BESSIE SMITH-COLUMBIA-14209-SEND ME TO 'LECTRIC CHAIR

$

100

"OLDSKOOLRECORDS"

" 45'S,78'S,LP'S"

JAZZ,BLUES, R&B,NORTHERN SOUL,ROCK

"TAKE A WALK WITH ME,DOWN MEMORY LANE"

ARTIST: BESSIE SMITH

LABEL: COLUMBIA 14209 (RACE)

LP'S TITLE:

SIDE A: SEND ME TO THE 'LECTRIC CHAIR

SIDE B: THEM'S GRAVEYARD WORDS

GRADE   LABEL      M- (STICKER  SEND ME ) VINLYE M- 

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"GRADING"

MINT-sealed or played, but without any evidence of deteration-MINT MINUS-very clean,but not mint,except for slight superifical scruffs-VERY GOOD +-well cared for, but less than perfect, may have slight scruffs and or scrathes,primarley clean and should play without any skips or problems,-VERY GOOD-has been played, may have many of the the defects founded in VG+ more pronuounced-GOOD-well loved and worn, but still playable, likley  some audible distractions-POOR-will not list unless very rare and or hard to find.

"NOTABLE NOTES"

The 1900 census indicates that Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in July 1892. However, the 1910 census recorded her birthday as April 15, 1894, a date that appears on all subsequent documents and was observed by the entire Smith family. Census data also contributes to controversy about the size of her family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, while later interviews with Smith's family and contemporaries did not include these individuals among her siblings.

Bessie Smith was the daughter of Laura (née Owens) and William Smith. William Smith was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census as a "minister of the gospel", in Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama.) He died before his daughter could remember him. By the time she was nine, she had lost her mother and a brother as well. Her older sister Viola took charge of caring for her siblings.[3]

To earn money for their impoverished household, Bessie Smith and her brother Andrew began busking on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo: she singing and dancing, he accompanying her on guitar. Their favorite location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."[4]

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the notable singer Ma Rainey. Smith gradually moved her way up through the troupe to a singer then to lead singer performing with Ma who was her mentor.

In 1915, Smith left the troupe to join the T.O.B.A Theater Owners Bookers Association which was an entertainment circuit for African American performers in the 1920's and 30's. T.O.B.A. helped Smith to spread her popularity throughout the country and get herself known.

By the early 1920s, Smith had starred with Sidney Bechet in How Come?, a musical that made its way to Broadway. She spent several years working out of Atlanta, Georgia's 81 Theater, and performing in black theaters along the East Coast. Following a run-in with the producer of How Come?, Smith was replaced by Alberta Hunter and returned to Philadelphia, where she had taken up residence.

There, she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first recordings were being released by Columbia Records. The marriage was a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides. During the marriage, Smith became the biggest headliner on the black Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit. Her show sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers and made her the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when Smith learned of Gee's affair with Gertrude Saunders, another performer, she ended the marriage, though she never sought a divorce.

Smith eventually found a common-law husband in an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death

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