like
a friend than anybody else, because she would always speak to me. I
remember in junior high I think it was, I remember sometimes at recess
when everybody would go out to play, they'd go out to play games or
something, I guess, and I remember this particular day. It was so cold
that day, and I had my coat pulled around me, and I was standing outside
by the door, just waiting, because all the kids went to play, and I was
not invited or anything, and I didn't know that I should just go on and
maybe they would play, but maybe they wouldn't, I don't know. But I was
just waiting for someone to come and take me by the hand and say, "Come
on and join us." But it didn't happen. So I think it was my color of my
skin. But anyway, I remember how cold it was, and I was standing out
there, and when I look back, I wonder why one of the teachers didn't
come to me or go to the students and say, "Will you go get that little
girl for us? She can play with us." But nothing like that happened, and
so I don't know, I just forgot about it. I knew that when it was time to
go, I'd go.
-
Patterson
- So you did feel a little lonely, being the only African American kid?
-
Cox
- Well, I think I did that day in particular, and maybe there were other
days like that. I just happen to remember that day. But we had such a
loving family, and my dad came home and I remember I'd run across the
street. There was a vacant lot and I would just catty-corner right in to
meet him, and he'd pick me up and throw me up in the air and catch me,
but that's when I was very young. As I got older I would still run
across to meet him and all, but I didn't care much about anything or
anybody, because our family--my parents were so loving, and they always
just tried to give us everything that we could want, and they were just
wonderful people.
-
Patterson
- So you didn't feel the effects of any racism when you were growing up?
-
Cox
- No, not really. I remember one time I was trying out to play with the
orchestra they had. I guess the pianist was graduating, so they needed
another new pianist to perform with the orchestra, and I remember that I
raised my hand and the--what was his name? I've got to remember that.
Anyway, the professor, teacher had us go over to the side and take
turns, and I remember that there were two little white girls and they
went ahead of me. Then the teacher called me, and so I got up and went
toward the piano, and the little white girls were--they were saying I
wouldn't be able to do it, I guess. Anyway, I went on over and sat down,
and we had to sight read something that was written. We had to look and
play it. And the other two girls really did not do very well, and when I
looked at it, I read it right off and played it, and they were so mad
that they were trying their best to make me feel bad. But I didn't,
because I was chosen and I was so glad, because I'll always remember
playing in the orchestra in high school. It was nice and the teacher was
really good.
-
Patterson
- So you were the pianist for the high school orchestra?
-
Cox
- Yes, at least during that--I think it might have been the last year or
maybe two years, I don't know. But it was really an experience I enjoyed
very much.
-
Patterson
- What kind of music did the orchestra play?
-
Cox
- Well, it was orchestral music, and sometimes it was a familiar song, but
it had been arranged for orchestra. Sometimes I'd hear one or two of
those old pieces and try to think about the title. It's been so long, I
just really can't think right now of the name, but they were appropriate
numbers for a high school to play if they could do it. They weren't that
difficult. They were rearranged. I learned how to do that when I became
a teacher, because I was a music teacher all the years I was teaching. I
had a class of beginners that I prepared them for orchestra, and then
that was Thursday. Every Thursday morning we would have our instrument
classes, and then in the afternoon we'd have orchestra for the more
advanced students, and I would show them how to play and perform.
-
Patterson
- So how would you describe your social life when you were in high school?
-
Cox
- Well, we didn't have any social life really. We would go places with our
parents. Maybe we'd go out in the country on a drive, and it would be
someplace that was pretty and had a lot of trees, and my mother and my
grandmother or my aunt, if there were any others with us, they would
pack these big lunches. I think about it now, how good it was in the
days when people could go away and have lunches together and not have to
go to a restaurant or anyplace where you have to go and sit down and
whether or not they'd accept you, trying to decide all that. But just we
did everything in the car. It was really--I remember those good lunches.
Oh, they'd always have some fried chicken, and they'd always have a lot
of fruit and maybe a dish that had been prepared, something special, and
cold drinks. It was good. We enjoyed it and we learned to enjoy each
other.
-
Patterson
- So you would say that your life in Idaho was really based around your
family, not so much the other residents of the city or the other
neighborhood people. It was basically just your family. [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- So when you were a little girl, your life was based around your family,
your loving family, and your activities were mostly your family
activities then. So in school, did you feel connected to the other
students? Or were you just happy to sort of be on your own and
independent?
-
Cox
- Well, there was nothing to be connected. I mean, there was only this one
girl, whose parents let her play with me. When I got into junior high or
high school, a strange thing happened. I passed this girl in the hall. I
think I was going into a room and I don't remember, but we saw each
other and somehow we didn't say anything. We never said a word, and it
was like I just didn't know what happened. Did she not speak, or did I
not, or what happened? We just kept going. For me it was like trying to
just go to my class, do what I'm supposed to do. And I think that she
was more outgoing as--I was always--I tend to be a little shy, but she
was not, and I don't know. I will never know. I don't know whether she
thought that I wouldn't speak, or if she thought that she'd better not,
because she'd be criticized. I just don't know.
-
Patterson
- Was this another African American student?
-
Cox
- This is the little girl that used to play with me, Dorothy Hayfer.
-
Patterson
- Oh, so suddenly there was a barrier between you.
-
Cox
- Yes. And I think that this was--see, the junior high and high school were
in the same building in that town, so I don't know whether it was my
first--I think it was in the junior high period. I just know that we had
been playing together through the years as little kids, and all of a
sudden we're in junior high and either she thought she shouldn't speak,
she wasn't supposed to, or else maybe I just didn't. Maybe I didn't know
if she would speak. I don't know. I hadn't thought in advance that this
might be something. I [unclear] wouldn't speak, but we never did after
that.
-
Patterson
- So in a way, as you grew up, racism maybe was a subtle influence?
-
Cox
- Maybe. But not to my awareness. I really never--
-
Patterson
- Never thought about it. It just sort of was the way things were?
-
Cox
- Yes. And she was my only friend really, because I knew other people.
There was this one girl, and I can't think of her name, in actual high
school. I remember that she was very friendly. We didn't, like, play
together or anything, but I remember that she was overly friendly and
was someone who wanted to be nice to me.
-
Patterson
- But in the home you were aware of your African American history, based on
your mom's insistence that you learned about it.
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- But not in school. So inside your home, you were aware of your heritage
and your black history, and then in school it was sort of a different
kind of world then, because you didn't have any students that shared
that history with you--
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- --and you weren't really learning it in school.
-
Cox
- That's right.
-
Patterson
- So you said that there was a woman that came through that [unclear] you
aware of jazz.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. I think there were maybe two or three times when I heard jazz,
because people did come through there. They would be stopping overnight,
maybe, and they'd come by to see us or something. But this one Aunt
Gaidy, we called her, Aunt Gaidy, as my mother thought of her as a
friend, and she was from Salt Lake City, and she sat down and, oh, did
she play that jazz. I've always loved it, see. And you know, there's
some things I just didn't know that I could have prepared myself,
because if you go to a black church--now, I shouldn't say that, because
I should say certain churches. Because I remember there was a boy who
had the same piano teacher I did, and his name was Glen Boran
[phonetic]. Now, I think that came to me that fast, Glen Boran. I don't
think he had maybe not even as much training as I did, but I know that
we were at the teacher's home or somebody's home, and he jumped down and
played some jazzy stuff, the real jazzy music, and I thought, oh, how
did he do that? And to this day, I think they went to a Pentecostal
church or some kind of very lively church with that kind of music, and I
didn't know why. Until these late years of my life, there are a lot of
things by studying music myself that I'm realizing. But I know that he
did something I could not do, and I had never been to a church like
that.
-
Cox
- In fact, we didn't go to any church for a few years, because I think that
nobody made us feel welcome. But finally there was a--not Christian
Scientist--Religious Science Church, and evidently they had invited my
mother and we started going to that. That was toward the end of my
living in Twin Falls, and that's a very calm, hymnal type of church. But
when I came to California, now the thing is, if I had gone regularly to
a Baptist church, and some of the Methodist churches, too, I would have
been inspired by the music, and I would have begun to try, and I just
didn't, because the church that I grew up in was Religious Science. I
was living in Pasadena in a home of a lady and her husband, and the
first time that I went to that church in Pasadena, I was not encouraged.
-
Cox
- Now, I walked there. It was about three or four blocks. I knew where the
church was, and I remember the first time I was there, they had tables
for different age groups of students. I was a just beginning college
student, and I was with the late high school and/or that college age,
and that's the table I sat at the first time. Then I just concentrated
on Religious Science, whatever we read or what came up. So I went on
home. When I came back the next Sunday, that table wasn't there. I
looked around and I said, "I wonder what happened to the table of people
that I was with." And I looked around and I didn't see anyone coming
that direction. I think it was there, but there was nobody sitting
there. I sat down and I waited for about five minutes, ten minutes, and
finally I got up. I could just see--I could see just through the whole
atmosphere that nobody even came over and said, "We've moved the table,"
or, "Would you like for me to try to find somebody?" Nobody said
anything. But I just got up and after about fifteen minutes maybe, I
went to the desk where one lady was and I said, "I think that this is a
terrible way of showing love," and then I turned around and walked out.
I didn't know what to do or say. But in that church, in any church,
you're supposed to be a loving person and express love and receive love
and all that, but I never went back.
-
Cox
- Now, I may have visited other churches with friends sometimes, but if I
had known what I know now, I would have tried to get a job playing at
the church, and it wouldn't be long before I was picking up a little
jazz. I know now that, oh, gosh, I know that so much of it does come out
of the church, because of the rhythm and the black feeling.
-
Patterson
- But you didn't have any of that when you were in Idaho, right, and you
didn't go to a church at all until your teen years, and that was close
to the time you left Idaho, right?
-
Cox
- Yes. But I had friends there who played for churches, or at least they
sang or played or something, and I did a couple of times just visit
Baptist or Methodist with some friends, but it never got that feeling
that I know now. It was when I was almost an old woman, long after that
that I really realized, because I started studying all of the effects of
black music and the origin of it.
-
Patterson
- So you did have some friends that you attended some Baptist and Methodist
churches with in Idaho?
-
Cox
- Not in Idaho.
-
Patterson
- Or this was after you left Idaho. So you were really isolated, then, as
far as your own black heritage in Idaho, except for your family.
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- So in your household, did you and your brother talk about your black
identity, or did you ever discuss it with your family?
-
Cox
- No. We knew that--my dad taught us to be proud. And I think it seems to
me that in the first grade one time, just once, it seemed like a little
white boy called my brother a nigger, and my brother beat him up. And he
came home and told my dad. My dad was proud of him for that. And they
told us that, "You don't take that from anybody." But I don't know of
any other time that anything like that happened. I never had anything
happen to me.
-
Patterson
- So you never felt hurt by being different when you were a little girl?
-
Cox
- No. No, because I think I had more than any of them had. I mean, a lot of
them didn't take any kind of piano lessons, and they never won the state
contest, and some of them didn't take dance lessons and they didn't win
that either. I mean, there was nothing that they could be so excited
about.
-
Patterson
- So you had a built-in sense of pride, even though you were different than
the other kids ethnically. You were proud of who you were, and you had a
sense of self-esteem.
-
Cox
- I remember in high school when I was in my last year, and they had
invited everybody to write a song for the class song for all the high
school kids that were going to graduate. And I wrote a song. Let's see,
I wish I could think of the name of it. It wasn't just writing the song,
but you make up your own words to maybe a familiar song, just whatever
you wanted to do. And I remember that I wrote this song and it maybe had
a familiar tune, because anyway, they gave it to somebody else. I think
when the time came to judge, they had somebody else's name on it.
Uh-huh. And I didn't know what to do or say. I think I told my mother,
and I think she told me, "Just don't worry about it. Forget about it."
-
Patterson
- So they stole your idea?
-
Cox
- Yes. I think they even changed the words a little bit, just a little bit.
I think there was that old song, [sings] "Come on along, come on
along--" ["Alexander's Ragtime Band"], I can't remember. I don't think I
chose that, but that was one that somebody did. But I remember that when
they finally did give credit, I think they gave it to two names, and I
don't even remember if my name was on there now, I don't remember.
-
Patterson
- But you knew that it was kind of shady what they did, and they took your
idea. But your mother always smoothed it over for you when these things
happened?
-
Cox
- Well, she didn't want a fight. She wouldn't make a big thing of it,
because it wouldn't help me any, because they'd just get madder at me.
So they got away with whatever.
-
Patterson
- So when did you first have a thought of being a musician as a profession,
in a professional direction?
-
Cox
- Well, when I won the state contest in Idaho playing Beethoven's
"Pathetique" sonata, and then when I came out to go to college, it was
obvious that I wanted to be in music and majored in music education.
-
Patterson
- So up till then, you just enjoyed performing and dancing, growing up and
taking your lessons and that.
-
Cox
- Right, right.
-
Patterson
- But you didn't think about, "I know what I'm going to be when I grow up"?
-
Cox
- But I remember the first year, when I came home that summer, my mother
found something for me to do. I think I wanted to learn to type on a
typewriter. And she found a place and took me there, and it was about
the best thing anybody can do if you're going to college, because you're
going to have to write term papers and a lot of things, and if you don't
know how to type, it slows you down. But anyway, that first summer at
home I really learned to type not looking at the keys, but kind of what
they called blind, because I know somebody came over here not long ago
and just typing away and looking down all the time, and I wondered how
they did that, why? You don't have to look down. You just go ahead--but
then that's the way they learned it.
-
Patterson
- When you say the first summer, you had already left home and then you
went back to Idaho? When you say when you came home after the summer.
-
Cox
- Well, I came home each summer. My mother would always--they would always
let me come home.
-
Patterson
- Oh, after you had left to come to L.A. to college?
-
Cox
- When I first came to L.A., I was in Pasadena. We were going to stay with
my grandparents, and he passed away. We lived with a family there, and
the next year I had a different family, and my brother went on--a
ladies' man, you know. He just skipped school. He didn't go to school
anymore. But he was a fine man and very handsome, like your father. He
was just--but your father wasn't like that, though. I mean, Willie
wasn't like a ladies' man, although he could have been, but he wasn't
that type. But anyway--
-
Patterson
- Your brother came out here before you, or did you come out here together?
-
Cox
- We came together. My mother got the car out and took us--we had two young
white ladies just keeping her company coming and going. But she drove
out. Daddy just stayed and kept the work going, and she came out and she
knew people there. Her stepmother and her father lived there.
-
Patterson
- In Pasadena?
-
Cox
- Yes. And they all arranged it for me, for us to live with them. And then
my grandfather died. He got sick, so when he left, then his wife, who
was my mother's stepmother, she was from Oklahoma, I think, and she
moved to Oklahoma, and so they weren't there anymore for us. But my
mother did find a place for me, because my brother had gone off to
spread his wild oats.
-
Patterson
- So let me back up a little bit. Your brother graduated high school, and
he stayed in Idaho until you graduated high school and then you both
left?
-
Cox
- No. I was just one year behind him, although there's two years in age. I
was fifteen until the week of graduation, and my birthday was in May,
and I became sixteen, and he was probably seventeen or eighteen. So we
graduated together, because they told my parents that my grades were
good, so that I could just make it up in college, which is true, too. I
found that out, because I wanted to have just two more years after
Pasadena J.C. I had the first two years, and I knew that I'd have two
more years at UCLA. They had told me that I'd have to make up some
classes in college, and sure enough I did, because I didn't have quite
enough credits to graduate that second year there. I had had two years
and then there I had had just two before I was supposed to graduate with
a few more credits that I hadn't gotten yet.
-
Patterson
- You mean for an associate's degree? Or were you talking about your B.A.?
-
Cox
- No, no. Let's see. I'm trying to say that when I was in high school and
they skipped me from the last year and said that I could make up the
year later in college--
-
Patterson
- Oh, I see.
-
Cox
- And it's true, because I did the two years at Pasadena J.C. Then I came
over to UCLA to do two years, and when I was ready to go, I hadn't yet
taken some of the classes that I needed to graduate. So I did have
another year there, just like they told me in high school, because I
only went two years and not three. And when they said I could make it
up, I made it up in college, because they had the college classes that I
could take just about anything it could cover.
-
Patterson
- When you were in the high school, what were your favorite subjects? I
know you loved music and performing, but other than that, what were your
favorite subjects?
-
Cox
- Well, I don't know. I primarily planned to become a teacher, and at UCLA
they put me in--after my basic classes, I had to do practice teaching,
and the first semester they gave me at--it's a high school in Westwood,
and I can't think of the name of it now, because I've many times seen or
hear of it a lot still. It's still there. But I did one year there, and
then my last year, which was at University High School, I remember that
name. University High School was the last year. That was when I was
supposed to teach a class, and I had a class to teach, and I was
supposed to be teaching piano. A little white boy was one of my students
in the class, and when it was time for him to come over to the piano and
take this lesson, he would just sit there and just looked away. He would
not look at me and he would not listen to me, and he wouldn't play. He
just sat. I told him what he was supposed to do, and I'd show him what
he needed to do, and he just looked away. And after class--because this
happened every day, and I didn't understand why nobody would say
anything. So I went to the teacher and I said, "You know, he never will
listen to me. He won't do anything for me." And she said, "Well, just
chalk it up to profit and loss." And I looked at her, I don't know why,
why she didn't insist that he could not get his grade without taking his
lesson from me, but she never did and nothing ever happened of it. I
guess they just went on, let him finish and graduate.
-
Patterson
- So this is your practice teaching at UCLA, when you were at UCLA?
-
Cox
- Yes. I did the first one--first year was at--what's the name of that
school? I can't think of it right now, but I did do that. I did that
period, I got that done. But when it was time to move up to the high
school level, this one little boy, he just wouldn't play for me. We
didn't have a quarrel or anything. He just wouldn't do it for me.
-
Patterson
- But you had decided that's what you wanted to do is be a teacher?
-
Cox
- Yes, oh, yes.
-
Patterson
- And so that was important to you that you made that connection.
-
Cox
- Right, because my favorite class, even today, when I was teaching was
instrumental and orchestra, and I always had a big orchestra that began
to really play well. I used to keep them at recess and give them extra
help at lunchtime. I'd bring a sandwich, and I would never go down and
have lunch. I would always be there so they could come and practice, and
then every Thursday morning we'd have our instrument class all together,
and then Thursday afternoon the more advanced students could come and
that's when we'd have orchestra, and that is always my favorite class,
my favorite. I had a great orchestra.
-
Patterson
- So that's when you became a teacher, after you joined this unified system
here in L.A.
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember when you decided you wanted to be a teacher of music? Was
that before you came to L.A., or when you went to Pasadena City College?
-
Cox
- Well, I think just because I had had music all my life, so much music,
that I couldn't imagine not having it, and maybe in talking to the
people who were guiding us--I don't know, because even when I went back
to UCLA when I was working on my doctorate and the teacher asked
me--trying to say his name. He's still there. He asked me what was my
subject, because I wanted a doctorate, and I said, "Music, music
education." And there's no problem in saying it. That's why I did
everything I could to prepare for it.
-
Patterson
- So you'd say that your whole life was sort of-- [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- Okay. You were in Idaho and you were only sixteen, and your brother was
seventeen or eighteen, and this was when you finished your high school
career and you're about to go off to college. What made you choose Los
Angeles? It was because your grandparents were there--
-
Cox
- In Pasadena.
-
Patterson
- --in Pasadena, and so that's why your mother chose for you all to come to
school here?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- You had family.
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So how did it feel to be away from your family? You were very close, a
very close-knit family, and your social life mostly revolved around your
family, so how did it feel to be in another state, going to college?
-
Cox
- Well, it was really wonderful, because I had never been around--number
one, I had never been around my own people. There were no other black
people, in general. Another reason is that I was with a lot of the young
people my age, who were in college where I was. We were all there
together and we just--it was wonderful, because to grow up to the age of
sixteen and not have any friends of your own age and race, and then all
of a sudden you're part of it. I thought it was wonderful, and my
parents were so wonderful. My dad gave me a check which was to be only
in emergency or something, because my brother didn't get one, because he
was older but he was so kind of fearless as to what could happen. I
didn't use it until when I left City College and I was going to UCLA,
and at that time, believe it or not, if you remember, it was only $29 to
apply to go in; $29.
-
Cox
- However, the fact that I was not a California native, they added to that.
I had to pay $150 extra, and I remember that I couldn't go if I didn't
pay that. I had never cashed the check, written any check, because I
didn't want to cause them any debt, but when I had to pay that instead
of twenty-five, which I was expecting, 150 I believe it was, and I just
wrote the check so big, and then I got worried. I wasn't really worried.
I knew that my parents were going to have to pay, instead of $25, which
they were expecting, it's 150. I felt badly, but I wrote it, because if
not I couldn't go to college, and I just knew they would want me to. You
know, we didn't have cell phones or we didn't have e-mail, and there was
no way I could just say real quick, "Well, I'll just go write an e-mail
right now." But anyway, I think I did call them that evening, and, of
course, they understood, and if they felt sick in the stomach as a
result, they didn't show it. They're just wonderful, wonderful parents,
and they always wanted the best for us.
-
Cox
- So anyway, how did I feel? I felt good. I felt like a woman can write a
check. I just felt good, because I was surrounded all the time by people
like me.
-
Patterson
- When you say like you, people that were young African American students
that were interested in music, and so you begin to socialize now outside
of just family, but begun to make friends.
-
Cox
- And at that time, UCLA did not have a black organization like now they
have Black Alumni. They didn't have any kind of black anything as far as
where you stayed. I couldn't live on campus.
-
Patterson
- Well, how was it that you chose UCLA? You were at Pasadena City College
and you chose UCLA. How did that happen? Why did you choose UCLA? How
did it come to be UCLA?
-
Cox
- Well, I don't know. I guess I really don't know. I knew that I would want
to go on. I didn't want to stop just because that's the end of junior
college. I knew that I wanted to go on and graduate from college, and
I'd probably just been talking to the kids and all, and maybe I was
warned about that that's the best place to go. And my parents wrote me
or called and asked me, would I like to go to UCLA or to University of
Washington, because my mother had friends in Seattle, Washington. My
uncle lived there, and I could live there with him and his wife. I
didn't want to leave L.A., because I had made--a lot of my friends were
here now. This was my first group of friends, Pasadena, and a lot of
them did not go on to school, but those that did--well, I'll tell you
who knew that was a place to go: Kenny Washington. [Woody] Strode
[phonetic], those two and Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson was at
Pasadena with me and so I knew him very well, and then I also got
acquainted with the other two.
-
Cox
- But it was quite interesting. I was very unaware of a lot of things
that--most of the kids knew a little bit more about life than I did.
They kind of knew how to act or how to do, I don't know. But I was a
little bit shy. Well, no. I was mostly nearsighted. I have been
nearsighted all my life, and I was told--see, I didn't realize it until
I guess I was maybe in junior high, and then when I started reading with
glasses and looking out at this world, I saw a whole new world, because
I was 20-200 is very bad, and nobody knew, because like they didn't have
a teacher at every level to help decide whether or not a student
couldn't see well or something. My grades were good, and if I was having
poor grades they would probably want to find out why, and then they
would be able to tell my parents and me that I had--what do they call it
when you're nearsighted? The professional name, I don't know. But 20-200
is bad, but I couldn't see, and I'd have to be almost right in front of
somebody to know who it was. But I didn't know it, because I was playing
the piano and studying all right and didn't realize it.
-
Patterson
- You didn't have any trouble reading, or reading your music?
-
Cox
- Well, I guess I didn't, because nobody knew, nobody could tell. I guess
not. But at any rate, when I went to UCLA I knew who was coming. I knew
Jackie Robinson was there now, and Kenny Washington, I didn't get to
know him really, or--I can't think of this other one, but there were
three that became rather famous, so it was exciting to me. Then I was
going to be living with an uncle and aunt who I lived with for that
first year, and then the second year I was with a different aunt.
-
Patterson
- So the first family you lived with was your dad's brother and your
stepmother, I mean, your--
-
Cox
- In L.A. now, out in Pasadena.
-
Patterson
- But in Pasadena it was your dad's brother and his second wife?
-
Cox
- No, my mother's father and his wife. And then he got ill and passed away
that very first semester, before we got there, but that's when my mother
did--she knew a few people there and somehow she got to this family that
was interested in having us live--very nice, wonderful people.
-
Patterson
- And then you lived with your uncle when you started going to UCLA.
-
Cox
- Yes. Then after that first year I was with my mother's cousin and her
husband, that's who it was. But they were always nice to me, and I guess
I did all right. They didn't want to get rid of us, or of me, because my
brother was already gone off on his own, make his own life.
-
Patterson
- So describe how you viewed Los Angeles when you first got here. What were
some of the impressions you had of Los Angeles?
-
Cox
- Oh, it was just so big and so many people, and Central Avenue was to me
like a whole new world, with nothing but black people. I remember my
piano teacher, who was a friend of my mother's from Seattle, but she had
moved to Los Angeles, and she's a marvelous teacher. She traveled all
over the world performing. But I remember I stayed with her one summer
or a few weeks, whatever it was, or a vacation--
-
Patterson
- What was her name?
-
Cox
- Lorenza Jordan-Cole. She had a home on 56th Street, and I was there
during that summer, and I remember one day I walked down to Central
Avenue, because it was, like, a block away, and I saw shops and I saw
just a lot of people, a lot of black people. And when I came back home
she says, "Oh, where did you go?" And I said, "I went downtown." And she
said, "You went downtown? How did you get downtown?" I said, "I just
walked over there about a block away." "Oh," she said, "that's Central
Avenue." And I said, "It's not downtown?" Because I thought it was
downtown, because in Twin Falls, Idaho, that's the way Twin Falls
looked. It was a small town with shops in a couple of blocks. I mean, to
me it just looked--I thought I went to downtown, down to the shopping.
But anyway, I remember I saw a place that had ice cream sandwiches, you
know, the little chocolate cake like with ice cream? First time I had
ever seen that. In Idaho I never had one. I think it was only a nickel
in those days, and, oh, I was so excited to have this ice cream sandwich
that I went back and told this lady, this piano teacher. I said, "Oh, it
was so nice. I did this, that, and the other." And she said, "Honey, you
weren't downtown. You were just on the avenue over there." But anyway, I
see how it was so easy for me to get excited, because I wasn't used to
that.
-
Patterson
- Now, how old were you now? What was your age when you first saw-- [Interruption]
-
Cox
- Let's see. This was in the summertime, before I went back to L.A., so I
was about seventeen. Because I had had two years of college; sixteen or
seventeen. I'm not sure, but I think that might have been after my first
year of college, because my mother knew her well, and she had offered to
have me stay a little while so she could teach me some more about piano.
So I think that I would say I was either sixteen--I was probably
seventeen.
-
Patterson
- Well, what did you learn from her, musically? [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- So what did you learn from her?
-
Cox
- Well, I learned a lot. It was a short time, but I learned a lot, because
she was really a magnificent teacher. But the teacher in Twin Falls was
magnificent. She was great.
-
Patterson
- Was that Miss Regan?
-
Cox
- Yes. She was a great teacher.
-
Patterson
- How were they different?
-
Cox
- Well, it's funny how you get something from just knowing the lifestyle of
somebody--and this lady now, she's not living now, her daughter's
living, though--but I knew that she traveled around the world
concertizing. She was a great concert artist, and she had done that most
of her whole life. And her daughter was home with her father, and there
was a wonderful lady next door who was a great artist. Oh, she was a
wonderful artist, and she kind of took her under her wing in a sense,
because she loved her, the daughter, who was about my age, maybe a
couple of years younger.
-
Patterson
- Now, this is Lorenza's daughter?
-
Cox
- Yes. Her mother wanted her to be a great pianist, too, and so but this
girl, as far as I ever knew her, she always wanted that lady next
door--she wanted to be like her, because to this day she's an artist of
her own.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember who that was, the lady next door?
-
Cox
- Mrs.--maybe later. But I think that she was so kind to the daughter, and
the daughter just admired her painting and I think she just--the lady
either taught her or she just picked it up and she began to be an
artist, and to this day she has taught high school art and college and
had exhibitions and all. And I could see right then that she missed her
mother so much, because she was always gone on a concert tour or
something, and she was very interested in her own work, her music, and
that was everything to her. But her daughter was sort of getting the
artistry from this other lady, and her father was there. She did have
her father and her grandmother. Her grandmother was a little elderly
lady who--just a different generation.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember Lorenza's daughter's name?
-
Cox
- Yes. Yvonne Cole-Meo. She some years later met a man from Europe, and
they'd married and had a son and still have him.
-
Patterson
- Was Yvonne with her mom when you stayed with her mom? You were both there
together?
-
Cox
- Right. Yes. For that summer, yes, she was. But her mother really wanted
her to stay with the piano, and it was some years, I think--I think that
she had had two years of college before she convinced everybody that she
wanted art, not music.
-
Patterson
- Painting, she was really a painter.
-
Cox
- She wanted to be an artist and that's what she devoted her life to. But
it's a lot to learn when you're aware that people and the family styles
or whatever is happening, because they're fine people and I would never
say anything to hurt them at all. But I just think I know that Yvonne
really proved that she was a great artist.
-
Patterson
- So getting back to what you learned from her mother, her mother was a
pianist--
-
Cox
- Oh, yes, marvelous.
-
Patterson
- So you went from Miss Regan in Idaho to this woman. Would you say that
those were two of your primary piano teachers?
-
Cox
- Well, I didn't have that much time with Mrs. Cole, because as I said,
she's away a lot, and then I was in school in Pasadena and then UCLA,
and maybe some people could do it, but I wanted to keep my grades up and
get through school, and then I was meeting all the young people around
L.A. that I had never known before, and I didn't really do much
practicing. I really didn't. At that time, I think it was just my
education. I wanted to go through school and come out with my degree.
-
Patterson
- So the shift was not so much from performance to a new era of performance
for you. It was more of a shift from performance to education and
learning and getting ready to be a teacher.
-
Cox
- Right, right, music teacher, though. Music education, that's always what
I did, and when I retired I was a music advisor downtown for the
schools. They had me doing television programs, and I did particularly
three particular ones that I still treasure, because one was with Eubie
Blake. I interviewed some great artists and then had them perform, and I
interviewed some New Orleans musicians and had them perform. I asked
them questions that children could relate to and could learn from.
-
Patterson
- Were any of those artists playing on Central Avenue? Did you go to shows
on Central Avenue when you first came?
-
Cox
- Oh, no. I was too young. I didn't. I mean, there were very few people,
but a few that I knew, because they had sort of told--they were sneaking
out at night to do that, but I didn't have the nerve. I was scared. I
wouldn't do it. But I know that it was a time when maybe after I
graduated, maybe I would have gone if something had come up. "Let's go."
One time my sorority had a luncheon there. The AKAs had a tea or
something.
-
Patterson
- On Central Avenue?
-
Cox
- In the Club Alabam. I didn't go, though. I wasn't there. I don't know
what happened.
-
Patterson
- So you knew of Central Avenue, it was just that you were too young to
go--you didn't have that nightlife kind of--
-
Cox
- Yes. I never knew much about it. I just knew that I'd read about it in
the paper, and people would talk about maybe somebody famous would be
performing there.
-
Patterson
- So what kind of music were you listening to? Did that change when you
came to Los Angeles, the kinds of music you liked and that you listened
to?
-
Cox
- I still appreciate classical music, but I also learned more about jazz
that I never knew much about. I had heard it, and I heard it on the
radio, but I never played it. I didn't know how to play it. It's
different from classical music, the European kind of music, but I never
had any lessons like that until some years later, when I had been
teaching for quite a while.
-
Patterson
- Did Aunt Gaidy teach you any--were you playing anything still from--
-
Cox
- The lady that came through there from Salt Lake? She wasn't there but a
day or two, no.
-
Patterson
- Okay. You just heard her play and kind of liked it.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. She sat there and, oh, she got that rhythm going and all that.
But I wanted to do it but just didn't know how. My classical music had a
whole different sense of rhythm and expression.
-
Patterson
- When you went to parties, did you dance to other kinds of music or listen
to it on the radio?
-
Cox
- I have always thought that I was a little bit behind in dancing. I mean
ballroom dancing, not the interpretive dancing, [unclear] just dancing.
You see, all these people that I knew, they grew up--they were dancing
when they were first or second grade, and they had that feeling, and to
this day I feel like I'm looking like a little bit stiff, that I can't
quite completely get in there with it, because I didn't grow up with it.
I always say that has to be it, because all the kids that I knew in
Pasadena and as I knew them here, they'd been dancing all their lives
like that. I'd go to dances and I'd gone to parties, but I never felt
like I was really--I always thought I was kind of awkward, because it
was at this stage in life, if I hadn't learned how now, it's too late.
But I would go to dances and all that.
-
Patterson
- Did you enjoy the music? Did you like it?
-
Cox
- Yes, oh, yes. And after I was married, during my early marriage, there
was a club of girls. A couple of them lived in the same area where I
lived, and we knew each other, got acquainted, and some of them I went
to college with, too. But they wanted to start this organization and so
I said, "Yeah, I'll be in it." They wanted me to be in it, and it was
called the Turnabouts, and for, gosh, maybe ten years I was with the
Turnabouts. We would once a year give gifts to needy children during the
holiday season, but throughout the year we didn't really--that was our
thing or our goal, that by Christmas we were going to give gifts to
children in need. So once a year we'd have to give a fundraiser, and it
would be at the Elks down on Central, usually there. We'd have a big
dance, and everybody that we invited had to bring a toy for children.
There was a dancer in the area, Marie Bryant. She was an excellent
dancer, and she taught dancing and then she performed. She'd perform in
clubs and things. But she was so good at it, and they got her to say she
would teach us a little chorus line, so we'd line up and we'd be in the
chorus line, and she'd teach us the steps, and we'd have the music. Then
when it came time for this big program that we'd put on, that would be
our main number. But then we'd try to get a famous person, too.
-
Cox
- Well, I decided one day that I knew I could play jazz, but I just never
knew how, I'd never learned. And I thought, maybe I could play jazz. I
could play a number--my favorite record artist is Erroll Garner, and I
loved Erroll Garner. I loved all the music he played, and I wanted to
learn to do it. His music is much simpler than other people that are
doing a whole lot of jazz, but he would just have something cool going,
and, oh, it was just so beautiful. And I went to this lady that taught
us the chorus version of something, and we were all supposed to be in
the chorus line and do all this. So I had started--somebody told me that
he would coach me, because I'd had a classical background and it
wouldn't be hard for me to learn. So I got in touch with him and I told
him that I wanted him to coach me. This was summertime, and he coached
me the whole summer, and then when school started I had to go back to
school teaching and I didn't do anything.
-
Cox
- But every summer for about three summers, I went, and even the first
summer I learned to do my favorite. I could play it just like Erroll
Garner. Oh, boy, I was so happy. And so the girls all heard me. They had
me play and they said they wanted me to do it on the program. I wanted
to do it. They were willing, because I had it down pat. Well, anyway,
each year for about three years I would do that, and as soon as school
started I had to get ready to go back to work, so I never really stayed
with it. But I always wanted to do it in the summer. I wanted to just
practice that music and play it, and I did a little piano thing that
Count Basie would do, [sings] "Da, da, da, dip, da, da, da, bumpa dump
dum, boom," and I'd get it all down. I had that down, and that was to be
my finale, because it knocked you out when you hit all that, all those
things. I did it and the audience just clapped and clapped, and even my
son said, "Mama, I was so proud of you." He told me just the other day.
I didn't know he'd remembered it.
-
Patterson
- Can you play it? Is this something you still play?
-
Cox
- Oh, I don't do it anymore. You know, I would try, but I do want to try. I
am going to try it, because I know I can do it, but I love jazz. I loved
to play it. And to top it off, they had a little band that played on the
program, too, and they played, backed me with a bass and the drums and I
did the piano part, and it sounds just like Count Basie. Ask anybody
that was there. They'll tell you that's the truth, that I'm not
exaggerating.
-
Patterson
- Did you have the recording? Did you make any recordings of these shows?
-
Cox
- I never did, and I wish I had. In that time, people didn't do that as
much. It was right after that, I think, that people started doing that,
because they did record something I did for my--I had to do a concert
for my master's degree. After I graduated, then I went back for my
master's, and one of the requirements was a piano concert. So I did
that.
-
Patterson
- These three years that you were coached by Erroll Garner, what were those
years?
-
Cox
- Let's see. Gosh, I don't know. Oh, wow.
-
Patterson
- That was your first year of teaching school, you say? You were with the
Turnabouts?
-
Cox
- Oh, no, no, it was later. It was long later, when I'd heard so much and
thought, why can't I do that one? I have had all of my classical
background. Why can't I do it? And finally one day when I heard about
this man that could just coach, because he told me when I told him what
I wanted to do, and I said, "Erroll Garner and George Shearing." I
mentioned different ones, and he said, "Well, of all the ones you've
named, the easiest one is Erroll Garner." And I said, "Well, that's what
I'll do. I'll go for him, but I want to play like Erroll Garner."
-
Patterson
- And he was here in L.A.? Erroll Garner was living here?
-
Cox
- No, no.
-
Patterson
- Oh, you didn't actually get--it was someone else that worked with you. It
wasn't Erroll Garner himself?
-
Cox
- It was this man that had been coaching other people on playing
instruments.
-
Patterson
- Oh, to play like. I understand.
-
Cox
- He was a musician and he showed me and I would just do it.
-
Patterson
- What was his name? Do you remember?
-
Cox
- He died, but I did remember it, and there's a man now, I think, who has
the same name, and I think he might be a musician, too. I just don't
know. It'll come to me. But I did that for about three different years,
and we would have our big event out on Sunset Strip when it was Sunset
Strip. It was really swanky. One place was Ciro's and another was a
place where they had booths on the side of the auditorium. Some people
would buy tickets to be in a booth, where they could really look out and
be seen, too, and I can't think of the name of that place. But I think
Jimmy [Bette's current husband] and I had just gotten married, I think,
when I quit, because I was beginning to think that I just shouldn't be
doing that. I should just stay with my--play at the schools and be part
of all of that.
-
Patterson
- When did you get married the first time, the first marriage?
-
Cox
- Well, the first time, right after I went to Oberlin [Conservatory of
Music]. I graduated in '42--
-
Patterson
- From UCLA.
-
Cox
- Yes. I got a scholarship to go to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in
Ohio, which I had never heard of before, but it's very famous for
pianists. Anyway, I went there and I was there for a year and a half,
and then the fellow that I was dating at UCLA was a nice, clean-cut guy.
I liked him, but I wasn't in love with him. But he just thought that he
had to get married. I just had to be his wife. He was called to go in
the service, and when I went to Oberlin, I think that was in '44, and
while I was there, he had had to go in the service. He had a little,
short--what do they call it when they have a little time off or
something, and he went home to Detroit for that little time. And he
called me, because I was in Oberlin. He was just not far away from Ohio.
I don't know how far it was. But when he got his leave to go home, he
called and he wanted to get married, and I really didn't think that I--I
knew I wasn't just in love with him, really wasn't. But he was so nice
and he's so determined, and he just wouldn't have it any other way. He
came to Oberlin and all the girls there that I had met, "Oh," they
thought he was so great and all. "Oh, you are crazy. You're a fool if
you won't marry him." And they were telling me all that silly stuff.
-
Cox
- Anyway, he kept on, and finally he stuck a ring on my finger. Anyway, we
ended up getting married, and that was my first marriage. Then it lasted
about six or seven years, and then I saved myself forever. I had to get
out of that.
-
Patterson
- But you had your two children during those years?
-
Cox
- I did have two then, and then I met Jimmy about seven years later and we
got married.
-
Patterson
- Seven years after your divorce?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So you went to Oberlin and you stayed there how long?
-
Cox
- A year and a half, and I studied piano.
-
Patterson
- How was that? What was that experience like at Oberlin? What was Oberlin
like?
-
Cox
- Wonderful. Oh, it was so wonderful. I had never been to a conservatory
like that. I lived with a family about two blocks, two or three blocks
away from it, and I'd have to go up to a big park and walk through the
park to get to the first building for the conservatory, and as soon as I
walked into the park, immediately I could hear all the pianos going on.
I could hear all the music. I'd walk all the way through it and then I'd
be right there at the conservatory. It was wonderful, a wonderful
experience. I really hadn't been familiar with it before, but it was
very famous. I was offered a scholarship, partial scholarship, and
that's what I did. I studied piano that whole year.
-
Patterson
- How did it happen that you got a scholarship to go to Oberlin?
-
Cox
- Well, a friend a mine was going. She got one, and her mother was
connected with a church that knew about it, and she got a scholarship
for her. She applied and she told me about it. She said, "Apply, you'd
get it. Apply." And so I applied, and I contacted my parents in Idaho
and told them what I was going to do, or wanted to do. And, of course,
they never would say no. Anything with education or music, I would have
it. See, I think after I graduated I had a little job that was nothing
but typing, and it was very dull. It was stuffy. I was just in the end
of that year when this happened, so I quit the job and then I got the
ticket to go, and I went there and it was fabulous. It was really a
fabulous, just marvelous experience, a lot of talented people
performing. We had to play on concerts and things. It was wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful. I'll always remember that.
-
Patterson
- Did it change your outlook on music at all? How did it affect your
future, Oberlin? How did it affect your future, your feeling about music
and what you wanted to do with your life?
-
Patterson
- Well, they taught me a few things I didn't know about. Even though I had
had all these piano studies and all of that, there were more things that
they could teach me, and the main thing that I learned from them was how
to really listen. See, I'd never had anyone tell me, "Listen. Listen." I
would play a chord and then another chord, and I would play a particular
song, and the man would tell me, "Listen." And I had never had to do
that before. It's important, and I learned that.
-
Cox
- But in the meantime while I was there, this fellow who had put a ring on
my finger as he got on the train when he was first going into the
service, and I told him, "No, no," I wasn't ready for marriage. I went
to the train station with him them. I was right there and he was ready
to get on the steps. The man was calling, "All aboard," like they used
to do with train, and so he grabbed my hand and stuck a ring on, not
this ring but a ring, at that time, the one he wanted me to have. And
then he said that he wanted me to be his wife and all that, so he was
getting on the train and going, and I was saying goodbye. But that was
before I went to Oberlin.
-
Patterson
- That was here in L.A., right?
-
Cox
- Yes. And when I went to Oberlin, see, and he started coming over there
when he found out where I was, and it wasn't that far from his home in
Detroit, and these girls when he came over to visit, all these girls
that were from other places--they were mostly from the southern states,
I think, but they were there. They were very fine musicians, very great
pianists in whatever they studied. But they kept telling me, "You're a
fool, you're a fool. He's the finest man I've ever met." And they'd just
do all these things that make you crazy. You think, well, maybe you're
wrong. And I said, "Well, gosh." So anyway, I finally accepted the ring
as a ring. I had just said it's just a friendship ring, but I finally
decided to accept it. Then I left Oberlin and we had a wedding at the
Episcopal church, it was his church.
-
Patterson
- Where did you get married?
-
Cox
- Episcopal church.
-
Patterson
- In Detroit?
-
Cox
- No, here.
-
Patterson
- Oh, you came back to Los Angeles. Did you finish at Oberlin? You went as
far as you wanted to?
-
Cox
- No, I had nothing to finish. Like I wasn't working on a master's there. I
was just studying some more music, and, well, it was just time was up.
I'd been there over a year, year and a half, and I had my degree from
UCLA. I don't know, I just thought, well, I guess maybe I should just go
on and go home and plan for my wedding.
-
Patterson
- How did your parents feel when you decided to marry?
-
Cox
- Well, they wanted me to be happy, so you know, parents are like that.
-
Patterson
- Did you take him home to meet them?
-
Cox
- I think he had come to meet them the summer before. He was with--I think
some friends were driving that way, and he got a ride with them, and so
that was the year before, I think.
-
Patterson
- Was he involved in music at all?
-
Cox
- No.
-
Patterson
- How did he feel about you being involved in music?
-
Cox
- Well, you know how they do. They make you think that anything you do is
okay with them. He became a policeman. But see, at that time, the
fellows who graduate, if they're black, most of them couldn't get a
decent job unless they went on the police force or the post office, and
that's what most of them had to do, because no matter how great their
grades were, it's just hard for them. Like Arnette was with the ROTC,
but that was very special. But he didn't always feel good about a lot of
things that happened to him. But most of them, I guess either they
wouldn't try for that, or they couldn't, because it was not easy for
them. But anyway, most of them ended up being in the post office or on
the police force or something.
-
Patterson
- What was the racial mixture at Oberlin like?
-
Cox
- The racial? Oh, I don't know, but in Oberlin there was also a college for
students who wanted to be ministers. It was theological. There was a
theological college there, and I don't know, probably it was connected,
but it's a whole different setup, a little further away, but still right
there. And several of the fellows were there trying to make it to become
a minister. So the ones that I knew--there was only one that I knew
while I was there that was not a theological student.
-
Cox
- Oh, wait. I was just going to tell you about this one that lives here
now, who did go all the way with that, and he became a great--what do
you say, a parson? A great minister at this church over on Jefferson,
and I bet you know his name anyway. Oh, how can I not get it? He was the
only fellow I went out with, and all it was was go for a walk, because
nobody had time to do anything like go out anywhere.
-
Patterson
- African American?
-
Cox
- Elliot Mason, Reverend Mason at Trinity Baptist Church, a big church.
Don't you know that name?
-
Patterson
- No, I don't.
-
Cox
- I bet your mother knows that name.
-
Patterson
- And he came back to Los Angeles and became a minister?
-
Cox
- Well, he didn't come from here. He was from somewhere else, but he did
end up here as a minister. I think he went to Europe. I don't know where
he was first, and then after all of those things he came back here. I
mean, I'm saying "back" because I came back here. But by that time I had
already married, but he's a good-looking fellow and so nice, very sweet,
a good person. But I never had any interest in being a minister's wife.
I don't know. I probably could have managed, but I don't know. It seems
sort of dull. [laughter]
-
Patterson
- What was UCLA like, to back up a little bit, UCLA for you as an African
American musician? Were there many African Americans in the Music
Department, performance?
-
Cox
- No. I remember one girl that played violin. But at UCLA at that time, you
couldn't belong to a sorority and live at a sorority house, but there
weren't even any black sorority houses or blacks on those other
sororities. Now, I became an AKA, and there are others who became Delta,
and then the fellows, the Kappas and the Alphas, but they did not even
have a place for black people to live on campus, and we all did--what do
you call it, to get together and ride, whoever has a car? Most of them
had a friend with a car, if they didn't have a car, but very few rode on
a bus. I'd ride the bus only if I had to, if my driver wasn't coming or
something like that, take the bus. But they did not have a place for
black students to live on campus. I look back and think maybe I should
have tried to get--they had housing for the YWCA, and I don't think
there were any there, but they might have been able to accommodate me,
because I was away from home, too, see.
-
Patterson
- You were staying with your uncle at the time?
-
Cox
- Yes, or my cousin, who I later went to her place instead. But we had
gotten together all--just to get together, that's all, and it was called
the Negro Student Body Club or something. There were one hundred that
were really members. But any time we had any social life, like it'd be
some of them get together and some of them there and here and have a
little party or something, but they didn't have what they have now. Now
they have the alumni. They kept sending notes to me, and I finally sent
one back, and I finally joined the overall, the alumni. That was several
years ago. At last they have a place for us to go. And now since then,
the alumni of different years have contacted me over and over and over,
but they didn't have it for so many years.
-
Patterson
- How did it feel to be at UCLA? Were you aware of racism or being
disassociated somehow?
-
Cox
- No, because everybody was nice to us. We didn't have any problem. It's
just that we knew that there was no place to live on campus. We're all
right to be there, but don't ask to live--they had their own sorority
and dormitories and all, and there was none like just for the AKAs and
the Alphas or Kappas. But I not used to everything. I was used to what
it was like in Twin Falls, and I lived there for sixteen years, and in
Pasadena I enjoyed the ones that were there that I got to know them at
all. But at that time, I never saw them have black girl on the Rose
Parade, on the--you know how they choose? But now since then they have
had black girls, maybe two at a time. They've never had the queen,
though, but they've had the girls on the floats that were princesses.
And I guess there'll be one pretty soon now, too, but I don't know how
far they will let anybody go.
-
Patterson
- Where did your uncle live while you were going to school? Where were you
living with your uncle, what part of the city?
-
Cox
- In Pasadena?
-
Patterson
- Oh, your uncle lived in Pasadena when you were at UCLA?
-
Cox
- No. When I first went there, my mother thought we were going to be living
with my grandfather. Remember, he died. But my uncle--the uncles that I
had when I went to UCLA, the first one was somehow related-- [Interruption]
-
Cox
- The first one, that one was an uncle related somehow to my dad's
brother's wife. Her name--my dad's brother was Everett Davis, and his
wife was Mrs. Davis. She had a relative who stayed there, or whose home
it was, and that's who I stayed with that first year. And guess who
drove me to school every day? Tom Bradley. [laughs] He had a
little--what kind of car was that, maybe a Model A? I don't know. But he
drove, and I don't know how he knew about me, but he came by and picked
me up every day.
-
Patterson
- He went to--did he go to Jefferson High?
-
Cox
- I don't know. I think so.
-
Patterson
- Where was he going to school when--he was at UCLA with you?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes, yes. He was there, but he was ahead of me. I think he probably
had just that one more year. And there was a girl who had been there the
year before me, because I was--this was my first year since Pasadena,
and this woman, this girl was kind of heavyset, and she sat in the front
with him, and I sat in the back rumble seat. That's the way it was, and
it was open air. Every day he'd pick me up. I'm talking about Tom
Bradley. Every day he would pick me up and she would be in the front,
and then there would sometimes be another person, a girl who became my
best friend. She and I would be in the back in the open air, and
sometimes there was a fellow, too, but I don't know where he is now. But
anyway, one day it rained, and I mean it rained hard, and I don't know
why, but he came by for me first, and usually he'd get this other girl.
But he came and got me, and I didn't know why or anything. But then he
went to pick her up, and honey, she came out of the house and opened the
car door and looked at me and said, "Now, honey, you get out. This is my
seat. You get out." And she was big and sturdy, and you know I was
scared of her. I got up as fast as I could and got in back of this
little car in the open-air seat. [laughter] And I always remember that
about our mayor.
-
Cox
- And after all the years went by--he was mayor for a long time. But the
years went by, and one day he decided to appoint me as Commissioner of
Cultural Affairs. I became commissioner, and after a year or two there
was an event where we were all there, and there she was, she was the
commissioner of something else. And I said, "Oh, I haven't seen you in a
long time." And you know, she remembered that, and I said, "Well, I
didn't stay in that front seat when I saw you in there." But anyway, she
became a good friend. She was good friends with him, and I was good
friends with him, too, and he was nice, always a gentleman. He was
always a gentleman. But it was so funny. I wouldn't hesitate to get out
of that seat. She scared me.
-
Patterson
- So what would be a typical social event that you would go on while you
were at UCLA? Like other weekends with your friends.
-
Cox
- Well, if the AKAs had something, I was initiated and I was one of
the--what do they call them? Before I was initiated, I was just whoever
[unclear]. But anyway, they would have something-- [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- So the AKAs were the hot thing to do on the weekends?
-
Cox
- Oh, well, they were to most of us. There were some, though, that if there
wasn't anything going on, maybe somebody, one person might be having a
little get together with a few of us. It was just a matter of whatever
was going on.
-
Patterson
- And you were dating John?
-
Cox
- Well, but not that first year or second year. I didn't know him well at
all, but he just always seemed like a clean-cut, nice fellow, that's
all. I think it was probably just the last year maybe that I--I don't
think it was more than a year that just if he'd ask me out I would go,
because he was just a nice fellow.
-
Patterson
- When did you start going out to the nightclubs and maybe Central Avenue?
-
Cox
- That wasn't until I got married. I don't think I ever went to one before
that.
-
Patterson
- So you would describe yourself as kind of having conservative--
-
Cox
- Yes. Like I didn't have a steady date. I had good friends, and like I
said, I was nearsighted and I missed so much all through my young life,
I guess, because I was teased at first for wearing glasses. You know how
they'd call you "four eyes," and I just was--oh, I wouldn't wear them,
and I didn't realize how much I was missing.
-
Patterson
- So you got married soon after you came back from Oberlin.
-
Cox
- Yes. When I came back, yes, because I wrote me parents and told them that
I had accepted this ring, and they started making plans to come to L.A.
for the wedding.
-
Patterson
- And you started teaching soon after that?
-
Cox
- I did, I think maybe a couple of years later. I don't know. It wasn't too
long.
-
Patterson
- Okay. Well, let's stop here. I mean, you take it for granted because you
were there.
-
Cox
- Yes, I guess so.
-
Patterson
- Yes, but, for instance, coming from Twin Falls and seeing that as the
only city that you knew, and then coming to your friend Lorenza's and
walking a block away and seeing Central Avenue and thinking that's
downtown, I mean, that's a relative situation. Not having seen the
downtown L.A., you thought that was downtown, and I think that that
speaks volumes as far as comparing what it was like to live in Idaho and
then to move to Los Angeles as a young woman. And then, I mean, these
anecdotes are great. I mean, Tom Bradley drove you to school in the
morning. I almost missed that one if I hadn't gone back to your UCLA
stuff.
-
Cox
- And Jackie Robinson, too, because I knew him in Pasadena--
-
Patterson
- Yes, yes, yes.
-
Cox
- --so that was great, to see him become so famous.
-
Patterson
- Yes. And he went to Pasadena City College with you?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Many people may not know that about him and his life.
-
Cox
- Right. I don't remember if I said anything about Jackie.
-
Patterson
- Yes, you did, you mentioned him. I didn't know if you were talking about
the Jackie Robinson, the famous Jackie Robinson, so we have to make sure
that it's the same one.
-
Cox
- It's the same person.
-
Patterson
- It's the same one, so that's fascinating.
-
Cox
- And his wife, she was in school with us, so we knew her very well, and
when they got married, that was just a natural thing, because they had
dated quite a while.
-
Patterson
- This is stuff that people may not know about, and when you start talking
and saying all these wonderful things and the camera is not running--is
the camera running?
-
Unidentified Female
- It's running.
-
Patterson
- Good. So you knew Jackie Robinson's wife--
-
Cox
- Rachel.
-
Patterson
- Rachel, okay. So what was he like then? How was it to be his friend?
-
Cox
- Oh, he was a nice guy. He was just friendly, and I could see that in
Pasadena. Then at UCLA I didn't see him much there, because it was a big
school and there were just a few of us, and those few, like--well, these
athletes--Kenny Washington was famous, Jackie Robinson, who was the
other one? Stakes? Oh, gosh, there was another one.
-
Patterson
- Yes, I know you mentioned him before. Maybe you could think about it
later. Was Jackie on the team with UCLA?
-
Cox
- Yes. I think he ran, and Tom Bradley ran. What did they call it?
-
Patterson
- Track.
-
Cox
- Yes, ran track.
-
Patterson
- So they let them play on the teams? They let them participate even though
they were African American students?
-
Cox
- Yes, because that's how I think everybody knew that they were great, and
being black, too. Because like USC, at that time USC didn't have a
single black person on anything. I think they were afraid that the
others wouldn't like it or something, I don't know, but they never had
anything like that. UCLA was the one that was, I think, the first one to
bring on three great athletes. That was Jackie and Kenny Washington. Did
I say him before? And then this--I can't think of it. I'll try to tell
you later, but I can't think what his name was.
-
Patterson
- So Tom Bradley recognized that you were a musician, because he invited
you to participate in a cultural affairs department later.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. Well, see, when I became involved with the commission, naturally
they had to do with architecture and with any of the things having to do
with what they'd say, culture, and my thing being music--it was time for
Black History Month, and I think this was my second year on the
commission, I think. I don't think it was the first year. But anyway, I
said, "Why don't we have a program for Black History Month and have some
great musicians?" And so they said, "Oh, okay," just sort of like that,
"Okay." So I had this program with one of the great musicians that lived
here now.
-
Patterson
- William Grant Still?
-
Cox
- It was William Grant Still, yes. Is that who you're saying, William Grant
Still? He was living, and he lived here, and his daughter, I knew her. I
had this program with him and his daughter, and one of my friends that I
had gained friendship with from one of these meetings that they would be
all over the country, that comes in the year '72, '73?
-
Patterson
- Oh, I have that written down.
-
Cox
- Yes. Well, anyway, I had him come and sing, a beautiful voice.
-
Patterson
- William Grant Still?
-
Cox
- No, no, this friend of mine from University of Michigan. Anyway, but I
also featured William Grant Still, and it was very successful. The money
wasn't forthcoming, but somehow I got a donation or something and so
took care of it. But afterwards--the audience loved it. Afterwards, some
of the people for the next year, when I said, "Let's do it in time for
Black History Month," and then they were giving me a little hard time.
"Well, we don't have that in our budget." And I said, "Well, I think
we'll get it. We could get it if we worked at it." And I knew I would
just go and ask Tom. But anyway, they were kind of against it, and
before I could really work on it, they had decided not to have it. I did
what I could, but I couldn't quite make it happen, and so the next year
I really worked on it, because I had an opera star. I got George
Shirley, great opera star from University of Michigan, and I got some
other great people like that. I had it all set, and this commission,
they weren't interested, because they just weren't. It wasn't their
idea.
-
Cox
- So anyway, I saw to it that the money came, and I had a talk with the
mayor and somebody else, so there was a certain place or someplace where
he knew that that money could come, and it would go for the budget.
-
Patterson
- Well, then, Tom Bradley--[End of interview]
1.2. Session 2 ( December 14, 2006 )
-
Patterson
- This is our second interview. Here we are with our gracious hostess, Mrs.
Bette Yarbrough Cox.
-
Cox
- You're all so wonderful and so patient. I'm just happy to do whatever I
can. I'm very lucky.
-
Patterson
- The date is December 14 [2006], and so we'll get started. I wanted to
this time make sure that I have some things straight with your time in
Idaho. One of the things that I wanted to ask you about was, when you
would take a trip downtown in Twin Falls, what did Twin Falls' downtown
look like to you as a kid?
-
Cox
- Well, let's see. I think it was about two or three blocks from where we
lived. The house across the street from us had a vacant lot, and we'd go
across the street, through the lot, and we'd walk about a block or two
and then there would be a few buildings. We'd walk down--was it Shoshone
[phonetic]. I'm not sure now. But the main street that my dad had his
shop on was maybe another three blocks or so. It looked like any area
where there are little shops and maybe repair shops and workshops and
clothing shops, and I think there were two movies in the town, in the
whole town. One of them, I think, was named after the mayor. I can't
recall offhand right now what the other one was, but I think there were
just the two movies, and I think in a matter of five minutes, maybe ten
minutes, we'd be at my dad's shop if we were going to go down and see
Dad about something. Or we could go a little further and there would be
little shops for another couple of blocks, but all of the main street of
Twin Falls, I imagine maybe six or seven blocks long on the main street,
and then I don't recall if anything was on the other streets. I just--
-
Patterson
- Just remember the main street?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- I'm looking at a map. This is a more contemporary map of Twin Falls. Do
you remember a Blue Lakes Boulevard?
-
Cox
- I remember the name, Blue Lakes.
-
Patterson
- Or Eastland Drive? Or Washington Street?
-
Cox
- I remember the names. Now, I remember Washington Street.
-
Patterson
- Addison Avenue, do you remember that?
-
Cox
- I don't remember Addison.
-
Patterson
- Falls Avenue? Kimberly?
-
Cox
- Kimberly, I remember that. I think that was the name of a little town,
too, but they might have named it after that.
-
Patterson
- When we finish, I'll give you this, and maybe you can point out where you
lived on the map?
-
Cox
- Yes, and maybe we can find some pictures in one of those books, I'm sure.
-
Patterson
- Okay. Did you go to the movies much when you were a kid, with your
family? Did you go to see movies at that time?
-
Cox
- With my grandmother? I don't remember going with my grandmother. I think
my brother and I would go together sometimes. Maybe we did sometimes,
because I remember I would want to sit closer. I was very nearsighted
and nobody knew it. It wasn't like at school they'd test your eyes in
those days, in that town anyway, and nobody ever knew how nearsighted I
was, it seems like. I'd want to go down close so I could see better, and
my brother and I would sometimes, and my mother and dad would always
tell him, "Now, you take care of her." He was my caretaker. He would be
supposed to be watching to make sure that nothing happened to me. But I
don't think we ever went with grandmother. I think we either went
together or maybe with one of our friends.
-
Patterson
- What were your favorite movies? Do you remember any movies you saw that
impressed you at that time?
-
Cox
- Musical movies, the dancing and all the stars that could sing and dance.
-
Patterson
- You liked musicals. Do you remember what your favorite movie was?
Something you saw that impressed you?
-
Cox
- I remember something like the Broadway something of 19--let's see. I
don't remember those years now. But it was the Broadway something, and
every year they'd have another year with another big show, and the girls
would all dance and sing.
-
Patterson
- These were movies that would come out?
-
Cox
- Yes. Those are the main ones I liked. I didn't care much about the cowboy
movies. My brother did. I'd just sit there and watch it, but I wasn't
crazy about it. It was all right.
-
Patterson
- What about books? Did you have a favorite book when you were a kid?
-
Cox
- No. Again, it was probably my being--didn't wear glasses and didn't know
I need them, but my brother was a read avid reader. He was terrific. He
just could read a book so fast, and I wasn't like that. I was practicing
the piano and he'd be reading books. But he was very good at that, and I
just didn't have as much of an interest as I should have. I did read
some, but I can't think of the names now of any particular ones. He
could have told you names of books and things.
-
Patterson
- So you played the piano instead. That was your pastime.
-
Cox
- Practicing the piano.
-
Patterson
- Did you practice every day?
-
Cox
- Yes. My mother knew a lady in Seattle, where she had lived, where she was
before, and this lady was a famous pianist, became famous. Even to the
day that I lived here, she was coming from Europe and performing.
-
Patterson
- This was Lorenza, right?
-
Cox
- Lorenza Jordan-Cole, and I even studied with her a short time one summer,
because my mother wanted to prepare me for whatever in college.
-
Patterson
- Did she talk about Lorenza when you were a little girl?
-
Cox
- We called her Aunt Lorenza. I called her Aunt Lorenza.
-
Patterson
- Oh, did she come and visit you in Twin Falls?
-
Cox
- No. I don't think she ever came, but we talked once on the phone, I
think, or at least mother would write letters back and forth. And then
she and my dad lived in the same building. There was a duplex, and my
mother and dad lived in either the up or the down, and she and her
husband in the other level.
-
Patterson
- This was in Seattle when they first married, your dad and mom first
married and they were in Seattle still?
-
Cox
- Yes. And she told me all my years, "Lorenza Jordan-Cole practiced eight
hours a day, eight hours a day." And I would hear that and I would never
intend to practice eight hours a day, and she didn't make me do it
either, but she did insist on that one hour. But I would practice and
then I would hear about it if she had played that same number. "Oh,
Lorenza Jordan-Cole did that one," something like that. But anyway, I
became aware that she was really famous, because she was sent to
different places around the country, or she would save her money. I
think one of their friends worked on the railroad and he had some free
tickets, because he had tickets that railroad employees could get, and
he wanted to sell them to somebody, or give them or trade them or
something, and he gave them to her husband, and she had a chance to
travel to another city, something like maybe Salt Lake City or
someplace. She went and gave a big concert, and she got to study with a
very famous teacher. She really had a lot of fame in her life. There's
one picture I may have somewhere that shows her with a huge group of
students, maybe from a university somewhere in Europe or something, and
she's the only black face in the whole thing. And she always was an
outstanding pianist really, so I heard about her all my life, but I
never was forced to practice eight hours a day, and I'm so glad, no,
really, I got to know the lady. She eventually lived here and I studied
with her just a short time, and I went to meet her personally as a
friend and her family and her daughter.
-
Cox
- I knew that her daughter was a very talented artist, and the lady next
door was a great artist, and she just loved what that lady did, and she
grew up and went to college. She wanted to major in art, and her mother
wanted her--
-
Patterson
- To be a musician.
-
Cox
- But that was not what she wanted, and it was very difficult for her to
ever--she had to go through about two years of art before her mother
would let her have what she wanted, but she ended up with art.
-
Patterson
- So when you were growing up and you were practicing an hour a day, your
mom would talk about Lorenza to you as a role model.
-
Cox
- All the time.
-
Patterson
- But at least she didn't force you to play eight hours a day.
-
Cox
- Oh, no. But she always told us what a great pianist she was, and I knew
one day I'd meet her.
-
Patterson
- So what other things did you do around the house to amuse yourself? Did
you have other toys when you were little? Because I know you started
playing the piano at five years old, right? What else did you do around
the house? Did you and your brother play any games?
-
Cox
- We had games, but he was just a big teaser. He liked to tease me till I
would cry sometimes, but, oh, we would read the paper, read the funnies
and read books. My mother would insist that we do some reading, and, of
course, in school we had to read, and he was an avid reader. He would
just read and read and read, and he could tell you everything he read.
But I don't know, I guess it was because of being nearsighted, but that
didn't affect my reading up close, so I don't know. I just was more
interested in the music and dance, because I had all kinds of lessons in
dance. I had ballet and I had interpretive and tap, and then people
would want us to be on programs. My brother, he learned a little tap,
too, but he wasn't enthusiastic, but he was good.
-
Patterson
- Well, he liked to play violin and drums, right?
-
Cox
- Violin and drums, especially drums. He was drummer in the orchestra in
high school. He was a drummer.
-
Cox
- Did he practice at home? Did he have a drum set at home?
-
Cox
- I think he did, but he mostly practiced the violin.
-
Patterson
- At home?
-
Cox
- My grandfather was a violinist, too.
-
Patterson
- Oh, on your mom's side or your dad's side?
-
Cox
- My mom's side, the one that lived in Pasadena. But he was just doing
whatever he was supposed to do, he was asked to do, and he didn't plan
to major in college in music like I did. I mean, I knew I wanted to
study more music.
-
Patterson
- Now, when you remember being in Twin Falls, I know it was a small town,
but do you remember whether or not there was like the elite part of town
and then the poor side of town, or where the parks were, or if there was
a museum, or anything else you remember about the lay of the city?
-
Cox
- I remember that there were four parks, and I can't recall the museum,
although I'm sure there was one. No, I didn't ever think of it as
anyplace being elite. There were just bigger homes someplace, and we had
just a modest home, and they probably would consider it small, any of
those with the bigger homes. But those of us of color weren't all just
in one little spot. We lived where we lived, and my Uncle Bert lived
over right across the street from the high school, about maybe a mile
away or a little more than that. And my other uncle, Uncle Arthur
Barker, he lived in that same area. In fact, I think there was a time
when my two uncles--one of them moved away, out of town, and the other
one either bought his home or just stayed there, so that one was the one
that was across the street from the high school, and it was a nice, big
house. But I don't know too much. I don't remember much about the houses
and the different areas.
-
Patterson
- Did you visit them? I know their children were older than you and your
brother. Do you ever go over to their house and visit with them?
-
Cox
- Yes. One of them was my favorite cousin. She was Aunt Lena's daughter.
-
Patterson
- Was that Bert's--
-
Cox
- No, that was Lena's daughter. Maybe I didn't mention Lena. Lena was
Arthur Barker's wife.
-
Patterson
- Oh, okay.
-
Cox
- Aunt Lena was, oh, she was always dressed up. I just admired her so much,
and I used to look at her. She'd always have on something silk, or
pongee they called it. It's very silky, and I'd want to sit on her lap,
because I was just a little girl, and she'd say, "Now, don't mess my
pleats, honey." And I would want to sit there. But she was very sweet
and always wanted to give me something, and it was her daughter that was
my favorite cousin, because she was like a teenager. When I was just a
little girl, she was like high school age.
-
Patterson
- What was her name?
-
Cox
- Madeline. And Nanny was the short--I always called her Nanny.
-
Patterson
- You called Madeline "Nanny"?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So she was someone you kind of looked up to and liked to be with,
Madeline?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So did your Aunt Lena have any other children that you played with?
-
Cox
- Yes. Her son was--oh, gosh. I have to stop and think. And he lived here
for a little while, not too far away from me, but we didn't see much of
him. He was kind of very reserved and quiet. I can't recall his name
right now.
-
Patterson
- Did Bert and Aunt Gertrude have children that you associated with?
-
Cox
- Yes. They had one daughter, Villya, and she--well, let's see. I think
Uncle Bert kind of looked like an Indian himself. He was short and fat.
They were kind of fat. But their daughter was V-i-l-l-y-a, like a villa.
And when she got older, she and her--I think it was her husband, they
went to another city, Boise, and he thought that he was black and she
was white, and they held him, and he had to call the mayor to let him
know that he was a black man. They thought he was a black man with a
white woman, and they had called the mayor, and my dad had to help him,
because he knew that that wasn't the way it was, that she was really not
white, and so they let him go. They were visiting.
-
Patterson
- They were visiting and they were detained by the authorities, because
they thought that--
-
Cox
- Yes, they thought she was white.
-
Patterson
- But did they know they were married? Or did they object to the fact that
they were just together and not married?
-
Cox
- I think they just didn't believe him. They just didn't want to believe
him.
-
Patterson
- That he was married to this woman and that she was an African American.
-
Cox
- But that was just a little awful thing that happened once. We didn't have
much of that. We always had--in fact, the mayor used to think of my dad
as the--I don't know why they teased him and told him that he was the
colored mayor. It was just something silly. But whenever somebody would
be coming into town and they appeared to be transients, and if they
didn't seem like they were decent people, they'd have to go by my dad.
If he didn't think they were all right, they couldn't come in unless--
-
Patterson
- The mayor would send them to your dad?
-
Cox
- Not the mayor. It's just transient people coming through that didn't seem
to want to work or to stay and do right. They looked like they were
going to cause trouble, so they would ask my dad to pass on them. If he
didn't say to the mayor or the mayor's people that like they were decent
people, that he didn't think they were going to cause any trouble--
-
Patterson
- So just to understand, the mayor would sort of consult with your--if you
could call it that, I guess, to consult with your dad about people that
he wasn't sure about.
-
Cox
- Yes, because maybe they looked a little bit trampy or trashy, like they
didn't look like they were--
-
Patterson
- These were African Americans that would come through town?
-
Cox
- Yes. But they would ask him what he thought about them, and he could tell
the people were like decent people, that they weren't going to cause any
trouble.
-
Patterson
- So he was the black mayor.
-
Cox
- I think I want to take that out. That's not important.
-
Patterson
- Well, it is. It is, because it gives us an idea of the influence that
your father had in the community.
-
Cox
- He was so very highly respected. He had many, many friends, and his shop
was right next to a big hotel there that a lot of people would come from
there to just have something done for their shoes or their hats.
-
Patterson
- What was the hotel, do you remember?
-
Cox
- Yes, it's the Perrine Hotel, P-e-r-r-i-n-e.
-
Patterson
- So the patrons that would go to the hotel would often give your father
their business.
-
Cox
- Well, maybe, I don't know.
-
Patterson
- Well, it sounds like it would be convenient for them to do that. It was a
good location for him to be in with his business.
-
Cox
- And he worked mostly in the back with the hats. He'd block hats or dye
shoes, and he had about, oh, maybe about eight or ten shoe stands that
the young white men who wanted to work would be shining shoes for him,
and he would be back there handling all the business. And then one day
he went to Portland to take a class. I don't know if he was gone a week
or two. He wanted to study more about business and learn more about
business and become a real businessman and how to make more money. He
came back and he had learned a whole lot of things, and I don't know
what changes he made. I know one thing, he had a lot of signs. Signs
would be across the wall, and the people who came in there for their
shoes, then when they were going to sit up in the seat there'd be a
whole row of them, and they could look up in the mirror and they could
look and see signs that were advertising other businesses in the town,
so a lot of the people would buy signs from him and put them up, and
they would get business as a result. People would be seeing the signs
all the time. And then those who didn't look in the mirror could look
down further, and he had all these ideas for business.
-
Patterson
- And so as an African American man in the city, he was respected by other
businesspeople--
-
Cox
- Very much.
-
Patterson
- --who also interacted with him and negotiated with him, because he was
advertising for them, and so he must have had good business
relationships with the community.
-
Cox
- He did, yes, very much.
-
Patterson
- Now, you mentioned that when performers would come through town, or other
African Americans would be passing through the city, that they would
come and often visit your home. I wondered if maybe it may have been
difficult for them to get hotels. Was there a hotel that they could stay
at, or not, or would your family offer them hospitality?
-
Cox
- I don't know. Well, I can remember that once or twice we'd have a single
woman or a single man. We never had a whole lot of people, but maybe
Daddy knew people or places and he could help to tell them where to go
where they wouldn't have any problem. He could recommend them
to--because these would usually be very well-known musicians, like maybe
Count Basie, Duke Ellington, or very well-known musicians passing
through on their way to California, or maybe they'd stop to play in our
town sometimes. But if it was somebody he knew--and sometimes it would
be like the lady in Salt Lake that they knew, and I called her Aunt
Gaidy, because Aunt Gaidy, oh, could she play that piano. She could play
jazz, and I wanted to play jazz like that, but, of course, I couldn't
learn overnight. But she could play jazz, and she was the pianist for
the orchestra. But, boy, she was so good.
-
Patterson
- Which orchestra? Did she play for an orchestra in Twin Falls when she
passed through?
-
Cox
- No, no. She was just with this band and I can't--I don't know, it was a
famous band she played with.
-
Patterson
- Did they play at a nightclub or anything in Twin Falls?
-
Cox
- They played someplace. Sometimes they were there to play on their way, or
if they just on their way somewhere else, sometimes they would ask them
to play. I don't know if they did, if they just asked them about having
that contact really, connection, that they would do it and be paid.
-
Patterson
- Was there a place like a nightclub that they would play at if they were
booked in town? Do you remember a nightclub in particular?
-
Cox
- I don't know, because we weren't familiar with any nightclubs there at
all.
-
Patterson
- Or a concert hall? Where would people--like if a famous musician came to
town, where would they play in Twin Falls?
-
Cox
- I don't remember the name of the halls or anyplace, but they did come.
When I graduated and I had my concert, I think it was at the--you know,
I was going to say high school auditorium, but I don't know for sure. It
might have been at another auditorium. It might be in that article in
the scrapbook or something that I have over there. I'm not sure.
-
Patterson
- Okay, because you won an award at a recital when you were thirteen or so.
-
Cox
- I won a state contest for the high school contest, and that was the one
that Mrs. Regan, my teacher, prepared me for, Beethoven's "Pathetique"
sonata. I played that, and all the other girls had their own number that
they played, but they didn't make it.
-
Patterson
- Was there a dance one? I know you took interpretive dance-- [Interruption]
-
Cox
- If I say anything that doesn't sound right, you just--
-
Patterson
- All of it sounds great, wonderful, sounds great.
-
Cox
- I don't know about that, about colored Americans. A lot of people
wouldn't want to see that in writing.
-
Patterson
- I think that's wonderful.
-
Cox
- That's nothing but talk that I used to hear, but it may not be anybody
ever thought they said that. I know they did, but--
-
Patterson
- Even if it's your impression of it and the way you remember it is what's
important. It's up to you, though. Anything that you don't want we won't
put, but I think it's just a testament to the standing of your father in
the community.
-
Cox
- He was very highly regarded.
-
Patterson
- And I think it's great. You said it was sort of a nickname, and it's
okay. [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- Yes, I'm glad I asked you about your mom and dad's siblings. That makes a
lot of things clearer for me.
-
Cox
- Did you tell me you were from here?
-
Patterson
- Yes.
-
Cox
- You've always been?
-
Patterson
- Yes, born and raised. Yes, my mom and dad, they built--well, when they
first were married, they lived on Eleventh Avenue, 11th Street? Eleventh
Avenue. And then they built their home on 108th and Avalon. They built
their first little house, and then when I was a year old, my dad planted
a tree out in front to commemorate my first birthday. I guess that tree
is still there, I don't know. Then they moved over here on Corcoran
Place. They built a second home. They built all their homes, my mom and
dad.
-
Cox
- Isn't that something?
-
Patterson
- Yes. They were industrious that way, and then they could save some money
by doing a lot of the work themselves.
-
Cox
- Absolutely.
-
Patterson
- Daddy was handy. He made furniture for our living room, I remember. We
still have some of the furniture that he made. Mom took it, because they
then eventually built a home out in the high desert, where she lives
now.
-
Cox
- What is that area called?
-
Patterson
- Well, the community is called Spring Valley Lake, and it's right adjacent
to Victorville, so it's Victorville zip code. It's a separate
municipality, but it's right there with Victorville and near Apple
Valley and Hesperia.
-
Cox
- Yes. I know somebody else that went to Apple Valley not long ago. He's a
pianist, a musician. He was a conductor of the orchestra. It was one of
these--it's close by L.A., but it's a smaller town. I can't think of his
name. I'll think of it and then maybe I'll come up with it.
-
Patterson
- Yes, because my mother belongs to an organization for university women. I
forget exactly the title, but it's an organization that university
women, they come together, and the women from various universities come
together and they meet and have special programs and luncheons.
-
Cox
- Well, she might be familiar with this man. He moved from, I think it was
Inglewood before. He's conductor of the symphony orchestra.
-
Patterson
- I just came across his name recently. I can't remember it right now, but
the conductor of the Inglewood Orchestra? Gosh. Just recently I think I
came across--
-
Cox
- Yes. He lives in Apple Valley.
-
Patterson
- Really?
-
Cox
- Yes. I can't think of his name either, because I could look it up if I
did.
-
Patterson
- Oh, that's so funny. I have to go back--I don't know what I was doing. I
was online and I think I came across a gentleman's name who was the
conductor of the Inglewood Orchestra. Anyway, we'll talk about that
later. But getting back to Twin Falls at the time, and your Uncle Bert
and your Aunt Gertrude had the one daughter, Villya, who married, and
she and her husband went to Boise. Is that the only daughter that they
had?
-
Cox
- Yes, yes.
-
Patterson
- The only child?
-
Cox
- That's the only one.
-
Patterson
- Oh, I see. Okay. And then your uncle who stayed in Seattle was Uncle
Everett [Davis]. Did he ever visit Twin Falls and come and see you guys?
-
Cox
- No, he didn't. We visited him once or twice, and he was always my
favorite uncle. I don't know why. He was just charming. Oh, what was it
about Uncle Everett? He was my favorite. I really just loved him. He was
so sweet, and he would always have something to give me, just something
special. He had one of the first--I think the first post office jobs
ever given in Seattle to a black man of the type he had. He was a
supervisor, the job. It wasn't throwing mail. He was, well, I guess just
you'd call them supervisors, but he was doing more like desk work, and
he--well, I don't say--he doesn't look white, but his son does, and
maybe they thought he--I don't think that they thought he was. They gave
him that job on his talent, his ability. But he did have another son
that was another cousin of mine that I didn't mention. His son was--oh,
now that's a really interesting story.
-
Cox
- Conley, his name was Conley. Nobody knew about him, what he was. You see,
my Uncle Everett had a wife who was very fair skinned, and Conley, when
he was born, he's very fair skinned. Well, anyway, he went to a special
military-like, kind of military school, private school. He had a
uniform. And the first time I ever saw him, he had on this uniform, and
I didn't know about uniforms in school. I didn't know what it meant. I
just learned that he went to this very private school, and they all wore
uniforms. I met him that one time and then I didn't meet him anymore for
so many years. I found out that he had--there was a girl that they were
in love. I think this is by college time. He and this girl were very
much in love, and they wanted to get married, and when she told her
parents, they didn't want her to marry him, because he was not white.
He's black. He didn't look it, but he was. And the parents said no. They
were very wealthy and maybe they had a famous name, I don't know. But
they didn't want her to get mixed, and they had already picked out who
they wanted her to marry. Can you imagine? They wanted her to marry this
fellow that they wanted because he was from a very rich family, like
they were, and that was just going to be the way it was.
-
Cox
- And they married them and sent them on a honeymoon on the cruise ship.
They got to the first port, and she got to the phone and called
Conley--his name is Conley--and told him, she said, "I don't want to be
married to this man. I don't want to be with him. Do you still want to
marry me?" And he said, "Yes, I do. I still love you." She said, "Well,
then, I'm going to get off this ship at the next port," and he met her
and they got married.
-
Patterson
- Well, wasn't she already married to this other man?
-
Cox
- I don't know. Maybe she could annul it. I don't know. But anyway, I know
that she, what do you call it, jumped ship or whatever, and they met at
the next port, and they married. This was college years, or maybe it was
just after college, because, see, they knew exactly what they were
doing. Anyway, so they went on from there, and they lived their life.
Now, I don't know much about what they did, but I just know they were
living--I don't want to tell the world where they are living, not in Los
Angeles, but not far, in a city not far away from here. Anyway, that's
where they have been living, and I hadn't seen him for all the years,
until my children were about college age. At least they were up in
years, and I don't know if I should be telling all of this or not,
because I may have to back up on it. But anyway, I wanted to see him
again, my cousin, and I was glad to see him. I think he came in driving
a Rolls Royce.
-
Patterson
- He knew you lived here and he came to visit you?
-
Cox
- Yes. Even before this year or last year, it was before that, when I was
living--before I married Jimmy, so it's been some years. It's been some
years.
-
Patterson
- He came--he found you and he came driving up in a Rolls Royce?
-
Cox
- Yes. Well, my uncle by that time had come here to live. He lived here in
L.A., because he and my dad were--Uncle Everett was the last of the
uncles with my dad. They were the last two. The others had gone, had
passed, and he moved. My mother and dad wanted him to come, because they
were all getting older. As we get older, we don't want to be alone, you
know. So they were all here in L.A. But he lived in this suburb, I won't
say where. But anyway, he drove in to see his dad. That's why--he wasn't
looking for me. But then he knew that we were here, so we all got to see
him. We're just glad to see him, because he had made his big life. He
was a lawyer and they had their life, and they weren't going to have any
children, they said, but they did. I never got to meet any of them. My
uncle got to meet them, at least I think he did, but I didn't. Anyway,
that is a story that didn't need to be told, but it's just so
interesting how it happened.
-
Patterson
- It is interesting.
-
Cox
- And only in the last couple of years I read in the "Times" about a fire
in this home, in this city that I'm talking about, and they were--I
think the parents had died, and they died in this fire in their home,
some kind of--
-
Patterson
- Conley died?
-
Cox
- Yes. In the connections of things, something in the middle of the night
went wrong, and they were both found dead in there. [unclear] There was
a period of time when he would come to L.A. and I would get to see him
off and on, but not very often.
-
Patterson
- And did they have children eventually? I know you said they didn't plan
to.
-
Cox
- They said they wouldn't. They said that they wouldn't, but they had two
[unclear] that I've never seen or met them or anything.
-
Patterson
- But their daughter survived them then, after the fire?
-
Cox
- I'm sure, yes. I saw the article in the paper and it was just the two of
them. In the middle of the night, one was in the bathroom and one in the
bedroom. I guess they smothered or something, some terrible accident, so
that was the end of that story.
-
Patterson
- Well, that's a very romantic story. They opted for love.
-
Cox
- I hope nobody comes after me, because I won't tell you where it was,
because it's not in the city.
-
Patterson
- So your Uncle Everett, he stayed in Seattle. He never lived in Twin Falls
then?
-
Cox
- No, he'd come here.
-
Patterson
- He came from Seattle down to L.A. Now, didn't you say you lived with an
uncle at some point when you were at UCLA? Is this the uncle?
-
Cox
- No, no. We were going to live with my grandparents, and he died, and then
my mother stayed long enough to find a nice family that was recommended
and that she'd approve of, and they approved of us.
-
Patterson
- And by the way, what was that family? What was their family name? Do you
remember?
-
Cox
- It's been so many years. I will try, because they were so nice I'll never
forget them.
-
Patterson
- Okay. Well, maybe later we'll get that.
-
Cox
- I'll never forget them.
-
Patterson
- Were they in Pasadena?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Okay.
-
Cox
- I lived with them for one year, and then the next year I was with another
family, but that's been so many years ago.
-
Patterson
- But when you went to UCLA, wasn't there another relative, your cousin,
your mother's cousin?
-
Cox
- Well, these were distant people. Now, the cousin [unclear], I think it
was my Uncle Everett in Seattle's wife or something related to her,
because her maiden name was the same as his name.
-
Patterson
- And what was his wife's name?
-
Cox
- Maddy? I'm not sure. It's been so long.
-
Patterson
- Okay, because Maddy was H.D.'s wife. Maddy was H.D. Earle's wife.
-
Cox
- Yes, my grandmother. But I can't think of this--
-
Patterson
- Okay. And that would have been Conley's mom.
-
Cox
- Yes, first wife. His first wife. He had another one or two, I don't
remember now.
-
Patterson
- Everett did? Okay. So let's see. Did we cover everything out of Twin
Falls? Before we get all the way to L.A., I want to make sure we've got
Twin Falls covered. Oh, you know what I wanted to ask you about, your
trip from Twin Falls to Los Angeles. Did you all drive? Did your mom
drive you from Idaho to California?
-
Cox
- When my brother and I came to go to college, she drove, and there were
two young white girls--that's all that they had there anyway, but
anyway, they were nice girls and she knew who they were, and she wanted
to have a little company, so that she didn't want to go alone when she
came back. So they went with us, and they came back with her, and she
stayed until she could be sure that this was a nice family we were going
to be with.
-
Patterson
- So she drove, just she and the two girls brought you and your brother,
and you just drove straight through? Or did you stop along the way?
-
Cox
- No, not overnight. I don't think, no.
-
Patterson
- Just drove straight in.
-
Cox
- She's very brave [unclear], and she wasn't afraid.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember that trip? You'd never been out of Twin Falls up to then,
had you? Or had you visited Seattle?
-
Cox
- We might have gone on a trip somewhere, maybe. I don't remember when was
the first year in Seattle. In those days, you know, there were no
planes, no e-mail or any of those other things, and everything was just
with a long-distance phone call. But I don't remember exactly.
-
Patterson
- Because you had met your Uncle Everett. When did you meet him? I know you
said he was your favorite.
-
Cox
- I think I met him when we went to Seattle. Maybe we went there--maybe we
drove there one time. I just don't remember.
-
Patterson
- Okay, okay. And then in--
-
Cox
- I might have gone on a trip on a train, too, because he always invited
me. When I left Pasadena J.C., I was going to go to UCLA or Seattle and
stay with Uncle Everett. They gave me my choice. But by then I had made
a lot of friends in L.A., and I was familiar with more here. I think I
didn't want to go there and wouldn't know anybody. I knew Uncle Everett,
but I thought I would stay, so I didn't go. But I've been there since,
just not as a student.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the street you lived on in Twin Falls, the name of the
street or your address?
-
Cox
- Second Avenue.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember your address?
-
Cox
- 337 Second Avenue, East. I think there was an East to it.
-
Patterson
- Okay. And what was your address when you moved to Pasadena, do you
remember?
-
Cox
- It was the corner of Westgate and I think it was Forest. It was a corner
house, and it was a beautiful home, and the people were nice. They were
elderly, very nice people. They had a grown daughter, a pretty daughter.
-
Patterson
- Was it an African American family?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- And was the neighborhood an African American neighborhood, or was it a
mixed neighborhood?
-
Cox
- No, it was African American, I think. I think I remember the street,
Westgate and Forest, but I can't right now think of their name. I
probably will later. They were so nice.
-
Patterson
- Now, you mentioned you started going to Religious Science Church when you
were a teenager, I think you said.
-
Cox
- Well, that's what we did at home. My mother found that was the only
church that wanted to accept us, I mean, not that she tried every one,
but you know when people don't want you, and if you're not the right
color, they let it be known. But, I mean, my mother grew up in church,
because she could sing songs and hymns and she had a beautiful voice.
-
Patterson
- Did she sing hymns around the house and teach you hymns to sing hymns?
-
Cox
- Yes, she would. She'd hum and sing and I could tell she had such a
beautiful voice. I couldn't sing. I wasn't like that. I was a pianist,
but I couldn't sing.
-
Patterson
- What was her church background? What denomination did she belong to?
-
Cox
- I don't know. I think it was Methodist, but I'm not sure.
-
Patterson
- So she didn't find a Methodist church that she felt like she could join,
or that she would be allowed to join in Twin Falls.
-
Cox
- No. I think she just felt not--they must have given her an uneasy
feeling, not a warm welcome.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the Religious Science congregation that your mom joined
and that you all joined?
-
Cox
- Just an ordinary white congregation.
-
Patterson
- And the music was--
-
Cox
- The music that they had, and my mother sang the hymns with everybody
else, and her voice would just stand out, so beautiful, because she had
such a beautiful, natural voice. Yes.
-
Patterson
- She wanted to be an actress, didn't she?
-
Cox
- You know, when she was in Idaho, and one thing that she did that I didn't
know about--I mean, I didn't know about her desire. But I think that she
somehow had a desire to be an actress, or either that or she just--she
always wanted--she believed in school, and she believed in education.
She took up classes at a college called Gooding College, and you
understand if she married at sixteen that she couldn't have been to
school. She couldn't have gone beyond high school.
-
Patterson
- She was sixteen when she married your dad?
-
Cox
- Yes. So she had not gone beyond high school. But she believed in
education, and she saw an opportunity to go to college at this town
called Gooding, Gooding College.
-
Patterson
- Nearby Twin Falls?
-
Cox
- It was somewhere near. I don't know where it was, except somewhere near,
and she went and took classes there, and she took drama for one thing
and other things also. But she got a degree from high school before we
left Idaho. No, no. When she came here, she went and got that high
school degree.
-
Patterson
- In L.A.?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Oh, wow.
-
Cox
- But she went to college there, and she had a great feeling of acting. And
when she came here, at some point she went to someplace where they were
asking for actresses, and she was an actress. I have a picture of her.
She was in a particular play, and I can't think of the name of it, but
she was good, she was very good.
-
Patterson
- Oh, so she got her dream then, in a way. She wanted to be on the stage
and she was able to do that.
-
Cox
- Yes, but she was really very good, and they wrote her up, good writing in
the paper. I might find one of the write-ups somewhere.
-
Patterson
- That would be great. So she moved to Idaho with your dad, and she hadn't
finished high school, but she was able to take some classes at Gooding
College. Did your dad support that? He obviously did.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. Anything she wanted, she had. He wanted her to be happy.
-
Patterson
- Great. So you were a little girl and your mom would go away and have
classes sometimes. Did you have anybody else that you stayed with when
she was in school?
-
Cox
- Oh, I can't remember any time we were left alone. Maybe my grandmother
was there. I don't know. I don't remember.
-
Patterson
- And you had uncles and aunts and all of that in town.
-
Cox
- Yes, but I don't remember anything like babysitting, but I guess there
was somebody, because we were always protected.
-
Patterson
- In Pasadena, the people that you stayed with at Westgate and Forest, you
were at this home with the family, and they had their own--
-
Cox
- Moore. His name was Moore.
-
Patterson
- Oh, the Moore family. Okay.
-
Cox
- Mr. and Mrs. Moore. I'm sure that was it. They were so nice.
-
Patterson
- Were they musical at all?
-
Cox
- They had a piano, and I practiced, but I didn't practice very much. Once
I moved away from home and was in college, I did my college homework,
but I didn't go practice. I don't know why. I wish somebody had just
told me, "Don't ever stop practicing." Even after I had graduated from
UCLA and I went to USC [University of Southern California] to get my
master's in music, and I had to do a concert. No, I went to Cal State
[California State University, Los Angeles] for that. Anyway, I had to do
a concert, and I had to practice, and I hadn't been used to doing that
for so long, but I did. I practiced hard and practiced hard, but I
didn't in general do that when later I went to USC. I was working, never
did finish the doctorate.
-
Patterson
- Well, at least they had a piano that you could play if you ever wanted to
play, the Moore family.
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- Were they musical at all themselves?
-
Cox
- I don't think so, not any more than that they would appreciate what
someone else does.
-
Patterson
- But I guess it's just nice to have a piano in the home, isn't it?
-
Cox
- Well, it was nice for them to have it, and it would have been nicer if I
had practiced it. I think I just got the feeling that being in college I
had to study for college, and I didn't--I mean, even though I was a
music major, I wasn't a piano major. In that time I was not that, so I
did not take--I wish that I had, because even now I don't do anything
that I would like to. But I think that in due time I had to do it, and I
did it.
-
Patterson
- When you came and now you're at a junior college, you're in a big town
and you're around other African American young people like you were,
what are some of the first things beyond just music that you became
interested in? Of course you were interested in music and education,
obviously that. Anything else open up to you at that time that was
exciting?
-
Cox
- Well, big-city life, big-city life was so new to me. I mean, even having
been in Pasadena, it wasn't really like a big city like here, and then
especially being at UCLA on the campus, everything--there was so much
that I hadn't ever seen before. It was nice, because there was so much.
I mean, there's just so much everywhere.
-
Patterson
- Did it seem a little strange, though? Because you had been around white
people all your life, so you were more maybe accustomed to that. Did
anything seem shocking about now being part of an African American
environment? Was it a little daunting, overwhelming in any way?
-
Cox
- Not shocking, but it was nice to be with more of my own people. It was
nice, and it was good to be able to visit with the black churches. I
didn't visit much with them, because I went to the Religious Science,
and at that time there was never any that I knew of, except the one that
was mixed, and, in fact, it was really white. And then even when I came
to L.A., I didn't find any Religious Science church that was of color. I
mean, there are now, but there weren't at that time. But I visited a lot
of the churches of my friends, and so those were--and it was good to
know something about other churches. I needed to know how important the
black church is to our people. I needed to know that and all of the
things about it that are different and yet important and big and
meaningful.
-
Patterson
- So were you exposed then to gospel choirs and gospel music and all that,
at that time when you came to Pasadena?
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- Did you ever join a church musical activity?
-
Cox
- I didn't really. I never felt that I was a really good singer. I'm not
really. I don't think so. I mean, I could do it if they wanted me to
play piano, but I just never was a good singer, and I don't try to be
one.
-
Patterson
- What about gospel piano? Did you start to hear and play gospel piano?
-
Cox
- If I learned that, I can play some jazz, really. That's what I didn't
know, and if I had gotten into that more, because I really wanted to do
that, and I do know now that especially Baptist churches, that rhythm
and chords, I mean, it's just coming out. Every time you hear it, you
can hear a little bit of that, too. You know that's what it is, and if
you can do that I would assume you can go home and turn it into jazz.
But in those days I didn't know that.
-
Patterson
- So you would go and visit the churches and hear the music at least, even
if you weren't participating, but you heard it and liked it.
-
Cox
- And appreciated it for what it means there and what the rhythm and the
feeling is overall, so much. [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- Going back to UCLA and that black students were not allowed to be in the
dormitories--they wouldn't allow them to live on campus.
-
Cox
- No. There were no dormitories for us. But, see, now I guess I was lucky.
I was going to say most of those who did have cars shared, and we could
for ten cents, fifteen, whatever, could ride with them, and they'd pick
us up. But I don't know, maybe there were some that didn't know anybody
and that didn't get a ride, because there were times when I would ride
the bus if I would--I remember one time they came by and honked the horn
and I was there. It seemed to me that I gave them a signal, but I must
have not, because they thought I wasn't coming, and they left. And I
came down the steps and came out, and there they were. I said, "Where's
my ride?" And I had to go get the bus, but that was just, I guess,
something--maybe I didn't make it clear that I was running a little late
or something. But you're not supposed to run late, supposed to be on
time with them waiting, because the car is full.
-
Patterson
- Well, where were you coming from? Where did you live?
-
Cox
- Well, the first semester, when I lived with my uncle's wife's relatives,
I lived on 18th Street between Central and the next street over, and
guess who picked me up, and guess who I rode with? Tom Bradley.
-
Patterson
- Yes, you were telling us. What did he used to talk about on the way? What
were his interests at that time in his life?
-
Cox
- Well, see, I got the back rumble seat outside, because the big woman got
the--the one that knew him so well, and she was big, bigger than I was,
and she would fight. I was afraid of her. And she told me when it rained
to get out and get back in the back seat, that is her seat.
-
Patterson
- But did you listen to them talk?
-
Cox
- No. I couldn't hear them talk. And besides, I would talk with my
girlfriend in the back that became my best girlfriend, because they were
always riding together.
-
Patterson
- What was her name?
-
Cox
- Anita Beverly from Riverside. She lived in Riverside.
-
Patterson
- Well, she was coming all the way to UCLA from Riverside?
-
Cox
- She stayed with a cousin here.
-
Patterson
- And so Tom would pick her up--
-
Cox
- At her cousin's house.
-
Patterson
- --at her cousin's house.
-
Cox
- And then later she went wherever she was and where we both were living,
the same things, what she would do is go ahead. But she didn't stay. She
had to go back. I think her father couldn't keep her there. I mean, it
was [unclear].
-
Patterson
- So she couldn't finish school?
-
Cox
- Well, not then, but later she went to Redlands, you know, out there in
Redlands, that very good school.
-
Patterson
- So did you ever get to talk to Tom Bradley about his life and what he was
interested in at the time?
-
Cox
- Well, I was kind of shy. I didn't talk much to him, because he was big
and tall, and I was kind of scared to try to talk to him.
-
Patterson
- Well, how did it happen that he picked you up then?
-
Cox
- I never will know. I mean, I don't know. It just seemed like--maybe my
uncle's wife's friend knew somebody and could make a connection. I
didn't ask. I was just glad to go out and get in the car and ride.
-
Patterson
- So this first year at UCLA, now you're coming from Pasadena Junior
College, now you're on this even bigger campus with students from all
over, and you're living with a new family, people that you hadn't really
known before. What was that like? What was your home situation like
then? Was there a piano there? Did they support your music?
-
Cox
- I don't recall that there was. There may have been, but if there was I
probably didn't practice it. At that stage I was all into this
university, but I just don't remember very much about--I know that I
didn't stay there the second year. I had another cousin that I didn't
know about with my mother's step-aunt, stepmother, a relative of hers in
that southern town that I can't think of. Anyway, it was a cousin to the
stepmother, and she and her husband lived over a few blocks away on 21st
Street, and that's where I was to stay. I think my mother would work it
out with somebody. So that's where I was to stay that year.
-
Patterson
- Now, your mother was still in Idaho, right?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- But she would arrange with her various relatives that you'd have a place
to stay.
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- Okay. But you don't remember your mom's stepmother's name?
-
Cox
- No, because I really never knew her.
-
Patterson
- She was just a reference. She just referred your mom to people that she
knew.
-
Cox
- Yes. I don't think my mother ever really met her. She might have, though,
but I can't recall that I knew her name.
-
Patterson
- So the family that you lived with the second year was not that far. They
were--
-
Cox
- Just three blocks away on 21st Street.
-
Patterson
- And Central?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Oh, so that was in East L.A. So you're sort of getting used to that
environment around Central Avenue during that time, and then you'd have
that long car ride in the morning. Of course, no traffic in those days
like there is now, to UCLA. And so the first year at a big research
university, how did you do in school?
-
Cox
- I just remember standing in line and waiting for things that I had to do
and taking the classes that I was taking, and then being at the right
place at the right time to ride back with one of the drivers.
-
Patterson
- So you wouldn't get left?
-
Cox
- Yes, so I wouldn't have to go on the bus. Sometimes I had to go on the
bus, but we would all try to connect with someone we knew that might be
driving, and it would save us a little time.
-
Patterson
- What was the classroom situation? Were you many times the only African
American student in your classes?
-
Cox
- Not at UCLA. Maybe there would be one or two, but not many.
-
Patterson
- Were they mostly music education, or what kind of classes did you take
that first year?
-
Cox
- I think they were basic. I had to take more than music in order to get in
and get out of there, but I don't remember. I do know that the basic
classes that I needed were music, but also if you remember, in high
school when they graduated me early, because they said my grades were
good, I could make it up in college, and I had to take some of those,
like science courses that I hadn't had. So I was not taking only music.
I had to do the basic classes that were just part of getting a degree.
-
Patterson
- And you were a little younger than the other students, probably.
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Did you feel any stress in those early days of UCLA?
-
Cox
- Just, you know, the main stress I felt was that I was so nearsighted.
When we were first--it was in Idaho when they first realized that I was
so nearsighted, and I began to wear glasses. And my brother would just
tease me. He'd say, "Oh, four eyes, oh, four eyes." He'd tease me and
tease me and make me feel like I just was some kind of a freakish
person, so that whenever I'd get around anybody else, I'd take them off.
And there's one good-looking fellow that came from Salt Lake City, a
good-looking black fellow, beautiful brown skin and tall, and he worked
for my dad. And every time I'd see him, I'd think he was so cute. I
said, "Ooh, he's cute," and I was just kind of in love with him, I
thought.
-
Patterson
- This was in Twin Falls?
-
Cox
- Yes. And every time I'd see him coming down the street I'd snatch off my
glasses, because my brother told me I looked like a monkey or something.
But you know all kids tease, and my brother teased me so much that for
many years I hated my glasses and I would try to take them off and try
not to wear them. And even in college I would wear them in the
classroom, and when I'd come out I'd have them off, because I looked so
freakish or funny. My brother was always very loving, but he sure did
tease me all the time, and he made me feel that I was like a monkey, and
I just didn't want to wear them.
-
Patterson
- This is before contact lenses.
-
Cox
- It was long before contact lenses. And so when you say how did I feel or
how did I like everything, I was probably missing everything that I'd go
outside to see. A lot of people thought I was a little bit stuck up,
because I didn't speak to them. I said, "I didn't see you." "But I was
right there." I said, "Well, I didn't know it was you." That was so
stupid, but it was a stupid thing I did for years, because I really
thought that he was right, that I looked like a monkey or something.
-
Patterson
- Yes, those things are important to us when we're really young, huh, like
how we looked to everyone.
-
Cox
- And I don't think my parents realized he was doing that, because they
would have stopped him, I know. [Interruption]
-
Patterson
- Did you have any trouble with your studies because of your eyesight?
-
Cox
- No, not that, because the books are close, and that's not something that
you have to--
-
Patterson
- Oh, if you're nearsighted, yes, you can read your books okay. It's just
the distance.[Interruption]
-
Patterson
- So you were okay then. You must have been a really bright young lady. You
were younger than the others.
-
Cox
- Not any more than anybody else.
-
Patterson
- But you got through your first year okay and got into the second year.
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- And you were part of the AKAs. When did you join the sorority?
-
Cox
- Oh, the first year, I guess. They wait a year or so, and they take you
and initiate you, and then they decide whether they take you in. But do
you know Corrine Taylor, Corrine Jones? Anyway, she and I were initiated
together, and neither one of us have really done much, because I know
she married and had a child, and then remarried and had another child.[Interruption]
-
Patterson
- So Corrine Jones was in the AKAs with you. She was like your good friend
in AKAs?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Was she a music person, too?
-
Cox
- No. No. I don't know what her major was.
-
Patterson
- What did most of the African American students major in while you were at
UCLA? Did you find that there was any particular subject more than
another?
-
Cox
- There was a variety. I know one that became a doctor and one that was a
chemist or something. He was always involved with chemistry. And then,
let's see, I can't think just where, but I think they all became
something. One of them is a very good friend of mine, and he's had
trouble with his eyes. And at first when they--like during these past
years, most of our young men when they graduate, the best job they could
get back then, and this is, what, how many years back, twenty-five,
thirty years ago--the best job they could get would be at the post
office or on the police force or be a fireman, and that was hard,
fireman. That's the way it was, and they just couldn't get any other
job. Even if they had a degree in science, they'd have to just take a
job like that. Nowadays, of course, they are recognized. If they have a
degree in science or whatever it is, they can get those jobs, but in the
forties it was very hard.
-
Cox
- And this particular fellow I'm talking about, he went into the post
office, and he was working in the post office for some years, and he
kept saying to a mutual friend of ours that, he said, "I know I could do
better than this. I know I could do better than this. I don't want to be
a postman." He made up his mind and he decided to go into real estate,
and he is a very wealthy man now. He went in and he sold property, and
he made so much money, and he bought a home of his own for his family.
He married and has a family, and he has a home out by the Century City
where they have all those beautiful homes, by the--what do you call that
where they have the shopping? Well, just around there, there are some
beautiful homes. His street is called Centurywood, and he bought that
years back now, before it was all as great as it is, but he still bought
it and he owns it.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember his name?
-
Cox
- Clifford Johnson. He has a family and all, and he has this beautiful home
out there, and I'm so proud of him. And a lot of the fellows, of course,
have moved up, because they started out like that in the post office, or
either that or on the police force or--
-
Patterson
- Or firefighters.
-
Cox
- My ex-husband was a policeman.
-
Patterson
- So now that you're living on--your first two years you were on 18th
Street and then 21st Street, but you were around Central Avenue. Did you
ever go to--I know when you were at Pasadena you didn't. You said you
were a little shy to go out, so some of the young people were sneaking
out to go to Central Avenue. Did you ever?
-
Cox
- I never did, and I never would have thought I'd write a book called
"Central Avenue." I never thought that I would do that. I had no idea.
But the house was on 21st Street, and I think right at the corner or the
next corner was the Lincoln Theater, which was a very popular place, and
I did get to go to the Lincoln Theater and see the shows. Then they had
all the little nightclubs all up and down Central Avenue and then the
Club Alabam. They had all of that then, but I didn't go to any of those.
Even all through college I remember one of my friends, she and her
boyfriend went to the Club Alabam, and she sneaked out, because her
mother didn't allow her to go, but she just sneaked out because, you
know, a lot of kids do that at that time and didn't get in any trouble.
But it was just the way it was. Most of us weren't supposed to go into
clubs when we're that young.
-
Patterson
- Were you curious, though? Were you ever curious about those shows, the
shows that happened on Central Avenue? Were you ever curious about them?
-
Cox
- Oh, well, yes, I was. I was, but I didn't think that I would even be
allowed to--and I don't think I had the date that would take me there,
because they were probably as scared as I was to try to go before
twenty-one, and none of us were twenty-one. We were like eighteen and
nineteen, twenty. But even after twenty-one, I think maybe we had a
chance to do other things.
-
Patterson
- So now you're in your third and fourth year at UCLA. Did anything change
for you during the course of your time at UCLA? Or did you stay with
your relatives throughout?
-
Cox
- Well, I'd had two years at Pasadena, so it's third and fourth, and then I
had that added year because of high school, leaving early. I don't know.
Like I said to you, there were no places for us on the campus like the
dormitory houses, sorority houses and fraternity houses. We all had a
place mostly in town. And the classes--there were no real problems. The
only time I had a problem, I think I told you that when I was doing my
practice teaching and it was at--what was the name of that school? I
know University High School was where I did the high school practice
teaching, but the elementary was--
-
Patterson
- I think my mom did her practice teaching at University High. I'll have to
ask her. But where was University High?
-
Cox
- University High is in Westwood, and I think it's west of the campus. I'm
pretty sure. But I told you some of that.
-
Patterson
- Yes. But you went to Oberlin.
-
Cox
- After I graduated.
-
Patterson
- But you had a typing job before that, right? Do you remember where?
-
Cox
- Oh, it was just downtown.
-
Patterson
- Downtown L.A.?
-
Cox
- Downtown in the business section, and, oh, it was so dry. I just typed
all day, the same thing. It was horrible. I couldn't imagine myself
doing that after graduating. I didn't know why I should have to. But I
quit that job the first year, and then when I had the opportunity to go
to Oberlin, that's what I did.
-
Patterson
- And then when you came back--
-
Cox
- When I came back, I got married.
-
Patterson
- Okay. So then when did you go to Cal State L.A. to do your master's?
-
Cox
- Oh, that was--
-
Patterson
- Much later?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes, some years later. I just knew I needed to go higher, like I
needed to go higher and then I worked on my doctorate, but I haven't
finished that yet, so I guess I won't. But those were just because I
wanted to, but I knew that I should.
-
Patterson
- So when you went to Oberlin--we talked a little bit about Oberlin, and
you stayed with a family in Oberlin. Do you remember their names?
-
Cox
- Thomas.
-
Patterson
- The Thomas family?
-
Cox
- They were wonderful, yes. And they had a daughter and a son, and the
daughter, I think she took some classes at the conservatory. But I
remember how beautiful it was there when I--the minute you leave this
ordinary street section and step across to the park, it's a big park,
and the minute you get in the park you could just hear music coming from
everywhere, piano playing and singing and other instruments, and I was
always just so thrilled, every day, that I'd just go in the park and I'd
hear all this and then go right into the conservatory.
-
Patterson
- Did you know then that you wanted to teach, be in music education?
-
Cox
- No, I didn't. I just knew I wanted to play the piano, and I wanted to do
more--the first thing that I think that I learned was to listen. I had
never--nobody told me to listen. So much importance with that, because
when you hear or play a chord or no matter what it is, if you don't
listen carefully, you just don't ever get acquainted with the importance
of chords. I'd never had anyone talk to me about that and tell me to
really listen, because everything was--just with your fingers. There
were chords we played, but then they really emphasized the importance of
being able to listen to sounds.
-
Patterson
- So you were maturing as a musician during this time, and then you came
back and got married.
-
Cox
- And had two children. Oh, no, not by then I had not, no.
-
Patterson
- So when you first came back to L.A. you got married, and did you start
teaching then, or practice teaching?
-
Cox
- No. I think I didn't start teaching until '46.
-
Patterson
- Now, there was a war, obviously, that was going on. How was your life
affected by the war years? In any way? Did you find that life was a
little different at that time for you?
-
Cox
- I'm trying to think back. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, that was before
I graduated. I was still on campus, and some of the fellows had to be
drafted and they had to go. Then there was this--oh, now I can't think
of the name of it, where a lot of the fellows from college went, because
it's where they had--oh, gosh--it was where they all went to be in the
Air Force. They wanted to be--there's a big movie about it, and I know
it so well that I can't think.
-
Patterson
- Well, we'll get it later.
-
Cox
- I'll think of it another time. There is a big movie about this black
group of black airmen and how they were so great.
-
Patterson
- The Tuskegee Airmen?
-
Cox
- And they didn't want them at first, and they had to have their own
separate--
-
Patterson
- The Tuskegee Airmen?
-
Cox
- The Tuskegee, yes. There you go. Thank you, thank you. Yes, the Tuskegee
Airmen, and Melanie [Blocker] married one of the Tuskegee Airmen, I
think. Now, I'm not sure. I may be mistaken, but I kind of thought that
she did, but at any rate, a good friend of ours, anyway. I think maybe
he was, but I'm not really sure. But one of the ones at our school, Bill
Johnson, I know--I think that he--well, I know his brother. His brother
was in the Air Force, and his brother had a bad, a very difficult thing
happen. He ran into a mountain or something and they lost him.
-
Patterson
- He was a Tuskegee Airman?
-
Cox
- Yes. It was his brother.
-
Patterson
- Bill Johnson's brother?
-
Cox
- Yes. But Bill is still here.
-
Patterson
- Was Bill in school with you?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- He was at UCLA with you?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Okay. So some of the guys from the UCLA campus went off to join the
Tuskegee Airmen?
-
Cox
- Right. Yes, they did.
-
Patterson
- And Bill Johnson's brother was one of them.
-
Cox
- Yes. And another brother of his was never found. He was lost before any
of this happened. He was out--he was in the service. But it's just so
sad when things happen, even if you don't know them. But when you know
them, it's really hard. But there was another one--well, there were
several that were with us, and there is a movie that you ought to all
see that. Don't ever miss it, because they keep playing it if you're
interested, the Tuskegee Airmen, and it's so true, and they tell the
story. Yes, because they had a difficult time being accepted. When they
finally did, they outdid everybody else. They had fewer accidents or
anything that went wrong when they went out to do their job.
-
Patterson
- Very distinguished.
-
Cox
- Yes. And that was during the time that I was on campus, and I remember
that--well, it was during the time that they were drafting the men and
they had to go. Then I think it was my last semester when things really
began to happen.
-
Patterson
- So some of your friends went away to war. Some of the young men you knew
or knew of went away to war at the time. Any of your relatives affected
by the war?
-
Cox
- I don't think so. I don't think so. But I'm very thankful my brother
didn't have to go, or he was too young, maybe. I don't know if he wasn't
too young, I guess, but he didn't have to go.
-
Patterson
- I know that was a relief. When was it that your mother and father came to
live in Los Angeles?
-
Cox
- Well, we had been gone quite a few years, and my mother--but, see, my
father, by having his own business there and people coming and going, he
always had someone to talk to. He always could see what was going on in
the world. But my mother, there was nothing for her. I mean, she didn't
work out. She was a homemaker and it was just she lived for us and doing
for us, always, always, and when we were gone, there was nothing for
her. We kept begging--once we got out here to stay for a while, we were
begging them to come to California. My mother wanted to come, because
she didn't want to live in Idaho anymore. There was nothing there for
her, not anything. My grandmother lived down at the corner, and she had
her to talk to. There was a lady across the street that she was friendly
with, but there was just--imagine a young woman. She was still young, in
her, say, forties. I don't know, but she was young enough that she still
wanted some life and there was nothing. The years went by and then after
I got married, then they came for the wedding, of course, and then they
went back. And then she still was telling him she wants to come back
here and live.
-
Cox
- And then it was like when I had my first child, she came back to be with
me for the first child, and I think that was the time that she stayed.
He was going to sell his business and the house, but he had to wait and
do it. She came and he didn't come yet. But anyway, it was--well, by the
time the baby was ready to be born I think he got here. But anyway, that
was--
-
Patterson
- And she lived with you when she came, she lived with you and your
husband?
-
Cox
- No. She came early. She wanted to buy--in selling our property there and
buy some property here. By that time, my brother had been married, and
he brought his wife home to her, and he went in the service for a little
while. So his wife was there with my mother and the baby, by then, and
then that was all she had. I mean, she still didn't have any real life.
She was sixteen when she married, remember. She didn't get to see the
world or do anything, but so she still wanted--but by the time that I
had a child, then she really began. She came back for a little while for
my first child, I think it was. The second one was when she came and
stayed.
-
Patterson
- Then she stayed with your brother and his wife?
-
Cox
- No. She bought a house. She stayed in the house they bought. She was to
buy the house. She looked and looked, and she bought a house with two on
a lot, because she knew that my brother's wife was going to be there,
because he was still not--in fact, he wasn't coming home much and all
that. So she had to have two houses on a lot. But anyway, she bought
what she needed. She bought a lovely home and all these years they've
been there since, but this was some years after we had left. See, this
was after we had both been married and had a child and so on, and she'd
been through a lot, just because she was lonely. In fact, she did a
little job just because she didn't want to sit around doing nothing, and
then she gave that up. But they moved here in, I think it was '46, and
then my dad, as I say, sold his property and gave up his business, sold
his business, and he studied for a real estate license and had opened up
his own real estate office here on Adams. So from that time on, he was
in real estate and was a super real estate broker, too, on Adams. His
office was up there not far from Western or Normandie.
-
Patterson
- Near Western or Normandie and Adams.
-
Cox
- Somewhere in there. And then that's where they both--and my mother worked
in the office with him. You'd think she was the head broker. But she had
a good life, and she joined a club and became a bigwig.
-
Patterson
- So she liked L.A. then?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. She is so personable, and she knew everybody. She met more
people, and she joined a club, and she had a club called the Business
and Professional Women. They were all about business and professional
things. And then she was in a play once, because she studied at Gooding
College and she had been wanting to do that, and she got in this play in
Hollywood somewhere, and they wrote her up in the paper. And then
when--what was the man's name that had the theater here on Crenshaw that
used to be--remember, he just worked so hard so many years to make this
a success. Now, what was his name? He and his wife.
-
Patterson
- The Ebony Showcase Theater?
-
Cox
- Yes. Say that again?
-
Patterson
- The Ebony Showcase Theater, on Washington Boulevard?
-
Cox
- Yes, and it was named--but you remember him, he and his wife?
-
Patterson
- I think I know who you mean.
-
Cox
- That's before that church took it over, that church there now on that
corner? The same place. And then they had the play--what is this famous
play? It has to do with Africa. Anyway, my mother was in the play. She
was one of the actresses. She was an actress, and she was good. My
daughter was only seven years old, and they needed a little girl, and
she said, "Well, Carole is a big talker, and she's not afraid." Then she
said, "My granddaughter can be in it." And so my daughter was in the
play. I wish I could think of the name of it. It has beautiful music. It
will come to me sometime, I can tell you, but I can't say right now.
-
Patterson
- So Carole was able to be in it as a little girl.
-
Cox
- It'd be in the scrapbooks. I'll find that. I'll look for that for you,
because I didn't go through any of them, because I said I'll wait and
let you choose what you want, but I can think of things that I should
just point to, point them out. But that was really fun. I was dating
Jimmy at the time, yes.
-
Patterson
- Where was your first home when you first married? Where did you live?
-
Cox
- On--I should never forget it. It was a little house with a big lot in
front of it and lots of grass with just a little house. Oh, dear, I
can't--
-
Patterson
- Was it near where your dad set up his business, near Adams?
-
Cox
- It was between Western and Arlington and between Jefferson and
Exposition, and it was just a little house. That was the policeman
husband.
-
Patterson
- And then when your mom bought her property, where did she buy?
-
Cox
- On Eighth Avenue, between Jefferson and--a few blocks from Jefferson, not
far from where we were. So we were all kind of close. We could all be
close when we needed to be.
-
Patterson
- Oh, that's great. That's great. And your brother, now you said that he
didn't go to the war, but he did join the service?
-
Cox
- He was in the service for a short time, and I don't know, I don't
remember how long. It wasn't very long, and he was out.
-
Patterson
- And his wife had a child during that time?
-
Cox
- Yes. It wasn't a very good marriage. Still had the child.
-
Patterson
- He had a boy or a girl?
-
Cox
- Girl.
-
Patterson
- He had a little girl. So they lived--both houses were on the same lot, is
that what you meant?
-
Cox
- Where my mother bought the house, yes.
-
Patterson
- So they were close together. So she was the younger grandchild on the
same property.
-
Cox
- Yes, that's the way she is. If he wasn't doing right, she was going to
make sure everything was right. But he was just not happy, I guess.
-
Patterson
- What were his dreams? What did he want to do? Now, I know you said that
he was a little bit of a musician.
-
Cox
- It's hard to say what he really wanted, because he could have been a
brilliant speaker and a brilliant almost anything. He's very smart. But
he was restless, and I think he didn't marry someone he would have
wanted to stay with. I don't know. I think he was just not happy and he
just wouldn't do right. But he was very personable. He'd walk in here
and just make all of you love him to pieces, just love him, so
personable, and then be here for about fifteen minutes and liven up the
joint, you know, and everybody feeling so good, and all of a sudden
[claps], "Well, I've got to go, got an appointment. See you guys later."
And we won't see him for maybe another six months or four months,
because he just had that kind of a life, a personality. He's restless,
and he could have been anything if he could, but he couldn't. He
couldn't but he couldn't; he could have. But he was just restless.
-
Patterson
- Did you remain close, you and your brother John?
-
Cox
- No, he's gone now. One night they called and he was just--he was drinking
something. I don't think he drank liquor, but he was eating and
drinking. Maybe he choked or something, or swallowed too fast or
something and just fell out. They had to take him to the hospital, and
he was gone.
-
Patterson
- Did he live in L.A. throughout?
-
Cox
- Yes. Well, when he was in town. He was here, he was there. He always had
to go somewhere. But he could win everybody over, personality plus and
walk in and just make you feel like a million dollars. On Christmas Day,
a special day, "Oh, sure, I'm going to have dinner with you. You know
I'll be here." And then he comes walking in like a gust of wind and
would make you all feel good and make you laugh and all, and then all of
a sudden, "Well, I've got to go. See you. I'll call you. I'll call you.
Goodbye."
-
Patterson
- So his daughter, does she still live in Los Angeles?
-
Cox
- His daughter has her own business up on the corner of Crenshaw and
Wilshire in, what is it? I can't seem to think what it is.
-
Patterson
- What is her name?
-
Cox
- Belinda Yarbrough, my maiden name. It's a business, printing--let's see.
She wants to be a CPA, but she has her own business in business. It's a
lot having to do with numbers and money?
-
Patterson
- Accounting?
-
Cox
- Accounting. I tell you, I'm losing it. You should interview people that
are younger, if they can remember things. I'm forgetting too many
things.
-
Patterson
- Well, we're a partner in this. We're getting it.
-
Cox
- Yes, it is an accounting business, and I hope she'll go on and get her
CPA, because she's smart. But she's had a difficult time, because, well,
she's young and life just hasn't been good to her for some reason. She
hasn't seen enough of her family, that immediate family, the mother. I
don't know.
-
Patterson
- So his wife didn't stay close to you all?
-
Cox
- Not [unclear]. I don't know. She's gone now, recently, and Belinda has a
couple of children, too. I don't know too much about what's happening
there. I try to keep in touch, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. I
don't even want to mention it.
-
Patterson
- Yes, but it seems like everybody stayed pretty much in the same area,
though, the same kind of neighborhood. So when you started teaching, the
first thing you did was you went to University High to do your practice
teaching, right? That was in the beginning now.
-
Cox
- No, but first it was the elementary school. Nora Sterry [Elementary]. I
knew I would--it just came to me. The elementary school--I had to do
practice teaching at Nora Sterry Elementary School, and that went very
well. Then after that semester, I had to do high school teaching or
practice teaching at University High School, and I told you about that,
the little boy who wouldn't do. And they have a black principal there
now.
-
Patterson
- Oh, really. Now, when did you start at Nora Sterry for your first
practice teaching appointment?
-
Cox
- Oh, gosh, I don't know what year. You want the year?
-
Patterson
- Well, approximately. I mean, you had come back and you got married and
you had your child. You had Carol, right?
-
Cox
- It must have been '40, 1940 or '41.
-
Patterson
- But you didn't graduate UCLA until '42, so you started your practice
teaching while--
-
Cox
- No, wait. What are you asking me? Maybe I forgot what you're asking me.
-
Patterson
- No, just to clarify, you started your practice teaching while you were
still at university?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So when you came back to L.A. and you got married and you had your
children, when did you actually take a teaching position?
-
Cox
- Oh, the first one was at Hooper Avenue School on the East Side.
-
Patterson
- Okay. And that was an elementary school?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- And how was that? Did you enjoy that?
-
Cox
- Fine. I was there for ten years. Then I had one short year or semester at
another school, but I was really pulled to the West Side, down at
Cienega, where I spent about twenty years. That was the school I spent
most of my life there, until the last--when they started the integration
of schools, they wanted me to go to the first magnet school. They had
started the magnet schools for the integration, and I was at the first
magnet. I was the music teacher for that school. Then I was only there a
semester when they pulled me downtown to be a music advisor for all the
schools. So I was music advisor when I left. I had to go to the
different schools. I was presenting--it was this integration thing,
because I was presenting classes on music that were done by--like Eubie
Blake was in town, and I had him to do a program, and one of them was
New Orleans music, and I had a New Orleans band to play. I'd first give
a lecture, one hour, then I'd have the music. When I had Eubie Blake, I
interviewed him one hour and he played a little, and then he played some
of his numbers.
-
Cox
- Then I did one on the church, the black church, which was a thing I
really wanted to learn more about myself even. I had one semester and I
had Maurice McGehee, who is a wonderful musician, wonderful with church
music, and he got those chords and the feeling and everything. I
interviewed him and then he played some music, and I have all of these
videos I'll show you one day.
-
Patterson
- Okay. That's many years, though, after Hooper Avenue.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes.
-
Patterson
- Now, at Hooper Avenue it was an all-black school? Or were there other
ethnicities that attended there?
-
Cox
- There may have been a very few Mexicans, Latinos, but basically--I think
at that time that's the only place they would have sent me or any of us,
because that was segregation, not integration yet, see. And that's where
one of our best or most known teachers was, Albert McNeil. Everybody
knows Al. Well, he and I graduated together from UCLA. But he was
teaching there, and when he left they called me to teach there, and he
went on to junior high school.
-
Patterson
- So you sort of took his position on staff as a music teacher? Like when
Albert left, did you sort of fill in, or did you come into that space
that he left open, as a music teacher?
-
Cox
- I guess so, because they were going to send me somewhere, and they sent
me there, and I was told that he had just been there, and he went to
junior high school. No, he went to another school, Latino, I think,
because he speaks Spanish pretty well.
-
Patterson
- Oh, really. Was the faculty also African American there?
-
Cox
- I think it was, not completely, though. But I think mostly it was.
-
Patterson
- How was that experience at Hooper Avenue? I know you said it was good.
But was it difficult in any way just coming into your first real adult
professional position? You had a child.
-
Cox
- It was interesting. It was good and I felt good about it, because I felt
prepared, and everybody was nice, everybody was good, and they were all
prepared, all professionals. The only thing--I may have told you this, I
don't know. See, as a music teacher you're expected to teach the
children in classes where they have singing and music of all kinds, and
at some point you do something with the instrumental program. So I found
that that was the thing I really liked the best. I'm not a singer. I was
not necessarily piano, but an instrumentalist, really mainly piano.
Anyway, I was trying to start an orchestra, and I found two or three
children that were taking lessons from somebody, and so I worked with it
and developed it so that it seemed like we could get a little group
together, and it seemed like there were a couple of other teachers in
the community that wanted to do the same thing, but they just couldn't
get it going. I told them that I was getting mine together. They said,
"Well, why don't we combine? We'll come over to you." And so you, me, or
me, you go one or the other. Well, I didn't want to go, because I had
about enough to get started, and they didn't have but one or two kids.
-
Cox
- So they walked over to my school. They weren't far away, both of them.
One came from Ascot and one came from I think it was 49th Street, I'm
not sure. But they came and brought one or two children with them, and
when we got together we had an orchestra. I mean, we had enough children
to do it. So I would just take over and I would give them lessons every
week on the instrumental music, and before long we were playing together
and we had a little orchestra. So they liked doing that, and so we kept
it going that semester, and then after that I knew enough to keep the
orchestra without them. I mean, I didn't want to force them. I mean,
they're welcome, but I was doing enough without them. But from that
point on, I always felt that instruments and instrumental music was my
thing, because they would make comments. One time the superintendent or
somebody in the district--I don't know who it was, but somebody that
wanted to have a big meeting of the teachers, just the teachers, not the
students, but they wanted some entertainment or something. They wanted
some music, and someone told them about my orchestra, and so they all
decided that my orchestra should play for all these teachers that were
coming. So we played and it was all very successful, and so from that
time on I was just kind of known as the orchestra teacher, because it's
the thing that I would have one no matter where I was. I would have my
orchestra.
-
Patterson
- So was it mixed students in different grades?
-
Cox
- Well, you know, that area most everything was African American. There may
have been a few, very few that were white or Latino, I don't know. But
just the area was not--they were not in the thought of integrating at
that time.
-
Patterson
- Different grades and ages in the orchestra?
-
Cox
- Yes, starting with fourth grade. Fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, because
I required that they be in the fourth grade, old enough to really--and
then I was at that school for ten years when I was called to Cienega, I
guess, and that's where I spent most of my years, twenty years there.
-
Patterson
- What was your repertoire like, the first repertoire for the orchestra?
What kind of music did you have them play?
-
Cox
- We would play whatever, maybe a waltz or a march and just whatever they
were able to do. It includes different kinds of music, different types.
-
Patterson
- You played the piano with them?
-
Cox
- No, because I always had a pianist, somebody that could play enough to
play the little things.
-
Patterson
- So you conducted then?
-
Cox
- Yes, though I would let them sometimes conduct a little bit. Most of the
time I would do it, but I wanted them to learn to conduct, too.
-
Patterson
- Did they learn to read music? Did they read and play, or did some of them
play by ear?
-
Cox
- No. They had to read music. I taught them, and I would try to encourage
them to take private lessons, because I only had them once a week all
together. I mean, I'd do all I could do, but I would recommend some
private teachers that could come into the home and teach them. So some
of them would do that, and that would help to make them better, because
they would get individual--either that or if it would be two or three of
them working together, the teacher would still come, and that would help
them, too. So it would improve it for me also, because I didn't have but
once a week for a few minutes, although I would take them up to my room.
I'd meet them in my room at recess or mostly at lunchtime, because for
all of the lunchtimes sometimes we'd practice.
-
Patterson
- So you were really helping them cultivate a musical life, not just at
school but at home.
-
Cox
- Yes, and to be able to perform for the Christmas program or for whatever
we were called on for.
-
Patterson
- How did you meet some of these--they were really partnering with you to
help the children, the private teachers that you would refer them to.
How did you meet them?
-
Cox
- Well, maybe if I'd know that it's a child that is already taking lessons
and they're doing well, I would then ask the teacher if they wanted any
more students, if they wanted to help out one or more--maybe one that's
taking the same instrument, if he's playing trumpet and then we have
another one that's not doing too well, and maybe he'd like to have
another one. And if not, I'd just keep working with them.
-
Patterson
- That's great. You're sort of stimulating business for the other music
teachers and creating a musical community.
-
Cox
- But there was a teacher on the East Side who everybody knew. She was
known to the whole community as a wonderful teacher with children, Mrs.
Hightower. Did you ever hear that name?
-
Patterson
- Yes.
-
Cox
- I bet you did. Alma Hightower. And in her home, in the back she had a
little house in the back, and she had those children playing. Oh, they
were so good. They played marches out on the street at a certain gas
company or gas station on--I can't remember the number of the street.
But that was the corner where Mrs. Hightower's kids would play, and, oh,
they were so good. So I talked with her and I told her that I had some
students that wondered if she would like to help them, because I only
got to work with them once a week for an hour. And so she said, "Sure."
So I got so I would take them to her. At the end of the day I would let
them ride with me. That was before I had sense enough to know that I'd
better have some good insurance if anything happened. I never even
thought about it, because they wanted to go, because they liked to go,
because there were a lot of other kids there that were all musical, all
playing. They wanted to go and their mothers wanted them to go, and they
were already doing well with me, but if they could go and play with her,
they would be really good. So I would take them after school. When I
went home, I would put them in my car. It'd just be about two or three,
but I'd take them to be sure they got there, because otherwise maybe
they would forget to go to their lesson. So anyway, she was just so
wonderful, and it helped me to be a better teachers, because whatever I
would teach them, she'd be making it even better. But I only had her for
a couple of years. I didn't-- [End of recording]
1.3. Session 3A (January 12, 2007)
-
Patterson
- OK. Our date is the 12th. This is December 12, we're continuing ---
right, it's a new year, I've got to get used to it. We're January 12th
in a New Year with Bette Cox again, for our third interview.
-
Unidentified Female
- Hi, Bette.
-
Cox
- Hi, Marianne and Adrianne -- oh, the whole gang. All of you. Happy New
Year, everybody.
-
Patterson
- So we're going to continue and go forward with your professional life in
Los Angeles. And I know you started off being a teacher, and you were at
Hooper?
-
Cox
- Hooper Avenue School was my first teaching experience -- 10 years.
-
Patterson
- And then you went to a school just for a short time before you went to
Cienega.
-
Cox
- I was sent to -- oh, dear. I'm not sure I can recall, because I was only
there for one year, and then I was called to Cienega Elementary on the
West Side, which was a very nice school with about 1/3 black, 1/3
Caucasian, 1/3 Asian. And it was a very nice mixture, a nice
opportunity, and I was there -- I would say at first, I wanted to change
from music, and I taught classroom I think 2nd graders, and I only did
that for a couple of years, and then it seemed that I was missing music,
and somebody else was telling me that I was made for music or something
of that sort, and they needed a music teacher, and so I went on back
into music where I really belonged, and I really enjoyed that so much, I
learned a few things that I didn't know before, having not been in
classroom with a whole group of children like that at the time. But I
went on to have a music experience for all the grades from 3rd to 6th
grade. Usually they didn't assign me to 1st or 2nd graders, or at least
1st graders, but I would always have the rest of the school, and then I
would build an orchestra from instrumental classes that I would have
first. Once a week we'd have instrumental classes in the afternoon, and
we'd have orchestra, as soon as we were able to develop it. So that was
my life from then on at that school as the music teacher?
-
Patterson
- Did you teach any vocal music, or did you have somebody to assist you?
-
Cox
- No, I'm not a singer, but -- I taught songs to all of the grades from 1st
through 6th, mostly 3rd through 6th, because I think that primary
teachers generally took 1st and 2nd graders, but I did at times. But
from 3rd through 6th generally, it was a matter of singing songs and
learning something about the music, the famous musicians. Sometimes
taking them to the opera when it was in town -- "Hansel and Gretel" was
the children's opera.
-
Patterson
- So you did field trips.
-
Cox
- Yes, we had field trips, too.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember any of the trips that you used to take?
-
Cox
- Well, always Hansel and Gretel, always that.
-
Patterson
- And where was that?
-
Cox
- Downtown at the Shrine -- well, at the old Philharmonic downtown
sometimes, and later at the Shrine auditorium, when it was developed. I
think that that was so large, it accommodated so many schools at once
and all.
-
Patterson
- Oh, so there would be a day where it would be for the children.
-
Cox
- For all the schools, right.
-
Patterson
- Hansel and Gretel, right. Any other productions you remember going to for
the children?
-
Cox
- I think -- you know, I should know, but I don't think I can recall right
now particular ones. But there were some of them.
-
Patterson
- I always loved that story.
-
Cox
- I was so involved with the -- my main interest was the orchestra, and the
children who were developing -- they first had to learn how to play
their different instruments, and then as they became good enough, I
could give them orchestra music, and from September to Christmas, we
were always ready, we always had a Christmas program, the little
orchestra. And by June, the end of the year, we had quite a nice
orchestra program with the chorus also, because I would also have charge
of the chorus, and have to see that they learn songs that could be sung
for Christmas, or just for general programming in the spring.
-
Patterson
- Did they sing harmony?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes.
-
Patterson
- Two-part harmony, or four-part harmony, or --?
-
Cox
- Well, usually two part. I didn't try to get them into four-part; they
were still pretty young and inexperienced in general.
-
Patterson
- Yes, that was plenty for them to do, simple harmony. So did you find --
how did the Cienega administrative staff support you? Did the school
really support the music program?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. They did very much. And some of them more than others; some of
them just enjoyed it so much, and thought -- I think one of the visiting
teachers, one in particular told me that she came over to visit, and she
had -- she was at another school, but she wasn't the music teacher, but
there were other music teachers at her school at times, and she had
never seen an orchestra like that with little kids, and she said that
they sound like a symphony orchestra. Of course, everybody didn't say
that, but she did; she was so surprised to compare it to something that
-- all that she had ever heard at her school. But her school probably
didn't have a music teacher, I guess, I don't know. She said they did,
but I don't know.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible)
-
Cox
- It was my favorite; I really enjoyed it, because they were so little, and
they loved to do it so well, they tried so hard, and I would keep after
them to practice. One thing that was a good thing to do was to stay in
touch with the parents, and I would encourage them, if possible, to have
them take private lessons, so they could really go further than they
were, because there were music teachers around, and I happened to know a
couple who liked to come into the neighborhood and teach the kids, so
that they'd practice more -- you see, I only had them once a week, and
that was only for an hour. But I gave them the basics, and I did teach
them things they didn't know. But it couldn't be like having a teacher
take just one at a time and work with that one student, so I did
encourage the parents to accept a private music teacher to come to their
home for instructions as I could only teach them one hour during the
week because I had everything else to do as the music teacher for the
whole school.I think I was very lucky, particularly at Hooper Avenue when I was there
in the first early days, I learned about Ms. Hightower, and everybody in
town seemed to know about Ms. Hightower. I didn't know about her, I
hadn't heard of her. But she was one of the wonderful black musicians in
Los Angeles who was into music, who knew music. And apparently, she came
from, I think, New Orleans, or somewhere in the South. Wherever she came
from, at that time where she was, she was dynamite. They just -- she did
a lot with music, and when she came to Los Angeles, she opened up a
little studio in her backyard; she had a little garage, I guess, that
she made into a studio. And if she had a student, she would teach them
-- I went to visit her, she's a wonderful person, a wonderful lady, just
really wonderful, and she wanted to help the children, she wanted them
to learn, and she taught them from the beginning. They were learning
scales up and down the piano; -- they wouldn't be able to touch their
horn or anything else until they learned those scales -- they just had
to learn the basic things. After she had worked with them a short time, it seemed like, maybe for
two or three months, she could let them go without having to just work
on the scales and let them play some real music, because by then, they
had practiced on other things, but she wouldn't let them play by
themselves or together. Well, when she did, -- you just wouldn't believe
it; they were just so magnificent. And then by the end of the year, they
would be going on little tiny trips like going from her house maybe four
or five blocks to a gas station that had a little empty space, and they
would stand out there and play a march or something. And they were so
good, the people would come walking down the street, or driving. They
would stop their cars and stop and wonder who were those little kids
playing like that?
-
Patterson
- Now, what neighborhood was that in?
-
Cox
- It was on the East Side, say around -- it must have been 42nd or 43rd and
Central. I don't know. I knew about this from so many people, and
teaching every day, I didn't have the time to really get into that, but
I did stop a few times after school, and I'd go and watch how she would
train those children. She would have a big pot of gumbo on the stove in
the house. They could go in and have something to eat and come back, and
they didn't want to go home. They really had a good time, but they were
learning, and they just wanted to practice, made wonderful students out
of them. As a music teacher in the school, I could only teach instrumental classes
for one day a week on Thursday. mondays, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday,
I taught music for all of the other students from grades 3 to 6. Also
after teaching the instrumental students the basics, I would recommend
to a few parents that their child also have private music lessons. We
had a great orchestra, i don't take credit for all of that, Mrs.
Hightower (an unusually talented private music teacher I recommended)
was a big help and even I learned a lot from her. She only charged about
$0.50 per lesson.
-
Patterson
- Did she have a name for the little group that she put together, or --?
-
Cox
- I think she called it the Hightower Group; I think they won the state
contest for juniors, for young people, up in -- probably up north in
Northern California, they had entered the contest and won. They were
that good.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember that was, about?
-
Cox
- I think that must have been way, way back in the -- oh, gosh, maybe the
'50s and '60s.
-
Patterson
- And so they were elementary school age.
-
Cox
- They were elementary school children, and they loved to do what they did,
because they loved to be with her and have other kids around to be doing
the same thing, and then they could go and get some gumbo or whatever
she was cooking, and she just was a motherly type. But I've never met a
teacher like that, because she didn't care about all these extra things;
she wanted them to learn, and saw to it that they learned the scales and
the keys and the important basics.
-
Patterson
- When you were at Cienega, did you stay in touch with Alma Hightower?
-
Cox
- I did at Cienega, but -- no, not for long, because it was too far a
distance, and when I would be leaving, I couldn't drop by her house and
leave the children who wanted to go for their lesson, their mothers
would have to take them if they went. But I really had to kind of let it
go and hope I would tell them about this wonderful teacher I knew there
was a gentleman (Mr. Russell) who seemed to be the master of the brass
instruments, particularly trumpet. And he just wanted to come to the
neighborhood and help the children. And he charged for it, he did this
for a living, but he was recommended to me by some other teacher. And I
did keep him in touch for awhile, so the children -- some of them took
lessons from him in addition to what I taught them to just get started.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember his name?
-
Cox
- Mr. Russell, yes. And I ran across his card recently, I didn't know I
still had it. But he was an older man, I hope he's still around and
still well. But I just think that a teacher has to give it all she has
while she's at school, but when you only have one day a week, and only
one hour of that day, and of course, I would give extra, because I
didn't care about recess and lunchtime, I would take them in my room,
they could come up and practice; I would work with them extra at any
time, I always did that. So I gave everything I had, as far as any time
that there was. And I felt close to the parents and to the children, and
I would always recommend that if they wanted to go further, I would
recommend somebody that could help them more. But we -- I think I loved doing it so much that whatever I did in what
little time I had, somehow, it was successful, because I just -- I tried
my very best, and I think I loved doing it, and one of my students just
won two Grammys from the -- you know, the annual Grammys when they have
all these festivities, Billy Childs. I was his music teacher in
elementary school, and he got his first instrumental lesson with his
cello from me, because he wanted to take -- he wanted violin, most of
them want violin, or else they want a horn, boys like a horn. But Billy
wanted violin, and I didn't have any left; I had given out -- I had a
lot of them, because they usually never refuse me, I think they knew
that I kept so many coming and going that if I asked for one, they'd let
me have -- they would release it. So I always got some, but I had gotten
all that I think there were, there weren't any more; I couldn't give
Billy a violin, but I could give him a cello. And he had a mother who
was very cooperative, and in addition to what I could teach to him in
the little time that I had, she took to him USC where they have
individual lessons for children, and I recommended that to all of them
anyway, and he had some wonderful training. And by the time he finished
elementary school, he went on to junior high and high school and college
majoring in music, graduated from USC School of Music in composition,
and he's winning Grammys today.
-
Patterson
- So you feel proud about that, I'm sure.
-
Patterson
- Oh, I'm so proud of him. And he comes -- he'll be on programs that I
asked him for. We had a program with the Young Musicians Foundation at
the [Wilshire-Ebell] a couple of years ago, and they proposed -- they
performed some of his music that he composed. And he's well-known.
People know who Billy Childs is; I think young people know Billy Childs.
But -- well, the real younger ones, but a lot of people know, because
his name is becoming famous.
-
Patterson
- So he was at Cienega with you?
-
Cox
- Yes. He was my student -- I gave him his first instrumental lessons in
cello, and he stayed with that, and I think his mother had him at USC
Children's School of Music learning piano, so he gained a good education
in music, and when he graduated, he went on to college, and he majored
in music composition.
-
Patterson
- Do you have any other students that you can reach back and (inaudible)?
-
Cox
- ...I want to say the McDonald boys, Harold and Clarence. They are two
brothers, one of them played trumpet and one played clarinet. When I go
to the Religious Science Church on, and I don't know the street, used to
call it O.C.'s church...
-
Patterson
- O.C. Smith's church?
-
Cox
- Yes, it --
-
Patterson
- It was -- Science and Mind?
-
Cox
- It is, it's a Religious Science church -- at any rate, that's my
religion, and when I go, any time I go I see Clarence, and the first
time I went, I saw Harold, I couldn't believe that was my little
student.
-
Patterson
- Is that one of the two brothers? Clarence was one of the two brothers?
-
Cox
- Yes, yes. And he's playing the piano, I think he's the leader of this
little band, because this church is not a church that performs classical
music; they perform jazz, and they all love it. Of course, we all love
jazz, but I love classical too. But this church performs jazz, and he's
there; when I go in there, he's playing the piano and playing jazz, this
little band, they have all the different little instruments and all
these grown up people -- I mean, I tell you, I can't hardly believe it.
And one day, I asked, "Where is Harold?" And he said, he's playing in
church, playing the organ at such-and-such a church. Now, those are two
boys that went to Ms. Hightower a lot. And she made them what they were
-- I mean, I just gave them a beginning, but it helped them, and she
kept them and made them wonderful.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember their last name?
-
Cox
- Yes, and I can't say it right now, but I will. Clarence and Harold
McDonald.
-
Patterson
- One played the trumpet --
-
Cox
- Yes, and one played, I think, clarinet, but they played everything,
including piano, because they studied with Mrs. hightower and she
insisted they play piano also. Clarence was playing jazzy piano at OC
Smith's church any time I went. my church did not play jazz, only
classical music, I enjoyed hearing the jazz from a former student of
mine. Harold was at another church playing the organ.
-
Patterson
- What church was that?
-
Cox
- It was Religious Science, but it was not O.C.'s church, it was the
original one on 4th and -- near Wilshire and Vermont, but it's not --
I'm giving you the wrong street, it's near those two streets, I can't
think, because I think when my son married, his mother in law was --
became very good friends with me, she and I both were the same religion,
and I was very glad about that. And then she happened to change after
that minister passed away, and went to this church that was O.C.'s
church. And I started going just because two families, I kind of wanted
us good friends go for breakfast afterwards, so we were in the habit of
that. We both became interested in the music there.
-
Patterson
- What was that -- so the music at the first one was just different?
-
Cox
- That was classical music.
-
Patterson
- Classical.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes, and the organ and all of the beautiful things that usually go on
in that kind of a church.
-
Patterson
- Mm-hmm. And then, was O.C. Smith's church -- the music was a little
different.
-
Cox
- It's quite different, and although I love jazz, I hadn't been to a church
that was just using jazz for all of the music in the church, whatever it
was. So it was interesting, and especially seeing my student there, a
grown-up man, very much grown up; he was my age. But it's nice to say
hello to him, and I said, "Where is Harold?" And then he told me Harold
is at some church he mentioned, he's the organist there. And now the
last time -- that was like probably a few years ago, and last time I
spoke with him, he said that Harold is living in Las Vegas now and he's
in a wheelchair; something has happened to him, and I don't know, but I
feel so sad. And if I ever go to Vegas any time soon, I'd want to say
hello to him, I'd probably want to go -- but if he's in a wheelchair, I
don't know if he's able to be at an organ or anything. But --
-
Patterson
- What else do you remember about the music at O.C. Smith's church?
-
Cox
- Well, the choir is really -- I don't think of it as a real choir; it's
just a group of young ladies who come out and sing, but I don't -- all
of my life, I've been in a church with classical music, and I feel that
that's, to me, the kind of music that belongs in the church, because
it's about -- it's not about fun and good times, or expressing that in
any way, it's very serious, and it's beautiful music, there's so much of
it that's been composed even by black composers. I mean, a lot of them
composed the Gospel and lively music like that, too, but there's a lot
of very serious music that is -- has been composed by all kinds of
races. I did a program once for the school district, one of my -- I had a
four-part series that I developed -- that they wanted me to do on
television, and one was on Eubie Blake, because he had been in town, and
he was in his 90s well, we wanted him to demonstrate the kind of music
that he played. And he told the story about when he was a little boy,
that he used to take lessons and play -- he'd show the kind of music he
had to play, and he said that when his mother wasn't looking, he would
go over and listen to the people that either -- I don't think he
mentioned the church, but the music that came out of the church that was
like in nightclubs and somewhere, he went and started listening, and he
began playing like that, and that's the music he loved. And he created
music like that --
-
Patterson
- Gospel music?
-
Cox
- Oh, no, it wasn't Gospel; this was the first evidence of a little jazz, I
guess; it was music played with a different rhythm, very lively, and it
was -- well, it was quite different.
-
Patterson
- Getting back to O.C.'s church, now he was a singer, he was a recorded
commercial singer.
-
Cox
- Yes, but not really classical, it was popular --
-
Patterson
- (inaudible). I remember God Didn't Make Little Green Apples, do you
remember that song?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. Beautiful.
-
Patterson
- He had a great voice.
-
Cox
- He did.
-
Patterson
- Did he sing in the church?
-
Cox
- Well, he did, but that was before I came there, because he had gone -- he
was quite young when he passed away.
-
Patterson
- So he didn't really perform much that you saw in the church.
-
Cox
- Not when I was there, but I know he had.
-
Patterson
- So this is a period you're going to O.C.'s church, and what were -- you
were teaching, and what else filled out your life at the time?
-
Cox
- Well, when you ask about gospel, you mentioned something I was just going
to say. I a four-part series on our music for the school district -- one
was with Eubie Blake, and then the music of New Orleans, which was very
interesting, of the things that happened and went on. And then the other
one was on gospel, because I had Maurice McGehee, who was a wonderful
Minister of Music, I'll say, and he was affiliated with a particular
church, but he also was -- I think he taught at one of the schools,
night school, actually, I believe. But he was so into the other kind of
music, the Gospel music and all, that I wanted him to explain and tell
the people. So in my little video that I presented, I had him play a
hymn and tell us the difference, and he did, he played the hymn, and he
said, "Now," (inaudible), and the Gospel. One of the parts of black
religious music, the part of our music sung with soul. A different style
of music that i would present throughout my career, because I love it
all.
-
Patterson
- These interviews that you conducted, how did it come that you directed
that project?
-
Cox
- Well, when I was on sabbatical leave, I was taking classes, I had long
graduated from UCLA, but I was doing some graduate work, working on my
doctorate, I had finished my Master's, and --
-
Patterson
- At UCLA?
-
Cox
- -- and I was working on my doctorate at UCLA.
-
Patterson
- When was this, Bette?
-
Cox
- '71, '71, '72. Boy, that's a long time ago now. My advisor there asked
me, "Well, what do you want to do?" I said, "Well, I want to know more
about the music of black people." I said, "There's so much that's
different, and I want to know more about it." And so something came up,
an opportunity to have a scholarship to a conference at the University
of Michigan, and I jumped at the chance, and I wanted to know if I could
get one of the scholarships, if I could go, and anyway, I got to go -- I
received a scholarship from the University of Michigan and found it to
be a wonderful university for music, a lot of different genres of music.
All day for a week, I was just carried away, so enthralled. I had my
tape recorder and camera. Nobody else was doing that, nobody was taking
pictures, nobody was doing the tape recorder; I was just doing it all.I had all of these things I was carrying around, but just went on through
the whole week, and at night they had concerts demonstrating what they
did in the daytime -- I was just so thrilled, because I think I told
you, I grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho, where we (my brother and me) were
the only black children, there was a whole -- I didn't know much about
our people, and the things, all of this, when I -- when I went there and
learned all this about the music and the people and all, I just about
went crazy, I couldn't get enough of it, you know? So anyway, before it
was over, one of the teachers there announced that she was having a
similar conference at her school, which was Virginia State, the next
month. And I thought I'd go crazy if I couldn't go; I had to go. So I
came home and said, "Jimmy, I have to go back again." I said, "Next
week, there's another one; I have to go, I just love it and I'm learning
so much." Anyway, I went to the next one, then came home, and then I had
to go back to work, back to school, and I made up my mind somehow, I've
got to do that here; I've got to tell everybody, let everybody know what
I have discovered. So anyway, I think it must have been '76 before I could really get
something pulled together. I think I went back to work in '72, '73, and
then '75, '76, all that time I was trying to plan a program like they
did. i had this whole thing planned and it was like what I learned, and
I didn't know how I was going to do it, but anyway i announced it to
everybody and had paperwork so everybody would get copies; I gave so
much paperwork -- and Jimmy was coming from work bringing the papers --
he would get all the papers copied for me so that everybody would have
what they needed. It turned out that as I did each program I had
musicians to demonstrate, just like they did at the university.
-
Patterson
- Now, who were you distributing the paperwork to?
-
Cox
- The teachers, all of the teachers who wanted to come, all over the city.
They came from different schools and all of those who came could just
come in. But they began to talk about it, because those who came thought
that it was a lot -- they liked it.
-
Patterson
- So it was like a seminar that you put on for the teachers in Los Angeles
to learn more about black music.
-
Cox
- I think I had presented two or three when I was told that I was going to
be transferred to the first magnet school. They were having the first
school that would be integrated, that was the beginning of integration,
and that was at Rabbi Magnin's School, he had a room there, a big room
for the schools, for us to come and teach in these different rooms. And
I was the music teacher for the first magnet school, and this was so
that if the parents were prejudiced at all, they would see that all of
the teachers were hand-picked, and they were all teachers who knew what
they were doing. So that was the magnet school. And I wasn't there but a
semester when my supervisor called me. He said, "We're pulling you
downtown," so I was going to be a music advisor, and I had to do it for
the whole city.
-
Patterson
- So you gave the seminars, and then around that time they started the
magnet schools, and did you go to teach --?
-
Cox
- Well, the magnet school was at Rabbi Magnin's temple on Wilshire, just
off Wilshire.
-
Patterson
- Oh, it was just the one.
-
Cox
- It was one magnet school; it was the first magnet school. But I was there
only one semester when I was moved downtown.
-
Patterson
- So you left Cienega.
-
Cox
- I left Cienega to go to the magnet school for one semester, and then I
was called to be a music advisor in the downtown District office. I had
to present music seminars on black music to the Valley and schools in
the Valley district. Then, as Music Advisor, I was asked to prepare and
present a four-part series on black music for television.
-
Patterson
- So the first seminars you just did on your own, just to do on your own,
and word got around --
-
Cox
- Yes, the word got around.
-
Patterson
- -- and so they wanted you downtown to continue this process of educating,
helping educators be more educated in black music. So when you first
went downtown, who were the people that you worked with? What was it
like going downtown?
-
Cox
- Oh, it was lovely. It was nice down there. But it's crowded; I was in an
office with another person, and there were different offices with people
in them, and I had my own phone and my own desk, and I just was there
working. And then after a few days, or a few weeks, I guess, one of the
office photographers came and took my photo, and they had an article in
the school paper about who I was and why I was there and what I was
doing. Well, and then -- you know, I'd just go wherever -- they had me
go to the Valley, and the other places. And then, I was doing that a
short time when they decided that I should do it on television. And the
thing is that the first one that I did, the teachers mailed in all --
they had to fill out what they thought, was this worthwhile and all, and
they gave such terrific ratings, it was just wonderful that they
appreciated it. And many of them said it should be on television, and I
think that when the supervisor saw that, and maybe people told him that,
but anyway, they decided I should do it on television. So I had four--
those four programs that I had done, and that was the last that I did
before I retired.
-
Patterson
- So it was Eubie Blake --
-
Cox
- The first program was Dr. Jim Standifer (What is Black Music); Dr.
Standifer and Bette Cox discussed the meaning of black music for 30
minutes. Number two was a discussion of early popular music with Eubie
Blake and Bette Cox. Number three was a discussion of early New Orleans
music and musicians with Tudie Garland and Bette Cox. The fourth program
was a discussion with Maurice McGehee and Bette Cox of African American
hymns as opposed to religious "soul" music, which included a performance
presentation.
-
Patterson
- Now, this was a local Los Angeles band that you invited to come and play
New Orleans music on your show?
-
Cox
- Oh, they were originally from New Orleans but moved here.
-
Patterson
- And what was the band made up of? Do you remember the name of the band,
the musicians?
-
Cox
- Oh, I will tell you, but right now, I can't think.
-
Patterson
- ok.
-
Cox
- But I loved it so much, and I was always excited with all of it, because
I found it was so worthwhile, and I just wanted to do it, so I would ask
him; I said, "Now, you are 90-something," (his age) and I had him there
with his bass, he was playing the base. I said, "Tell us about your --
this bass. You told me something about the music you used to play in New
Orleans." And he said, "Yes," he said, "we had string and bass band,"
he'd say it like that, "string and bass band." I said, "A string-based
band?" I said, "Really?" He said, "Yes. In those days, we had string
bands." I said, "A lot of people didn't know about that. Tell us some
more." I'd do this, and I'd get him to talk, and he would tell people
just what they would like to know. And then there was somebody else, I
would ask each one, and I'd say, "Well, let's have another number," and
then they would play again, another good jazz number. I'll show you;
I'll play these for you sometime. But anyway, it was -- that was very successful. I had -- I think it was
about -- each one was a half an hour. The first one was a discussion
because Dr. James Standifer from the University of Michigan had come
here for one of my programs, and he was still in town, and so they
wanted us to just sit down and talk about black music. So that's what we
were doing. And I was scared to death, really, because he already had
his doctorate degree, and he was so smart, and I wondered if I knew
enough. But I was trying to do that, and so we did this half-hour
program and talked about all the things that came into it, and how and
why. So that was one, and then the one with New Orleans, and then this
last one that I did was with Maurice McGehee. And Maurice McGehee was a
wonderful teacher, and also, he was a wonderful musician; at the piano,
he was excellent, he could sit down and play most anything. And then he
was a wonderful, nice person; he's gone now. But I asked him questions.
I think I've mentioned this already -- about the difference between a
hymn and gospel, and he explained that. He said gospel came from the
soul. And when I play that for you, you'll see. But this was the third
one, and I would have done more, but that was the last one that I did,
and I retired after that.
-
Patterson
- Now, Eubie Blake, the one you did with Eubie -- you did James Standifer,
and you did the New Orleans, and then you did Maurice McGehee, and then
Eubie Blake, where did he fall?
-
Cox
- He was first, because he was 90 -- he was getting near 100, and I wanted
to get him while we had him, because he was so -- he had been famous in
other years, but people had forgotten about him. And Johnny Carson had
brought him back to town on his program, and I saw him. And then
Haroldine Brewington, a friend of mine whose father used to be famous --
he's gone now, but he used to be -- oh, he was great in music, he was a
singer. And he sang in the early days of musical shows on Broadway or
off-Broadway, the first black shows, and he was in those. Eubie Blake
and Noble Sissle put those together.
-
Patterson
- So Haroldine Brewington--?
-
Cox
- Haroldine Brewington's father. His name was Ivan Harold Browning.
-
Patterson
- Ivan Harold --
-
Cox
- And he was in those shows on Broadway, and Noble Sissle composed music,
and it was just beautiful. And on my seminars, when I had the seminar, I
always had them to come -- Noble Sissle was gone, but Mr. Browning would
come and talk with Eubie Blake. And they were -- Eubie Blake was just --
they were both entertainers; it was wonderful. It was just fun for me,
and I learned all along, everybody else learned, and they seemed to love
it. It's too bad that they aren't getting it now, because it's been 30
years ago. And these teachers don't even know about it; they don't have
it.
-
Patterson
- The videos, where -- well, who broadcasted them for television?
-
Cox
- The school district.
-
Patterson
- But what stations?
-
Cox
- They had - let's see, K- - KLCS? I think KLCS; it's a school district
channel, Los Angeles School. But I have it; It was really just -- for
me, the whole thing -- I mean, I learned -- I grew up where there were
no black families; I never went to a black church, I never knew a black
minister; I didn't know what came out of that church and what the
minister gave to it and to the people, it was entirely different from
the average church. And the whole thing about black music is always, it
was all coming up from the church. So anyway, it was a thrill to me all
the way; I was just so happy that people saw worth in it and appreciated
it, and I have stacks of letters of the comments I can show you that the
teachers wrote as to how much they learned and how much they enjoyed it.
I say that because I think it's a shame that it's not going on now,
nobody's doing it.
-
Patterson
- So you were becoming famous among educators, music educators, by giving
this information and putting together these shows.
-
Cox
- Well, I think quite a few people began to call me and remember me from
that.
-
Patterson
- So when you were doing this, and then you went through the video series,
and then you stopped. Did you leave your position downtown?
-
Cox
- Yes, I did.
-
Patterson
- And when did you do that?
-
Cox
- I think a year or so, I just wanted to be retired, and I was not doing
much of anything, and then I realized that I couldn't let this go. And I
went to a conference up in -- up north, and I met -- Eddie Meadows was
standing in line behind me, and he said, "Who are you?" And I told him
my name, and he said, "Where are you from?" And I told him, and he said,
"You ought to be in the National Black Music Caucus." I said, "What's
that? He said, "Oh," he says, "we meet all over the country, and we talk
about the music." I said, "Oh, really?" He says, "Yes, come on and join
us." Anyway, he introduced me to the National Black Music Caucus, which
is now called NASPAAM, the National Association for the Study and
Performance of African-American Music. It's pretty long. But at any
rate, at that time it was called the Black Caucus, and I knew nothing
about it, and I came home and I told my husband, "You know what? I've
got to go to this conference." So I went, told him, and he says, "Well,
I guess I can't stop you." So that's when I met Dreddie Meadows at the first music conference; I met
a lot of other educators who were brilliant, knew much more than I ever
could about music, especially Black music, and they were -- most of --
some of them had PhDs with titles. Well, I learned what I learned right
away from all of them; that was the beginning. They had conferences in
different parts of the country, mostly in the East and South. I must
have gone to 25 different places and conferences in the matter of maybe
ten years. But I was going every year because I wanted to be part of it,
and then it was supposed to be a part of the -- Music Educators National
Conference, all educators belong to that. But they didn't put the Black Caucus in it. So one year, I think they
were in Atlanta, and they were having a conference and it was the same
time of the National Music Educators, and they did not include any of
this. I mean, we had speakers with Doctorate degrees who were brilliant,
who were teaching on university level -- they weren't invited to speak
or anything. So anyway, they thought they'd had enough of that, so they
got together and had a conference with them, and decided that they
should know that a lot of their people couldn't equal what we had
already done, and we should be part of this; we're all educated
educators. So they had accepted us, and we became -- now we are a part
of the Music Educators National Conference, and it is called NASPAAM,
the National Association for the Study and Performance of
African-American Music, so just NASPAAM. So I haven't been to many this
year -- I haven't been to any for a few years because of my husband's
illness, but I keep in touch by mail, and now they have in Chicago,
Columbia College, Chicago, not the university, but Columbia College,
Chicago, and Dr. Warrick Carter, who is one of us who is involved with
music too, but he is now the president of the Columbia College, and they
have many divisions, and one of the divisions is a Center for Black
Music Research, and I am on the President's Circle of that, and I'm in
touch, and they know what I do here, and I know what goes on there, and
it's a wonderful thing. I just feel grateful for all that I have
learned.
-
Patterson
- When you were -- when you finished downtown, and you finished your video
series, and you began to be going to the conferences and meeting these
national educators, these educators from all over the country, what were
you doing here at home in LA during that period? I know you had said you
were going to school to pursue your doctoral degree --
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- And what else?
-
Cox
- Well, in between times, I had done that. And then when my husband became
ill, I had to cut back a little bit on things, but I did -- in 1982, I
believe, I decided to form a little part -- my own thing, something like
the NASPAAM; we would be the caucus here. And I formed the -- The Black
Experience Expressed Through Music (BEEM), that's my organization. The
Black Experience Expressed Through Music.
-
Patterson
- Right here in Los Angeles.
-
Cox
- Right here in LA, and I was fortunate in having a lot of the professors
from UCLA and other universities around, they're all from different --
and we would meet here, we would meet once a month, and we -- we wanted
to help people to learn more about our music, and people who were doing
things, and what's going on. And the first thing we did was to develop a
movie on Thomas Bethune, a black slave who was blind, but when he was a
little boy, his parents were the slaves, but they allowed -- the slave
master allowed him to be in the house with them and do little things,
and the slave master had a music teacher come to the home and teach
music to their daughter. This little blind slave named Thomas. "Tom,"
they called him, Tom used to sit and listen, and every time the teacher
would leave, he would sit down and play everything he heard. He could
play anything he heard. He had an autistic kind of learning, and he
began to do so well that the slave owner decided that he was going to
make money on him. Because people would come to visit him and he would
show off, he'd say, "Oh, look at my slave play." And so he finally
decided, "Oh, I'm going to make some money," and he started taking him
around places, and he was beginning to make really a lot of money, and
the slave, of course, none of it, but he was becoming famous. So he
became known as Blind Tom, and that was the only name that he was given.
There was a whole history on the story, so we wrote a proposal to The
National Endowment for Humanities and received the grant, then we asked
KCET, to match the NEH's grant and they did, so we produced the first
movie on Blind Tom. It was BEEM's production, Bette Cox, Executive
Producer. We won several awards, one being The Best Children's Program
of the Year from KCET, and that was the first thing we did. And since
then, a lot of the professors that were on my board were too busy, in
different schools, and gradually I brought in other educators from
school districts that I knew who had retired like me, and who could join
and be part and active of the Board. So in the beginning we were all
professors except me, I wasn't a professor, but it was my idea. But then
now they just gave me this tribute for 25 years as the Founder and
President Emeritus. Now I am Emeritus. We finally found another person
that accept being President of BEEM. So this is where we are now. BEEM
(The Black Experience Expressed through Music) represents music
educators in Los Angeles. Dr. Eddie Meadows introduced me to the
National Black Music Caucus, now NASPAAM (National Association for the
Study and Performance of African American Music) -- everywhere. BEEM is
the local California organization.
-
Patterson
- Is it affiliated with NASPAAM?
-
Cox
- Yes, I am a member of their NASPAAM's Board. They meet primarily in the
east and south. They want to be apart of us because it is important that
we all know each other. One day soon, maybe I'll have to have them come
here, because we've been meeting other places, and we only met here
once.
-
Patterson
- When you say "here" --
-
Cox
- They came here to Los Angeles once and had a meeting and stayed --
-
Patterson
- NASPAAM?
-
Cox
- Uh-huh. That was before NASPAAM; it was called the Black Caucus at that
time. But maybe one time they'll -- I can invite them. I didn't invite
them this year, because my husband is ill, and I don't know how good I
will be at being the sponsor. But I'm still with it.
-
Patterson
- In the very, very beginning of BEEM, who were some of those educators
that stand out in your mind that really helped you hold it together in
the beginning?
-
Cox
- All right. Dr. Eddie Meadows; Dr. Richard Yarborough -- these were both
UCLA -- and Dr. Gordon Berry, professor at UCLA, he's retired now. And
there was a doctor, somebody from one of the universities east of here,
and I can't think of the name of it. There was one from Long Beach, Dr.
-- oh, dear. I have all the names, but right now I can't just call them
up, because they were at different universities. But we got together
once a month, and we did Blind Tom, and then we wanted to do more, we
wanted to do -- the one that I'm thinking of now is the singer, she is
the -- oh, dear, I can't say her name. It leaves me now. But there are a
number of people. Of course, we could have done Eubie Blake if we wanted
to, and we could -- there's so many, there are just many, many that
people recognize the names, and then there's some they don't know at
all, like [Marc Chevalier de St. George]. Now, that's the one that is --
nobody hardly knows about Chevalier de St. George. He was born a slave
in Guadalupe, and his father was a Frenchman, and when he was big
enough, I guess, when -- I don't know the age, but his father came from
France and came back over here, and took him to France, and educated him
well and had him learn the violin, he became a great violinist and a
great composer. Sometimes his music was composed -- was compared with
Mozart, and he's black. So, of course, I don't know how black he looked,
he might not have looked black, but everybody knew that he was. And now
that's a story that we would like to do. And one was this woman singer
-- I'll have to think of it, I can't say. But there are so many of them
that are -- that have been known. And she was born after the Civil War
and was the first black diva, and I know her name so well, "The Black
Swan."
-
Patterson
- Now, these were projects that you wanted to do that you didn't --
-
Unidentified Female
- We should switch tapes.
-
Patterson
- Oh, OK. All right.
-
Cox
- I've been talking too much, this is --
-
Cox
- No - [END OF recording]
1.4. Session 3B (January 12, 2007)
-
Cox
- -- first black diva, and she --
-
Patterson
- Continue talking about some of the environments in Los Angeles while you
were doing all of the works that you were doing. And the venues that
were important, the musical venues that you remember seemed important to
you that were exhibiting musicians and musical works that stood out in
your mind -- oh --
-
Cox
- The Hollywood Bowl was the center for classical and/or jazz performances.
Excitement was all over the Bowl when I recognized William Grant Still,
the Los Angeles artist who was the first black conductor to perform his
very own music there. His symphony was beautiful. When Billy Eckstine
(one of my favorite vocalists) performed at the Bowl, we had the
privilege of going backstage to interview him. It was a thrill to have
my picture taken with him. Other musicians whose concerts I have
attended were Teddy Wilson, the first black musician to work with Benny
Goodman. I attended a performance by Benny Goodman featuring Teddy
Wilson as the pianist at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium several years
ago. he was so outstanding holding a standing audience with his
performance. My thrill was to meet Teddy Wilson and visit with him. He
was leaving the city but promised to come back to join us for dinner.
This was truly thrilling to have this commitment from him for the
following year. My heart was broken when i learned that he had passed
away a few months after meeting him.
-
Patterson
- Speaking of getting out much, Bette, when you were, say, during your
teaching years, did you go to concerts in LA?
-
Cox
- Well, there are concerts for children, for schools, that we all were to
go to, and we went.
-
Patterson
- But for yourself?
-
Cox
- But for myself, you know, my husband is a jazz fiend, and he likes jazz;
he would want to go to something jazz at the Hollywood Bowl, maybe, or
we had box tickets for those good seats one year, two year, I guess, and
we would see all the best shows. Now, that was a two-year period, and
after that, they went up so high he wouldn't have it.
-
Patterson
- What are some of the musicians that would come through town that you
remember really liking seeing?
-
Cox
- Let's see. Like Natalie Cole and some of the -- oh, gosh, any time
someone like Benny Carter, who became a very dear friend of ours, and I
have known him for years, when he was there. Or -- any of the New
Orleans musicians. Any of the really -- I guess they can't come to me
right now, but I can't recall all of them.
-
Patterson
- Well, when you first came to town, you were just a young girl, you
weren't 21, so you couldn't really get into the sophisticated jazz clubs
at the time.
-
Cox
- Oh, no.
-
Patterson
- But did you go to any concerts with your family?
-
Cox
- Not at that time, no. My brother and I lived with a nice family, very
nice people. But everything was just getting acquainted with people. No,
we didn't go to anything when we were young like that, no. And after the
first year, I think he began to spread his wings, and he blew away. I
don't know whether the ladies got him or he got them, I don't know what
happened. But --
-
Patterson
- Well, but do you remember any -- because I remember speaking with
Professor Davis, she was like, well, what were some of the favorite
groups that may have come through town at that time that you remember
maybe reading about in the newspapers, or --
-
Cox
- In those really early years? I really don't -- I don't know how much of
that I really did, because I was just in school for those --
-
Patterson
- So you weren't really interested in the concerts.
-
Cox
- No. I was all through the two years at Pasadena Junior College, and then
all of the time at UCLA until I graduated. And when I went through to
get my Master's, I was always busy with school and other things.
-
Patterson
- When did you get your Master's? You had already started teaching, and
then decided to go back to school.
-
Cox
- You know, if we ever get to those big things, and my notes, all I can
tell you, because I don't remember now -- I think it was in the '60s.
-
Patterson
- And you decided to go back to USC and California State University, Los
Angeles, to get your Master's?
-
Cox
- No, I went to -- I got it at California State University, Los Angeles. I
was -- I think I was teaching part-time, and I don't know, I was just
doing what I could do on extra time. At USC, I went to USC one year; I
think that was when I was on a sabbatical leave, because that year, I
was going to work on my doctorate. I did one year of whatever we were to
do. I don't think I got far. I made the Pi Lamba Theta Honorary Society
at USC. That was an honor.
-
Patterson
- An honor organization at USC? And this is while you were working on your
Master's?
-
Cox
- Well, I would think I was working beyond that, but I just didn't do -- I
wasn't too serious at getting it then, because when I went to UCLA is
when I was really serious about it. And I wish I had taken off enough
time to really work with it, but I thought I needed my -- I had two
children in college, and they were both traveling a lot, so.
-
Patterson
- During the time you were doing your graduate work getting your Master's
degree, how had the music scene changed in LA from the time you first
started the --
-
Cox
- I don't know. I don't think I noticed. I don't know. My mind wasn't on
things like that, I guess. I don't know.
-
Patterson
- So Central Avenue, and all of the music that was going on on Central
Avenue, you weren't interested in it yet.
-
Cox
- You know, that's the funny thing. Some people -- I've had two people
recently to call me, and one's writing a book on Central Avenue, and
one's interested in it or something, and they want to ask me things
about these early days, and I said, "You know, I didn't grow up here,"
and I said, "I didn't even go to Central Avenue," when I was in college,
we weren't supposed to go to nightclubs. I didn't go; I didn't know. And
I went to -- I don't know, I may have told you this; I was staying with
this pianist, this teacher (Lorenza Jordan Cole), and I went down to
Central and I thought I was going downtown. Did I tell you that?
-
Patterson
- Yes, you did.
-
Cox
- Well, see how much I knew. And that was just before I was really into
college, I guess. But when I was in the college, we just -- nice, "nice"
girls aren't supposed to go to nightclubs on Central Avenue, or
anywhere, really. It wasn't like today, nice girls go everywhere. But we
just -- I don't know anyone that did, really.
-
Patterson
- Did you have favorite artists that you'd listen to on the radio?
-
Cox
- At that time?
-
Patterson
- During -- yeah, just, say, first of all, thinking about when you were in
college initially, were there radio --
-
Cox
- I can remember on the radio in the car, hearing -- let's see, that band
-- it was Glen Miller. You remember that? Do you remember that band?
Glen Miller was playing something on the car radio I was in, and I
thought, oh, that's sure good music. And that was -- was that the '40s?
-
Patterson
- Mm-hmm. So this is like when you'd been in a car with maybe Tom Bradley,
you'd be driving to school, riding to school with him, and the radio
would be on, and you'd hear Glen Miller playing.
-
Cox
- I don't remember in his car, because I think the girl that was in there
with him was talking a lot, you know. And we were in the rumble seat in
the back. Boy, I'm really telling on myself now, because you don't know
those days, you were too young. But this girl that was with me, she was
from Riverside, and we became best friend all through the time that she
was there. But we were talking, mostly, and then up in the front seat,
the woman who told me, "That's my seat, you get out," in the rain, I had
to get out, I was scared of her in the rumble seat.
-
Patterson
- You mentioned -- you came across her later.
-
Cox
- Velma. Her name was Velma -- what was her maiden name and later?
-
Patterson
- OK, I wanted to know --
-
Cox
- Her son is a lawyer, and his name -- it would be one of her maiden names,
she's been married a couple of times or more, I don't know.
-
Patterson
- She was downtown with you when you were working with the commission,
right?
-
Cox
- Yes, because he appointed her to a commission too just like he did me,
and she was some other kind of commission, and I was on the arts.
-
Patterson
- So you really didn't go to concerts much and go out on the town, so to
speak, until you got married then, with Jimmy, because Jimmy liked
music?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. He loves jazz all the way, but I like all of it; I like
everything. But he really likes jazz, and I try to get tickets for
something that he'd like, but I knew I could always play others if I
wanted. But I just, I can't associate -- Glen Miller is the one I
remember the most.
-
Patterson
- And then later you would go -- did you go to music concerts more later,
say, around the time you were in graduate school?
-
Cox
- I'll have to think about that.
-
Patterson
- OK. So generally speaking --
-
Cox
- See, the ones I remember are the most recent; that was when we got box
seats at the Hollywood Bowl, tickets to be there for the best programs
that we thought were the best, that were really what Jimmy liked more.
-
Patterson
- What were the audiences like when you would go? Was it ethnically mixed,
pretty much?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. It was nice; they were all nice.
-
Patterson
- Different mixtures of people?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes.
-
Patterson
- You would say there were white people, black people, Asian people, Latino
people, really mixed?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. And the box seats were most white, but they were all nice. We all
-- everything was great.
-
Patterson
- So where were you living when you were in graduate school? What was your
neighborhood like then?
-
Cox
- In graduate school, I was living on Somerset.
-
Patterson
- Somerset? Where is that?
-
Cox
- That is a few blocks the other side of Crenshaw, and some of it goes
across the tracks to the other side, between the tracks and Jefferson.
And I lived over on that side.
-
Patterson
- What was that neighborhood like? What was it like over there where you
were in graduate school?
-
Cox
- I'm trying to think what it was you were asking me.
-
Patterson
- The -- let's stop. (pause) So you really didn't go out to musical events
much until maybe later in your life.
-
Cox
- The most fun I had was with the Turnabout Club, we had my little club,
and once a year, we would have a big "to-do," and that was fun.
-
Patterson
- Now, what -- do you remember the building or the street that you all
would rehearse in?
-
Cox
- Central Avenue.
-
Patterson
- It was right on Central.
-
Cox
- The Elks -- well, we didn't rehearse there, but that's where the big
event was that -- where we would invite people, or we'd sell tickets,
and then everybody had to bring a toy or something for a child, that's
what it was for, it was in -- we were always -- sometimes we'd have a
raffle, clothes raffle, on the Central Avenue. But we didn't do anything
with clubs; I didn't know anything about the nightclubs, I didn't know
anything at that time.
-
Patterson
- Describe, then, Central Avenue, how it was to you, even though you
weren't going to the clubs, you had an impression of that part of town
and what it was like.
-
Cox
- Right. Well, it was a very, very nice street, and to me, it was like
going downtown; I'm a country girl from a country town. And it was like
going downtown; there are shops and all, they weren't real fancy, but
they were clean and well-kept, and everybody was -- there was some
businesses there, a lot of business people had offices there, doctors,
and it was -- it was a nice street, nice place, and we went there -- we
never went to the clubs, even daytime to rehearse or anything like that.
As I say, the events we had, one every year, was at the Elks Auditorium.
And that was on the other -- it was on the east side of the street, and
it was around -- I think it was near 41st or -- I'm not sure exactly,
but it was around that area.
-
Patterson
- Was it near the other theatres that were on Central Avenue (inaudible)
performed?
-
Cox
- I think it was a little bit south, but not far. They were -- it was kind
of in the general area where things were that people went to.
-
Patterson
- So this is mostly an African-American sort of community area. Were there
any other mixtures of people that were there?
-
Cox
- Not that I knew about at the time, but there may have been. But I don't
recall, not at that time. This was in the early '40s.
-
Patterson
- Was the street mostly large businesses or little small first -- one-story
buildings?
-
Cox
- They were, I think, all one-story, as far as I know.
-
Patterson
- And you were driving then.
-
Cox
- Let's see. Yes, I was driving then. I was married and had my car.
-
Patterson
- So you'd go down -- did you pick up some of the other ladies and drive
from where you lived down there, or they all were pretty independent
women, and --
-
Cox
- I think they were. I don't remember. I might have, because my friend Jean
Watkins, we were friends even then, and it could be that I may have
picked her up. She might have picked me up sometimes too.
-
Patterson
- So the turnabouts were mostly -- were they mostly single mothers or were
they professional women, or --
-
Cox
- No, they weren't single mothers. If they were mothers, they were married.
-
Patterson
- No, I don't mean single mothers. I mean mothers -- family women. They had
husbands and families. Were there single women as well?
-
Cox
- I think -- maybe one or two were single, maybe two or three. I don't
know. But mostly they were family members.
-
Patterson
- And professional women? Were they working women as well, or were they
mostly housewives?
-
Cox
- I think most of them were teachers, and those who weren't had jobs. I
can't recall if there was anybody that didn't work at all, there may
have been a housewife or two. But I think we were all pretty much
married with young children.
-
Patterson
- And working or teaching.
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So were many of them musical people? People that were professional, or
educators, and had a musical background?
-
Cox
- Well, they were educators, some of them were teachers and some of them
were -- I think of most of them as being teachers in various schools.
There may have been one or two that were in some other area; I think one
worked for the telephone company. But they had --
-
Patterson
- And had the mission -- all of you had the mission to raise funds for
children who --
-
Cox
- I think so. Our main mission was to do something for children who were in
need. So we wanted our main event to be something that people could
bring gifts or clothing or something for little children. Mostly toys
and things.
-
Patterson
- So that was your Central Avenue activity.
-
Cox
- Yeah, right.
-
Patterson
- But later, when you began to be interested -- when did you begin to be
interested in Central Avenue in a larger way? Interested in the clubs
and the musical activities?
-
Cox
- I never did, because --
-
Patterson
- Well, I mean, before you wrote the book; how did you become interested in
Central Avenue?
-
Cox
- Well, that was because I was interested in the history, and it wasn't
that I -- I don't think I ever went to any of the clubs at all. I think
by the time I could, when I was like married and had my husband take me
there or something, I just never got to do that.
-
Patterson
- So what interested you? What made you want to write about it?
-
Cox
- Well, I had friends who were musicians, and some of them were older, and
one in particular that I met when I was doing all of this interviewing
of people, happened to be the first black teacher that was hired in the
city schools, and he taught music at Jefferson High School. And a number
of people had spoken about him, how he was so much admired and loved,
and I happened to meet him, and I think it was during this period that
he was probably one of the first people I interviewed for my book. But I
was so interested in all that he had to say about his experience,
because he had an experience that I might have had, although I didn't,
being the first black teacher, he graduated cum laude from USC School of
Education, music education --
-
Patterson
- Do you remember his name?
-
Cox
- Yes. Very well, if I can say it now. Very well. I will tell you though,
I'm trying to say now -- anyway, I'll come back to it. But he graduated
cum laude in his field, and had to go on the road with singers to make a
living, because they wouldn't hire him, no school would hire him because
he was black. Sam. Sam Brown was his name. And he had to go and travel
with these singers, and they had a name, some kind of singers, and he's
singing and singing and going to make a living, and it was such a shame,
and it was such a shame, and it was so terrible, and then when he would
come back from the trip, then he would -- sometimes he would probably
teaching, but he finally got a job teaching at night, night school. And
then said they would give him this job if he would do it at night, and
he'd have to get so many -- they told him how many people he'd have to
get to be sure they would come.Well, all he had to do was go to church and get all his choir, all these
people, because they all loved him, they all wanted to come, and he
filled up the room and more if he could. And of course, the school
district personnel, they were just shocked that he could get that many
people to come and listen to him and learn from him. And that was the
beginning, and I guess it was after they saw the success that he made,
that he had with these students, they let him teach at the first high
school to have a black teacher, it was Jefferson High School, near
Jefferson and Central, near -- I guess it's about 40th and Central,
somewhere in there. And so he was just a marvelous teacher at Jefferson
High School, and they loved him, and he was there for years and years.
-
Patterson
- When did he come there, do you remember when he started?
-
Cox
- I think he came there in about maybe 1938, it was something around that
time. And I think this is what interested me; I wanted to write this
down. I was taking notes, I was interviewing here, and I began to -- I
just had this craving to talk to people and interview them. And my
friend Buddy Collette, who is a well-known musician around town, a very
fine musician, he and this Sam Brown, and a few other people that I
knew, they began to help me by passing the word and telling me who I
could call, call him and he'll tell you what it was like. And I
interviewed so many people that I began to wonder what was I going to do
with all this. And so I finally wondered about a book, and I tried -- I
thought I'd try to do that. Well, that's what led me to writing that book, because I did not grow up
here, and I did not know the early history, but I had many friends who
did. And they told me all this history that they could pass on, and I
was writing it down, and, well, eventually it became a book. We sold --
we've had two printings, and, well, it's been very popular, I still have
calls for it. I have a few of these soft copies, but I don't have any
hard copies to sell. My husband was my manager, I told him to handle all
of that. And so he has to tell him how much it is, and he just likes to
say, "Well, we'll let you have it now for -- a hard copy for $40. It was
$60, but now we've come down now. And soft copy, it was $40, but it's
$25, I'll let you have it." And he likes that, he likes to be able to do
that. It's fun for him.
-
Patterson
- So this whole project grew out of your doing these interviews with
-Southern California musicians.
-
Cox
- Well, no, no. This was not for the -- the commission had nothing to do
with -- this was my own doing; it was my doing as a result of what we
did with the Blind Tom, with my BEEM Foundation, the BEEM foundation.
Well, the things that we were doing, and the interest and all, one thing
just led to another, and when I began to interview people, and see, all
of these people were university professors except me, but it was my
idea, but they all came. And so it was working out very well, but they
suggested that I try to interview people on tape, and I hadn't thought
of it, but I did, and I got them all on tape, and so -- and then I
checked what I had -- I'm writing it down exactly what they're saying,
and it worked out very well. And so that was my first book, and probably
my only real book. I wrote another one that was about the -- oh, a lot
of the -- I guess they weren't books, but they were -- it was -- I think
it was a compilation of a few things. I'll have to tell you about that
later.
-
Patterson
- So this was during the period that you were meeting with the BEEM, the
other scholars that were with you in BEEM.
-
Cox
- Right.
-
Patterson
- And what else were you doing? Were you teaching as well during this time
as well?
-
Cox
- No, I think this was after I retired, it was after I formed the BEEM
Foundation, I was retired then. And it's kept me very busy; the BEEM
Foundation has really kept me busy, and especially because we do three
events a year. The first event is the Black History Month event, and
it's a lot of work to prepare, plan, and what we know we're going to do,
and the last thing that we did was, we were asked to collaborate with
the Young Musicians Foundation, which is a very well-known Beverly Hills
organization, and I'm a member of it, just because I was invited to be a
member some years ago, probably 20 years ago now. But I don't get to the
meetings hardly at all, because I'm busy with these other things. But
they are very fine people, and they seem to -- they don't knock me out
because I don't get there. But anyway, they asked me, the leader is Edie Rugolo, the wife of Pete
Rugolo, famous musician, and she asked me if I would collaborate with
them for Black History Month. They wanted to do a Black History Month
program, and of course, they weren't familiar with the black musicians,
or the things that black musicians have done. And so I met with them a
number of times, went to lunch with them and had them over here to
lunch, and so I gave them ideas of the things that they could do, and
people they could involve that were black musicians. So at their last
event, at the Wilshire-Ebell, they did include music by Billy Childs,
who had won two Grammys and was known now. And there were -- some other
thing -- their last number was a William Grant Still number, the last
movement from his symphony, and it was just beautiful, everybody really
loved it. So that was -- as I say, that's one thing we do a year, one
something for the Black History Month. And then we do a competition
where we search the schools of Southern California, and try to get the
very finest school musicians who are interested in applying for a
scholarship. And then we have the competition in June, and that prepares
them to see who's going to be the winner, and then we give the winner
scholarship money to start college.
-
Patterson
- So these are elementary, junior high, and high school students?
-
Cox
- They're mostly high school, high school and college. And then the third
thing, the last thing that we have is our big event on -- usually it's
in October or November or this year; it was early November, I believe,
the early -- early November. But that's the third event. So that keeps
me very busy, because the professors began to gradually move out,
because they don't have time for all of this, but I have pulled in
others who were educators from the schools but who had retired. So
they're retired and have time, so we have quite a nice group.
-
Patterson
- So in the beginning of BEEM, you went through the process of becoming a
non-profit fundraising organization.
-
Cox
- Yes. That's what we are.
-
Patterson
- So how did that -- did you have to learn about all of the bureaucracy,
the paperwork that it takes to become a non-profit organization so that
--
-
Cox
- Well, as I said, we were -- they were all professors, university people,
and so they knew what should go into that, so we formed the by-laws,
which they really -- I think there are one or two people, especially,
who wanted to do that, because they had done it before. And so we still
use those by-laws, and they are our basis for whatever we do, and we
have like -- it's like rules for how we select people; rules for what we
can do. It's all about music, and the members have to be either
musicologists or educators or community leaders, but they have to have
qualifications to be a member.
-
Patterson
- So you were really the heartbeat of this, and they were -- they're
university professors and so forth. But you have that first heartful
passion to get this done.
-
Cox
- I did. They say I did.
-
Patterson
- (laughter) Well, I'm sure you did. So in that time, you were raising your
children; did you have them participate in musical activities?
-
Cox
- Yes I did -- my son, violin in junior high. My daughter, piano in high
school.
-
Patterson
- Can we pause it --? [END OF recording]
1.5. Session 4 (January 26, 2007)
-
Patterson
- You ready? OK. Here we are, January 26 with Bette Cox, and we're going to
get started. Today we're going to look at some photographs and hear the
stories of those photographs. And so let's start.
-
Cox
- All right.
-
Patterson
- What do we have here?
-
Cox
- Well, this is an old, old photo album that was put into this one, it's a
little newer, but these are pictures that I really -- I think perhaps my
mother might have put these pictures in at some late time. So this is a
picture of my father's mother, who I grew up with, this little
grandmother, she was so sweet, I loved her so much, and I knew her
better than I knew the other one, because she lived in Seattle. She, and
this is her father -- her husband, who was my father's father. So these
are my paternal grandparents, and I knew her very well. He, I knew, and
loved him, but he -- when I was in the first grade walking home from
school, a little boy said to me, "Your grandpa died." It was very cruel,
but I guess he didn't know any better. And I didn't believe him; I said,
"No, he didn't." And I came home, and he had passed away in his sleep.
And so I didn't get to know him for a long time, but to what I did, he
was wonderful. It was his son, my dad, was wonderful, and my mother
who's wonderful, very wonderful, it was when she was really -- had
gained a lot of weight, but she got rid of that. And this is her mother,
who was a great artist, Grandmother Earl. And I met her -- I must have
been in college age when I was on a vacation, and we went to Seattle.
The first time -- she wasn't well, she was in bed, but she got to meet
her granddaughter, and I got to meet her. And she was a great, great,
well-known artist, both in --
-
Unidentified Female
- I'm going to interrupt for a minute. Bette, once you point to them, just
move -- remove your hand.
-
Cox
- OK. Yes. Point and then come back. Oh, sure. Anytime. If I don't do it
right, tell me. So she was a very great, well-known artist in Seattle,
and also in Colorado Springs. And some of her paintings are on the
people's -- in their homes in those cities. And this was my mother's
father, my grandfather who -- I don't think I ever really met him,
unless I was very young and I don't remember. But these are the
grandparents to me. And over here are the baby pictures. Now, I think
this is my mother -- now, I did have a sister who passed away, the first
child of my parents, and broke their hearts, because she had spinal
meningitis -- it could not be cured at the time.
-
Patterson
- Don't we have a picture of her? Is it over there?
-
Cox
- I do. I do, and --
-
Unidentified Female
- Can we bring it over?
-
Patterson
- Yeah.
-
Cox
- I think it's on top of that -- I don't know where I put it; I was going
to --
-
Patterson
- I think it's on the [credenza] in the dining room. Do you see a picture,
a photograph on top of the stack?
-
Cox
- Unless I put it in here.
-
Patterson
- Yeah -- yes, that's it.
-
Cox
- Oh, good for you. You're good. That was their first baby; her name was
Yvonne, spelled like Yvonne but they named her Yvonne-ay. And I have to
find a place for it in here. She was beautiful and they just loved her,
and they were newlyweds, first year, first year that they had a child.
And all of their friends had children, and that broke their hearts. So
they just couldn't stand it, and they moved, they left Seattle and moved
to Twin Falls, where my grandmother and grandfather lived. And so I
never got to meet Yvonne, because she was gone before I was born. But
she was a beautiful little girl, and I sure -- I just -- I know how
heartbroken that they were, and I have to remember that we saw this,
because I want to put it somewhere safely now, I'm afraid to put it in
there without a clip or something.
-
Patterson
- OK. Well, I'll put it back for you.
-
Cox
- And these are baby pictures. This is my brother, and that's me trying to
ride with him, and there we are again, my brother and me. And here I am
on the step with a great big ribbon; my mother had these great big
beautiful ribbons, and I think that was the style in those days that
they put on little girls. This was my mother and my -- that's with -- I
guess that's with me, I don't know. Maybe my brother. This was me over
here; that must be my brother. And this, I don't know, probably me,
because it's a little girl in a dress. And this again is my mother's
father and my brother and I. And I met him at some time to be in this
picture, but I don't recall -- maybe I was so young that I knew about
him, I knew he had a business, a real estate business in Pasadena. At
the time that I was there, he was not there anymore. And here I am and
my brother. And I think at this time, I was in high school, and my
brother was in high school still. And here I was taking dance lessons; I
won the state contest. I think I won it with interpretive dancing; I did
all kinds of dancing at that time. Very young. And here is -- this is
college years; this is my friend Charlotte and me. Here I am. And this
is a lady in Catalina Island, invited us to come over, or invited me to
come over and meet her. She and her husband knew my parents, and I went
to Catalina Island for the first time, and I remember it so well,
because --
-
Unidentified Female
- Here, let's get some things straight, let's get a couple things straight,
so we can adjust some stuff.
-
Cox
- Signal me or something, so you don't have to stop.
-
Unidentified Female
- OK. And Bette, just where your hand is right now, once you've pointed to
the picture, that's perfect. You point to it, and once you've started
talking about it, you can just put your hand back where it is right now,
and it's perfect. OK?
-
Cox
- Sure.
-
Patterson
- Thank you.
-
Cox
- This is Charlotte Hartsfield, whose mother was a dear friend of my
mother's, and she was from Seattle, I think. But Charlotte had grown up
in -- well, I'm not sure if she lived in Seattle herself, but her
family, her mother did.
-
Patterson
- Is she related to Arnette Hartsfield?
-
Cox
- Yes. Arnette's parents were friends of my parents. That's how we met at
first. And so of course my mother had hoped that we would all be close
friends; you never know one day what would happen. But anyway, this was
in Catalina Island, I had never been to Catalina Island. This lady
worked over there at a club, and she invited me to come over. And I was
so thrilled because it was so different from now. When I got off the
plane, they had people out there singing and dancing, songs, and they
had a little fellow that was the song leader, and oh, it was just fun, a
good thing. It was like that in a way in Hawaii the first time I went
there; they had Hawaiian girls dancing out there, and now -- they don't
do it now. It's quite different. In those days, in these days, they did
a lot to make you welcome and make you feel like partying and all. So I
was just still in college; I think this was during the summer. And I
enjoyed, just -- the whole thing was fun to me. Here's my brother and
me. And -- trying show off over there. And these were all just sort of
family gatherings and friends, nothing important. And again, as I said,
my brother and I took dancing lessons in Twin Falls, Idaho. And so I
took different -- all kinds of dancing, and he just took tap so that we
could have a little thing together -- that's my brother and that's me,
and this is me again. I think that --
-
Unidentified Female
- Could you just hold off on those for a second before you turn the pages?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. I don't know if I said that to the mic.
-
Patterson
- Talk about that picture. That's --
-
Unidentified Female
- Will you take that paper off it?
-
Patterson
- Oh, sure.
-
Cox
- Maybe you tell me when you're --
-
Patterson
- Yeah, that's a great picture. So you were being very fierce.
-
Cox
- Well, I was taught interpretive dancing, and I was told when I get to the
end of this African dance, that I would hold out my arms and my leg up
like this and scream, and I did that. (laughter) It was fun, but I
didn't know much about it; I didn't have any background for that, but it
was fun. And I think this was my graduation concert when I came back to
Twin Falls, after graduating from UCLA, and I was asked to perform, and
I really don't know exactly why, because I hadn't been practicing much,
because I had majored in music. But I did still know my music from all
the years that I had studied, and I performed, and this was a young lady
who was asked to sing a few little songs as -- just for a little variety
in the program.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember her?
-
Cox
- Her name was Mildred Jennings, and I don't know what ever happened to
her, because she was a little girl in Twin Falls, but her mother didn't
want her to play with us, so we didn't ever get to really know her. And
--
-
Patterson
- Why was that?
-
Cox
- I don't know. I think she had a stepmother, and I don't think she was
very nice to her -- I don't think they -- I don't know, whatever it was.
But I think that it spoiled her life, I'm sure, because she could have
had at least two little friends. But somehow they got her -- they said
she knew how to sing, and she sang a song as one of the -- a little
variety to the concert that I was doing, with all classical music. And
this is my dad, and my mother wanted a picture with the three levels of
mother to grandmother. So I was -- I'm the mother figure, and my mother,
and my grandmother. And that was why it's like that; she -- I've often
thought of doing that for my daughter so that she will have one with the
three levels, I haven't done it yet. Better hurry up. This is me at the
time that I graduated, and that was my brother.
-
Patterson
- 1942.
-
Cox
- Yes, 1942. And that's my brother; we don't have him anymore, he's passed
away. But he's very personable; had a million-dollar personality. But he
had a way with the ladies, and he was pretty much pretty busy going, on
the go. We miss him, anyway.
-
Patterson
- So what were you doing when you took this picture?
-
Cox
- I don't know. Obviously, it looks like I'm learning on a stool; somebody
must have said to pose for a picture, because I don't know why else I
put my hands like that. I don't know. And I think it says, "To Mother,"
I'm not sure, "Mother and Father," I don't know.
-
Patterson
- OK. What else do we have?
-
Cox
- OK. Then over here, here with my son, my first child, and his father, my
first husband. And this is Johnny there, and here is my present husband,
because the first marriage didn't work out, except for two wonderful
children, but that was it. In later years, Jimmy and I met, and as he
said, we fell in love. And this is my daughter and son, and he got to
know them pretty well. And naturally, he grew to know them better and
better. And this is my -- that's my brother up here first, and here he
is again, and I think this is still him, and this is myself, I don't
remember. I don't recall the occasion for the picture, but that must
have been -- it must have been after I graduated at some point. And I
don't remember the doggie's name; he was sitting up so well.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- And here is one of my dearest friends who became Carol's godmother, she's
godmother to my daughter. She's no longer living; she had -- she used to
go Israel, to [Heifa], and she was a real -- all involved with the
religion of the Jewish people, although she was one of us; she was not
Jewish, but she really was a wonderful person. I don't know when to turn
-- OK. And here again is another family picture, but these are -- this
is like a relative, Aunt Julia, she was one of my mother's dearest
friends, and she was known to us as Aunt Julia. There's my dad next to
her, and there's my mother and I think my aunt, and there's my daughter
down here. And these are just little casual shots, all of these are just
casual shots. Here's my son and my daughter, much older. Here they are
here, much older. And here's a picture of my mother and a friend. Is
that me? I don't know, I think that might be me. Can't tell my own self.
And this is a family picture.
-
Unidentified Female
- Can I ask you to just set it down because --
-
Cox
- I'm not good -- I'm going to have to be better at this. Yes, I'm so
sorry.
-
Patterson
- No, you're wonderful.
-
Cox
- OK. Well, that first picture, I'm sure that's me, I think, in -- I think
that that -- now, I'm not sure, because I don't know who those two are.
It might be Jimmy and me, it looked like the car he had at that time,
I'm not sure. And here's a family grouping; this is Daddy, my mother,
and me, and my uncle and aunt. This is one of my dad's brothers, my
favorite uncle and his wife, Aunt Ruth. And again, here is some little
gathering with Aunt Ruth and my mother, and my play-sister Jean.
-
Adriana
- Bette, can I ask you to go through who the people are here?
-
Cox
- Here? This is my dad, my mother; this is me, and this is Aunt Ruth and
Uncle Everett from Seattle, Washington. And in very late years, they
moved here, because my parents were here, and it was their late years,
and I'm so glad we got to really know him better and know her. And he
did pass away later, but it was wonderful to have the time -- he was
very -- but very wonderful, my favorite uncle. And I think I had another
uncle that was one of her brothers that you had asked about him. And I
couldn't think of his name, and it was Roscoe, it came to me; Uncle
Roscoe was another brother of my mother's.
-
Patterson
- Rosco was your mother's brother?
-
Cox
- And he, I think, was married to an Indian lady, he was on an Indian
reservation in Kansas -- I have to find the name of that --
-
Patterson
- Is that [Villa] was his wife?
-
Cox
- No, no. That's Uncle Burt's daughter, a different one. She lived in Twin
Falls; she was much older than we were. This is my mother and my dad in
the years that they were feeding themselves pretty well, I think a
little chubby. They lost that; they made up their mind and lost some of
that weight. They still look beautiful to me.
-
Patterson
- Did you get enough of that one, Adriana? That last picture of her
parents?
-
Adriana
- Yeah. Could we have a little bit more of that?
-
Cox
- Sure. I don't know what year that was, but --
-
Patterson
- They're a handsome couple.
-
Cox
- Oh, my dad, my mother, they were both just so wonderful. So wonderful.
-
Adriana
- OK. Can I -- (inaudible), because I think I'm going to want to -- the
little tiny pictures, we get the whole page, but they're so small, we
can't really focus on that. OK, can I just use the size of the pictures
so we know what we're dealing with?
-
Cox
- Sure.
-
Adriana
- And then hold it that way.
-
Cox
- OK.
-
Patterson
- Are you getting it clear from the --
-
Adriana
- Yeah, a little bit of glare sometimes. That's why moving is really not
good. So Karen, if you could just (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- OK, this is volume two, the photo albums, this is the second --
-
Cox
- It's numbered as one, because that was so small and came in late, we
could just call that 1A, that little one.
-
Patterson
- OK. Then this would be 1B.
-
Cox
- This would be 1B, fine.
-
Patterson
- OK. What do we have here?
-
Cox
- Oh, this is -- I don't think I need these, I'll put them right here. And
he is my father's -- my mother's father. And this is Uncle Virgil -- no,
this is Uncle Roscoe that lives in the South, and I can't think of the
city. I think he lives on an Indian reservation, or near one. And this
is his brother, Uncle Virgil, who lived in Twin Falls, Idaho. And this
is Aunt Myrtle, my mother's sister. I think she may have been the oldest
sister, I'm not sure. My mother had Aunt Bertie and Aunt Myrtle. Maybe
that -- was it just the two? I think so. And then I don't know -- I
think this is the grandfather, this one. I'm not sure that that -- that
may be the grandmother, but I'm not sure. I don't have the close-up of
them. And then these are pictures of the same woman, and her name was
Bertie, Aunt Bertie. She was one of my mother's -- she was my mother's
oldest sister, maybe. And then the one I know as Aunt Myrtle, she's
passed away. They've all gone. These are just family shots. These were
pictures with my mother and my Aunt Lena, Aunt Lena who lived in Los
Angeles, and she was married to my father's, one of his brothers. And
here's my grandmother, my father's mother, his dad and his brother Bert,
that's uncle Bert. And here is my mother's mother -- sorry, my father's
mother; that was Elizabeth Yarbrough. And she lived right down the
corner from us, and she was to come down every evening and have her
dinner with us, and that was wonderful, because we loved that. And her
is her husband, grandpa, and I guess that's her too, but I can't make
that one out. But in those days, you don't -- you just really can't
really tell. And here, these are some more family shots, I'm not sure
who is who; I think that's the grandpa and grandmother, I'm not sure.
He's not tall enough; that might have been my uncle. I'm not sure who
these people are; they're all family. And this is Harold; Harold was
something in the family, I really never was quite sure, he was sort of
like a cousin, but he was a step-something; I think his mother was a
distant relative of my dad somehow, and I really don't know too much.
But that was Harold, and I didn't see him often, and I think he didn't
live in Twin Falls all of the time. And here is Aunt Lena and Villa.
You've seen Villa before; she's the one that in Boise, they wouldn't let
them stay there, because they thought she was white. And this Aunt
Gertrude was her mother, and she was the one who looked like a big
Indian squaw sometimes. And here, this looks like -- oh, this was the
day after I graduated from UCLA, I came back and gave a concert piano
recital, and this is Mildred again that sang a few songs. And all of
these girls were -- I think they went to school -- no, I don't know if
they went to school with my children; they may have. But somehow, they
were willing to come and be ushers, and they ushered all the people --
the paper said there was 800 people there, because they raise money for
the soldiers at that time.
-
Patterson
- And where did this take place?
-
Cox
- In Twin Falls, the -- I guess it was on the high school -- in the high
school auditorium, and I didn't remember that I knew those girls,
because I never really got to know them very well. But they were -- I
think they were high school seniors, and at least they ushered the
guests who came to hear the concert.
-
Patterson
- OK, let me just spin it back around again.
-
Cox
- At that time, they used to call me Little Bette Yarbrough, because I was
little at one time. It seemed as though they kind of knew that I was a
pianist and that I had been a dancer, too. Somehow, they -- a lot of
people knew, because they knew we were the only black children in town.
And these, I believe, are all the AKAs, I was initiated into an Alpha
Kappa Alpha sorority.
-
Patterson
- And what year was this?
-
Cox
- It must have been in '41 or '42.
-
Patterson
- So around the time you were finishing college.
-
Cox
- Yes. And I don't remember the occasion or where.
-
Adriana
- Could I ask you to hold onto that and show us what -- yeah, who's --
-
Cox
- One of my dearest friends was Alma -- Alma who was -- Alma Whiteside is
her name now. And I see -- I remember this girl, these were UCLA
friends. And she passed away -- I'm trying to say her name -- her name
doesn't come to me now, but this is one of my dearest friends, Corinne
Jones, she's now Corinne Taylor. And there are many people here that I
had known now, I didn't know them so well at the time.
-
Patterson
- And where are you? Point yourself out in that picture.
-
Cox
- I don't know where that took place.
-
Patterson
- That's you right there.
-
Cox
- You know, I don't know where that took place.
-
Patterson
- That's you right there.
-
Cox
- Right here. That was me. And this is Alma -- Peake was her maiden name,
Alma Peake, P-E-A-K-E. One of my dearest friends, and she was in my
wedding, and it's been so many years now, but most of these -- well,
around in the front, these were the younger ones who were just
initiated, I guess. Some of them had already been initiated, I guess.
Some of them had already been initiated.
-
Adriana
- Can we go back to the tall picture, and can you point to where you are?
-
Cox
- This is me.
-
Adriana
- The top one. The other picture.
-
Cox
- Oh, that picture? OK. Now, this is, I'll say, a family gathering, and I
really can't -- I don't know that it was any real special day like a
holiday, but I know that some of them were guests and friends of my
parents. This is my Aunt Myrtle, and this is my brother's first wife,
Velma. And I don't recall these people. And this is Aunt Julia; she was
my mother's dear friend, so we knew her as Aunt Julia. I didn't -- I
don't recall the names of everybody. But it was -- I think Mother just
invited some ladies over for lunch, and that's what that was about.
-
Adriana
- And who are you?
-
Cox
- I don't think I'm in this. So many -- I don't know what the occasion was.
Maybe I was in school and I couldn't come or something; I just don't
know. It might have been a meeting of a group of women, it might have
been something like that.
-
Patterson
- That's perfect.
-
Cox
- And this is my mother and daddy, again in the good years. My mother and
my dad. And --
-
Patterson
- Could we keep that other one longer, get a few more seconds in?
-
Cox
- Oh, OK.
-
Adriana
- OK, we're going to move the green dot to the side. It's such a wonderful
photograph.
-
Cox
- It really is. And my dad had his own business in Los Angeles, in Twin
Falls. He had a shoe and hat cleaning shop, and the men who worked for
him, some of them were white, if there were any -- the few blacks that
were around that didn't have jobs would come and he would give them a
job, as they would -- he had some seats, a row of seats where people
could sit and have their shoes shined, and he'd have these white men or
the black men, whoever's available, because he had -- his little office
was in the back, and he cleaned and blocked hats, he knew how to do
that, and he knew how to dye shoes a different color, and he could
change -- it either -- he changed leather to suede or suede to leather,
I don't remember which. But he had all kinds of little things like that
that he could do. And then people who sat up in his chairs to get their
shoes shined, they could look ahead, there was some signs, and then
there was a mirror; they could look in there, and they could see signs
that couldn't read otherwise, because they would be made for them while
they're having their shoes shined, they could read these signs and what
the particular ad was for. So he was pretty smart about that. He went to
Seattle one time for a class he wanted to take on business, and he came
back and had more tricks that he's going to do, and he was great. He was
very smart. This looks like my mother's -- one of her clubs.
-
Patterson
- Should we take -- do you want to take -- do you need to identify those?
-
Cox
- Do you want to take them out? Oh, let's see. Sure, this is easier. Is
that better?
-
Patterson
- It'll just stay still.
-
Cox
- This is a relative of Velma here. Velma is my brother's first wife. And
he -- I think that's a relative -- Velma's -- this lady, I think, had --
her husband was from one of the islands, I don't know. But anyway,
that's who she is. This was a lady that worked for my father when he was
in real estate; she was one of the realtors that sold properties, and my
dad was a broker and she was a saleslady. This is my mother, and this is
my sister, we call each other sister, we're best friends. She went to
UCLA with me, and her name is Jean Watkins. And here's Aunt Julia again,
she's my mother's dear friend. I don't know all of these people. This is
Aunt Myrtle, and that's Jimmy -- what's he doing there? He is the only
man there; I don't know how he got in there. He probably sneaked in and
told Mother -- he and mother really --
-
Patterson
- Who was the little girl at the top?
-
Cox
- Let me see who that is. I don't know; I don't know who she belonged to.
But Jimmy had a way with people; he probably told my mother, "I'll come
in and be your handyman or something," he just has a way, he just
probably could -- and got a plate of something good to eat, because my
mother is a wonderful cook.
-
Patterson
- And that's you sitting in the center there on the couch?
-
Cox
- Who?
-
Patterson
- Is that you?
-
Cox
- Yes, it's me. This is my mother; that is a relative of Velma. And this is
Mrs. [Benit-Berniere], and she was one of the top real estate brokers --
or not brokers, saleslady, in my dad's office when he was in real estate
later, when he gave up his business and moved here.
-
Patterson
- About what year was this?
-
Cox
- Well, my mother came here -- the year my daughter was born, she was here
for the baby coming, and -- let's see, my daughter was -- my daughter
was born in -- let me think, I have to keep thinking now.
-
Patterson
- And the lady on the end, who was that on the far right?
-
Cox
- This? Let's see. I don't think I know her. I knew this one and I knew --
yes, this is my mother here; this is a friend who -- and that's why play
sister. Anyway, that was a gathering that she had, I don't know. My
mother loved people. And my Aunt Julia used to say, "Your house is like
Grand Central Station, you've always got company," because people were
coming and going all the time. So Jimmy said, "Well, you know, when you
have liquor, people do that." And my mother said, "You know I don't have
any liquor; you know we don't do that." He was kidding, and she knew it
wasn't that. But if she had something cooking, she was always a
wonderful cook, and they sure would like whatever she offered them.
-
Patterson
- I'm just going to get these off of here, move these back.
-
Cox
- Yeah, they kind of messed it up, didn't they? And here -- oh, this is --
-
Patterson
- Yeah, let's talk about this one.
-
Cox
- Oh, this is the cake; this is when Jimmy and I got married. And I have a
whole little book of pictures, but it doesn't seem to appear up there,
and I am sure nobody would have taken that, because it's got to be
there. But I have a lot of the pictures in here anyway. This is Jimmy
and Esme and this is 1959, that's the year that we were married. I know
that year, don't I.
-
Patterson
- Got a good view of that, Adriana.
-
Cox
- Do you remember the -- what was it called? -- the -- oh, gosh, it's the
club over on -- right off of Adams on like 12th Avenue. It was a man's
club. Oh, gosh, what did they call that? Some kind of a club. Anyway.
-
Patterson
- Is that were you were --
-
Cox
- That's were we had our reception; we were married in a church.
-
Patterson
- Which church were you married in?
-
Cox
- Religious science church.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember where it was?
-
Cox
- Dr. Horniday married us, on 6th and Berendo
-
Patterson
- On 6th and Berendo, Dr. Horniday. OK. And tell us about --
-
Cox
- Well, when we got married -- this was the best man, Dr. Bill Sibley. Dr.
Sibley is - Jimmy grew up with Bill Sibley, and they knew each other
from school days, and he's living here now, and he has his office here.
And then Jean is my sister, my play-sister, always she was my best -- my
maid-of-honor. This is my dad, and there I am, and there's Jimmy. He
didn't look like him there. And there's my mother. And that was in 1959.
-
Patterson
- OK. Do you need to -- do you want to lift this -- how's that?
-
Adriana
- Yeah, that's better. A little but when they're -- they distort a little.
-
Patterson
- OK. Oh, these are great.
-
Cox
- We're upside down.
-
Patterson
- OK. Let's turn this around and look at this one.
-
Cox
- Yes. This is Jimmy and my children, Carole and Johnny -- Johnny looks
like he was going to blink or something. This is at the reception. And
here we are riding [grim]. This was Carol and Johnny, and then Jimmy and
me.
-
Patterson
- It's nice all your hands are there together in the center. OK. And what
do we have here? Oh, we have another wedding shot.
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm, that's a wedding shot.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) closer.
-
Cox
- What was that club called?
-
Patterson
- Do you want me to take it out?
-
Adriana
- Oh, if you could just tilt it and pull it in like that. There we go.
-
Cox
- Some kind of breakfast club, or whatever --
-
Patterson
- On Adams --
-
Cox
- Off of Adams. Just off of Adams on 12th Avenue, I believe. I think it was
more or less like a man's club, then, after awhile. But anyway, they let
people rent it for receptions and all that.
-
Patterson
- Was it on the south side of Adams --
-
Cox
- On the west side of the street.
-
Patterson
- South of Adams or north of Adams?
-
Cox
- South. South of Adams.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- Now these are all pictures, just pictures -- I don't even remember what,
so it's a waste to try to even remember.
-
Adriana
- We really can't see those.
-
Patterson
- Well, here's a nice big one here.
-
Cox
- That's my brother's third wife. Yes. But -- excuse me. I think I should
blow my nose or something.
-
Patterson
- Do you want to get up? Do you want to take a break?
-
Cox
- No, I think I'm all right. If I have to, I will. This is -- when I went
to -- I was called to Cienega School, I told you, in '66. I don't know
if that was the first year or not, but that's just when that picture was
taken. And here I am, here's the principal -- excuse me. And let's see,
there were two other -- three -- four.
-
Patterson
- Here, an African-American woman. Do you remember their names?
-
Cox
- I think that's Billie, my dear friend, Billie Croslin. And that looks
like my son, but it wasn't, because he didn't teach --
-
Patterson
- What did they teach? What subjects?
-
Cox
- Oh, she was 5th grade, a wonderful teacher. She was just wonderful. And
the children, and she gave it her all.
-
Patterson
- Billie Crosslin?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. And she would call the parents just to talk to them about the
child, and try to help them better. Oh, she was just so wonderful. She
retired now, and she's living in Atlanta, near Atlanta.
-
Patterson
- And who is this?
-
Cox
- Let's see. I knew them all, I'm sure. But of course, that may have been
the first year, I'm not sure. And they may not have all been there then;
I don't know if she was there at that time. I remember her, but I don't
remember her name. And that one, I can't see well.
-
Patterson
- And this is an African-American woman here?
-
Cox
- She might be Mabel, but I wouldn't know. Mabel is a dear friend of mine,
she's passed away, but she was a wonderful teacher. And I'm not sure
that that's Mabel. It looks a little like her. I don't know. This one --
I knew this one, I can't remember her name.
-
Patterson
- And who's that?
-
Cox
- I can't tell who that is. No, I can't -- because that was -- it might
have been the first year that I was there, but it didn't have to be. I
don't know.
-
Patterson
- So they had quite a few.
-
Cox
- They did then, uh-huh. But as the years went on, and there were more and
more -- and when I went there, it seemed to me that there were mostly --
the students, I'll say, were like maybe mostly white and Asian, and then
in the later years, they became -- there were more Latinos that came.
-
Patterson
- Oh, let's look at this picture up here. It looks like -- is that Tom
Bradley?
-
Cox
- That's my Mayor friend, Tom. And this occasion -- now, we were somewhere,
and he showed up and came over to see us and talk to us, and I don't
remember the occasion, but he's such -- was such a wonderful man. And as
I told you before that I rode to UCLA in his little car, his little
rumble seat.
-
Patterson
- And this is -- point yourself out.
-
Cox
- All right. Well, this a friend of Helen Smith, this is Helen Smith, and
that's me. I can't think of this lady's name.
-
Patterson
- And this -- what did they do, who were these women?
-
Cox
- Well, they were teachers. Helen was, and I -- I think she was too. They
were friends. I don't think these two were with us. This is Jimmy, and
that's Helen Smith's husband, Theopolis. Theopolis Smith. And this was
this lady's husband. I can't place their name. But we were out
somewhere, and Tom came by, he saw us and came over. And that was just
really nice; everybody enjoyed meeting him. Some of them didn't know
him.
-
Patterson
- Which way are we going?
-
Adriana
- Just to get a little bit more on this picture, just -- and if you could
raise it up a little bit, Karen.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- This one or that one?
-
Patterson
- Should we take the dot off, or --?
-
Adriana
- It's not really in the frame, but yeah. It doesn't matter.
-
Cox
- That was a good year. We all looked very good that day. I guess it was a
few years ago when we were younger. I never knew this one very well,
she's a little bit odd. This was her husband.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible) talk about that one, the big one?
-
Patterson
- Yeah, this one. What's going on here?
-
Cox
- OK. Let's see. Well, my uncle and aunt that were here from Seattle -- I
don't think they had moved here yet, but maybe they did by the end. But
now --
-
Patterson
- And point yourself out. Here in the top row, is this you here?
-
Cox
- I think so. I don't know who this is. That's my brother, and that's his
third wife. And this is my mother and my dad, and that's me, and I don't
know this lady's name, but I think I met her. And that's my uncle, dad's
brother, Uncle Everett, and his wife Ruth. Oh, she loved to have a good
time. And so did Aunt Julia, and they had been having fun, as you can
see; we all looked happy. Yeah. Wait, where's Jimmy? Is this Jimmy?
Doesn't look like Jimmy. No, Jimmy doesn't look like that; he's too
serious. It might be, though. It might be Jimmy. I think it is.
-
Patterson
- OK. And tell us about this one.
-
Cox
- This is a dear friend. Inez and her husband and Jimmy and I went to
Europe together, and we went to Paris; that was the year we went to
Paris. I don't know what that year was -- let's see, does it say on
here? I don't know. But we went, we had a round trip and it took as to
London -- first to Paris, I think, and then -- Paris and London. And
then we went to Switzerland, a few of the -- well, whatever was -- they
allowed on this trip. And we had such a wonderful time; she's so much
fun to be with, she keeps you laughing all the time.
-
Patterson
- Do you know about what year it was?
-
Cox
- Gee, does it say on there?
-
Patterson
- No, it doesn't say.
-
Cox
- What year? Gosh, it's probably been 20 years ago, probably. But that's
Inez.
-
Patterson
- Maybe in '86, '87? In the '80s?
-
Cox
- I don't really know. I can't recall that. But we sure had a wonderful
time, and she always had something funny to say. Some people are like
that, and they keep you laughing all the time.
-
Patterson
- Can you get any of these? Are these kind of small?
-
Adriana
- We can get like a general sense of them.
-
Patterson
- This is in 19- --
-
Cox
- Oh, now, this is a very important time for me. You see all the red
stickers? Because I had been introduced to the National Black Music
Caucus, and I was going to different cities learning more about music
and black Americans. And I was just in awe about things I didn't know.
And this -- there was a man, I don't know if you remember the name of
Fred Warring; he was very famous, had a group of singers, and he was
having some kind of a program up north, and I went to that, and I met
him. Of course, I wasn't going to come and not meet him, (inaudible)
Fred Warring. And this is William Grant Still. Now, William Grant Still
was the first black American composer whose works have been performed in
the Hollywood Bowl, and they played his music, the Hollywood Orchestra
played William Grant Still's music. I had him play one of his symphonies
at the Wilshire-Ebell a couple of -- a few months, maybe a year ago now,
for my BEEM Foundation, we did that. And it was quite successful. It's a
beautiful -- his works are beautiful.
-
Patterson
- I wonder if we do it this way --
-
Cox
- That might help.
-
Patterson
- -- if it might be better for the camera. How's that, Adriana?
-
Adriana
- If you can do that whenever possible?
-
Patterson
- yes, thank you.
-
Cox
- Well, you might want to know this, because William Grant Still lived here
in Los Angeles on Victoria, I believe, over -- further north. And I was
always -- I had gotten so enthusiastic about this; I was always into it.
And I just had to meet him, and I met him, and then I got an appointment
with him at his home, and he was beginning to fail; he passed away not
too long afterward. And he didn't -- he wasn't able to speak too well
but I got what I could just in meeting him and knowing that I had met
him. And my dear mother who is so adorable -- when she came here, when
they moved here, and Daddy sold his business and went into real estate
here and had a lovely, wonderful real estate business, and my mother was
in it too, and she was into everything; she just loved life. She was out
at Twin Falls, and she knew I was getting involved in all of this, and
she wanted to help me. What could she do? So here she is, holding the
microphone, so he's talking to me and answering my questions. And here
is your first sight of my orchestra, one of my orchestras that I had --
the one I had at Cienega School. And here's some of the children that we
are just going a little -- I think that was just something in the
classroom, but this was the beginning of my orchestra years with that
school. And I had one at Hooper Avenue School, though; a great orchestra
there. I had one everywhere. But it was my love of all the things I
taught, because I had to teach all of the classes, the whole school,
1,000 students, and I had -- every day I had different classes. But
Thursday was my day for orchestra and instrument classes, and that's
what I loved more than anything. And here I am helping them, telling
them what they should be doing with their violin bows and all -- they
weren't in the orchestra yet; they were still in the instrument class,
those weren't ready. But if they came in in September, the beginning of
the school year, nine, ten years old, they would be playing in orchestra
by Christmas and getting big applause. They were wonderful. I enjoyed it
so much more than anything I did. And the children loved it, and here's
some more of them practicing up there. And these are some friends; this
is just a group of friends who came, and sad to say, this girl is now
passed away. This one is passed away; I can't believe how many have
passed away in the last few years. Here is William Grant Still again
with me, and my mother's holding the mic for him. It was --
-
Patterson
- If we can pull this back and get a better shot -- the photograph at the
top, what's school is this? Is that Cienega?
-
Cox
- That's Cienega, uh-huh. But not here; I went to his home to interview
him, because --
-
Patterson
- And that's your mom holding the microphone.
-
Cox
- Uh-huh. Yeah.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- I should get some scotch tape for that.
-
Patterson
- OK, let's turn this around and see -- here's the Mayor Tom Bradley again.
-
Patterson
- Yes. This -- I think this is after he appointed me Commissioner of
Cultural Affairs, and everywhere that I'd see him -- what would he call
me? He had a nickname for me.
-
Patterson
- What was that?
-
Cox
- I'm trying to remember what it was. I think it was something that my
brother called me, or Jimmy, I don't know. But anyway, there he was, and
he saw us as he came into whatever the occasion was. We were having so
much fun.
-
Patterson
- And who was this over to the right?
-
Cox
- That's my brother at the far right, and I don't know who that is over
there, but -- oh, Jimmy? That doesn't look like Jimmy's head, but I
(inaudible), because I'm sure whatever it was, because we were together.
But that's -- oh, Boogie, that's what he'd say. "Hello, Boogie!"
-
Patterson
- Oh, Mayor Bradley called you Boogie?
-
Cox
- Yes, because my brother called me that, and he knew that my brother
called me that, and he'd say, "Hello there, Boogie!" (laughter) But he
was playful; he was a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun. And when he
appointed me to Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. I brought to the
attention of my commissioners, because there was a little group of us,
about six people. I brought to their attention the fact that there were
so many people who hadn't become acquainted with our music, and it would
be nice for us to have a program for Black History Month. And once I
said that, they didn't want to say, "Oh, no." I was the only black on
the commission. And they wouldn't back up off that; they'd say, "Oh,
well, yes." So they didn't know where we were going to get the money,
and I found -- I just said, "Well, we will," and I found a way to get
it, but it was kind of hard. I had a friend who just believed in me and
loaned it to me, because I hadn't told Jimmy, and then I -- after I told
him that we borrowed some money, you know -- no, I didn't! (laughter)
But anyway, it was like $500, and we took care of it, it's OK. And
everybody liked it, I had some music of William Grant Still, and I had
his daughter, who was still -- he was not living at the time, but his
daughter was, and she came and sang, sang or talked or something.
Anyway, it was a successful -- every year, for ten years, I had a Black
History Month program. And I had something exciting, and they were each
one different, and they were different -- it was packed, the house was
always packed. So I was really glad that I had that ability to get the
right people in and do it. And it was -- you know, it went so well. So
that was something that I added to the commissions, and to the city,
because Tom agreed with it, and he made sure that the money was
available. Here's my husband, Jimmy, and this is my brother.
-
Patterson
- Bail bondsman?
-
Cox
- Now, here we are, Carole -- well, we haven't seen the Sweet 16 party, but
I think most people have a Sweet 16 party for their daughters, when
they're old enough to date or something. But this was not that -- she
had one, and I think it's later in the book, but this is when she was a
debutante, and there's an organization here that they recommend certain
ones to be one of their debutantes. So she was recommended to be a
debutante, and here she is at the debutante ball, this is her escort. I
can't think of his name. This is my uncle and my aunt, and my dad and my
mother. And this was really -- it was such a beautiful thing, a
beautiful event.
-
Patterson
- And these?
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- I think there's more of that a little later, but I didn't have all those
pictures together.
-
Patterson
- Those aren't really that good. OK, now you have a red dot here, so there
must be something important there.
-
Cox
- Yeah. Well, this is probably one of the first, if not the first,
opportunity I had to be a member of the National Black Music Caucus, and
to go to a conference or a meeting. And this may have been the first one
which was University of Indiana. This is Dr. Warwick Carter, who is now
the president of Columbia College, Chicago. And these are all people;
there I am, and these were all members of the caucus, and here's my dear
friend Eddie Meadows, who helped me to form my own BEEM Foundation here.
But this was just so wonderful; all of these -- I want you to know that
they are all professors at different universities; they are brilliant.
And it was just a wonderful thing for me to be with them and hear them
speak, and hear them tell all that they know, and to bring in performers
and all. And I just knew one day I was going to do this, but I hadn't
done it yet; this was probably 1971 or '72, I think, the first year that
I went and met them and all was '72.
-
Patterson
- And who is this playing -- (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).
-
Cox
- I can't think of his name, but that's Leon Rene; I know he was one of the
musicians that I invited when I started giving these on my own, doing my
own conferences. And I know who that is; I can't recall who that is
right now. But I think that was at the first staff development series
that I gave for teachers, and teachers came from all over, and they just
-- they would write on what their opinion was of it, and some of us said
this should be on television, and some would say, this is fantastic,
because they, like me, they had never experienced anything like this.
These are things that they never taught us, you know.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the names of any of these people?
-
Cox
- This was my dear friend -- no, that's not Louise; I thought it was. I
don't remember her name. This one was from Indiana University, and I did
know her name. I can't think of it; it's been like 25 years. I can't
remember now, I used to know most of them. And this one, he did
something unusual. What is that instrument? He had people that played
that -- you know, when you go to the islands, and you hear all this
music on these instruments that they have that are different from what
we use?
-
Patterson
- Steel drum percussion?
-
Cox
- Steel drum percussion, yeah, but there's one that's for melody, it's not
a percussion; I can't
-
Patterson
- Is it steel drums?
-
Cox
- Well, no. I don't know.
-
Patterson
- It sounds like a xylophone?
-
Cox
- Well, yeah. Anyway, he had a whole group of people that he always had
them perform. It was so exciting; it was all --
-
Patterson
- Do you remember his name?
-
Cox
- I used to know all the names, but it's been so long now, I don't think I
could say it right off. But I might have it in writing in my files. Now,
this is Leon Rene, who wrote, "When the Swallows Come Back to
Capistrano," you know that song? Everybody sings that. Well, he wrote
that song, and I had him come and be on my staff development series, and
sing some of his music and explain how and why. And now this is Eddie
Meadows, who is so encouraging, when I said I wanted that forum, an
organization, he helped to get together some -- two or three professors
from UCLA, and some from other parts of Southern California. And he was
just a big part of my organization that I started here. Here's Al
McNeil, and here is -- now this man taught at UCLA, but he was an
African. And I used to know his name right off.
-
Patterson
- That's Nketia.
-
Cox
- Yes, you got it. That's right, that's Nketia. And I can't recall these
names right now. Oh, but we had so much fun; it was so wonderful. I wish
I had stayed with the -- working on my doctorate, I wish I had finished.
But I had two children in college; that was more important.
-
Patterson
- So this picture was taken at UCLA?
-
Cox
- No, this was -- it looks like I have on one of my home --
-
Patterson
- This was at your home?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So you had invited Nketia to your home?
-
Cox
- Something like that.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- I don't think we had him for dinner, but I think --
-
Patterson
- Did we get that last bit, though? Did we get this particular photograph?
Because he's probably the most important scholar for African music in
the world, so I want to make sure that he --
-
Cox
- And you know Eddie's wife, Jackie. At that time, he used to have a real
big hairdo; he doesn't anymore. But I'd say now I hardly know him, but I
do. And they were at my BEEM event last month.
-
Patterson
- I know this is tough, you've got glare.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- Yeah, that's -- it might be too dark. You know what, Adriana? I think
it's a matter of angle, because I think what's happening -- Bette's
shadowing --
-
Adriana
- (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- It's harsh?
-
Adriana
- It's very hard, the shadows are very hard, that's why I've been standing
here. It's just a matter of tilting (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- OK, because I was also thinking of shadow, like Bette's shadowing,
certain -- you know what I'm saying?
-
Adriana
- We can't (inaudible).
-
Cox
- I can move any way you want.
-
Patterson
- I was just thinking of a different angle, so that you wouldn't have to
worry about that.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- Not yet.
-
Adriana
- Is it moving at all? (laughter)
-
Patterson
- There you go, there you go.
-
Adriana
- I have to be able to do this.
-
Patterson
- OK. You don't want to get it too dark -- are you trying to pull all the
light out?
-
Adriana
- The other way.
-
Patterson
- It's going to be dark. See -- yeah, if I (inaudible) this and pull this
back -- how is that? Seems like it's dark.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible). OK. It seems like (inaudible), the harshness of the sun,
it's making very hard shadows.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, I've got to really make sure I'm pulling that covering back.
-
Adriana
- It's cloudy.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, it got overcast.
-
Adriana
- So frustrating. Sun comes -- watch me like get to the other side --
-
Patterson
- Oh, it's moving fast now. Somehow, you've got to --
-
Cox
- I'm so sorry; that happened -- of all these years, I've never had that
happen. Anyway, they're supposed to have been here by now to have it
fixed; they brought those things over, but they haven't put them on yet.
I hope by next time you come, they'll be done.
-
Patterson
- So let us know when you're ready. OK. So this is another shot of that
occasion that (inaudible) Eddie Meadows, and Dr. Nketia.
-
Cox
- Yes, and Al McNeil
-
Patterson
- Al McNeil.
-
Cox
- And I know her, I can't say her name. I don't think that they were here,
maybe he probably was out there, maybe it had to do -- I just don't
know. But anyway, I think that it's me, isn't it? This is -- these are
part of the service that I was (inaudible), and he -- that looks like
that one I said was Leon Renee that wrote this song; I'm not sure right
now. We have some better pictures; we don't need to worry about that.
And here --
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) here, but those are --
-
Cox
- Oh, that's --
-
Patterson
- But you can tell us what's going on.
-
Cox
- Because it was the first --
-
Patterson
- We can hear the story.
-
Cox
- It was the first time that I had given my own series, that I would go all
over to -- (inaudible), and this was my -- and I had a lot of people I
knew, a lot of the musicians who had become a performer, and then I knew
some who were going to be speakers, like this man; he's not one of us,
but --
-
Patterson
- So when you -- I'm sorry, just to understand, when you started your
version of the Music Caucus here in LA, you set it up to be a -- sort of
a forum for teachers to learn about black music. Is that --
-
Cox
- Well, for them to come and listen to the speakers and to the performers,
and know how it all is part of what we should be teaching the children,
and how much they can learn. It's our own history, for those of us who
were of this race, because even the other people enjoyed it, and so this
was the very first one, and I did two that year, and then I think I did
-- the next year, I did it again, and then they pulled me out to go to
the first integrated school, which was at Rabbi Magnin's temple, and it
was my first opportunity to be -- I was the only music teacher selected,
because they only had one. And I was selected as the music teacher for
the school. And I was there one semester, and I got a call from the
supervisor that we're going to bring you downtown as a music advisor.
And I hadn't really finished that first semester --
-
Patterson
- Was that the --
-
Cox
- Dr. -- I mean, Mr. --
-
Patterson
- Miramontes? No, that was --
-
Cox
- No, no. This was after I -- Miramontes -- after they sent me from there
to Cienega, and I was still at Cienega when they called me to be at the
first magnet school at Rabbi Magnin's temple. And then while I was
there, they decided that I should do these programs on television. And
that -- I did four -- pardon me, I did a series before, I did -- I
called on one of the speakers from Indiana University, or from --
anyway, from -- wherever I had gone, I knew he was a fine speakers, he
was wonderful. And so I sent for him to come and be one of the speakers,
and then there were some other speakers from elsewhere, but I also had
speakers from LA. Anyway, when they called me to come downtown, and I
was doing some of the in-service classes when they told me that they
wanted me to do television, and I did this series was, first was with
this same Dr. Standifer, we discussed the meaning of black music; what
is black music? What does it mean? We talked about that for about 20
minutes, 20 or so. And then the next week, I did Eubie Blake, which was
so much fun, and Eubie had been on Johnny Carson's program, and I wanted
to know when he's coming each time, and I found out each time so that I
could have him for my in-service class that same week. So I got that
going, so then this second program I did was with Eubie Blake. And that
was about a half an hour, and then the third one was with the New
Orleans music, talked about how did it come about, and how much of it
came from Europe and all. And they had a string band once that nobody
knew about it, and so all of this -- we had a half an hour with this
little 92-year-old --
-
Adriana
- Your hand, if you could just --
-
Cox
- I'm sorry, you should just slap me. (laughter)
-
Adriana
- (laughter) I'm not going to slap you.
-
Cox
- I will show you, he's in here; he was 92 or 95 by then, I think.
-
Patterson
- Who was that now?
-
Cox
- Eubie Blake. And he talked about his early life, and how he took piano
lessons, but he didn't like that; he wanted the music that was out there
in the community. And he used to go and listen and come back and play
his music. So --
-
Patterson
- Now, this is -- it says Fred Levine right here.
-
Cox
- He lived here, but he was someone who was very involved in music, and I
got him to come and speak; he was a good speaker, very interesting. And
I think these may have been two of the musicians, I don't know. But --
-
Patterson
- Was that -- oh, New Orleans musicians?
-
Cox
- I'm not -- they may have been.
-
Patterson
- You have that written here.
-
Cox
- Well, then that's what they were. And this again was Fred Levine, and I'm
not sure who that gentleman is right now. I think --
-
Patterson
- So these were New Orleans -- these had been musicians, and --
-
Cox
- Yes, they were New Orleans musicians, and they played -- they were part
of a group, they were part of a group of musicians --
-
Patterson
- Do you remember (inaudible), the name?
-
Cox
- Well, one of them was the one that was 90-something, named Tudie, Tudie
Garland. And he was just so wonderful, and he was kind of feeble, but he
was just as happy as he could be, playing that bass. And he had a little
girlfriend who took care of him and helped him, see that he was healthy
and getting well, and it was so cute. But Tudie was -- he became a dear,
good friend of mine.
-
Patterson
- Is that Tudie in the picture?
-
Cox
- No, no. I'll show you; he's in here. He's in one of my sets. Let's see.
-
Patterson
- Is that Eddie Meadows?
-
Cox
- I was going to say, that looks like Eddie. That's the way he used to look
with that big hair. Now, let's see. Oh, this is Count Basie. When I --
as a commissioner, I had permission to go backstage at the Hollywood
Bowl, because I was from the Mayor's office. And when Count Basie was in
town playing at the Bowl, I had to go and interview him. And he was so
wonderful, and this was him. And he was so wonderful, and this was him.
-
Patterson
- Count Basie peeled back.
-
Cox
- Oh, yeah. He was so wonderful; he's so jolly and all. And he was a good
friend of Aunt Grace; you heard -- my mother's dear friend, Aunt Grace.
I had talked to Aunt Grace about it, and she used to live down the
street from him. And oh, she's so happy; she'd get to see him too. I
don't remember who this lady was, but I know who Aunt Grace was, and he
just loved her too. And that was when I first met him. Now, this is my
dear friend who was a wonderful couturier, who would make clothes like
you can't believe to fit your body only. And she was making my clothes
for when we go out, nighttime, for something.
-
Patterson
- Leslie?
-
Cox
- Leslie. Oh, she was so wonderful.
-
Patterson
- What was her last night?
-
Cox
- Thames, like the Thames River.
-
Patterson
- Oh, Leslie Thames.
-
Cox
- And her mother became ill, and she had to go to New York and be with her,
and she stayed and never acme back. But we talk to each other on the
phone; we talk on the phone every now and then, we stay in touch. She's
wonderful.
-
Patterson
- Now, getting back to Count Basie, what was -- tell us more about your
time with Count Basie.
-
Cox
- Well, you know, the thing was that I had the privilege of meeting him,
but he was not in the spirit of -- he was getting so near retirement, or
maybe he was retired, I don't know. But he didn't want to talk much
about anything; he just wanted to be friends. And he didn't tell me too
much. He was just jovial and pleasant, and his music was good, so I just
had this chance to get a picture with him, and I was happy. Sometimes
that's the way it is. You have to take what you can get and then go on.
Now, this is my dearest, dear friend who was a musician, she was a music
teacher also. And everywhere I went, she would go with me and help me if
I needed it. Louise Rhotea. And, bless her, one of my -- she's one of my
friends that's no longer with us.
-
Patterson
- Louise Rotan.
-
Cox
- I tell you, I can't believe how many it's been since I -- anyway, this is
Louise over here. She was so sweet, and she was like a sister. She was
with me most of the time when I would go anywhere. This was something
backstage, I guess.
-
Patterson
- Backstage during what? What was the show?
-
Cox
- I don't know. On this time, because I didn't -- I now know to always
write down on the back of the picture, because you forget after a few
years, you just know he was in that show, and there's one in here that
you would know. Let me see.
-
Patterson
- You can take us to the next part; I'm going to --
-
Cox
- OK. And Gregory Hines -- we went backstage to meet him. And this is Jim
Standiter, Dr. Jim Standiter teaches -- he was teaching at the
University of Michigan, and he went to China several times; I think he
got interested in Chinese music. And I think he's retired now, he wanted
a copy of the picture. This is my cousin who I told you about who was
married and went to Boise with her husband, and they didn't believe that
she was black, because she's Uncle Burt's daughter; Uncle Burt's my
father's brother, my dad's brother. And her name is Villya, that's my
mother. And over here, I can't recall who that name -- I don't know
whether he was -- I don't think he was a musician, but these are just
people where we were. And friends, and friends, and wherever we were we
would --
-
Patterson
- Wait, are we missing something? Here's Gregory Hines. Let's see it.
-
Cox
- Yeah. Well, here we are. Excuse me. Now, Gregory Hines was in a show here
in Hollywood, and my friend Leslie, my couturier, she went with me.
Sorry. And we went backstage and met Gregory, and this was somebody in
the program also. We didn't get -- I didn't write those down; again, I
shall never do that again. Always write down whoever is in the picture.
I always think that I'll know -- though I would have known Gregory
Hines, but I don't know all of them. But it was an experience to go
backstage, and many times I could go because I was Tom Bradley's
commissioner, and I could just walk in. It was fun; it's nice to do
that.
-
Patterson
- Billy Eckstine.
-
Cox
- Oh, my goodness. Who doesn't faint before you get to him? Just listening
to him. This was backstage at the Hollywood Bowl another time, and Billy
Eckstine was singing, and oh, my goodness, I'm the one who would have
fainted. I loved his music, and he's so handsome also. But anyway, it
was just a passing thing. But I enjoyed the thrill of seeing him in
person. And this is a wonderful musician whose name will come to me. He
played for many years with -- ooh, was it -- maybe, was it Benny
Goodman? It was one of the white bands, I think. And he had promised to
meet with me the next time he came to town, and he didn't live to do
that. Oh, gosh, I knew that man. Oh, wait a minute: Teddy Wilson. Teddy
Wilson; you remember how -- Teddy Wilson at the piano? The greatest.
"With warm wishes," -- yeah, this was from him. Yeah. And he was
performing in Pasadena at the -- the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, I think;
it was a big auditorium. And everybody knew who Teddy Wilson was. Oh, I
was so thrilled to be able to meet him, and he was going to meet with me
the next time he came to LA, and he wasn't even -- he just wasn't here.
And it was really sad, because oh, how I loved him and his music, he
played -- oh, it was so beautiful.
-
Patterson
- That's great.
-
Cox
- Now, who do we have here?
-
Patterson
- Do you have somebody you want to tell us about?
-
Cox
- Well, I don't want to tell you -- these two dear, dear friends of mine
are gone. I cannot believe how dear they were, and how these are friends
that were with me -- and there's my little friend Louise, and there's
another friend up there, she's still with me, Gloria May. And there's my
mother and Gran, and there's a dear friend, Lois [Croppard], brilliant
girl. Gone. And there's my son and my mother together; that was -- I
don't know what year that was, I think he was just out of college. And
down here, I think my mother is coughing or something, and here's Johnny
and my mother again. I can't think of anything exciting there --
-
Patterson
- Well, now you have a red sticker there. What's going on here?
-
Cox
- Did this have a page I missed? No. Oh, this was -- this is Floyd Levine
again; he's a Jewish musician, and he writes -- he's a writer for many
of the newspapers and papers that go abroad and all. They're well-known,
and he came to every session I gave, and he wrote it up and said
something; he's quite a nice guy. And over here -- now, this is Maurice
McGehee. And Maurice McGehee is the man -- he was the one that took me
to that church where they were shuffling their feet on the floor, and we
took movies of it. Do you remember? I told you, and you said we'll go
sometime. I think you did. No, maybe it wasn't you that said that. But
this was a church; I told him I wanted to go to another black church, a
different kind, and he said I'm going to take you to one, and he took me
to this church where for a little while, the people sat in their seats,
and everything was going all right. And pretty soon, one by one,
different ones would get up and get out in the middle of the floor and
shuffle their feet. See, in Africa, if you shuffle your feet, you're OK,
but if you pick your feet up off -- if you're like in church, you don't
-- it's sacrilegious, it's not religious, you have to keep your feet
flat on the floor, and that's the way you dance or move. Don't lift your
feet up. Well, he took me to this church, and this is what was going on.
And after awhile, one by one, they would get up and go out in the
middle, and they'd be shuffling their feet to the music. And I kept
wondering what was going on, and after awhile, the minister, who was up
on the podium, he came down a few steps and got down on the floor, and
shuffled and shuffled and shuffled, and went over to the door and
shuffled himself right outside and got in his big Cadillac and went
home. (laughter) It was really -- it's not really funny, but it was just
to see, because I didn't know; I wasn't expecting that. And evidently,
maybe we got there a little late or something, or maybe church was over,
and this was the end of it, because when different ones shuffled, and
when he got down and shuffled, they were just honoring him and they kept
right on, and he just shuffled right on out there and opened that
Cadillac door and got in, and boom, he was gone. So I said, "What is
this?" And so anyway, this was a very unusual church. And I was
fortunate enough to get the tape and keep the tape, and I also had -- my
husband Jimmy was with me, he helped me on these things a lot, and he
got pictures. So we had it on pictures, and not too long ago, I was --
I've had all my materials carefully written up, and I know what's there
and where it is and all. And not long ago, I was looking for that, and
it wasn't there, and I have no idea where it is, because somebody -- I
mean, I looked so carefully, and I had an organizer, this is a woman who
comes and does the organizing.
-
Patterson
- Is Maurice -- was Maurice there with you? And what was his last name, how
do you say --
-
Cox
- G-E-H-E-E. McGehee.
-
Patterson
- McGehee. OK.
-
Cox
- It's M-C, and then capital G.
-
Patterson
- OK. So he was -- he's the one that took you to this church. Do you
remember the name of the church?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. He didn't go, he told us where it was. And I still have -- I know
where it is. And I still have the sound, but somebody has moved or taken
that other -- I've looked everywhere, and it's gone. But I want to go
again if it's still going on.
-
Patterson
- What was the church name?
-
Cox
- Universal Tabernacle.
-
Patterson
- Universal Tabernacle. And do you know where it was located?
-
Cox
- No, I don't. I know approximately.
-
Patterson
- Where was it approximately?
-
Cox
- I know it was on the East Side, and I'm not going to have anyone take
that away from me, if anybody else wants to go and do that, but I want
to go again and get the whole thing on tape, on video. I know that it is
-- I know approximately where it is on the East Side.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the street, like a street it was near?
-
Cox
- I don't; I was so sure -- I had the whole thing, I had the sound on tape.
But now you can get things done at the same time, and I want to have it
done again if I can get in there.
-
Patterson
- Now, do these fall out of here? This is -- you have this page marked
Eubie Blake.
-
Cox
- Yeah. Let's see, Eubie Blake, he --
-
Patterson
- Is that Eubie Blake?
-
Cox
- That's Eubie. Oh, did we have a good time. He was so cute. And I had him
on television, that was one of the four of the series I did for the
school, I had him on one. And Eubie was sitting at the piano, and he had
the longest fingers that you could ever imagine if you -- the camera
went right on his fingers, and they were so long, and he was playing
what he used to play when he took piano lessons. He said, I didn't like
that; I liked it like this, and then he'd play it ragtime. And everyone
just enjoyed it, when he did this at my class, when I gave the class; in
fact, I had announced that I was going to have two performers who were
in their 90s, and the teachers couldn't believe it. They were talking
about that they just didn't believe it. And when they came and saw Eubie
Blake was one, and the other was -- Ivan Harold Browning, because he was
the bass player, he was 90-something. But Eubie Blake just stole the
show every time; he was just fantastic, and he was so sweet. This is in
my den, I had a birthday party for him; his birthday came when he was
here, and I had a birthday party in my backyard, and I was afraid
because I didn't know if it was going to rain or what, but I was
determined that it's going to be -- that I was going to do this, and do
it for him, and it didn't rain, and people -- he was signing autographs
to a book he wrote, that's what he's doing there, signing autographs.
But he was wonderful, and --
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the book that he was --
-
Cox
- Well, I have one of his books, but I don't know if it was that one. I
don't know; I'm not sure.
-
Patterson
- And who was this down here?
-
Cox
- That's a Jewish friend of ours, Harry Weinberg, who could play anything;
he was a businessman, but he loved his piano, and all his life he'd been
playing the piano, and he could just sit down, and you name it, he'd
play it right off. And I'd say, "How did you do that? I'm not that good;
how could you --" and he would just go -- he and his wife are very dear
friends of ours, we just love them and they love us, and they divorced.
And now she remarried somebody, and, you know, life is funny. And then
he didn't -- he remarried somebody, I didn't know -- but anyway, she's
still living, and he's still is, but they're not together. But they're
wonderful people to know. And, you know, he's very good; he's terrific
with the piano. Now, he's -- where were we? We were out for dinner or
something, these were all my friends, and he -- well, most of those are
still here.
-
Patterson
- Now, who are these?
-
Cox
- These are politicians, and I went -- this was at the music center, there
was something going on while I was there, and it was during the daytime,
and I went in just like other people, we were all trying -- something
about some kind of politics. And I met them because they were people to
know.
-
Patterson
- Are they Los Angeles politicians, or --?
-
Cox
- Yeah, but they weren't real big ones, but they just were very nice, and I
was glad to meet him.
-
Patterson
- Here's Eubie Blake over here again here. What's -- let's see, what do we
got going on?
-
Cox
- This is -- these are two of my friends, both of them are gone. There's
Johnny and next-door neighbor; he's gone now. And these -- he's a
musician. Who is that? I can't place them. I don't know; we must have
been a group of musicians together. Again, I don't know this one.
-
Patterson
- Now, this is Eubie Blake again here.
-
Cox
- Yes. She's gone, that's a dear friend. This was at my house; this was --
see on the wall, some of the awards I have all over the wall in the den.
-
Patterson
- Did you say Gwen?
-
Cox
- Gwen Duseau. And she's gone. She wanted to get his book, and then
autographed. And that's my mother and my cousin, and this is Dr. Jim
Standiter again, and he wanted to do the program with me to be the
co-speaker, we talked to each other about what is black music, the
meaning? And -- oh, dear, it's so much -- it's so wonderful to be with
all these people that love music like I do, and we're all learning --
well, most of them already have their Doctorates and all, and here -- is
that Jimmy getting out of the car, I guess? Somebody must have dropped
us or something. I can't place her. This is my mother. But all of these,
I can't tell you how thrilling and wonderful it is when you know that
people who are doing things that you want to know more about, and
they're so good at it, and they're so willing to share. Here is -- this
is my dear husband when he was well, and me. And -- I can't --
-
Patterson
- What was this occasion?
-
Cox
- Oh, I think we were on this ship; I think we -- the captain, every time
we've gone on a cruise, the captain invites us to be at the captain's
table, or we get to go and sit at his table and eat with him.
-
Patterson
- Where were you going?
-
Cox
- This must have been one of the cruises, I think. We might have been going
somewhere out in the ocean there, I don't know.
-
Patterson
- Just for fun?
-
Cox
- Well, yeah. We went different places, and I can't recall exactly -- this
time it had nothing to do with music.
-
Patterson
- OK. Well, moving right along.
-
Cox
- Let's see, did I have any musicians over here? No, that's more family.
-
Patterson
- It's probably all the musicians. You've got --
-
Cox
- Maurice McGehee now, he's passed away, the one that told me about the
church. And it's my uncle and my dad, and that's Leon Renee, "When the
Swallows Come Back to Capistrano," he wrote that. And he was one of my
guest speakers and performers at the meeting. Betsy Green, my daughter's
godmother, she's gone. And Billy Eckstine, I tell you, what a thrill. I
just loved his music so much. And it was just nice to be able to say
hello and meet him backstage.
-
Patterson
- OK. That's probably --
-
Cox
- I must have talked your ear off.
-
Patterson
- Oh, that's great. That was great to be able to see the photographs and
hear the stories and look at the photographs, that's wonderful. OK.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible) sitting there?
-
Cox
- (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- When Maurice McGehee -- was he just a friend to you, or was he a
musician, or --
-
Cox
- He was a musician; he was a choir director mainly, I think. He loved to
be with his choir.
-
Patterson
- Was that from -- did he have a church in any city that he was --
-
Cox
- He was with -- I don't remember the church he was with, but I know that
whenever he was with the church, he was the choir director. And Reverend
Branham had a church that I think he was the choir director for at one
time when he was living. And -- but he also just knew all about Gospel
music, and I enjoyed talking to him, and having him give me information
that I didn't know about how it goes about, because the time I had him
on television, I asked him to tell us the difference between a hymn and
Gospel music. And he went on to explain how Gospel music, you really --
it gives you soul, it has soul, and he goes on into that. And he
explains how it has so much more feeling in certain ways, and you know
right away that you have soul, and you hear it. And he's great at
explaining anything to do with music, but particularly Gospel music, and
he loves to play.
-
Patterson
- How did he --
-
Adriana
- Put one of the books in front of you?
-
Patterson
- Oh, sure. You don't have -- don't start, because we're going to get
interested, and --
-
Adriana
- (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- Yeah. So this Universal Tabernacle, they -- what denomination was that
church?
-
Cox
- I have no idea. I really don't. And I don't know of any other name than
that name.
-
Patterson
- Is it still there? Do you know?
-
Cox
- I don't know. I don't know. But I know that it was something like I had
never seen before, and I had no previous knowledge of anything that goes
on in there. And the whole time that I was there, at first there was a
little music, and I guess when the minister first came out, he had a few
words to say, but it seemed to me that just in no time that somebody,
some man came out, I think they were mostly men at first, came out and
started shuffling their feet. And then pretty soon, more and more people
were out on the floor shuffling their feet, and never raising their
foot. And I knew that that was African when I saw that, because I knew
that was a religious thing about them, that they don't raise their feet
off the ground, it's not -- it's against the religion, especially when
you're involving yourself in the religion.
-
Patterson
- Were they singing at the time?
-
Cox
- You know, I guess I was so shocked and excited, I don't know if I paid
attention. I couldn't -- I want to go back someday and find out; I'm
going to go back someday, I just don't know -- I need somebody with
permission that will get them to give me permission to do what I want to
do while I'm there.
-
Patterson
- Like shoot some video.
-
Cox
- It was no problem before, but I think that Maurice had something to do
with that, he probably told them what I was doing, and that I might need
to do pictures or tape or something. So I just didn't worry about it
because I knew he was taking care of it, and he would do what he said,
he'd find out that I could come and visit.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember any instruments?
-
Cox
- I only remember -- it seems to me there was an organ. And the music was
good, and they moved right to the music. And the minister felt good too,
he got down the steps this way, and then kept going, and it was just a
shock to me when he kept going and went out the door. (laughter) I
didn't know until afterwards; I said, "Well, he went out the door and he
didn't come back;" I said, "Uh-oh," -- I think I must have heard --
somebody must have told me that he went out and just got -- shuffled
right into his big Cadillac and went home, or went somewhere. He just
left; he was through. And I guess the rest of them just shuffled as long
as they wanted to and then went on home. I just don't know. I just
thought it was probably just a completely African, I guess. Now, when I
was there, I did not get to go to a church like that.
-
Patterson
- How were they dressed?
-
Cox
- They were --
-
Patterson
- Did they have on robes, or just their street clothes?
-
Cox
- No. I didn't see them with robes, no. And I think the minister had on
something like robes, but I just thought he had a great talent, because
he had to get -- he had to shuffle down the steps, and that's not too
easy. Oh, dear.
-
Patterson
- OK, wow.
-
Cox
- Now, we've finished this one?
-
Patterson
- No, we haven't finished this one; we finished the first two, so if you --
-
Cox
- We left where the red stars are --
-
Patterson
- Yeah, this will be next when we come back.
-
Cox
- And that's number 3?
-
Patterson
- Yes, or number 2A, or number 2.
-
Cox
- Number 2, because we did it the orange and number 1.
-
Patterson
- Yes, that's what we did.
-
Cox
- We only -- we did those two. The orange one was very small; the orange
was not a big one. We just got part of that one done. I thought for sure
we would have cut out so much, and -- but I thought I put the red stars
just for something that was important, but I guess it's more important
that I thought; I didn't know, really. I thought you might not care
about this or that.
-
Patterson
- Well, maybe we can move through it a little faster next time, but we're
going to have to definitely --
-
Cox
- We might be two more times getting through all of them. (laughter)
-
Patterson
- Yeah, we might be. But we're going to need to do that, I think. Maybe we
should (inaudible) and these first two, (inaudible).
-
Cox
- So we did the orange, and then the 1A. And we were in the middle of which
one? The 1A or the 2?
-
Patterson
- We finished 1A and B, and now we're going to start number 2 next time.
-
Cox
- OK. All right.
-
Patterson
- And here's your dear sister, you want to find a place for her?
-
Cox
- Oh, I'm so glad you saved that for me; I thought I put that -- it really
should go in that very first, that orange one. But I couldn't make room
in the proper place, but I'll have to work it out.
-
Patterson
- Figure it out, yeah, because she should be with everyone else.
-
Cox
- I think so. I love your shoes, they are so cute. Oh, they look comfy.
-
Patterson
- And they are; they're soft and --
-
Cox
- Where did you find those?
-
Patterson
- You know, I don't remember.
1.6. Session 5 (February 2, 2007)
-
Patterson
- OK? This is the Eagle newspaper. What does it say? "This is Bette
Yarbrough Alston," -- that was your first married name, "president of
Turnabout Charity Club, is a music teacher at Hooper Avenue School, and
has served as training teacher for USC. Mrs. Alston also services as
vice-president of Hooper PTA, and is an active member of the Child
Guidance and Welfare League." You don't remember that. (laughter) So the
PTA would be a school function that you were involved in with the
parents and the students.
-
Cox
- I guess. I don't remember myself; I didn't have time to do anything nice
(inaudible).
-
Patterson
- So this was what year? It doesn't say here.
-
Cox
- I don't --
-
Patterson
- Let's see if we can look at the back of it. Oh, it was January 7th, 1954.
-
Cox
- Half a century ago.
-
Patterson
- OK. What else do I have here? Here's a nice large photo.
-
Cox
- There is Jean Watkins, my (inaudible). And Haroldine Brewington, and I'm
sure your mother knew Lucy Bosman, everybody knew Lucy, she was very
plump and very --
-
Patterson
- She has a happy face.
-
Cox
- Haroldine is in my BEEM Foundation, she has been for years. And she was
my play-sister, you know.
-
Patterson
- OK. Let's get this back in. Yeah, what year was this, Bette?
-
Cox
- You know, I don't know.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, it's not. Well, let's see, is it written on the back? No, it's not
going to be 1970 from '65, it was earlier than that. And -- let's see,
Virginia Road School.
-
Cox
- Johnny, that was his class, my son had a teacher, he would come and say,
"She swears."
-
Patterson
- She swears.
-
Cox
- Yeah. She would swear and she'd get mad. He went back to school and told
her he's swearing, something like that, I don't remember much. But it
seemed like she just -- when she got mad, she didn't care. I don't know.
I still remember that; I think she was an Asian teacher. This is my
uncle, his home in Seattle. We were visiting, I guess. And my brother,
father's brother.
-
Patterson
- Let's see what's going on here.
-
Cox
- Oh, Fred. When I was divorced -- I had forgotten all about it, he got a
little bit too frisky, and I didn't like the way -- he started to get a
little too feisty, and I didn't care for anything serious, and it's --
this is my uncle, my dad's brother, and that's my dad, my uncle's,
that's my dad, my uncle's wife, his mother and aunt.
-
Patterson
- Oh, here's a picture of --
-
Cox
- Oh, I love this. I wish I had made a big huge one of that, that I could
somehow keep that forever. She was taking piano lessons and he was
taking violin.
-
Patterson
- Let me pull that out.
-
Cox
- Oh, yeah, I mean -- this is Johnny and Carol.
-
Patterson
- You know what, you might want to check and make sure these are acid-free
pages, because it'll eat up your photographs eventually. See, they're
already starting to melt into the paper. Maybe we'll just have to do
this. I want to take it out. Now, you can help me here, Bette, and hold
this open. How's that? So Johnny was a violinist, your son. Did he
really learn to play?
-
Cox
- Yes, he did. When he got to junior high school, he just didn't seem to
want to go to junior high school with a violin. He asked me the other
day, "Why did I stop playing the violin?" I said, "You didn't want it."
But I should not have given in to that.
-
Patterson
- And Carol, did she go forward with it?
-
Cox
- Carol was studying with Andre Previn's father, who was a judge but also a
musician. And I was recommended to him when I was working on my Master's
concert, and he just suddenly, all of the sudden, called her to the
piano and played some tunes and little things, and he figured out that
she was naturally gifted, because she could recognize the sounds so
well, and she could just go from one to the other and tell him what it
was. And she studied with him for two or three years, it was away in
Beverly Hills, I didn't have much time to drive over there.
-
Patterson
- Did she go forward with her studies?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm, for awhile.
-
Patterson
- OK. Now what was this?
-
Cox
- My mother, as you know, in Twin Falls, everything was -- there wasn't
anything really to give her life or anything, and she went to college,
she went to Gooding College, and studied drama. And when she got out
here, she found out that Lost in the Stars needed actors, do you
remember that, all about the applicants, and she tried it out or
something, and they picked her and chose her, and then she would be over
there practicing in the evening, and they needed a little girl, and she
says, "Well, my granddaughter could play that, she could do it," and
sure enough, they took her and kept her, and she was only seven, but she
did so well in school that we decided to let her continue and she didn't
miss anything --
-
Patterson
- Would you hold onto that for me, Bette? So this is the Ebony Showcase
production, and it looks like it happened at North La Cienega, so was
that Pacific Playhouse was the location, and Ebony Showcase was the
producing company?
-
Cox
- Well, you know, when they were up on Crenshaw, I remember that that's
where it was, so maybe they did it in both places, I don't know. But I
remember John Herod used to be a member of BEEM Foundation, and -- let's
see --
-
Patterson
- And so the Civic Playhouse was 755 North La Cienega.
-
Cox
- -- and I -- maybe they played there and then went on and played at
(inaudible).
-
Patterson
- So this is March 1957, and Lost in the Stars, it says, "A musical tragedy
based on Alan Peyton's novel, Cry the Beloved Country," which is a very
well-known work.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. And Carol played that part, my mother did too, and there's more
on the other side, I think, of that.
-
Patterson
- Now, it says, "Special arrangement with Maxine Anderson and Mrs. Curt
Wyle." OK, this is Carol -- this is a beautiful photograph. Wow.
-
Cox
- And she loved being in a play.
-
Patterson
- This was her at the stage?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- Still --
-
Adriana
- (inaudible) so it's not facing the window?
-
Patterson
- OK. Sure. And we'll -- how's that? So this is her at the foot of the
stage, Lost in the Stars. Wow. OK. So your mom got a chance to act after
all.
-
Cox
- Oh, yes. She enjoyed it so much.
-
Patterson
- Theodore Tickton. OK.
-
Adriana
- I'm going to (inaudible) for a second.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- Now this -- there was another little boy that played --
-
Patterson
- Wait until we get this on, because I don't want to miss the story, and
then it'll be gone. (laughter) I don't want to miss the story.
-
Cox
- It mentions my mother and it mentions --
-
Patterson
- Oh, here's the play -- oh, this is great. We're going to have to go
through this, Carole Alston. She was seven and a half. Next to it -- oh,
I recognize him. OK.
-
Cox
- I wonder if she'd -- I think he is, but he's not getting any credit for
anything for that play.
-
Patterson
- OK, so here is the souvenir program put out by the Ebony Showcase Theater
of Lost in the Stars, it has very '50s architecture here that the
theater had at that time. And the Stewarts were the producers now, I
remember his face. He was one of the Amos and Andy cast, on the cast --
wasn't he the taxi driver?
-
Cox
- Maybe so, but I don't remember; I remember him -- they did it -- they
must have done the program on La Cienega, because it's all there. But I
can remember my mother coming and helping them to get down on her hands
and knees and help to hammer nails into these chairs over at that place
on Crenshaw; that's where they ended up doing it again. But my mother
was just so willing to help, they needed help so much, and she'd just do
anything to help them.
-
Patterson
- Maybe I was mistaken; it seems to me -- his face looks familiar, maybe it
wasn't Amos and Andy. It says he was in Carmen Jones, he was in the
Milton Berle show, Fireside Theatre. He was the African guide in [Lamar]
of the Jungle; he appeared in Irvine Burland's Louisiana Purchase; he
played Carmen Jones at the Greek Theater, at the Las Palmas theatre,
Chris Columbus Brown, a musical comedy for which he wrote the book and
music. He is co-founder of the Ebony Showcase. Edna Stewart, she was
also in Chris Columbus Brown.
-
Cox
- She worked so hard (inaudible), and that, I think, was (inaudible)
politician, he gets all the credit now, he's taken that place over; they
moved from Crenshaw, from that theatre to a place on Washington, and
(inaudible) really worked like a slave, just did everything to make it
go well.
-
Patterson
- And his wife, Edna. And then Alan Peyton, author; Maxwell Henderson, the
playwright; [Curton Wild], the composer -- Backstage with Ebony. Now,
did you go to the theatre with her ever?
-
Cox
- Yes, I did. We went to see it, but I didn't stay, because my mother was
watching, she was right there backstage.
-
Patterson
- OK. This is priceless, this --
-
Cox
- John Herod, he passed away about a year or two ago; he was a member of
BEEM.
-
Patterson
- Jester Hairston was the musical director, huh?
-
Cox
- He was just so marvelous. You knew him, didn't you?
-
Patterson
- I didn't know him. I know of him.
-
Cox
- He was a wonderful (inaudible), a singer and -- there wasn't anything he
couldn't sing, any song, and he would go to China and he'd tell the -- I
think he went over to USC, and he was like almost 90, and he would say,
"I'm going to China, and I want you to show me how to say a few things,"
and they'd start him off on a whole lot, and he said, "Now, I don't want
all that. I just want to be able to say hello, how are you." But when he
started to sing, oh, he could sing and have a choir going -- oh, he was
wonderful.
-
Patterson
- So I see here, the Ebony Showcase Theatre was located at 3020 Crenshaw
Boulevard at this time.
-
Cox
- And now they have -- I don't think they even give it that name anymore,
but this politician -- and I can't think of his name, up on Washington;
he seems to have taken it over, and they don't mention Nick's name, it's
very sad. He spent his whole life, all those years, making it a
wonderful success.
-
Patterson
- And members of the chorus, Bette Arlet and Julia Bush, Loreen Howard,
Annetta C. Logan, Faye Miller, Ella Sellers, Jean Trevor, Winona
Perryman, and the men, Sylvester Bell, Alvin Bowen, Stan Williams,
Robert Clarkson, David Mason, Bob Moore, Don Powell, Thomas Robinson.
And then they had two dancers, Irish Peterson and Charles Carter. So
this was -- and where -- wait a minute; where is Carrole?
-
Cox
- On the next page, I think.
-
Patterson
- On the next page.
-
Cox
- I guess that's the next one.
-
Patterson
- OK. Here's Jester Hairston, Archie Savage, the choreographer.
-
Cox
- Yeah, he was a great dancer.
-
Patterson
- He traveled with Katherine Dunham and appeared with the company Cabin in
the Sky. Wow.
-
Cox
- Now there's my mother and Carol. Of course, you know I had to highlight
it. (laughter)
-
Patterson
- Your mom and her granddaughter got to be in a show like this together.
That's wonderful.
-
Cox
- Oh, she enjoyed it so much.
-
Patterson
- "She received her dramatic training at Gooding College, currently with
the Circle of Life Players, under the direction of Doris Burden. Miss
Yarbrough was previously heard over radio in the Phyllis Wheatley Story.
Interesting. Now making her professional debut.
-
Cox
- Yeah, I think that was [in Idaho] at one time, (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- This is priceless.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible)?
-
Patterson
- Mm-hmm. Sure. John Cumalo, South African name. And -- small cast, and
there's the chorus. About the Showcase -- wow, this is -- can we stop
for just a second? Just pause it --
-
Adriana
- Do you want me to pause audio?
-
Cox
- Yeah, would you, for just a second? Sorry.
-
Cox
- (inaudible) his mother -- I guess my mother --
-
Patterson
- That was great. OK.
-
Cox
- His mother and my mother were friends, very good friends, and as he grew
up older and he became -- I think he got into something in the field,
like --
-
Patterson
- Now, was this from the show?
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- From Lost in the Stars.
-
Cox
- But he was -- I think he died of something, but he was involved with the
theater a lot with the motion pictures, I think.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember -- his name is in the program.
-
Cox
- I don't know whatever happened -- I think (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- He was in -- I remember seeing him here. Yeah. Johnny Doolittle, was that
him here?
-
Cox
- I guess so, yeah. I was thinking about --
-
Patterson
- Johnny Doolittle.
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. He was only nine.
-
Patterson
- So he continued on into (inaudible).
-
Cox
- I think he died after he was grown, I don't know what happened.
-
Patterson
- He died young, huh. OK. That's Virginia Rhodes, who --
-
Cox
- My daughter with her little red ribbons on. (laughter)
-
Patterson
- Oh, here's a nice big picture. Let's see.
-
Cox
- This is Jimmy's best friend from Cleveland. Nate Jones where he's from.
Anyway, he came out her --
-
Adriana
- (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- Yeah.
-
Cox
- He came out here and he met me, and I introduced him to my best friend at
that time, he was a lawyer. And then he -- after that, he became a
judge. And he just now is sort of retired, but he's still being judge
for a lot of things.
-
Patterson
- This is you and Jimmy?
-
Cox
- That's me and just people at the Kappa fraternity event.
-
Patterson
- 47th Grand Conclave --? What is that?
-
Cox
- I think it's Conclave, but that looks like it's Conclave.
-
Patterson
- Conclave? Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
-
Cox
- Anyway, she -- they got married shortly after they met, he just was in
love with her, and she was so dear and sweet, and they got married, and
she got pregnant, and she had the baby and came out here to be with her
mother while she had the baby, and had that -- what did they call it,
depressed -- when they get very depressed, some kind of thing that they
do with -- anyway, she died. It was the saddest thing. And --
-
Patterson
- So those were sorority people in your sorority. OK. Let's get -- these
are just recreation, huh?
-
Cox
- That was in Seattle, that was visiting my uncle and my aunt's brother and
his wife. No, that was not his wife; that was -- his wife is over here,
but they were just out having dinner or something.
-
Patterson
- Let's get this picture of you here.
-
Cox
- I don't like that picture?
-
Patterson
- You don't?
-
Cox
- No.
-
Patterson
- Aw, why?
-
Cox
- I don't know. It's not --
-
Patterson
- I think it's nice.
-
Cox
- I've seen better ones than here. I think my uncle was trying to put
something together. But anyway, it didn't work.
-
Patterson
- And that's your daughter's report card, huh?
-
Cox
- Straight A's, except these little things like art and practical arts,
that doesn't count much. She was straight A in elementary and junior
high and high school, she was really great. Really --
-
Patterson
- She was a good student, huh?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm.
-
Patterson
- OK. Well, let's see what we got going here.
-
Cox
- There's my dad, and there is where I am, that's my brother.
-
Patterson
- This is your dad. That's an interesting hat; about when was this taken?
-
Cox
- Oh, gosh. I really -- I don't know, it must have been -- it's in Idaho;
it's a long time ago. Here's my grandpa and grandma; here's Johnny,
here's Carol, here's Johnny. Here they are with Santa Claus.
-
Patterson
- And this is Johnny playing the violin. That's cute.
-
Cox
- He's kissing his little sister, I think. And there's Carol's birthday,
and a cousin. And then this -- these are -- this is Inez [Porque] -- I
can't think of her -- her husband as well, he passed away a few years
ago. But we went together to Europe; we had a tour in Europe, and we had
the best time. She's funny all the time.
-
Patterson
- I think we had a color picture of her in the last round. This is your
uncle, huh.
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm, my dad's brother. And here's little Jeanie that died.
-
Patterson
- OK. Let's see. Oh, this is Jackie Robinson.
-
Cox
- I knew him (inaudible), and he wrote this on the back of the picture.
-
Patterson
- Oh, this is great. We've got to get this.
-
Cox
- And I had to make a copy of it, because we couldn't see it. We tried to
look --
-
Patterson
- How are you with that, Adriana? This is Jackie Robinson and a
hand-written note from Jackie Robinson to Betty. Wow, that's -- so now
what was it that -- could you describe your relationship with him?
-
Cox
- Oh, just friends. When we came here, I went to [Pasadena JC] for the
first two years, and he went there, and when I went to UCLA, he did too.
We weren't dating or anything, but he was just always very friendly and
nice. Here's Johnny and Carole, and that's Gregory, he's a neighbor boy.
He and Johnny see each other now a lot.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- And here's Inez again; her husband's -- when I said we had so much fun.
And this is my Jewish friend; oh, she's wonderful. That's Beverly. And
Johnny looks like her graduated there.
-
Patterson
- Let's see. Trying to get to some of the photographs we can see with the
camera.
-
Cox
- That's my husband. My dad -- my other brother, daughter.
-
Patterson
- Now, this is the California Eagle newspaper again. And what were they --
it says "debutantes."
-
Cox
- These are -- the [Links] choose so many girls to be debutantes, and so
Carole was chosen, along with others, and there were 23 for their annual
--
-
Patterson
- -- event.
-
Cox
- Yeah.
-
Patterson
- These are Johnny --
-
Cox
- Yeah.
-
Patterson
- -- Carol --
-
Cox
- I hadn't realized she was so much taller than I. And here is -- this was
the Links event, when they had a big (inaudible). And this is her
escort.
-
Patterson
- That's a pretty picture.
-
Cox
- These are all the girls, and seeing my mother and dad were there, and
Johnny was there.
-
Patterson
- Now this is --
-
Cox
- This is a long story. Carol was talking, and this is Johnny's version of
what he wanted to say -- there are two of them here. This was --
-
Patterson
- The summer class of 1965, Dorsey High School. So that was Carol
graduating?
-
Cox
- No. Let's see. Johnny graduated in '63, and she was three years later;
she'd be '60 --
-
Patterson
- It says Carole Alston, summer class of 1965.
-
Cox
- '65 -- two years after Johnny, I guess. I don't know. And that's Mother's
best friend, one of them. And that's Aunt Grace. That was a neighbor.
-
Patterson
- OK. Now what was going on here?
-
Cox
- Mother was a founding member of Womanhood Week, and I think when you turn
the page, she was the Mother of the Year, but she was voted.
-
Patterson
- National -- the 2nd annual session of the National Association of Negro
Business --
-
Cox
- -- and Professional Women's Club, currently in (inaudible), New York.
They went to New York because she was chosen --
-
Patterson
- Well, I know the two women were (inaudible) --
-
Cox
- And they were so funny.
-
Patterson
- -- delegates, they were --
-
Cox
- When we get that age, it's so funny, because they -- there was another, I
think Aunt Julia was with them, and one of them, they got up in the
morning, one of them got up first and went downstairs, and one of the
others tried to get ready and get dressed, and she couldn't find her
girdle. And it turned out that the one downstairs had the wrong girdle
on, and they just had so much fun laughing about things like that. They
were just -- they were so cute.
-
Patterson
- Let's see. It says Mrs. Pauline Earl Yarbrough, the Woman of the Year,
shared her spotlight with Miss Alita Washington, the Girl of the Year.
-
Cox
- Yeah. And I was so happy for her, because when she lived in Idaho, there
was nothing like that for her, no social life, and she came here and she
just got into her acting and her -- she did the Lost in the Stars, and
anything anybody -- they all wanted her to be something, and she'd just
go right on. She was just -- Aunt Julia said their house was like Grand
Central Station, people coming and going all the time. She loved people.
-
Patterson
- OK. Let's see.
-
Cox
- So here's the Woman of the Year.
-
Patterson
- OK. This is another -- it was a brochure of the actual event, or the
program rather?
-
Cox
- Yeah. 1965.
-
Patterson
- OK. And let's see, what else do we have here? Social news, testimonial,
reception --
-
Cox
- I don't remember the year.
-
Patterson
- OK. So there's lots of stuff here about that, this is the Eagle Newspaper
covered it. Oh, this is the debutante.
-
Cox
- Well, the Link s--
-
Patterson
- Carole Alston, that's your daughter's activity. And commencement --
-
Cox
- This was for the Church of Religious Science; my mother and dad took a
class, that was their religion and they took a class, so they were on
the list as one of the graduates, and I was very proud of them. They
were always doing something to get ahead.
-
Patterson
- Now, did you attend?
-
Cox
- I don't think so. I don't think -- I don't really remember being there, I
don't know. It seemed like I would, but I don't --
-
Patterson
- I mean, the art -- the stylization of the graphics at this time period
was so great. This Dorsey High School commencement program is --
-
Cox
- Johnny was '63, and I guess this is '65. I thought she was three years --
must have been just two years, I don't know.
-
Patterson
- OK. This is the Sentinel newspaper.
-
Cox
- Yes. Dad sold his business and went into Real Estate when he came here,
he got his papers in order and passed the test and all, and this was
their realty company, Consolidated Realty. Oh, this is --- excuse me --
that's Johnny, at Chapman College, had a Ship of the Seas, the Seven
Seas, and Johnny went first because he was a student at Chapman, and I
made a cake with a ship on it, and they had company over to see them.
-
Patterson
- Now, what was this occasion? You said it was a Ship of the Seven Seas,
it's March, 1966.
-
Cox
- Well --
-
Peterson
- And he was -- yeah, can't see it. You can see the Chapman.
-
Cox
- He signed up to go on the ship.
-
Patterson
- Oh, OK. They were studying on the ship, right?
-
Cox
- Well, yes. And Johnny, he -- I told him that they had a ship -- I saw it
in the paper or my mother saw, and he said, "But I couldn't go," or we
couldn't afford it. I said, "Do you want to go?" He goes, "Yeah." I
said, "Well, then, you're going." And so the next year --
-
Patterson
- Yay, mom.
-
Cox
- -- Carole had to.
-
Patterson
- "I got to go too."
-
Cox
- And Carole went three times. She went the second time, she wanted to go
again. I said, "Carole, you just went." She says, "But Mom, they're
going to South America, and I speak Spanish." And I knew she did, so I
let her go. And then the first time, I said, "Now, I want you to have
experience at a black college, I want you to go to college, at least a
year." She didn't want to go, and so she went reluctantly, and she was
so unhappy, she did not like it, and she signed up with the people that
she knew to be a teacher's assistant free on the ship again, three
times. I said, "Carole," -- she said, "Well, Mama, I don't have pay;
I'll be the TA." What could I do? And she's been almost everywhere in
the world several times; she loves traveling. And she got herself into a
job as a tour director at -- some music thing where they have people
come and take tours, and she had that little job, and then next thing I
knew she had an assignment to go -- she's been to China three or four
times, even since before the changeover, and she's been to Africa four
times, and she's just -- and she speaks languages, she's --
-
Patterson
- She's quite a -- she was quite a young woman, even then she was
adventuresome.
-
Cox
- She is. And when she graduated, she wanted to go back to Cal State, and I
said, "No, I would think you wanted to," and yes, she did, and she
graduated on the Dean's list. So I can't say anything.
-
Patterson
- She had her own mind, huh, what she liked to do. Who are these two
people?
-
Cox
- That's my mother and my brother. That's Herman. There's Jimmy.
-
Patterson
- Let's try to find a big one so Adriana can get a good shot. Let's see
what we've got here that the camera can -- I think most of these are
smaller shots. Oh, here's Tom Bradley. That looks like -- is that a
photograph? It almost looks like painterly.
-
Cox
- I don't know what it is.
-
Patterson
- Oh, it was the location of your polling place. So it was a political ad.
-
Cox
- I don't know, but that's -- I think at the time when he appointed me
Commissioner of Cultural Affairs.
-
Patterson
- I'm going to put this back in here. OK, let's -- I'll just for now, just
--
-
Cox
- Don't worry about it.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, we'll go back through so we won't lose it. OK, let's see if there's
anything else large enough -- no, that was it for the large ones that
can pick up with the camera. OK. Now there were a couple of big ones
down here that we didn't get the first time.
-
Cox
- I think they're there on the chair.
-
Patterson
- Let's see where -- oh, here. Let's let Adriana get an image of these.
This is a nice large one of Fred Waring, you and Fred Waring. And again,
yeah, now about that. He was supportive of the BEEM organization?
-
Cox
- No, he was giving a class having to do with choral music, and another
girl and I went, it was up north somewhere. And it was very good. I just
was glad to be able to meet him and to be part of that.
-
Patterson
- So he wasn't down here in Los Angeles when you met him. OK. And --
-
Cox
- Those are my Oberlin (inaudible), I had heard about a scholarship at
Oberlin, and I had graduated from UCLA, and I think I worked for one
year at some place typing, it was horrible, and I wanted to go to
Oberlin. So I was there for a year and a half, and John (my ex) came
over to school, and the girls said, "Oh, you are so sweet," I told them
I wasn't interested in him; "You must be crazy! He's the most wonderful
guy!" And, oh, they just went on and on and on.
-
Patterson
- So they convinced you to --
-
Cox
- Well, yeah. They said I was crazy, and I don't know --
-
Patterson
- And this is you here?
-
Cox
- Uh-huh. They kept on --
-
Patterson
- They broke you down, huh.
-
Cox
- Young and silly!
-
Patterson
- And this --
-
Cox
- That was the note to my parents thanking them for what they'd given to
me.
-
Patterson
- Your education.
-
Cox
- UCLA.
-
Patterson
- BA, 1942.
-
Cox
- And this happened in '43. I left to go to Oberlin for a year and a half.
It was a wonderful experience, it really was.
-
Patterson
- Great. Those are wonderful. Wonderful photographs. OK. So let's pause and
go and get the other -- because I think we've gone through all of these.
45 to 77. OK, now this is a very, very pretty picture.
-
Cox
- She's a sister to Velma. Velma was once married to my brother, and --
that's Jimmy and that's me.
-
Patterson
- I was just wondering -- this is a whole -- what is this? It's a silver
set?
-
Cox
- Silverware. A whole set of silver.
-
Patterson
- That's your mom and dad, and -- let's see, let's find a big one. Here,
these are Carole. Certificate of Commendation, (inaudible) -- she went
to Audubon.
-
Cox
- They made her senior councilperson.
-
Patterson
- OK. So she was a good student, Carol. Carol the great student. And let's
see --
-
Cox
- She went to camp, and she said, "I'm having a lot of fun,"
blah-blah-blah, and all that, and then she says down at the end, "but
please send me an extra dollar or two. Here's the address." And that was
Johnny when he was awarded the --
-
Patterson
- Citizenship award? "Found worthy in character and citizenship," at the
junior high school, Audubon. They both went to Audubon then.
-
Cox
- Yeah.
-
Patterson
- And this is Christmastime at home. Oh, look at this. This is a concert;
it says this is a concert --- it says it's a photo for a Master's degree
concert.
-
Cox
- That was -- somebody took that for the advertising.
-
Patterson
- So this is what you wore for your Master's concert, you played piano for
it, or --?
-
Cox
- Yes. They had me wear it for the concert (laughter).
-
Patterson
- Oh, you're so sweet.
-
Cox
- Thank you. You're (inaudible). No thank you, honey.
-
Unidentified female
- You don't want any?
-
Cox
- Not right now. Are you going to have some?
-
Patterson
- Now, what are you going to have?
-
Unidentified female
- (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- You have cereal. (laughter)
-
Unidentified female
- Special K, (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- (whispering) Caliente. Let it cool off. OK, I don't want to soil the
photographs.
-
Cox
- I'll hold this for you.
-
Patterson
- OK. Here we go. And let's see, try to get something big here so we can
see --
-
Cox
- This is graduation from junior high.
-
Patterson
- OK, with John.
-
Cox
- This is a band uniform, he was in a band.
-
Patterson
- OK, now he wasn't playing --
-
Cox
- -- violin.
-
Patterson
- -- violin though.
-
Cox
- Drums.
-
Patterson
- He played -- oh, yeah. That was a little more boyish, I guess, for him.
-
Cox
- Outstanding for Life Science.
-
Patterson
- So you exposed both of your children to music lessons, huh?
-
Cox
- Yes, I did. I wish I had made them stay with it, but it got to a point
where they -- and it's a little hard when I was working all the time
anyway.
-
Patterson
- What is this?
-
Cox
- Oh, Jimmy, when we got -- I guess it was when we got married, or at least
these are people he worked with, for the state. And they wanted to take
him for dinner, because he's going to leave them and go to -- he was
going to -- not the post office for mail, but for real estate, he sold
-- people who wanted to buy -- at the post office, he would go and make
-- he would help them to know how to do it. He was leaving his -- these
two people, their company.
-
Patterson
- And they're giving him a dinner. OK. Let's see, what else do we have here
that we can see that's big enough to see? Los Angeles City School
District. Oh, this is for Johnny, huh.
-
Cox
- Honor, he's going to be in the honor class, a seminar in science. That's
Carole. She received straight A's.
-
Patterson
- And --
-
Cox
- Oh, this is getting ready to go on the ship. Johnny went first --
-
Patterson
- Oh, from Chapman College?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- I don't know.
-
Patterson
- It's hard to see these on camera. Let's see if there's anything large
here that we can look at. Oh, what's this?
-
Cox
- That? I don't know; it looks like something political.
-
Patterson
- You weren't in this, huh?
-
Cox
- No. Mother and dad and some lady.
-
Patterson
- Let's see, these are all for your daughter.
-
Cox
- National Education Association --
-
Patterson
- Moral and spiritual values. OK. I just wanted to see if we could catch
something of you in here that was big enough.
-
Cox
- Eat your sandwich.
-
Patterson
- (laughter) OK.
-
Cox
- This is the last one. The others are in folders, because there came a
time when -- well, when my advisor out at UCLA wanted me to tell him
what I wanted to involved in. I said "I want to know more about our
people," and I said, "but there are no books." He said, "Oh, but there
are." Naturally, he knew, and he gave me a copy of Eileen Southern's
"Music and Black Americans," the most wonderful -- it just has
everything, and that made me wake up, you know, that there are books in
there and things, and I was supposed to be doing that on my sabbatical,
and so every chance I got, I did it. And then when Eddie Meadows said,
"Who are you?" And I told him, "Bette Cox." And he said, "Well, what are
you doing? What do you teach?" I said, "Music," and he said, "You should
belong to the Black Music Caucus." I said, "What's that?" And he said,
"Well, that's -- all the different ones throughout the country
(inaudible) our music, and want to know more about it."
-
- So anyway, that was the beginning. And about that same time at UCLA,
they had -- they were offering scholarships for the summer, or for two
or three weeks or something, I don't -- and I, of course, had to have
that. So I said, "Oh, yeah, I've got to have that." So I went on my
first opportunity to have information about our people and music. And
these things in folders now, how many times -- I must have gone 20 times
in the semester, or maybe not a semester, because every year, I'd go to
wherever they were going to have a meeting. And the first one was --
Indiana University has a wonderful music department on this -- so I went
there, and while I was there, I met someone who was going to do the same
thing at Virginia State, it's on the same topic, but it's different, so
I had to come home and tell Jimmy, "Honey, I'm back, but I've got to go
back again next week, or next two weeks;" I said, "They're going to have
another one at Virginia State College." Anyway, I was doing all this,
and every time that there was a notice, I'd go. And I think I must have
gone to about 20 over a period of a few years, because it was once a
year or whatever.
-
Patterson
- But you had already started BEEM during that time.
-
Cox
- No.
-
Patterson
- Not in the beginning, but --
-
Cox
- No, because see, BEEM -- after I went to enough of these, I realized that
I've got to be the one to know more about the Black experience. And so I
had met -- I had talked with Eddie and met him, to really get to know
him, and Richard Yarborough -- my maiden name is Yarbrough -- I
contacted him because I had seen him name on something from the school,
from UCLA. And I said, "I just wondered if we might be related, because
my name is Yarbrough too [homophones despite spelling]. So we didn't
ever find out if we're related, but we got acquainted. And so I told him
what I wanted to do. And so between him and Eddie, more than anyone
else, they helped me get some people who -- like Gordon L. Berry, he was
at UCLA -- you don't know him. Well, anybody, we got together about 15
-- maybe just about 12 people, and that -- I have to show you that
album. They were all professors except me, and I think all of them were
better than me, and it was my idea, and they were all willing, and so we
started the BEEM Foundation in 1981, I think it was.
-
- And the first thing we did was we wanted to do a movie on Blind Tom. And
it's a long story, but anyway, we got it going, and I was Executive
Producer at KCET, and it was produced, and we won, I think, five honors
that year, and it was considered the best -- whatever it was, for
children. And on the -- and it was at KCET, and it ran quite a little
bit. And that was the beginning -- that was the first year, that was
1981. And after that, we'd been trying to get something else going, and
gradually, they went back to their work -- they came to meetings, I
think, for maybe a year or two, I don't know. Maybe -- because they were
with me when we did Blind Tom, but I was the only one that wasn't a
Doctor and a Professor. They all were -- they were way up here now.
-
Patterson
- But you were motivated.
-
Cox
- I was, and ever since I've been motivated, we've been doing BEEM. But
most of them, when the professors began to drift away, I could see that
they didn't have the time, or they maybe -- they thought maybe I should
have other people too, I don't know, because they were much more
knowledgeable than I was. And so I began -- we didn't -- they weren't
coming regularly, I began to pull in people that I knew from the School
District who were advisors, something above just a teacher. So I began
bringing in people like that, and they have been working well through
the years now -- educators.
-
Patterson
- So it founded --
-
Cox
- (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- OK. I want to ask you about this when she gets the tape rolling --
-
Cox
- He was my student, he was a little boy --
-
Patterson
- When she starts the tape, then we'll get the story, because this looks
interesting here, sort of a snapshot of African-Americans in that time
period.
-
Cox
- Well, when he went to our school, he went on to junior high at other
schools, but I don't think he continued with it, I don't know why, he
was outstanding, and I just knew he was going -- I knew he was going to
be something, but he didn't continue. His mother was a nurse, and I
think she was very busy, didn't have much time to devote to the kids,
his sister too. I think he drifted away; I didn't hear from him after he
left our school. But at that time, I thought he was outstanding.
-
Patterson
- OK. So this is a program of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Tell us
about this, and who these people were.
-
Cox
- I didn't know about the other one, but I just knew that George Spell, was
a fine pianist, and that he was in our orchestra, and he was with us for
two or three years, and then it was time for him to go to junior high.
And I never did hear anymore.
-
Patterson
- So what was the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra?
-
Cox
- I don't know.
-
Patterson
- But this concert took place at Crenshaw High School on 11th Avenue, 5010
11th Avenue.
-
Cox
- 1970.
-
Patterson
- Gladys E. Timmons, President, Member, Symphony Lead of Los Angeles
County. Louis -- or Louis Palange was the cultural director.
-
Cox
- They weren't like the Southeast Symphony; they were mostly black. But
evidently, this is just another symphony orchestra.
-
Patterson
- You say they're mostly black people playing in this?
-
Cox
- No.
-
Patterson
- Oh, they're not.
-
Cox
- No, I was saying that at Southeast Symphony, they're mostly black
members, but this one is some symphony I don't know anything about at
the time. And I guess knew that he was going to be playing, and I wanted
to go. I don't know whatever happened.
-
Patterson
- What was his instrument?
-
Cox
- Piano -- violin.
-
Patterson
- Violin. OK. Let's see. OK, well, I think maybe -- here's a great picture
of your mom. Let's close it out with your beautiful mother.
-
Cox
- Yes, she is beautiful. Just wonderful. So sweet and loving.
-
Patterson
- It looks like some interesting art in the background. Where was she here?
-
Cox
- I don't know. That looks like -- what's that like, AM to Spain?
-
Patterson
- Pan Am.
-
Adriana
- Can we hold on just second?
-
Patterson
- Sure.
-
Cox
- She was so happy to be here, and she came in time for my second child, my
little daughter. So she had a little bassinet made up for me at her
house, and she was always doing for her people, just wonderful. She
loved to be involved with anything I was; she'd be holding the phone, or
holding the microphone, for William Grant Still, and I --
-
Patterson
- I remember that photograph.
-
Cox
- Yeah. She was right there and everything.
-
Patterson
- She's so full of life, wasn't she. Just interested in culture and the
arts.
-
Cox
- And Aunt Julia said the house was just Grand Central Station, all these
people in here coming and going, she would tease her about -- she had so
many people that loved her, always coming over, and it wasn't to drink,
because she didn't drink; they didn't have liquor. But she was just good
company.
-
Patterson
- Just vitality. Are there some other folders that you said you wanted us
to see? What time -- how are we doing for time? How are you feeling,
Bette? Are you a little tired?
-
Cox
- I'm fine. Are you fine?
-
Patterson
- Mm-hmm.
-
Cox
- (inaudible), they're brown. They're by that chair, underneath the couch.
Get the ones of his hand. And I think (inaudible), and I think they
(inaudible, noise on tape recorder). I had (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- OK. What do we have here?
-
Cox
- Oh, I was appointed to the National Endowment for the Arts. I had to go
to Washington --
-
Patterson
- Now, you go ahead and move us through this. I mean, we may not get all
the images, but we'll just watch you remember what's in here.
-
Cox
- Might be -- $50,000 worth of instruments to a black school on Crenshaw.
$50,000 worth of music instruments. And that was our gift to them,
because they didn't have any instruments.
-
Patterson
- Oh, at Crenshaw and Freemont High Schools.
-
Adriana
- Can you sit up again?
-
Patterson
- Sure, sure.
-
Cox
- This was a magazine. I can't think of this lady's name, but she publishes
magazines. LA City Sheet, that's what they called it. And then they
opened it -- she does this Beverly Hills, so, you know, it's supposed to
be something else, because it is (inaudible). And she found something,
she put this in there about the --
-
Patterson
- Oh, that's you. And what was this in here for? What was the story?
-
Cox
- Oh, it was just about me and how I do what I can.
-
Patterson
- Sort of just a general overview.
-
Cox
- I guess when I was appointed to the NEA, and this is that part of the --
-
Patterson
- Now, this is the National Endowment for the Arts, and your appointment to
-- as a member, as a member of the NEA Music "Grants" and Policy panel.
-
Cox
- To decide who's going to get the grant. And this is Dr. Warwick Carter,
who is now the president of Chicago College in New York, and he's a
musician also.
-
Patterson
- Oh, let's see him.
-
Cox
- He and Eddie -- I think Eddie introduced me to him.
-
Patterson
- This is such a pretty photograph. I love it, and I saw it on the cover of
the book. Now, the book I have just has the plain black cover, but Don
Lee White has a soft cover of Central Avenue with this on the cover of
it, so we just saw this photograph the other day, and it's really
beautiful, such a great photo.
-
Cox
- Well, I just wanted to point these out to you.
-
Patterson
- [Claude Aldam, Cab Calloway]. That's awesome photographs.
-
Cox
- -- a lot of newspaper.
-
Patterson
- Anything in here you want us to see?
-
Cox
- Well, maybe. I don't know.
-
Patterson
- Let's see what this is.
-
Cox
- These are different ones.
-
Patterson
- Local music history of blacks recorded. Oh, look at this big pretty
picture of you. "Pressed for research materials documenting the music
history of blacks in Los Angeles, a local writer turned to the only
sources available. 'Contemporary [grios], the people who lived the
history,' she said. Bette Yarbrough Cox, former music teacher in the Los
Angeles school system, interviewed more than 30 elderly musicians and
music teachers as the major sources of materials for her recently
published Central Avenue: Its Rise and Fall, 1890 to Circa 1955." And
you said, "Contemporary grios were a rich resource, because that is
where the history is. These are the people who live the history: they
experience the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. They
were the ones who could tell it like it really was." And you're here
with your book -- this is the edition that I saw. That's great. And what
is this newspaper? The Herald American News, serving Downey, Norwalk,
Santa Fe Springs, a Wave newspaper.
-
Cox
- (inaudible) some of these people, they kept writing it, wanted me to come
and give me (inaudible).
-
Patterson
- And what else is in here? Anything else that we should look at? Oh, here
you are. The Wave newspapers, and you are in here, "Bette Yarbrough Cox,
author of Central Avenue." So this is promotion and publicity for your
book, and this is February 4, 1998. Let's see what else, just real
quick. Oh, that's the $50,000 donated to schools. Now, this says,
"National Black Music Caucus, in 1997, Atlanta, Georgia."
-
Cox
- They now call it [NASPAN], but that --
-
Patterson
- Let's see , what was -- so this is Dr. Warrick Carter -- was this the
time that you just were talking about, when you went to this in 1997?
-
Cox
- No. It was -- I think it was that year. Let's see, I think so. But it was
to the NEA to Washington.
-
Patterson
- But it was at the same time period.
-
Cox
- I don't know.
-
Patterson
- OK. George D. Adams, T. Marshall Jones. Alfred Dionysus Wyatt, Sr. Local
and regional honorees. Wayman A. Carver, Cleopus Johnson, Kemper Harold.
OK. A celebration of African-American music. That was its 25th year, in
'97. And what is this? This is probably a review of your book, or --
let's see. The second annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will be
held April 19th. Did you participate in that at UCLA? April 19th, and
that would have been -- what year?
-
Cox
- I did two different years, two different times, I did that.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the years? I'm trying to find it in here.
-
Cox
- I think it was -- the book came out in '97, I think it might -- either
'97 or '98, and then again the next year. (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- I'm going to say this was so delicious. (laughter) You found out my
secret.
-
Mercedes
- (inaudible).
-
Cox
- My hands are shaking.
-
Patterson
- Oh, so Honor Society --
-
Cox
- Mercedes, you know I'm just playing.
-
Mercedes
- I know.
-
Patterson
- OK. Information for History Conference. So this was academic or business
affiliated? BEEM Foundation for the Advancement of Music, and so you
participated in this history conference for the Historical Society of
Southern California?
-
Cox
- I just -- I think I put that yellow on it, because I thought maybe I
should have, and I just didn't have time, I think. Because it's in
Pasadena, or does it say there? But I think it is in Pasadena.
-
Patterson
- Avenue 43, that's up at Eagle Rock, that area, Pasadena area.
-
Cox
- Yeah. I just was doing more than I could.
-
Patterson
- It was just too much, huh. OK, what do we have here? History conference.
-
Cox
- Same thing.
-
Patterson
- Oh, this was the same event?
-
Cox
- I don't know, but it was the same --
-
Patterson
- The Southern Californian History Conference, set for January 23 at
[Autrey] Museum. And let's see -- "Groups, of course, have been a major
influence on the history of the community; Lawrence Degraff, professor
of history at California State University Fullerton, will prevent an
overview of the life of the African-American in the city, and Bette Cox,
director of the BEEM Foundation, will present the music and musicians of
Central Avenue until 1950, when the avenue lost its role as a major
music center. George Sanchez, professor of history at USC, will explore
the relationships of the Mexican-American and the community at large. So
this was something that you participated in, and let's see, the date was
1998, so you had just finished your book. And this is the Autrey Museum,
OK. NASPAM, here is a NASPAAM newsletter -- you've got lots of shadows
on that, don't you? How's that? Worse?
-
Adriana
- Better in the shade. Maybe a little bit further down, to the left.
-
Patterson
- OK. So this is a NASPAM newsletter put out by the membership chair, fall
1999. And it contains the mission statement, and membership news. Early
payment and dues, "Help NASPAM with early payment and dues." Website,
the 2001 national conference. OK. And then this was a conference they
had in 1999. Do you remember that one?
-
Cox
- I think so.
-
Patterson
- Did anything interesting happen during that conference?
-
Cox
- If I remember correctly, it was in the evening, and I think -- my part
was in the evening, because I was late staying out of town, and I don't
think there were hardly any people, there were a few people, because --
I don't know, I guess I did my job, I gave my -- whatever.
-
Patterson
- You presented on your book? You did a presentation on Central Avenue? OK.
Now I see you have an obituary, what's this?
-
Cox
- Milt Jackson.
-
Patterson
- Milt Jackson, (inaudible) with modern jazz quartet.
-
Cox
- Modern jazz, I loved that group. I just loved the way they played. I
don't know what they do know, I haven't seen them for a long time. I
guess maybe they were able to get somebody else.
-
Patterson
- They played in Los Angeles quite a bit, didn't they?
-
Cox
- I think so.
-
Patterson
- And let's see, anything else here? I think we've gone through this pretty
well. All right, and that was that folder. Now let's see, it looks like
we're working back through time. So this is the 1990 Los Angeles City
Cultural Affairs Commission Performing Arts tribute reception.
-
Cox
- Every -- for Black History Month every year, this is the year I would
have had Albert come and sing.
-
Patterson
- And this is Dr. Albert McNeil up here.
-
Cox
- And I think I had a folder for every year, because every year it was
something that somebody did for it, and I think it was pretty -- it was
very well-received.
-
Patterson
- OK. Let's see what else we have here. So here's a jazz concert, this is
the Sentinel newspaper, Thursday, September 6, 1990. The BEEM Foundation
presents outstanding jazz concert. "Los Angeles music enthusiasts are
always assured of an exciting musical experience whenever the BEEM
Foundation, with Bette Y. Cox as coordinator, presents a musical event.
The first annual free jazz concert, sponsored by the organization, was
held recently in the Kinsey Auditorium of the California Museum of
Science and Industry, and attracted a large audience of jazz aficionados
and others." Oh, it says down here, "Mrs. Cox presented a very
impressive history, and in some respects, nostalgic recollections of
life and times in the vibrant years of jazz on Central Avenue. She
recounted a long list of clubs, such as Club Alabam, Club Memo, Dunbar
Hotel, Ivy's Chicken Shack --" Don Lee White, he said he played there
for a couple of nights -- "and others, which were meccas for the
performance and appreciation of jazz. Jazz greats such as Count Basie,
Ella Fitzgerald, Erroll Garner, Sarah Vaughn, Cab Calloway, and
innumerable others added their talents to make for a flourishing jazz
scene in the days when life was peaceful and exciting. Talented Clora
Bryant, trumpeter, opened the program with a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie.
So you knew Clora Bryant, and you -- were you able to -- what would you
say about her? What was the most impressive thing that you remember
about Clora Bryant?
-
Cox
- She was extremely talented, and unfortunately, she had to give up blowing
and so forth. But she just had so much talent in her younger days; she
would have something to say, and when she would play, I don't know -- it
was fun having her, because she made a lot of people happy. It was good.
-
Patterson
- OK. So we have that, and -- OK, what's going on here Leimert Park, so
let's see, in 1992, it's -- this article, let's see -- it was the LA
Times, October 18, 1992. "Leimert Park, giving black music its due.
Bette Cox recalled Sam Brown, who in 1936 became the Los Angeles Unified
School District's first black secondary school music teacher. Cox and
her organization, the BEEM Foundation, honored the 83-year-old former
Jefferson High School teacher at a scholarship luncheon last year. What
was that like? What was Sam Brown like?
-
Cox
- Oh, he was so wonderful, and he was -- he had suffered in a way, because
when he graduated cum laude from the USC School of Music, so you know he
was talented. And yet when he graduated, they wouldn't give him a job,
and he had to go with some singers, and he'd just be one of the singers.
He didn't get anything for all his work. But after so long, because he
did this for a lot of time, just going on the road with this group. And
finally, he did have a couple of professors there who really knew how
great he was, and they tried to help him, but finally, he got the word
that if he would be willing to come at night and teach at night, night
school, and have at least, say, 15 or 20 students, that if he would do
that, they'd let him have a job like that. And so he went ahead and he
did that, but to their amazement, he had about a room full of people who
wanted to come in; all he had to do was tell his choir, the church, to
come, and they came. And they did beautiful work, and the whole thing
was a success that way. And finally, after he had done this for probably
a year or two, they gave him a job at Jefferson High School, just for so
long, to see if he could make it. Of course, he did, and he just became
famous as the best music teacher, best everything. He would teach them
in the school at night; he would let them come with him to go to the
nightclubs. Not inside, just to be outside listening with him there. And
a lot of the ones who were famous now, they learned from him, and they
had a whole lot of experience. Anyway, and I know people that I
interviewed who taught -- who he taught, and they have so many marvelous
things to say about him. And so anyway, he's gone now, he was wonderful,
what he went through to get a job. He finally was asked to come and
teach at this fabulous place in Beverly Hills, and I mean, he had never
done that. (phone ringing) Mercedes, can you get that? Either he or
Timmy will have to --
-
Patterson
- I'm trying to see if you have -- where was this?
-
Cox
- Ask Jimmy if he got it.
-
Mercedes
- OK.
-
Patterson
- Now where was this taking place in Leimert Park?
-
Cox
- Let's see.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember the venue? Oh, it's out of your home. OK, I see it down
here. So they called it Leimert Park, this area that's actually -- so
this was an interview apparently you gave in your home, Aaron J. Aubrey.
OK. All right, I see.
-
Cox
- He's a wonderful man. I was so sorry when he died. I guess not well. But
he went through so much, and people didn't appreciate him. He finally
was recognized.
-
Patterson
- Well, he'll certainly be among the greats in our history of
African-American music professionals. So what's going on here, all these
goodies? Let's see, 1993, Cultural Affairs Commission Musicale.
-
Cox
- Every year I had a different one. That was '93, but these are all the
same. But I had '85 and every year, and it was very successful.
-
Patterson
- So this included Natalie Cole, Leona Mitchell, Florence --
-
Cox
- Leona Mitchell, yes. And Natalie Cole --
-
Patterson
- James Wong.
-
Cox
- I went to Vegas three times to try to get her or her agent, to try to see
if she would come and perform for us. And I couldn't seem to make any
headway, but I called when I got back and talked to her office, and I
went three times, and they finally said that she could come, but she
couldn't perform, they wouldn't do that, and they gave me a video, and I
guess they expected me to play it in place -- that she wasn't going to
sing, and I didn't have the sense enough to play it. This was the very
last program that we did, the very last one, and I didn't want to -- I
wanted it to be so good. And I had part of (inaudible), I had Leona
Mitchell, and I had -- her husband was a student of mine. And what's the
other one? Oh, gosh, he was so great. I had him on three programs.
-
Patterson
- Lawrence James Wong was one, and Elmer Bush.
-
Cox
- Yeah, that was my student. And Michael is at Indiana University.
-
Patterson
- Michael Gordon, and Victoria Gordon.
-
Cox
- Oh, that's somebody else.
-
Patterson
- So these were the participants.
-
Cox
- Each year I'd have a different program, and everybody would have one, I'd
give them, and they'd also get -- the inside would give the information
of the people involved, all the history, so it really -- I did it just
so it would be fine and wonderful.
-
Patterson
- This is also in 1993 at the Hyatt LAX Fifth Annual Jazz Brunch.
-
Cox
- That's what BEEM has, an annual brunch, it's our fundraiser, gets some
scholarship money.
-
Patterson
- Let's see, what's this?
-
Adriana
- (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- Sure, sure. Sorry. Barreling through this. How's that? Shall I move it?
-
Cox
- (inaudible) light on too much. That's something I wrote about, my
background, in Twin Falls, Idaho, and all that.
-
Patterson
- Well, it looks like you have a few. May I have one?
-
Cox
- Not all the pages are there.
-
Patterson
- Is it -- oh, yeah, it does say continued. Blind Tom, let's see. This must
be both of them. This must be one and then two. OK, you have several
here. OK, well, it looks like we've gotten most of it out of there. That
was actually -- was that --
-
Cox
- '93, this is --
-
Patterson
- This is the same one. I would have you shoot this, because it's a little
-- maybe a little bit easier to see. He has one with a Xerox of this.
OK. Great. This is the last one out of this folder; let's see what we
have here. 1994, these letters, no program in there. OK. Let's keep
going. Halfway through these, let's see. This is the right -- OK.
(laughter) It's like a treasure hunt. OK. Now, this says, "City of Los
Angeles, the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission, Human
Relations Week Annual Celebration Luncheon at the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion." Do you remember what that was? Did you --
-
Cox
- No, I don't.
-
Patterson
- Were you part of that?
-
Cox
- It doesn't say City Hall --
-
Patterson
- Yeah, it's got -- apparently it was an official City of Los Angeles
thing, and National Black History Month celebration, 1983. More Than
Soul, Black Arts in America: California State Polytechnic University
Pomona, so did you do -- let's see if your name is here. Did you do
something with this?
-
Adriana
- Can you hold that still?
-
Patterson
- Sure, I'm sorry, yeah.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- OK, sure. I'm looking here to see if you were -- oh, Dr. Eddie Meadows --
let's see. Music seminar presenters for this, a presentation focusing on
the black aesthetic experience, the meaning of music in certain
contexts, i.e., an aspect of musical value which transcends mundane and
structural significance. And we have Mr. John Patton and Ms. Barbara
Sherill, St. Paul Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, Dr. Donald Ambrosen,
and Mr. Phillip Clark, music department, Cal Poly Pomona, Dr. Eddie
Meadows, department of music, Cal State San Diego -- oh, Professor Don
Lee White, Department of Music, California State University Los Angeles,
Dr. Lance Williams, ethnic studies department, USC, and moderator, Dr.
William Carter, Cal Poly Pomona. And so -- oh, and the art panelist, Dr.
Samela Lewis, and Dr. Jane Hewitt, cultural historian, Dr. Mary-Jane
Hewitt.
-
Cox
- (inaudible) Samela Lewis, I can't --
-
Patterson
- She's a distinguished scholar of African-American arts, the visual arts.
-
Cox
- But where -- is she teaching?
-
Patterson
- She was at Scripps College at that time. I don't know that she's teaching
now. But this sounded like a great event. Wow.
-
Cox
- And when was that, let's see --
-
Patterson
- 1983, February 24th. And what's this? Congress spotlights Women in Music.
And this is you, Bette, presenting a certificate of honor to Lorenza
Jordan Cole during the Second International Congress of Women in Music
at USC.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember what year this was? I don't see a date on this.
-
Cox
- Isn't it up here?
-
Patterson
- No, it's not up here. This is the Wave newspaper.
-
Cox
- When could that have been? Oh, it must have been --
-
Patterson
- The reviewer is Doug Washington, music critic for the Wave. So it says,
"Representatives of 20 countries recently joined distinguished American
women at the Second International Congress of Women in Music at USC in
celebration of the accomplishments of women musicians from the 10th
century to the present." And it goes on to say later, "The seminar began
with a presentation by Dr. Ora Williams, professor at CSU Long Beach, on
black American women composers. Williams was followed by Bette Cox,
local music educator and historian, with a slide lecture presentation
titled Black Women in the Musical Arts." And this is you -- so Lorenza
Jordan Cole was there with you --
-
Cox
- Yeah, she was my teacher.
-
Patterson
- This is the Folk Arts Council in 1983, addressed to John -- is this John
Cobert? "On behalf of the Folk Arts Council, I would like to thank you
for your wonderful presentation on the blues."
-
Cox
- I think that was at the museum, some museum, wherever they were having an
event.
-
Patterson
- Was it the Egg and the Eye, perhaps, on the Folk Arts museum, there's one
on Wilshire.
-
Cox
- It was on Wilshire.
-
Patterson
- Not the Egg and the Eye, but I think I know the one that this is. Folk
art -- I'm trying to remember the title of it; I just got a brochure
from them recently. The audience was enthralled with -- what is this,
60th? -- your explanations --
-
Cox
- Explanations and the music.
-
Patterson
- With both, it looks like S-O-T-H -- yes, with both your explanations and
the music.
-
Cox
- All in all, it was a very special thing.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, all in all.
-
Cox
- Yes. It was Folk Art Council; it was at that museum -- I don't know if
it's still over there.
-
Patterson
- That's -- oh, yeah. This is the one. It's right across the street from
the Los Angeles County -- Craft and Folk Art, that's what it's called.
Craft and Folk Art. yeah, 5814 Wilshire Boulevard.
-
Cox
- 20 years ago.
-
Patterson
- That was great. So you went around the city and presented in various
venues the research that you'd accomplished. And Altadena, Ethel Tracy,
supporting the craft and folk art -- apparently was involved with the
Craft and Folk art museum, Ethel Tracy, she's thanking you for
supporting the Craft and Folk Art Council, celebration of the blues
program. "I know how difficult it was for you to do this program at that
period in your life. Your presentation gave me the strength to fight
again for the rightful dignity of black art, and I hope you receive
strength, and I hope you receive -- I hope you receive strength from the
appreciation of your program. Thank you again." Was that a difficult
time in your life, Bette? 1983?
-
Cox
- I don't know what she meant, what she was thinking about that.
-
Patterson
- Hm. Ethel Tracy.
-
Cox
- '83, 1983.
-
Patterson
- What do you remember about her?
-
Cox
- I don't remember, except her name, that's familiar, but I don't really --
-
Patterson
- OK. So this is '84 at the Conrad Hilton in Michigan -- I mean, on
Michigan Avenue, in Chicago rather.
-
Cox
- Oh, I went to that --
-
Patterson
- Music Educators National Conference.
-
Cox
- It's now called --
-
Patterson
- Here's Warrick Carter's name again.
-
Cox
- -- it was the National Black Music then.
-
Patterson
- Dr. Yvonne Cheek, national president. OK. We'll do this folder and then
we'll wrap it up; it's getting late. We're out of tape, just about? OK.
Hall of Fame, OK. And this is the program for it, I suppose. Mack? Who
is that? "To Bette, best of luck." Mack Robinson?
-
Cox
- Yeah, I guess so.
-
Patterson
- Do you know him?
-
Cox
- I knew him from Pasadena days.
-
Patterson
- OK. This was that other event. Human relations weekend, no presentation.
Mack Robinson autograph, Olympia gold medal -- oh, I see -- Olympic gold
medalist.
-
Cox
- Oh, that's Jackie's brother, Mack.
-
Patterson
- Oh, OK. Jackie Robinson's brother -- oh, Mack.
-
Cox
- Mack is his brother.
-
Patterson
- Mack Robinson. 1936 Olympics, gold medalist. Do you remember what his
sport was?
-
Cox
- No, I don't.
-
Patterson
- Hm. OK, that's interesting. OK. Why don't we wrap it up today, we're only
halfway through this folder. Gosh, you knew Jackie Robinson's brother,
and he was a gold medalist in the 1936 Olympics.
-
Cox
- I know Jackie better.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, but that's still interesting; it's interesting history there. So
we're at the 1983 through '89 folder, halfway through it.
-
Cox
- Now, if we finish these --
-
Patterson
- And there's only one more. '85, '86 -- [END OF recording]
1.7. Session 6 (February 9, 2007)
-
Patterson
- -- this article actually about? It was reviewing your book, right?
"(inaudible) resource materials documenting the history of black
(inaudible) social writer, contemporary grios." Actually, I think we did
shoot this. I think we did shoot this particular article. And what is
all this? Did we go through this?
-
Cox
- I doubt it.
-
Patterson
- We went through some of your --
-
Cox
- They're just little things that when the book came out, people wanted to
see and talk about, and I would get extra little things published.
-
Adriana
- I'll just roll then.
-
Patterson
- OK. Yeah, we are -- February the 9th, 2007 with Bette. And we're going to
walk through some of the materials that she's collected over the years,
regarding her wonderful work. And so one of the things that you've done
among many that are very, very outstanding is that you've written
"Central Avenue, Its Rise and Fall: 1890 through Circa 1955," and this
is -- this was written about and heralded as a major work for the
history of Los Angeles for its black citizens and musicians. So after
you wrote this book -- well, maybe we should go back. Before you wrote
the book, what was your greatest motivation? What was it that made you
decide to do something so comprehensive? What drew you to Central
Avenue?
-
Cox
- Well, I didn't grow up in the city, and I didn't really know a lot about
Central Avenue. And when I came here to go to school at UCLA, I didn't
come over to Central Avenue, most of the girls didn't, because we just
were supposed to be ladies and not going to nightclubs and all that. But
whenever there was an opportunity to maybe -- just happened to see a
famous person like Duke Ellington or something, and we could walk down
or drive down the street and see him, because people would sort of move
around Central Avenue and the Dunbar Hotel especially, and if somebody
very famous was in town, they were pretty free about moving around
without waiting to be introduced, they just could be recognized, and
they didn't mind it at all. But as time went on after I had finished
college, finished UCLA, I began to get more interested in things that
were kind of forbidden to a lot of the younger girls. And I think
because I majored in music education, and a lot of my friends, of
course, were music people, and I just became kind of acquainted by Buddy
Collette, because he was that -- everybody knew Buddy, and if you were
in a club, a member of a club, and your club was going to have a big
event or something, quite often even the younger ones knew about Buddy
Collette, and maybe he'd come to -- if it's something out on the
schoolyard, he might come over the schoolyard, and you could see him,
and it's like looking at a famous person.
-
- But I got interested in all of this, because I was interested in music,
and I began asking questions, and as I became more and more involved,
people became more and more telling me something that they thought I
just didn't know about. And I really can't say exactly when I started
thinking about the book, but I just began to get more and more
interested because of my background, and after I graduated, and then I
went away to Oberlin, Oberlin School of Music, and I learned a lot of
other things; I just became more and more interested in anything to do
with music. And when I came back from Oberlin, then -- well, I don't
know. I just kind of fell in love with the music of LA, because I didn't
know enough about it, and I knew that I could.
-
Patterson
- And so not knowing much about it was as much a catalyst for you getting
out there and learning as anything else.
-
Cox
- It was. It really was. And people like Buddy Collette, who became a good
friend, and he would tell me about Sam Brown, who was the first and only
black music teacher in the schools of Los Angeles. He was a marvelous
musician, and I got well-acquainted with him, and I was proud of him,
and I learned a lot of things from him, and I so often wish that I had
had some of his training when I was at UCLA, because when I did teacher
training, I was sent to a school in -- it was near UCLA, and there
weren't any teachers there like Sam Brown, they weren't our color or
anything. But I just -- I learned a lot just by knowing him, after I
became very well acquainted with him. And he, one day, was willing to
let me do an interview, and I did a complete interview on him, and he
gave me some old, old albums that were very exciting in those days, but
right now, some people would still think that they're great, and I still
have them, and some of the people who performed in them were people who
were his students, and like me, I guess, like I have a picture up on my
piano of Billy Childs, and I was his first music teacher in the schools,
he was in third or fourth grade, and he wanted a violin, and I was all
out of violins, but I gave him a cello, and he stayed at the school I
think three more years, and played cello in my orchestra.
-
Patterson
- So what was your process for collecting some of these oral histories
(inaudible). How did you -- did you just call people up
-
Cox
- I think so. After I met Sam Brown, who was the first music teacher in the
town that was black, I think that I admired him so much, and he told me
so much that it led me into meeting other people. And one person would
lead me to another, and I just couldn't keep out of it; I had to know
more. And I just began to write notes, and I think when I first started
my BEEM Foundation, I think that the friends on the membership knew a
lot more than I did, because they were professors at UCLA and at -- oh,
different places, different cities in this area, and they were much more
acquainted with the whole thing than I would be, because I had only
taught in the schools. But these were people who were really wonderful
professors in whatever university they were at, and it just seemed as
though they said things that made me wake up, and they'd say, "You need
to meet this people more. You've met some, now meet some more, and get
some pictures." And they inspired me, and I went to KLCS, the school
district station, and I asked them if they would interview some people
on their stage if I brought the right people in.
-
- Well, anyway, I began that way, and I think at first I didn't get too
much with them, but when I really made some progress was when I went to
the telephone company downtown. They were very interested, and they
wanted me to -- I could use their station that happened to be in
Pasadena. And so it seemed to me that every other day or so I was in my
car picking up one of the musicians and driving them to Pasadena. And
we'd go over there and get on the stage, and -- not the stage, but we
just -- they gave us a nice comfy seat, and they would want us to start
talking. And with my mouth, always asking questions, I got a lot of
information, and I passed it right on. I think I must have interviewed
about 20 people, at least.
-
Patterson
- Now, who was recording?
-
Cox
- The Pacific Bell TV station, which was in -- I guess it still is in
Pasadena.
-
Patterson
- Oh, so they actually did the recording for you
-
Cox
- Yes, they did.
-
Patterson
- -- and you were able to collect the tapes that they recorded, and --
-
Cox
- And I still have them, and some of them are in the book, the conversation
that we had, and I learned more about each person and what they are
doing, and what they have done already, and that was part of what went
into the book. And there it says "oral histories," I just had them
listed, all the ones -- in fact, I think they almost had to stop me,
because the woman that was so helpful in getting us set up with them,
she worked there, but she became vice-president, she had a lot of power.
And she came over one day when we were doing all this, and I think they
must have mumbled something, "I thought you were just going to do a
few," you know. And she said, "I want you to do all the ones she asks
you to do, and just go right ahead, it'll be all right." And that's why
I got -- a lot of them were so well done because they had so much
information, and they were so anxious to do it; they were just as
anxious as I was. And so as many -- I think more than that many, I think
I had at least 12 at least.
-
Patterson
- So you have some interviews that you didn't even include in the book, you
have more than you used. So when did you start thinking about actually
compiling the book? Was it during the interview process?
-
Cox
- I guess so, because I had -- I was collecting so much information, and I
said, "Well, why don't I put this on paper, because other people might
be interested like I am. I just think that they're wonderful people;
they were so genuine.
-
Patterson
- Did you transcribe the interviews yourself, or did you have someone to
help you?
-
Cox
- You mean to write them as they were talking?
-
Patterson
- No, to actually begin to transcribe the oral interviews onto the paper.
-
Cox
- No. I would just do it as they -- well, not as they talked, because they
were just getting that all on the screen, but I did -- how did I do
that? I have to think about it. But I know that I did play them at home
-- I guess that's what I did. I had so much that I was involved with, I
hardly almost remember for sure. Excuse me.
-
Unidentified Female
- Hi. Good to see you.
-
Patterson
- Would you bring some cold drink for Adriana?
-
Mercedes
- Cold water? (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- Yo tambien. Thank you. OK, so you began to build this book, and did you
begin to talk about the fact that you were building it, or did you just
sort of hibernate into your office, and go through the process until it
was finished? How did that work into your life, into your personal life,
actually writing this?
-
Cox
- It seemed like it was taking a long time, but there was so much that they
had to say. Like Buddy Collette and Sam Brown; they had so much to tell,
I couldn't even put it all in one book. And so I think that I just did
as much as I could for each time that I would review, and then talk
about it with my members, because they had asked me to make copies for
all of them. And I tried to do that, but some of them came out, and they
were too -- they just didn't -- they didn't come through as clearly as
the originals; they did beautiful originals for me, and then they gave
me some -- I have some that are masters, and then I have some that are
part of what they made like copies from. And the only ones that I used,
like for the book or for any program, would be the very best ones, the
originals. But they have always been very well received, and they meant
a lot to me for getting any information for the book.
-
Patterson
- So there were other sort of springboard activities that came out of the
writing of this book, and you began to be reviewed around town, and then
there was the exhibition at the California African-American Museum that
came out of your work. Talk about that experience a little bit. Here we
have some of the materials that you --
-
Cox
- At the museum? Well, I think through my contact with different people,
either people who referred me to other people and people that had so
much to say for the book, there was just so much that I had to write
down that I began to realize that it was really a book, and I hadn't
thought of it to begin with, but I did have enough for a book, and I
just began to think in terms of having somebody help me with the typing,
and with actually making it well done. So it took a lot of time, and I
could hardly believe I did it.
-
Patterson
- So what was the publishing process like, getting it published? How did
that begin to happen?
-
Cox
- I went to -- let's see, now who is this? Somebody was recommended for me
who knew about a person who could write books very well, and they would
have -- there was a person that they would get to -- whatever you do to
have a book written and put down and get a publisher, those are the
kinds of things I was looking for, and I happened to talk to the right
people who knew the right people for each of those things. And so I
ended up after some time by contacting the company, I hardly -- as much
as I'd kept in touch with them, I have to stop and think of the name of
it. But they were excellent, and I stayed right with them, and they
stayed right with what I was doing, and pulled it through. And they sent
me -- the first run of books was -- well, they were books that were soft
-- they were not hardback, but they were soft and they were good, and I
thought, "Oh, that's so wonderful, they sent --" oh, hundreds of books
for me to sell. And I was so excited and I was so happy, and that was
only the first run, because about a week or so later, I got the
hardback, and I couldn't believe that it had a hardback. But you know, I
got information from people who I had met through UCLA, through the
schools, and people who have been helpful in any other way, but they
were just good friends. I never tried to sit down and talk about how I
did it.
-
Patterson
- So you had a lot of support in getting this actually coming to its
fruition, and you said of your own publishing, BEEM had its own
publishing house, then is that how you set it up?
-
Cox
- Well, I don't think so; I don't think we had our own --
-
Patterson
- "BEEM Publishing." It says, "Published by BEEM."
-
Cox
- Well, I guess so then. It's been awhile now. I just didn't know -- I just
did whatever. Then it was just -- different people were very helpful and
willing to share with me anything I needed to know. And I think a lot of
the people on our board that were professors at universities, and they
could throw little hints at me and tell me little things that I didn't
know. So you know, I --
-
Patterson
- You had support from your organization, and then really helped you when
you needed it.
-
Mercedes
- Would you like something?
-
Cox
- Probably the same thing. We'll have some later, some soft drinks,
whenever you're ready. Speaking --
-
Mercedes
- Now you need agua.
-
Patterson
- Do you want water right now?
-
Cox
- I think so, yeah. Thank you.
-
Patterson
- So -- OK, we'll stop for a second, drink some water. So what was it like
working with the people that put together with you, or were a part of
this exhibition at the California African-American -- so we have --
Albert McNeil participated, and [Marl] Young, Catherine Parsons Smith.
These are people that I knew, like Albert I knew from school, we were at
UCLA together, and I knew people that had accomplished something on
their own, and they were fairly -- they were quite helpful, when I asked
for any help. Albert had a lot of good information, and explained a lot
about how he happened to get into the part of music that he'd spent his
whole life into, until this day, he's just all over the world, and very
successful. A lot of the things that he said were very interesting,
because I didn't know that, as he said, he went to the Catholic church,
and every Sunday, after he left the church, because his mother wanted
him to go to the Catholic church, but he would leave the church and go
to a Pentecostal church, and I had no idea why. At first, he didn't say
why, but he learned to perform in a different way through the
Pentecostal church, and many times, he has a lot of talent to perform
music that has a different kind of feeling or rhythm than what he would
have had if he'd stayed only with the Catholic church music, quite
different. Thank you, dear. I think there's a -- there's one of those
somewhere.
-
Mercedes
- (inaudible).
-
Cox
- Yes.
-
Patterson
- So in the exhibition, was it coupled with lectures and physical
materials?
-
Cox
- Well, during the actual exhibition, people come and just observe, and I
had prepared a lot of written material for them to read and to take home
and understand more. And yet there was just the number of people that
came, and many of them knew some of the people on the wall in the
pictures, but they were -- some of them had gone on, and others were
still living, and I didn't know, because they were up in years, but some
people could just talk and tell things that I thought was wonderful,
because they added to whatever I could give them. And then I prepared --
I think it was one or two whole days, I prepared a place where they
could come and talk about their own history and answer any questions
that were asked, and I had sent for Ollie Wilson from the University of
-- at Berkeley -- I can't say the name of it, but he's the, I believe,
the head of the music department, and he was so wonderful, and he spoke.
And then we had a panel where different ones who had special interests
and special talents could join with each other and talk and share their
history, the things that they have learned and would pass onto us, so we
had a whole day of that. And there was another day -- well, also, there
was another day -- well, also on that first day, that first music, it
was ragtime. And it was a kind of old, slow ragtime, which is not what
people have learned to like since then, a lot of people wanted it to be
very fast, like Eubie Blake does it. But the first early ragtime was
very, very slow, and we had a gentleman to play it just like that, so
that people would understand why, and we talk about that.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember who that? (inaudible).
-
Cox
- This is --
-
Patterson
- Don't tell yet, wait until she comes back. You got to remember that.
-
Cox
- Now, I'm looking -- yeah, where is it? Good coverage all the way.
-
Patterson
- And this is in 1995, Milton McCoy, who we just mentioned, Sentinel music
critic, talks about your Symposia series. And the BEEM Foundation, an
acronym for Black Experiences Expressed in Music, presented a series of
outstanding workshops, roundtable discussions, and concerts. The Kinsey
Auditorium, adjacent to the California African-American Museum, located
in Exposition Park, provided the setting for all of the symposia, with
the exception of the final concert. So what was the Symposia series?
This is before you published the book.
-
Cox
- I think was --
-
Patterson
- Was this kind of -- no, no, no, this was part of that whole exhibition,
which actually did happen before you published the book.
-
Cox
- And I think that that was held at the -- was it at the Kinsey Auditorium?
-
Patterson
- Yeah, which was adjacent to the museum. I see. And it talks about Ollie
Wilson's opening remarks, and O.C. Smith spoke about the life and
teachings of Sam Brown, and Buddy Collette told of the irony of racism,
(inaudible) directions on the spiritual. And Dr. [Hores] Boyer --
-
Cox
- He was a visiting guest. He's at the University in Boston, just out of
Boston --
-
Patterson
- University of Massachusetts Amherst?
-
Cox
- Amherst, that's right. Is that what it says? He was a professor there,
and he may still be there, I don't know if he's retired, but oh, he's a
marvelous pianist for Gospel music, especially. And I was glad I was
able to get him to be on that program, because it brought a lot of
attention to that kind of music.
-
Patterson
- Now, Dr. Robinson at UCLA talked about employment motion pictures and
television.
-
Cox
- I don't recall who that is. That was a little bit out of my stint.
-
Patterson
- And Ginger Smock, who you talked about earlier --
-
Cox
- She's gone now.
-
Patterson
- And [Bathany] Harrison from the University of Maryland was the moderator
for the panel on performers of jazz and blues, and Clora Bryant --
-
Cox
- And Clora Bryant is still here, but she is not able to sing anymore, or
blow that horn. But she's still around. She was great when she was here;
she played the trumpet better than anybody around, any of the men. It
was wonderful. She lost her ability to do that because of her health.
She probably worked a little too hard on it.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) New Orleans music, blues, an explosion of Los Angeles from
the '20s to the '40s, moderated by Gerald Russell and included Floyd
Lewis, Marshall Royal, Jackie Kelso, Russell Smith. And then this is cut
off a little, Rugolo and Eddie Meadows.
-
Cox
- Rugolo? Pete Rugolo? And Eddie Meadows, he's great.
-
Patterson
- [Malba Liston, Mallie Letcher, Bira Ginger, Bye Wilson and Janelle
Jawkins], the jazz ladies of the west. Wow, that was some Symposia
series.
-
Cox
- It was, and I was sorry that we didn't somehow advertise and have more
people there, because they had such wonderful speakers and performers,
and somehow we didn't get a really good audience there.
-
Patterson
- April 13, 1995, was the date. So it was happening in April of '95.
-
Cox
- I don't know, I think I should have contacted the school district, and
had some of the students there, because the auditorium should have been
filled, and I worked so hard on that to get just the people to be
speakers; I guess I didn't work that hard on the audience.
-
Patterson
- Promotion, well, that's a whole 'nother big undertaking. Sounds like it
was a very --
-
Cox
- Well, it was very successful, but I would like to have had more people to
hear, and just to listen to some of those speakers that were
outstanding.
-
Patterson
- Let's see, this is the mocha -- Reach Out, 6th annual EYE, Emerging Young
Entertainer, scholarship luncheon in 1996 at the Grace Ford Salvatore
Room, Dorothy Chandler pavilion. What was that like, the Emerging Young
Entertainers scholarship luncheon?
-
Cox
- Well, isn't that Reach Out Music Center? Well, I was on the committee of
Reach Out, and there were several of us, and we had our little programs,
and we would try to help bring in people for different occasions. It was
a very good thing; they don't have it anymore, but it was very good.
-
Patterson
- OK.
-
Cox
- And when I had the first event of the one in that last chair over there,
when the Mayor appointment me to be Cultural Affairs Commissioner, then
the first one that I brought in was William Grant Still.
-
Patterson
- Oh, OK. Did you indicate something over on the chair? That --
-
Cox
- I think all of those that are on that big -- all of those are a part of
the event -- no, the other one.
-
Patterson
- Oh, yeah. Oh, Commission events, Cultural Affairs.
-
Cox
- And we had the first Commission event, I asked the members of the
Commission, I said, "Let's put on an event for Black History Month,"
because we were earlier in the year, and I said, "Let's have something
to celebrate black history." Well, I was the only one on the committee
that would have been interested. But the -- so they joined me in that,
and we did one every year for Black History Month from that time on,
until the last time that the Mayor was there, and he went out. But --
-
Patterson
- It was at the Trans-America Occidental Auditorium, where was that?
-
Cox
- It's downtown, it's off of downtown, and it should still be there,
because they improved on it, and we thought they were going to continue
to use it, but somebody took it over, and they didn't want us to have it
anymore, and we just -- I mean, we did, all of the time that I was doing
those program, so but since then, we haven't been able to get it. And we
used to put programs on all the time. But this was strictly for the
Mayor, and for that particular reason, we did one every single year
until he was going out; I think he was going to not be Mayor anymore.
-
Patterson
- Gwendolyn Wyatt and George Shirley.
-
Cox
- And I met George Shirley at one of the events that we had all over the
country for the National Black Music Caucus, and George Shirley was just
wonderful; he was an opera singer, and I had made friends with him and
invited him to come and be on our program, and he did, and we asked him
to come a second time, and he did again. I think he came all the way
from Detroit.
-
Patterson
- Now, this one is 1989, and it featured the Afro-America Chamber Music
Society, introducing Gregory Jefferson. He looks awfully young; he was a
young musician.
-
Cox
- Gregory Jefferson was my -- well, he was my contribution, I'll say,
because I saw in the Times an article about this little boy, he's 10
years old, 10 or 11, and that he performed so well for this program in
Pasadena. And so when I saw that, I said, "I've got to get that little
boy on our program." So I called, I wrote a letter to the school over
there, where he went to school. And I wrote to the principal and asked
her if I wrote a letter to his mother, would she see that the mother got
it, and she did. And so I had written to the mother and said, "I'm doing
a program for the Mayor of Los Angeles, and we want to have your son to
be on the program," and she did. And that was the beginning of his great
success, he's been all over the world now, and he's still quite famous.
He's not -- I think he's 20 -- I think he might be 26 by now, I don't
know. But he's still in touch; he comes and -- I still hear from him,
and he's great. Gregory Jefferson.
-
Adriana
- (inaudible)?
-
Patterson
- Yeah, the light.
-
Cox
- Does that say -- he was a flautist, wasn't it?
-
Patterson
- It looks like a flute player. Let's look inside. It could be -- I don't
know, I'm not -- my organology isn't the best. It's more than a soprano
-- it's small than (inaudible).
-
Cox
- But that's right, that's what he is, he plays the flute.
-
Patterson
- Audiovisual presentation, Bette Cox, (inaudible).
-
Cox
- Yeah, that's what he's holding on the picture on the friend.
-
Patterson
- Oh, these were great. Cultural Affairs Commission.
-
Cox
- Now that was the first -- one of the first ones that I did.
-
Patterson
- This one was 1989, and you had a [Rodrie] J. Rodriguez who welcomed
everyone, and then you introduced the master of ceremonies, presentation
of the program, Larry McCormick, who was a television news anchor, and
African-American television news anchor for KTLA, it was channel 11.
-
Cox
- I got him to be our master of ceremonies.
-
Patterson
- And then you did an audiovisual presentation, "The Legacy: in our time
known and renowned before our time and later," what was that
presentation like?
-
Cox
- I think it was all about people of color, and that they were doing a
quartet of classical music, there wasn't any jazz that day. But we had
jazz beforehand, and a free lunch. There was food anyway; every day I
had a good fellow who was good with his foods and all, we had a big
auditorium, a big place, somewhere you'll see pictures of what they were
doing.
-
Patterson
- The Trans-America Auditorium?
-
Cox
- It had a big auditorium and an outside -- not an outside -- not in the
auditorium, a big room for reception.
-
Patterson
- Do you remember what street that auditorium was on?
-
Cox
- I think it was like Broad -- not Broadway quite, maybe a little further
over. I'm going to find out, because I want to know why they're not
letting us use -- I know the woman told me that they just didn't want to
use it, because they need it for their own use, something like that.
-
Patterson
- The Afro-American Chamber Music Society, are they the ones that play the
string quarter #1 in C major by Chevalier de St. George?
-
Cox
- Whatever it says, that's what they did.
-
Patterson
- What -- tell me something about that Afro-American Chamber Music society?
-
Cox
- Well, they're young, and they're pretty good -- not as good as some of
the others, but they were young, and I knew they were working hard; I
thought it would give them a break, and I had them play maybe something
-- maybe they'd play something by William Grant Still?
-
Patterson
- No, it looks like they'd just play the Chevalier de St. George piece.
-
Cox
- They were -- it was giving them a break so that they could have a little
publicity.
-
Patterson
- Now it says [Michou] Banjo, Camille Nickerson, Gwendolyn Williams Brown,
Janice White McCray.
-
Cox
- I knew some of those, but I don't know what happened to them, if they're
still doing anything, because I haven't heard of them lately.
-
Patterson
- Well, this is Margaret Bonds, who is -- who sang Hold On, and I know Dr.
McNeil mentions Margaret Bonds --
-
Cox
- Margaret Bonds didn't sing it, did she?
-
Patterson
- Well, it looks as though she did. No, she couldn't have, (inaudible). So
then she -- this was a piece that she wrote, that must have been the
composer's slot here. She died in 1972. But she originally composed and
sang this piece, Hold On.
-
Cox
- Yeah.
-
Patterson
- So this is quite a combination of --
-
Cox
- Well, every year we'd have something different, and I think they finally
just turned it over to me because it was my kind of audience and my kind
of music and everything, and I think that they just attended, if they
all attend -- I don't think they all did, sometimes they'd take a day
off, or -- because it was always on a Sunday, I believe.
-
Patterson
- Now, here you have Natalie Cole and Winona Mitchell in 1993.
-
Cox
- That was the very last one we did. There was -- we had classical and jazz
on the same program; we had classical musicians to play with a wonderful
opera singer, and they also had Natalie Cole scheduled. And I went to
Los Vegas three times to catch her, try to get her to be on the program,
and I finally -- they walk me behind the kitchen and down some stairs to
get backstage to see her, and I'd have a letter from the mayor to say
that he was requesting that I be able to see her. And so anyway, I
finally got to meet her, and she didn't have much to say; she didn't
really want to do anything, I don't think. But anyway, after three
trips, I went three different times, and finally -- I had been writing
letters to her agent and calling on the phone her agent and doing
everything, and they finally -- they wouldn't let her sing, but they
were going to let her come. And I thought, oh, maybe we'll get her to
sing, but when they came, they all came together, and they took her with
them, and she was not going to sing. And so -- and we had a huge
audience. This was the last thing we did before the Mayor was going to
be gone.
-
Patterson
- 1993.
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm.
-
Patterson
- Now the year before that, I see you had -- you featured an ensemble
called the Uptown String Quartet.
-
Cox
- They were wonderful. They were kind of young, and they were individually
talented, and they had been -- they had a group formed together, one of
them is the daughter of a famous jazz man, I can't think of his name
right offhand, but he's very well-known. They were just great
performing.
-
Patterson
- So it's Max Roche's daughter, Maxine Roche?
-
Cox
- Yes, that's it.
-
Patterson
- So it's -- there's a picture of Max Roche's daughter just inside of the
program. It says, "Conceived by Max Roche as an innovative, unique
approach to a string ensemble, the Uptown String Quartet is comprised of
four exceptionally talented young women: Diana Monroe on violin, Lesa
Terry on violin, Maxine Roche," his daughter, "on viola, and Eileen M.
Folson on cello."
-
Cox
- And they were great, and his daughter -- he came from New York to be
there, and he was very nice. Then since then -- I think they have split
up, they haven't been doing that as a group. But Lesa Terry, who lives
here now, and Lesa brought her whole ensemble and played for us one day
for a program that BEEM was having. And it was just beautiful, the
violin -- mostly all strings and violins; it was gorgeous. And I think
she has done two or three programs for us.
-
Patterson
- So they're not playing together as an ensemble anymore.
-
Cox
- Not that group. She has her own group of musicians, and they're mostly
strings.
-
Patterson
- It says that their critically-acclaimed debut album, "Max Roche Presents
the Uptown String Quartet," was released in September, 1989, on Phillips
Records.
-
Cox
- But, see, they go by Lesa Terry now, because she doesn't play with them,
and they're not all together, I don't think. They're not here in LA, but
she is. But they're all talented; they were just so wonderful.
-
Patterson
- So this stint at the Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs was a very rich
one, and you were able to exhibit some wonderful musical events.
-
Cox
- Well, I don't think they were very rich, because the first time I did it,
I had talked about it and said, "Let's do it," and we did it, but they
were kind of grumbly, because they didn't know where the money was
coming from, and I didn't tell them, but I got my own money together.
-
Patterson
- Oh, when I say rich, I mean rich in quality, not necessarily --
-
Cox
- Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So anyway --
-
Patterson
- You had trouble putting the money together with that.
-
Cox
- Well, yes, because I had not -- I thought there was a way to get some
money for something like that, and I was still new; I hadn't really
looked into how to do it, and so I -- it actually sort of came out of my
pocket, and my husband's. But the next year, I wasn't going to have that
trouble, and even talked to the mayor, and I think the first time, I
didn't get to talk to him, but I let it slide the second time. But the
third time, it was like the first we played, and it was great. And the
mayor saw to it that I always would have money for that, because he
recognized the quality of the performers. And he knew that I knew,
because I was music teacher. And he saw to it that I -- that there's
always money for that program.
-
Patterson
- So Mayor Bradley was really instrumental in promoting the arts in Los
Angeles, and black musicianship, and --
-
Cox
- Oh, yeah. And that last one, I knew it was going to be the last one,
because he was not going to be there anymore. They were -- he was going
to run not for mayor, he was going to be gone, he wasn't well or
something. So I knew that, but I just worked so hard to get Natalie
Cole, and on top of Natalie, because we were going to have both
classical and jazz. And we were going to have classical and jazz, and we
had her -- we thought we were going to have her to really perform, but
as I say, they brought her, and they gave me a video, but they wouldn't
let her sing, and I was very disappointed. But the audience was almost
climbing out of windows; there wasn't a seat anywhere. They all knew
that she was very famous then, and they just crowded in, like
everything, it was great. But then I had the opera singers, I had the
two opera singers, George Shirley and the women's whose husband was one
of my students, I can't think of their name now. But it's on that last
program.
-
Patterson
- On the '93 program?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. And, oh, they were wonderful.
-
Patterson
- So what happened right after '93? Did you try to work with the new mayor?
Did you just leave the commission altogether?
-
Cox
- No, I think -- was everybody leaving? I don't remember what happened. But
I think -- see, Tom wasn't going to run for president, because he was
going to go out, and I don't remember what all happened with everybody,
because I think our commission -- we knew that we wouldn't be there. I
can't recall what happened.
-
Patterson
- So that last one was Natalie Cole, who wasn't performing, Leona Mitchell,
Lawrence James Wong, Elmer Bush, Victoria Gordon --
-
Cox
- Elmer Bush was my student, but they were wonderful with the classical
music. And the jazz, well, we had some -- we always had Buddy and his
group out in the lobby for the reception.
-
Patterson
- Leo Mitchell was his wife, and it says that he was once a member of the
Albert McNeil Jubilee (inaudible). So you have to be very proud when
your students --
-
Cox
- I really am. (laughter)
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) little bit of a break.
-
Cox
- And I think I'm very --
-
Patterson
- Are you OK holding it? Is that going to be all right working this way?
-
Cox
- You want some ice cream now?
-
Patterson
- I'm fine, Bette.
-
Adriana
- I'm fine with water. Water's fine.
-
Cox
- Adriana. You have to have ice cream, because we have it for you. And so
it's just a matter of when you want it.
-
Patterson
- Look at that (inaudible).
-
Cox
- But I really cherish those, because they were so successful. And I was on
the board of the -- at the music center, what's it called -- Reach Out.
And all of the Reach Out girls came and signed people in -- you know,
they had the big table out there, and everybody had to sign in, they had
to get an invitation to come, and then they had --
-
Patterson
- The Reach Out girls? Who was that? They were like a welcoming group --
-
Cox
- Yeah, and people sign in. If they got an invitation, they just go in and
tell them that they're here, just sign in.
-
Patterson
- Otherwise, did they pay?
-
Cox
- No.
-
Patterson
- This was all open and free.
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. But they were supposed to have an invitation, but they didn't
have to pay. But most of them --
-
Adriana
- (inaudible)
-
Patterson
- Oh, OK.
-
Adriana
- So we're recording on --
-
Patterson
- Oh, good. OK. So when you were promoting these events for the Cultural
Commission, you sent out invitations; you had built up a mailing list
over time, and you sent out invitations. It seems to me -- I was out in
the Ethno-Musicology Department.
-
Cox
- What department?
-
Patterson
- Over at UCLA, the Ethno-Musicology, and I believe I saw one -- you know
what it was? I think my mom sent me one through the mail for the BEEM
Foundation --
-
Cox
- Oh, isn't that something?
-
Patterson
- -- and I didn't really know much about it then, but I do recall receiving
something that my mother sent me.
-
Cox
- That would have been so nice if we had gotten acquainted that far back,
and you could have been an assistant for you.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, it would have been an honor to do that.
-
Cox
- Well, we'd love it too.
-
Patterson
- Well, I'm glad to be able to do this now. Let's see -- you know, this is
sort of going back through time, but you've pulled out some more
treasures, endless -- endless treasures you have here, Bette. These are
promotion and it looks like reviews for piano recitals in the '50s, in
the mid '50s, and you have a beautiful photograph here, which Adriana
will get.
-
Cox
- That was -- I had to do that for my Master's degree.
-
Patterson
- Oh, this is your Master's recital. It says Sunday, May 27, 1956 at 3
p.m., at the West Side Jewish Center, which was at 5870 West Olympic
Boulevard, and it was presented by Leota Patron Board of the Alphi Phi
chapter --
-
Cox
- Pi Lamba Theta --
-
Patterson
- Pi Lambda Theta sorority. So how did it feel doing that -- when you were
done with this? Were you nervous that day during your Master's recital?
-
Cox
- Oh, yes, I was.
-
Patterson
- Or did you feel like, "Oh, I've got this."
-
Cox
- No, I was nervous, and I showed it, too. It didn't help me to show it.
But Andre Previn -- you know Andre Previn -- his father was referred to
me for my daughter, I guess it was. And he lived in Beverly Hills, and I
didn't know, but I was told -- anyway, we went over to meet him, and
Carole was about seven years old, five, six years old, very young. And
he was so very nice, and he was not a music teacher, he was a lawyer, I
think he was a lawyer, but he had been a music teacher, and he was so
pleased with Carole, and he would have her sing, or he'd play a little
note on the piano and ask her what key it is, was it B, B-flat, and then
she'd do it, and every time she would get it, and he'd say, "She's got
it, she's got it." I don't know why, but anyway, I was working on my
practicing for my recital, and he -- I was paying him to be my teacher
for that, just to coach me, because I had most of my stuff done. And
because I brought her with me, he just freely did these little things
trying to check her out. But anyway, eventually I had to stop coming,
because I wasn't close and all, but I was getting ready. And so we
didn't stay with him, but his name was on the program as my instructor.
And his name was Jack Previn, I think. But anyway, he was a wonderful
person; I got to know him, but he passed away sometime.
-
Patterson
- Sonata in C-Major, by -- Sonata Pathetique, which you played when you
were in Idaho.
-
Cox
- Pathetique, I did the Pathetique Sonata, and that's the one that I was so
good with that. But the very first one, the Sonata, it's not difficult,
but I was panic-stricken. And I really was. And I just -- I know I
messed it up, and I just went on everything else that went well.
-
Patterson
- Now, I see there's a [Jubadance] in the bottoms.
-
Cox
- By Dett, Nathaniel Dett.
-
Patterson
- So you included some of your --
-
Cox
- Uh-huh, that was good.
-
Patterson
- And you went by Bette Yarbrough Alston, you were in your first marriage
at the time. There's also a clipping here, a newspaper clipping, that
says, "Mrs. Alston receives Cooper/PTA Life Award. Mrs. Bette Alston was
awarded life membership in Cooper Avenue PTA at the recent Founder's Day
celebration held in the school auditorium. Mrs. Alston (inaudible) for
her outstanding accomplishments in music while seven past presidents
were also honored for their service."
-
Cox
- What was that last --?
-
Patterson
- Seven past presidents were honored for their services.
-
Cox
- Oh, I had forgotten all of that. I didn't even remember that I was
vice-president; I don't know how that happened.
-
Patterson
- You were just doing so much, couldn't keep up with it. Plus raising
children at the time. That's wonderful. I'm glad we --
-
Cox
- And then one day, they'd pick up the paper
-
Adriana
- (inaudible). But who should I -?
-
Patterson
- This is the [Plymouth]. 5870, is that building still there? The West Side
Jewish Community Center?
-
Cox
- I think so.
-
Patterson
- They called it Los Angeles State College at the time.
-
Cox
- Adriana, is it too cool now? It's getting cool. I'm wondering, are you
too cool?
-
Patterson
- How did you -- oh, I gave you this last time. Did I give Bette one of
those? Did I give you this?
-
Cox
- What was that? Yes, I think you did.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, this is one of my mother's -- (inaudible). OK, let's see. What else
should we look at here? Let me get this out of the way.
-
Cox
- Just sit it over there on the table. Don't worry about it. Mercedes?
Could you come here a minute, please? Let's see. You want to see that --
-
Patterson
- Was there something over here? I think we got these -- unless you want me
to take something away. Here, what's going on over here?
-
Cox
- Could you get the glass for Adriana? The glass over there on the table.
-
Patterson
- Here's one over here, that was mine.
-
Cox
- Are you ready for ice cream, Karen?
-
Patterson
- (inaudible)
-
Cox
- Not hot today. (laughter) It is for us.
-
Mercedes
- (inaudible)
-
Cox
- Yes, you do. She's so flippy. (laughter)
-
Mercedes
- She doesn't want ice cream. You want it?
-
Cox
- You're sure you don't want it? She always says that. She likes cheese,
remember?
-
Patterson
- No, but I'm full; I can't eat anything; I had lunch, actually, before I
came. This water is so good and refreshing.
-
Cox
- Well, Adriana and I will have ice cream or cookies, or cakes, whatever.
Let's see now.
-
Patterson
- Now, in November of '76, you've marked this off. This Popular Music of
the Early 20th Century by Black American Composers. What was going on
with that?
-
Cox
- Let's see. 1976, that was the day -- oh, this is Music of Black Americans
-- I wrote that section there, and --
-
Patterson
- Is this part of the same event? The County Museum of Art, it says, has a
policy which happily acknowledges there is more to art that meets the
eye. Major exhibitions are often complemented by a series of relevant
films --
-
Cox
- See, this is the ragtime era, and I think, because I would have gotten
Mr. Eubie Blake, I think that he would have gone back to Philadelphia,
but Mr. Carpenter performed, and he was marvelous too, but he wasn't
like 90-something like little Eubie Blake. But this was a very good
program; they had asked for me to help with the program, and so these
were the artists that I got for them.
-
Patterson
- Now, what was this venue? Where was this?
-
Cox
- It's a Music by Black --
-
Patterson
- A Concert Complementing the Exhibition: Two Centuries of Black American
Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, at the Leo S. Bing Theater,
November 7, 1976.
-
Cox
- I know what happened. That was the year that I started my first
in-service class for teachers, and the word had gotten around to them,
and they asked me to bring some music. You see, those were pictures -- I
mean, they were artists' work; they wanted to have some music by blacks
to accompany the work of the artists. Popular music of the early 20th
century by black American composers. That's that picture of Jimmy and me
at the top; that was at that same -- it said "extra, extra, at the
museum," --
-
Patterson
- Oh, so that was that night.
-
Cox
- That was that same --
-
Patterson
- So it says, Ivan Harold Browning was the tenor; Elliot Carpenter was
pianist, Edgar Hayes, pianist, Eddie Dudley, accompanist for Mr.
Browning, Teddy Edwards, drummer, Adolf Morris, bassist, and Bette Cox,
narrator and visual arts. You wrote, "Music remains the most significant
performing art of black Americans, hybrid art that it is. It is most
accurately called Afro-American music, although it incorporates some
European elements, it's most distinctive characteristic, rhythm, is
derived from its African background. Black Americans, even in the 18th
century, were composing so-called serious music, sometimes very black
characteristics, sometimes not. Additionally, a good deal of the same
serious music that was composed by non-black musicians often evidences
black characteristics. This ocean of emotion has many lagoons, rivers,
and inlets, extending to every area of the world. There are shouts,
hymns, spirituals, gospels, and other great religious music. There's a
vast array of secular music, including ragtime, blues, jazz, and others
descendants, and their descendants, rock and soul. The influence of this
exciting musical force is here to stay, and its tremendous worth cannot
be denied." Bette Cox.
-
Cox
- And I'm not a poet, but I was just moved.
-
Patterson
- You were excited. Everything comes from passion. I'm with you, Bette,
that's why it's so beautiful and so expansive. This is great. So the
news was -- the word was out in the city that you were doing this
educational series with the in-service program, and so the museums were
getting involved, and that's great. It's a timely thing. Now what is
this?
-
Cox
- Well, I did a program on --
-
Patterson
- The music of Mexico's great matadors: Gerald Wilson and his orchestra,
November 9, 1991, at the Los Angeles Public Library, on Spring Street,
funded by Repertory Foundation.
-
Cox
- I had a Dr. Stevenson, I believe it was him -- I can't think of his first
name -- to be one of the speakers for that. He knew a lot about -- you
know him? UCLA?
-
Patterson
- Yes.
-
Cox
- Well, he was one of my speakers; I asked him, I wanted to see -- oh,
excuse me --
-
Patterson
- Music of Mexico's great matadors, Gerald Wilson.
-
Cox
- wanted -- no, I'll be all right; I'm not going to pull it. There was
something I wanted to show you.
-
Patterson
- Oh, yeah. I see Robert Stevenson, talked about your book, Central Avenue,
which unfortunately needed --
-
Cox
- You know, I should have gone on and finished, and I could have gotten
him; he was pushing everything I did like it was all right.
-
Patterson
- Appreciating you.
-
Cox
- I wish I had -- the last thing we were talking about in connection with
teaching -- I didn't think I showed you this before, did I? That was the
first school where I had the music --
-
Patterson
- Oh, look at the kids! We've got to get this.
-
Cox
- And I was just lucky enough to find it; I still have it.
-
Patterson
- Hooper Avenue School.
-
Cox
- Thank you, Mercedes.
-
Patterson
- Bette Alston, who you know as Bette Cox. And we see her students at her
--
-
Cox
- Can you put it --
-
Patterson
- Oh, look at them! They're so cute.
-
Cox
- -- put it over there on that little table over there.
-
Patterson
- Look at the little saxophonist --
-
Cox
- No, take it over there. Thanks.
-
Patterson
- Then there's a little girl over to the far right, as you stand in the
picture, that didn't have an instrument. Was she a singer?
-
Cox
- I don't remember. It's been too long. I don't know.
-
Patterson
- I'm going to show it to you, so --
-
Cox
- But I do want -- let's see this -- I do want
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) glare?
-
Cox
- These are the ones --
-
Patterson
- This is why I'd like to scan, Bette.
-
Cox
- Oh, that one? Those are big enough, aren't they? I thought it was these
little ones.
-
Patterson
- Well, it's just such a great shot.
-
Cox
- I want you to look at these.
-
Patterson
- I think these are the ones that we saw the other day. Yeah, these are the
ones that we're going to need to do a -- I'm sorry, what can I do to
help?
-
Adriana
- Hold it a little bit more towards me.
-
Cox
- Take this one too, these two.
-
Adriana
- If you could just not crease it like that, and hold it as flat as
possible?
-
Patterson
- Yeah, how about -- I wonder if we -- actually, we could lay it flat.
-
Cox
- These, the last two, I think are a little bit bigger maybe.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) you're in the shot. So are these the ones that you're going
to allow me to -- OK.
-
Cox
- And you will --
-
Patterson
- And I'll just (inaudible) for us to turn in -- OK, Bette, thank you for
trusting us with these.
-
Cox
- Here's a big clip. Here's another one.
-
Patterson
- May have a rubber band? That was they're not --
-
Cox
- Need another one?
-
Patterson
- I think -- well, might as well since you have one. OK, now here's --
-
Cox
- You going to take that one too?
-
Patterson
- Let me put this one first -- yeah, I'm going to slide this in. Now, the
National Endowment of the Arts appointed you in 1997 to something, I'm
going to pull that up --
-
Cox
- To be on the panel, the history panel, whatever it says on the sheet.
-
Patterson
- OK. It says, "The National Endowment for the Arts has appointed Bette
Yarbrough Cox a member of the NEA Music, Grants, and Policy panel. Tell
us about that. What did they expect you to do with that?
-
Cox
- Well, they had a panel of people, and I guess there were about ten on the
panel, maybe not quite, I don't know. And then they would present music
or information and comments, and they'd want us to make our comments,
and express how we feel about it.
-
Patterson
- And this is a nice overview of some of the things that you've done.
Commissioner of Cultural Affairs in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1992,
founder and president of BEEM Foundation, and, let's see, "Bette has
written for a number of publications, including Black Music Research
Bulletin and the Music Educators Journal, Music Educator News Magazine,
(inaudible), for the Los Angeles Unified School System." So you wrote
some curriculum guides; did that go with your in-service?
-
Cox
- Probably.
-
Patterson
- Appointed to the National Endowment for the Arts in music (inaudible),
1997, at the music educators national conference in April in 1998; she
will be honored by the National Association for the Study and
Performance of Ethno-American Music. This is a great -- do you have this
-- this is a great overview -- (inaudible).
-
Cox
- I'd have to look -- I'll look for it. I'll see if I have another --
-
Patterson
- Yeah. Did you get to know her, or --
-
Cox
- I can make a copy of it.
-
Patterson
- No, I mean, what journal this appeared in.
-
Cox
- I think it was in the newspaper.
-
Patterson
- Which one?
-
Cox
- Probably the Sentinel.
-
Patterson
- The Sentinel? OK.
-
Cox
- Do you want me to make a copy?
-
Patterson
- Yeah. Why don't I -- well, why don't I -- well, either you can make a
copy, or I can take it with me and copy it and bring it back.
-
Cox
- If I could find another copy of it, I wouldn't --
-
Patterson
- You might have one.
-
Cox
- I might have one.
-
Patterson
- Now, you've got some things over on the table that are some of the
materials that look at your in-service programs for educators, and we
can --
-
Cox
- And did you see William Grant Still over here? I went to him -- excuse
me. Was I?
-
Patterson
- Yeah, we got that.
-
Cox
- And this too?
-
Patterson
- I think we got -- now let's walk this way, Bette, I've got you by the
leash. We're going to go in and look at some of this in-service -- be
careful of the cords, OK? Now, here we've got the -- some materials from
the BEEM Foundation's --
-
Cox
- Pardon me?
-
Patterson
- Careful. You OK? OK, now this is actually a brochure or a pamphlet on the
Blind Tom story that you did, and it shows the actor that was playing
the role of Blind Tom at the piano, and who was that character?
-
Adriana
- OK, (inaudible).
-
Cox
- What do you need?
-
Patterson
- We're going to sit. Why don't we sit?
-
Adriana
- The light is like not having any light on it.
-
Cox
- Oh, yeah. You can sit anywhere --
-
Patterson
- She wants you to sit down.
-
Cox
- Oh, OK.
-
Patterson
- So that she can get the light on your face.
-
Cox
- I can sit over here.
-
Patterson
- Do you want to use that stool?
-
Cox
- No.
-
Adriana
- Here?
-
Cox
- No, the stool.
-
Adriana
- Oh, on the stool. Can I bring it over?
-
Cox
- Sure. Anything you please.
-
Adriana
- That might be too tall, but --
-
Cox
- There. Get your ice cream before it melts.
-
Patterson
- How's that going to be?
-
Cox
- This is fine.
-
Patterson
- Yeah. Are you comfortable?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm.
-
Patterson
- Good. OK. Yeah, the Blind Tom, this is a little flier for it.
-
Adriana
- I better go to this (inaudible) catch myself being there, it really would
not be good if we had that.
-
Patterson
- Maybe you can hold it, and Adriana can see that, or I can hold it for
you, so I can hold it steady here.
-
Cox
- You have steady hands.
-
Patterson
- Yeah, this, of course, is -- you've talked about one of the four series
that you did on black culture, about music culture. And these are some
evaluations that the participants in your in-service series gave you in
17- -- 1776, (laughter) -- 1976, and they all were excellent. So
apparently, they were starved for this information as educators, as
music educators, huh?
-
Cox
- Yes, and the word got around, and other teachers wanted to come, and I
was sent to -- well, I was sent to downtown, just like that --
-
Patterson
- Well, these are evaluations; some of the teachers were saying things like
"Excellent course. Would like to see it offered on channel 28." And
another teacher said, "I wish some of our musically gifted children
could hear and interact with these great people." And some others:
"Excellent planning and organization, thoroughly enjoyed the class. My
knowledge of black music has really expanded. The leader, Ms. Bette Cox,
is outstanding." And these are all teachers that participated, they were
just -- they couldn't say enough good about it.
-
Cox
- They were wonderful.
-
Patterson
- So this was -- you really filled a need in the city at the time.
-
Cox
- And they need it again right now; they don't even have music teachers in
this -- or orchestras or anything. But I don't --
-
Patterson
- Did anything come after you at all that you feel like could carry on this
process --
-
Cox
- I knew only of one person that attempted to do it, but it didn't work out
for her, she wasn't very successful, I guess. But nobody else has done
it, nothing since. And I was thinking, trying to wonder if BEEM
shouldn't sponsor one, because do you know how long it's been? I hate to
tell you, but it's been 30 years. And you can see, after all those
years, nobody has done anything except what I did on TV for them, and
those aren't even there now. But I have -- the girl told me they belong
to me, so they're mine. And I --
-
Patterson
- And this is such a great time in a student's life to begin to be
acquainted with black music, in elementary school level, and to be made
aware of the black culture and its music history in the United States.
It says that the program was an outgrowth of a staff development class
conducted by Mrs. Cox in 1976 and '77 at Cienega Elementary School. Now,
what was this newsletter?
-
Cox
- I was promoted to come out of the school and go downtown and be a music
advisor, so this was -- and anything you see, it's referring to my being
music advisor. And then they would send me to different schools, and in
the ballet -- and then when they started me on the television, then I
had Eubie Blake once, and I had Maurice McGehee, and the New Orleans
people, and Jim Standiter, and --
-
Patterson
- And when was this? This was a newsletter, or what was this --
-
Cox
- It was a newsletter.
-
Patterson
- Put out by her?
-
Cox
- By the downtown office.
-
Patterson
- So it says, "Visual Arts Drama shows to air on TV; Ms. Cox has a workshop
scheduled for February 20th in Area A." When they talk about Area A and
Area K, what does that mean?
-
Cox
- This area is, I think, E, and like where I used to be at the first school
that I was at, I think it was probably a lower -- they were all
different, just different parts of the city.
-
Patterson
- Different parts of the city as divided by the unified school district? So
it says that Ms. Cox has conducted extensive research in the ethnic
music and development, and coordinated the performing arts series, "Two
centuries of black American art," held in the fall of 1996 in the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art. Oh, here's one that talks about Eubie
Blake and the Los Angeles Times, "Black melodies are red-hot in Eubie."
Oh, OK. This was a show that gave tribute to him, 1978. It was the show
-- Eubie was coming to the Huntington Hartford in '79. OK. All right;
anything else you want to say about the in-service series? I think we've
pretty much got that, huh.
-
Cox
- I think so.
-
Patterson
- OK. And now the Blind Tom production won an Emmy, right?
-
Cox
- Mm-hmm. I have in my den -- before you go, I'll show you; I have several
awards from different places that show the -- all the different things
for Blind Tom.
-
Patterson
- It says creative technical crafts, it won an Emmy for that. Technical
crafts, what did they mean by that? What were the technical crafts? What
were they really celebrating?
-
Cox
- I don't know. I'm not really that involved with TV to really know of a
technique; it's not the planning of the whole thing, it's just something
maybe with the -- just technical things, I don't know.
-
Patterson
- So it was well done. OK. What other treasures do you have here? Annual
NAACP Image Awards. Beverly Hills chapter of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People is pleased to announce your
nomination for a 20th annual NAACP image award in the following
category: Best Children's Musical - Blind Tom, PBS, Bette Y. Cox,
Executive Producer. Oh, yet another honor.
-
Cox
- That was kind of thrilling, the sense of being -- no, I think my son and
my daughter wanted to surprise me; they sent a big limousine for me, and
we went to Wilshire and Western at that theater, and they had a big
crowd there, with people who had received honors, or are thinking that
they were going to get one, and then I didn't know, I had never been
there, but it wasn't -- what's her name that has the difficult husband,
with a voice, a strong voice? What's her name? Oh, gosh.
-
Patterson
- Was this someone that was there at the event with you?
-
Cox
- No, she was singing -- I think she sang a number. She sang that sound --
I can't think of anything now.
-
Patterson
- And this was at the Image Awards. October 29, 1987. It was held at
Wiltern Theater. And then here is something regarding Blind Tom that was
kind of interesting, where your attorney had to correct them, as far as
the credits that they gave. It says that, "Although the August 15, 1986
agreement between BEEM and KCET specifically provides that the executive
producer credit for Bette Y. Cox will precede all other producer-type
credits and advertising and publicity issues by KCET. KCET entered the
Blind Tom program in the 16th International Children's Film Festival
without any attribution of credit to the BEEM Foundation or Ms. Cox. For
your information, I'm enclosing a copy of the Festival program; however,
except for the order of names, this error was corrected in the Festival
listing of Ruby Slipper." So he had to call them on this, and make sure
that you got the credit that you deserved for the Children's Film
Festival. So why do you think that was -- was it just an honest mistake,
or --?
-
Cox
- Well, they wanted the credit, and they knew that I was not on their
staff. But they knew me, they knew that I was there for a reason, and
they didn't want to have to give that up; they want to -- let's see,
there was something else that they changed and gave it to me, because
they didn't do it. I don't remember now, it's been too long. But that's
the way they were, and I just -- I spoke up.
-
Patterson
- Well, it's good that this was corrected, and you got the credit that you
should have gotten. OK. So anything else about Blind Tom that you would
like to tell us?
-
Cox
- I think it's all right there about that. Tommy, Tommy.
-
Patterson
- All right, well, what else do we have?
-
Cox
- That one over there, I don't know what that is. Got a couple --
-
Patterson
- NAACP Legal Defense Education. 1985, Black Women of Achievement luncheon;
apparently you were honored in 1985 at the Century Plaza Hotel here. And
it has an overview of your bio, and let's see -- so was this -- tell us
about this. What were they honoring specifically? It says developed a --
-
Cox
- Well, they honor several people, I think. It just is my name,
Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City. And also executive
producer of BEEM productions, and music educator and musicologist,
graduate of UCLA, and pursued graduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory
of Music and USC.
-
Patterson
- So they were honoring your accomplishments. Good. I think we got this,
the National Black Music Caucus in '84, National Achievement Awards
ceremony. And these things you were doing, how did your family react to
you being so busy all these years? How did they feel about that?
-
Cox
- Well, they -- you know how families are; they're proud, and every little
thing they think is something special.
-
Patterson
- Did they ever miss you when you were going to all these things?
-
Cox
- No, because by that time, my children would be missing me, if anybody,
because my parents had done everything for us, and I just love them, and
I'm grateful, and I like to give them credit for anything I do, because
they made it happen.
-
Patterson
- So did they attend any of these affairs?
-
Cox
- Oh, my mother just loved to come to my school when my orchestra played.
She loved to watch them, and she'd be sitting out there ready to help.
And she went with me to meet William Grant Still, and held the
microphone while he talked. She loved to be part of everything; she's
willing.
-
Patterson
- Now this article talks about ethnic music specialist Bette Cox as being
honored at a luncheon held in recognition for retirement as music
advisor of the instructional plan division of the Los Angeles School
District.
-
Cox
- That was when I retired, they had a big luncheon for me at the L.A. Music
Center, and that was one of the councilmen who was -- who commented, and
Tom Bradley was there, and he commented, and who else? Everybody, all my
friends of everybody that was there, it was really beautiful.
-
Patterson
- That's another Certificate of Appreciation by Los Angeles Unified School
District for volunteer and tutorial programs. So you weren't getting any
extra pay; that's another issue for all those things you were doing, you
were doing them because you loved them, and working so hard here without
extra compensation, just for the joy of doing it.
-
Cox
- Yeah, I guess so.
-
Patterson
- The BEEM Foundation newsletter, for the BEEM Foundation, this is
something that you do monthly or quarterly?
-
Cox
- Maybe twice a year, but I don't have to do it; I'd already assign it to
somebody, there's always somebody who wants to write it.
-
Patterson
- OK. Let's see, what do we have over there? Anything over there to look
at?
-
Cox
- I don't know. Oh, be careful --
-
Patterson
- Over here by you --
-
Cox
- A what?
-
Patterson
- There's a pile there; let's look at that.
-
Cox
- Poor Adriana thinks it's never going to end.
-
Patterson
- This is about it. I just want to make sure we don't miss anything. OK,
this is from Time Warner -- oh, so Time Warner actually was one of your
backers to help cover expenses for your scholarship lunch in '92. So
that was another side of this whole thing is being able to get the
moneys to produce these activities --
-
Cox
- Getting something from the National Endowment is difficult. I mean, of
course there are some people who are good at writing those proposals.
-
Patterson
- Did you have somebody at BEEM who helped you do that?
-
Cox
- Probably I had someone who probably did it together, or at least these
college and university people who are teaching every day, they are
teaching people to write proposals, and they themselves just know how to
write them pretty well.
-
Patterson
- Now, here's an acknowledgement from the office of the Governor of
California. He says, "I'm pleased to salute you for sharing the musical
talents and ideas of citizens throughout California over the years.
You've certainly come a long way from your childhood in Twin Falls,
Idaho, to become a leading music educator. I'm especially impressed by
your work to support and nurture African-American artists as
Commissioner for Cultural Affairs for Los Angeles, and as Executive
Producer of BEEM. Your musical skills and creative flair are impressive,
and they've earned you a special place in California's rich artistic
history. Please accept my best wishes for every continued success with
your important work. Sincerely, Pete Wilson. October 16, 1994.
-
Cox
- Isn't that nice? And I don't remember meeting him, but I think I did
somehow, somewhere. I don't know. He could have had a secretary write
that.
-
Patterson
- Well, he seems to know about your life, starting in Twin Falls.
-
Cox
- I think I have one more something I want to (inaudible). I'm sorry.
-
Patterson
- Pick up that battery pack, Bette, right inside the chair, pick that up
and take it with you.
-
Cox
- Oh, OK. I think I'm into -- Mercedes? Will you get that for me please?
(phone ringing) Am I doing OK on this?
-
Patterson
- Watch that cord. I think this is it, Bette.
-
Mercedes
- From the young musician (inaudible) --
-
Cox
- Who?
-
Patterson
- Young Musicians Foundation?
-
Cox
- Oh. Well, tell them I'm in the middle of something right now. Could you
come -- ask them -- right there.
-
Patterson
- You should just take it. Go ahead, if you want to take a call.
-
Cox
- Hello? Yes? Oh, yes, how are you? Fine. (break in audio) (background dialogue, inaudible)
-
Cox
- Well, I'm going to try, but I kind of doubt -- my husband isn't doing so
well, and I'm -- all right. Mm-hmm. OK. Well, I will certainly try. All
right, thank you. Bye. Oh, he's a talker. Talks more than I do.
-
Patterson
- OK, I think we got it.
-
Cox
- I wanted to -- I don't think I showed you this the other day. Oh -- let's
see. Wait -- this, I -- let's see -- this is the family, and I just
really want to see if there's anything we can put in. This is --
-
Patterson
- Now, we saw this --
-
Cox
- -- when I graduated and went to Oberlin.
-
Patterson
- We got those.
-
Cox
- OK. Then this is my son when he graduated from college, because you know
how we feel when we want them to know that we --
-
Patterson
- Now this is a little underexposed -- here, this one might be -- you want
us --
-
Cox
- It's OK. Whatever.
-
Adriana
- For that, I do need to come over --
-
Patterson
- What is that stuff, Bette?
-
Cox
- I guess I just want to say what they did. After he graduated --
-
Patterson
- This is Johnny (inaudible), a proud moment for Bette.
-
Cox
- At Palo Alto, he was chosen to be the Multicultural Specialist, so I knew
he had a job. And did I show you, though, when they each got to go on
the ship around the world.
-
Patterson
- I think you did, you talked about it --
-
Cox
- That was when Carole was going.
-
Patterson
- OK. So this is (inaudible).
-
Cox
- And this is when she won the top student in the country, when she was
doing all the different things she does, traveling all over the world.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible). She's traveling on the cruise ship, (inaudible).
-
Cox
- Here she is with --
-
Patterson
- What was her subject in school? What did she major in?
-
Cox
- Gosh. She made the Dean's list, I know. I can't think of --
-
Patterson
- International affairs, anything to do with languages? She spoke several
languages.
-
Cox
- I think legal, law, and international affairs; that's about it.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible), she's carrying an instrument here. Is this a guitar?
-
Cox
- Guitar.
-
Patterson
- So she plays guitar.
-
Cox
- Well, she used to. Here she is with some of the people on the ship; she
was tour guide.
-
Patterson
- And where was this --
-
Cox
- Rio de Janeiro.
-
Patterson
- Rio de Janeiro. (inaudible) left. A little piece of Bette and herself,
through her daughter.
-
Cox
- We were so thankful, I was, to my parents, and I was so happy when they
agreed to move here and sell their property in the home and buy a home
here. And Daddy -- this is their 50th anniversary, and he's putting a --
oh, that's all right. And then we were with them afterwards. That's all.
-
Patterson
- So what anniversary was this?
-
Cox
- 50. Silver anniversary.
-
Patterson
- Silver anniversary of Bette's parents.
-
Patterson
- (inaudible) was very pleased with that. He was really happy.
-
Cox
- Yeah. They were lovebirds forever.
-
Patterson
- They're both very handsome people. And this is Bette's (inaudible),
Jimmy?
-
Cox
- Here's Jimmy. I don't know if this is important, but I try to have a
family section.
-
Patterson
- Of course. Bette and Jimmy together. He's always supported you.
-
Cox
- Yes, he has.
-
Patterson
- And he was a lover of jazz, so.
-
Cox
- He's a what?
-
Patterson
- He's a lover of jazz.
-
Cox
- Oh, yeah. Always.
-
Patterson
- OK. Great.
-
Cox
- That's -- I just wanted a little family something in the end.
-
Patterson
- Of course, yes. And they're important too, because they always supported
you. It's like, we don't do things by ourselves, sometimes it seems like
in the background, there's always people that are important to us and
support us.
-
Cox
- Very wise. Very wise. Was there anything else?
-
Patterson
- Unless there's something else you can think of, that will do it. If
there's something you'd like to say while we have the camera --
-
Cox
- I don't think so. Was there anything else on the table that you missed?
-
Patterson
- I think we got the table. One thing I would like to ask you, what are you
doing now? What's the next thing on the agenda?
-
Cox
- My son asked me that. I really don't know.
-
Patterson
- What's the next project? What are you working on now?
-
Cox
- At our meeting last time, the new president thinks that we should all
have a certain goal, but I want to say, if it's regarding music, but I
didn't say anything, I just let it go. But I'm going to let them know
that there are some things that I don't know as well as I'd like to,
like for example, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was the first black opera
star, she was the first black diva. And we need to do a Blind Tom on
her. And also in the 18th century, there was a man who was born as a
slave, his mother was a slave, and his father was from England -- from
France. And he took him to France and educated him, he learned to play
violin and he learned to compose, and he was regarded as someone who was
mistaken for Mozart, and his name was Chevalier to St. George, and
hardly anybody knows about him. And there are a whole lot of people like
that, that at our next meeting, we're going to be deciding what we're
going to do from here, because we've done what we could do with Blind
Tom, and with everything else that we have talked about. But that's
something a lot of people just don't know about, those people and a lot
of others.
-
Patterson
- And a lot of others. There's a lot of educating to be done.
-
Cox
- That's right. But I don't -- it is hard for me to sit still. (laughter)
-
Patterson
- As we can see clearly. So I know that you would certainly be someone that
we would want to carry forward with these projects, because you've done
them so well, and you've taught us all how to do them.
-
Cox
- I was younger though then. (laughter)
-
Patterson
- Well, you're still doing it. I mean, we can't even get through all the
stuff you're doing.
-
Cox
- Well, you're so sweet. You're an inspiration. You have -- who else could
have made me get up in the night and put all these up for days and
nights before I could come to this meeting with us?
-
Patterson
- Professor Dje Dje, who really thinks so highly of you --
-
Cox
- Thank you so much.
-
Patterson
- We need to make sure that we got this opportunity with you.
-
Cox
- Well, it's an opportunity -- it's an honor for me, and I'm just thrilled
and so glad to meet -- not only you, but Andrea --
-
Patterson
- Adriana.
-
Cox
- -- Adriana (laughter). I swore I wasn't going to slip today. Adriana,
that's so pretty, I don't know why -- do other people slip on that? I
guess they
-
Adriana
- Yes. A lot of people have a problem --
-
Cox
- So I wasn't the only one. (laughter) But I really am thrilled, and to get
to know you so much, we -- this isn't the end of it --
-
Patterson
- We've got a couple of things -- loose ends to tie up.
-
Cox
- I think so.
-
Patterson
- So I would (inaudible).
-
Cox
- OK. I think I showed you everything that was important.
-
Patterson
- Are you OK? Usually she works on a tripod, Bette, but she's been carrying
around the camera by hand this time. So that --
-
Cox
- I won't do any more. I want --[END OF recording]