November 9, 1945: "The House I Live In" Premieres

Still photo from the film

November 9, 1945: The House I Live In premieres, a 10-minute film about tolerance, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and starring one of the biggest young singers in the country as himself.

The film is written by Albert Maltz. Frank Sinatra, approaching his 30th birthday, having been a star for 5 years, and a year past his launch to superstardom via the fan demonstration known as "The Columbus Day Riot," plays himself. The film begins with a recording session that isn't going well. He takes a break, and steps outside to smoke a cigarette.

In the alley, he sees several boys chasing a smaller boy, and intervenes. It turns out that the bullies are going after the other boy because he's Jewish. It has been just 6 months since V-E Day, when America united to defeat the greatest force of anti-Semitism the world has ever known.

Being Italian and Catholic -- his mother was from Genoa, in the north, and his father was from Sicily, in the south -- Frank certainly knew what it was like to face discrimination. His cinematic portrayal of himself isn't having it, and he lectures the boys, telling them that discrimination based on race and religion is un-American.

He sings the title song, with music by Earl Robinson, who had previously written the labor song "Joe Hill"; and lyrics by Abel Meeropol, the author of Billie Holiday's anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit." They wrote "The House I Live In" for a 1942 music revue, Let Freedom Sing. With the Nazis having been defeated, but with bigotry, both racial and religious, alive and well in America, the message was still needed. Given his popularity with young people at that time, Sinatra was the ideal messenger.

Maltz became one of "The Hollywood Ten," screenwriters who were blacklisted and jailed for refusal to expose fellow Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He wrote the screenplay for The Robe, but it was many years before his name was restored to the official print of the movie. He later wrote the screenplays for Two Mules for Sister Sara and The Execution of Private Slovik, and died in 1985.

Robinson was also blacklisted, but in 1954, he and David Arkin -- father of actor Alan Arkin and grandfather of actor Adam Arkin -- wrote a song in tribute to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education: "Black and White." Despite being recorded by both Sammy Davis Jr. and Pete Seeger, it took until the 1972 recording by Three Dog Night to become a hit, but it hit Number 1. Robinson lived long enough to see it, and died in 1991.

Meeropol and his wife Anne adopted the sons of the executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Michael and Robert. He died in 1986.

LeRoy had previously directed Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Gold Diggers of 1933, Fools for Scandal, Blossoms in the Dust, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. He went on to direct the 1949 version of Little Women, Quo Vadis? Million Dollar Mermaid, Mister Roberts, The Bad Seed, No Time for Sergeants, The FBI Story, and Gypsy. He died in 1987.

Sinatra continued to sing the song. Even after his 1972 heel turn from Democrat to Republican, he sang it at a state dinner at the White House in front of Richard Nixon, and at the 1985 Inaugural Ball of Ronald Reagan.

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November 9, 1945 was a Friday. Actor Charlie Robinson, who played court clerk Mac Robinson on the 1980s sitcom Night Court, was born on this day.

Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. No games were scheduled for the NHL.

There was 1 game in college football. The University of South Carolina and the University of Miami played to a 13-13 tie at Burdine Stadium in Miami, the stadium that would later be renamed the Orange Bowl.

April 20, 1939: Billie Holiday Records "Strange Fruit"

April 20, 1939: Billie Holiday records "Strange Fruit," written by Abel Meeropol.

Meeropol had been shocked by Lawrence Beitler's 1930 photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith -- not in a Southern State, but in Marion, Indiana. He wrote a poem with the title "Bitter Fruit," and published it in the January 1937 issue of The New York Teacher, a magazine published by the New York City Teacher's Union.

He set the poem to music himself. He and his wife, Anne, first performed it in front of their friends, leading to it gaining some success in and around New York. The Meeropols and black singer Laura Duncan sang it together at a rally at Madison Square Garden.

Barney Josephson, the founder of Café Society, New York's 1st integrated nightclub, heard the song, and introduced it to Billie Holiday. Just 24 years old, and already regarded as the best female vocalist in jazz, she first sang the song at Café Society.

Because of the power of the song, Josephson drew up some rules: Holiday would close with it; the waiters would stop all service in advance; the room would be in darkness, except for a spotlight on Holiday's face; and there would be no encore. During the musical introduction to the song, Holiday stood with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer.

Holiday's label, Columbia Records, feared reaction by record retailers in the South, and a refusal of CBS' Southern radio affiliates to play it. John Hammond, the Columbia producer who had discovered Holiday -- and other performers, ranging from Benny Goodman and Pete Seeger in the 1930s to Bob Dylan in the 1960s and Bruce Springsteen in the 1970s -- refused to produce it. So the producing duty was given to Milt Gabler -- comedian Billy Crystal's uncle, and later the producer of Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock."

Gabler worked out a special arrangement with Vocalion Records to record the song, and Columbia gave Holiday a one-day release. Frankie Newton's 8-piece Café Society Band was used for the session. Because Gabler worried the song was too short, he asked pianist Sonny White to improvise an introduction. It lasts 1 minute and 10 seconds, before Holiday begins to sing.

Later in the year, New York Post writer Samuel Grafton wrote, "If the anger of the exploited ever mounts high enough in the South, it now has its 'Marseillaise.'" In 1999, Time magazine named it as "Best Song of the Century."

In 1945, Abel Meeropol wrote the anti-bigotry song "The House I Live In." It was recorded by Frank Sinatra, as part of what became perhaps the 1st "concept album."

Billie Holiday died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1959. Milt Gabler lived until 2001. Anne Meeropol lived until 1973, Abel Meeropol until 1986. They had adopted the orphan sons of the executed spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Both sons are still alive, and retired from careers as college professors: Michael Meeropol, age 79, economics; Robert Meeropol, 75, anthropology. Each of the brothers has 2 children.

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April 20, 1939 was a Thursday. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL season ended 4 days earlier, when the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in 5 games.

There were 5 games played in baseball that day, the Opening Day of a new season:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-0 at Yankee Stadium. Red Ruffing outpitched his fellow future Hall-of-Famer, Lefty Grove. It was the major league debut of future Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams, who went 1-for-4 for the Red Sox. I have a separate entry for this event.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 5-3 at Ebbets Field. Mel Ott hit a home run in defeat for the Giants.

* The Boston Bees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 at National League Park in Boston. Lou Fette pitched a 3-hit shutout. This was the 4th of 5 seasons in which the Boston team of the NL used "Bees" instead of "Braves," and had Braves Field renamed. In 1941, they switched back.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 2-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. George Caster pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-7 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Dixie Walker and Hank Greenberg hit home runs for the Tigers, Greenberg's being what would now be called a walkoff in the bottom of the 14th.