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Transcription: [00:29:00]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
And we'll go ahead and start this workshop by asking him to tell us how in the world he first got involved in show business from a farm in Georgia.

[00:29:11]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Well I can tell ya, I got involved because of the hard work on the farm, I can tell ya that. And, uh, I didn't like hard work.

[00:29:23]
And they used to have, uh, carnivals and tent shows come to my hometown, and when they would come, we would go out there and bring water.

[00:29:36]
See, didn't have- didn't have no running water. You had to bring the water there. We were bringing the water for the animals, and we would get in free.

[00:29:42]
That's the only way we got in there, 'cuz we didn't have money, we would get in free. They would let us in free.

[00:29:49]
And so one day, one'd come by, and he asked me did I want to go with him? And I told him, yeah. And that's the way I left Georgia.

[00:30:00]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
So you left Georgia working with a show, then.

[00:30:02]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Oh yeah, well--

[00:30:03]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
You weren't entertaining.

[00:30:04]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
No, I wasn't entertaining. No, I was just- had been- keep water for the animals, and running uh- uh--

[00:30:09]
errands for the, for the performers and the people that worked the show.

[00:30:13]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
Now, how was it that you got up there on the stage the first time, Willie?

[00:30:17]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Well, uh, I didn't get up on stage. They asked me to come on, and when I got north, what we called north then,

[00:30:23]
when I got to Washington, when I was far enough, I left them. And I went on to Atlantic City.

[00:30:31]
I had an aunt in Atlantic City, so I went to her. And, uh, so she made me go to school one year.

[00:30:37]
She wanted to go more than one year, but that- that's when I started dancing.

[00:30:41]
Uh, started doing of the dance called the Snake Heel.

[00:30:46]
And, uh, me and my partner, that's when we started traveling on the road, but my partner was good and I wasn't so good.

[00:30:53]
So they wanted to let me go and keep my partner, but my partner told them if they let me go he was going too.

[00:31:01]
So I slipped off of my partner- he didn't know I was going. So then I come on back in to New York.

[00:31:07]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
Now, how did you get back? First of all, what kind of show was it that you were dancing with then?

[00:31:12]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Well at that time I was dancing with the, the Whitman Sisters.

[00:31:16]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
Uh-huh. And where were you showing?

[00:31:18]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Well we be showing- we had- we had played Washington D.C. We left there and went to, uh, uh, North Carolina.

[00:31:26]
We played Raleigh, North Carolina. We left Raleigh, North Carolina, went to Columbia, South Carolina,

[00:31:31]
and Augusta, Georgia, where they- where the-

[00:31:34]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
So you're working in theaters?

[00:31:36]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Oh that's the- we worked in theaters-

[00:31:37]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
Right.

[00:31:38]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
At that time, that was work in the theaters.

[00:31:40]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
So, you're down there in Augusta, Georgia, now how did you get back up to Atlantic City?

[00:31:44]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Get back to Atlantic City? I- I didn't go back to Atlantic City. That's when I went to New York.

[00:31:49]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
Okay. How did you get back up to New York?

[00:31:51]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
Well that time, another- Once you'll be going, then another'd be coming.

[00:31:56]
So that time, Butterbeans and Susie was coming by, and Ma Rainey. And I joined them and come on back up to New York.

[00:32:04]
{SPEAKER name="Host"}
Also in theaters?

[00:32:06]
{SPEAKER name="Willie"}
In theaters, with them. But when I got to New York again, you had to be real good to play New York. So they let me go.

Transcription Notes:
"Speaker 2" has a strong accent. Should this be denoted in the transcript? I don't think that's necessary Butterbeans and Susie and Ma Rainey were contemporary African-American performers.