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Transcription: [00:00:04]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Um, if you remember your mother talking about her, or if you remember whether she got paid or how much she got paid? Um.
[00:00:10]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Mmm, it was probably like, you know, say got paid about 6 dollars. I never heard anything about money.
[00:00:16]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Never talked about it at all?

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
But I'm sure they paid her somethin'. [[inaudible]]
[00:00:19]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Yeah, and did she-- did she love that kind of work? Did she ever talk about it?

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
She enjoyed it.
[00:00:24]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
She enjoyed it very much, yeah. That's great. Um, another question I should've written down.
[00:00:33]

{SILENCE}
[00:00:36]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
And, do you-- was she-- My own, my own grandfather actually played the violin during the silent period, too,
[00:00:43]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
but then he was out of a job when it went to sound.

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Oh, yeah.
[00:00:48]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Do you remember how she felt when sound films went in?
[00:00:51]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[inaudible]] the rest of the troupe. I don't remember how it ended, guess it just stopped, with the sound, that was it.
[00:00:59]

{SILENCE}
[00:01:02]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Did she get other work afterwards, or--

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Mm-mm. She, just worked at home, I think, with students.
[00:01:09]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Do you remember how she dressed when she played the piano?
[00:01:12]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Well, she always called herself a "dresser." [[laughter]]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
[[Cross Talk]]
Fancy lady.

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]]
Mm-hm.
[00:01:18]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Fancy lady.

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Mm-hm, and you were there.
[00:01:21]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
I'm asking actually because when I was in Tallahassee recently, I saw a photograph of a woman playing in a Miami house, and she had-- it was like she was dressed for a garden party.
[00:01:32]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
She had a beautiful dress and hat on, and I was curious if you remember how--
[00:01:37]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]]
Yeah, [[inaudible]]
[00:01:38]

{Unknown Speaker 1"}
I don't think we had but one picture your mother in the exhibit, do we?
[00:01:42]

{Unknown Speaker 2}
Yeah, but just of her head.
[[Cross Talk]]
[00:01:48]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
But we do have one, that picture of the garden party, but with that harmonium, it was [[??]] harmonium.
[00:01:56]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Are they goin to be here long? Barbara has the box with pictures of mother.

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Yeah, now that Barbara's gone--
[00:02:02]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
When does Barbara come back?
[00:02:02]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
I think she's gonna be gone a week.
[00:02:05]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Oh she won't be here that long?
[00:02:07]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Mm-hm
[00:02:09]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
You gonna let us in?
[00:02:10]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[laughs]]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
When Barbara's back?

[[Laughter from others]]
[00:02:13]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Do you have uh-- photographs of your mother playing the piano?
[00:02:14]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott}
I don't know, [[inaudible]]
[00:02:19]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
No?

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
No.
[00:02:22]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
At that time music was as important, if not more, than what was on the screen.
[00:02:30]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
There was nothing on the screen. We didn't have television at that time
[00:02:35]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
No I meant, the-- the movie screen where your mother played
[00:02:39]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Oh.

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Um.
[00:02:41]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
What-what did you say?
[00:02:42]

{SPEAKER name="Unknown Speaker"}
I said, at that-- at that-- at that time, very often, the-- the music was more important than whoever was playing,

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]]
Than whoever was playing.
[00:02:50]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
That's right, that's right. Um hmm.

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
[[Cross Talk]]
--more important than what was on the screen,
[00:02:53]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
and, uh, wait a minute. The question about how one dressed as the-- um...performer for the films--
[00:03:04]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
uh, you know, is what related to the-- the positioning of the audience and the pianist.
[00:03:11]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Mm hmm.
[00:03:11]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
They came to hear her as well as to see the movie.
[00:03:12]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
That's right.
[00:03:14]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
You said that she played along with the films, do you remember her playing before the films started As a special number?
[00:03:25]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Or did she play anything where people could sing along?
[00:03:30]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
I don't remember any singing. She might have played as an introduction to the film, you know, to the picture coming on.
[00:03:39]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
I imagine they sung what was popular at the time.
[00:03:45]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Thats right.
[00:03:48]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Can you remember the names of any of the songs that she played?
[00:03:50]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Can you sing them for us? [[laughs]]
[00:03:51]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Uhm.

[[Everyone laughing]]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Let me see if I can think of any of the titles during that time.
[00:03:56]

{Unknown Speaker 2}
Oh, what would have been popular back then? "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."
[00:04:04]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
That was popular then.

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Yeah the sing alongs.
[00:04:07]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
In some theaters, I don't know if they had it in this theater, but in some theaters they had slides
[00:04:13]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
With the words of the song.
[00:04:18]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]] With the dots. No they hadn't come to Jackson then.

{Unknown Speakers}
Um mm. [agreement]
[00:04:21]

{SILENCE}
[00:04:25]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Um. Do you know whether your mother's name was ever advertised?
[00:04:32]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
No it wasn't. mm-mm [negative] I wonder if they ever presented her as in the play. Just when the movie started, she just started playin'.
[00:04:41]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
They-- Oh-- Did-- She wasn't ever introduced?
[00:04:43]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Mm-mm [negative] I don't remember any introductions.
[00:04:45]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
What was your mother's name?
[00:04:46]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Juanita Davis Beadle.
[00:04:48]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Juanita Davis Beadle. Pretty. Real pretty.
[00:04:51]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Was there another black theater in--
[00:04:58]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
nearby that people could choose between going to the Alamo or to--
[00:05:03]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]]
There wasn't another one in Jackson, no.
[00:05:06]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
There was the [[??]] too.
[00:05:09]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Well, see, that was after, that was after the war.

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
[[Cross Talk]]
After the war.

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]] After the war.

{Unknown speaker}
[[Cross Talk]] After he came back.
[00:05:15]

{SILENCE}
[00:05:21]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Did the, um, white theaters downtown, um, advertise that they had colored sections?
[00:05:32]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
The white theaters?
[00:05:34]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
The white theaters, did they advertise they had special seating for blacks?
[00:05:41]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
No. We just heard.
[00:05:43]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
We just got to hear. [[??]]
[00:05:48]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
and when you went [[inaudible]], and it was a known thing.

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Mhm.
[00:05:55]

{SPEAKER name="Louis Spence"}
How did you know what was playing at the Alamo?
[00:05:57]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Was it advertised in the paper or did you pass by some posters?
[00:06:03]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
They didn't sell posters. I don't even know--
[00:06:08]

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Was that the thing standin' out there in the [[desert??]]. Boards.
[00:06:12]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott" and Unknown Speaker}
Billboards. Um hmm.

{Unknown Speaker 1}
Billboards. Yeah,
[00:06:13]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Sign [[inaudible]].
[00:06:15]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
That's probably where we [[unintelligible]].
[00:06:19]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Jackson didn't have a colored newspaper in those days?
[00:06:22]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[inaudible]] we did have the Enterprise.
[00:06:26]

{Unknown Speaker}
[[Cross Talk]] [[inaudible]]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[Cross Talk]] [[inaudible]]
[00:06:36]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Did they ever pass out hand bills, like the leaflets announcing the shows?
[00:06:45]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Not that I know of.
[00:06:47]
{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
When you said, umhh, you weren't sure whether we could get in and we didn't go down, what did you mean?
[00:06:54]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
You might go down there and they say, "It's not for Colored." "Not for Niggers."
[00:07:02]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Was that a sort of a common experience for--
[00:07:08]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
At different times it was. Not only at the theater, but for different things.
[00:07:14]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
And-- At, I mean, at some point when the theater was, um--
[00:07:21]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
offered special seatings for Blacks, was it in association with something happening at the theater,
[00:07:32]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
for Blacks. Did Black entertainers ever appear at White theaters?
[00:07:38]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Hundreds, on stage. There would just be a movie.
[00:07:42]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
And you would go up-- Just imagine separating whites from blacks.
[00:07:47]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
And the only way you could get upstairs above em, instead of comin in the front door
[00:07:53]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Was to come up the esc-- the um-- firesteps.
[00:07:58]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Side door.

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
The fire escape.
[00:08:02]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
How did you feel about going into--
[00:08:04]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
You felt kinda embarrassed. You hate left being out there in the wind. [[Laughter]]
[00:08:09]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
What would-- What-- [[Cross Talk]]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
[[Cross Talk]] Did you tell your parents you went?
[00:08:11]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
If they know you went, and it was a show that was famous that you really wanted to see, you just went on to see it.
[00:08:19]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Almost [[stepchildren??]].

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Did-- What did they charge-- to get in?
[00:08:29]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
I really don't remember. Why would they [[??]]?
[00:08:35]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
Do you remember if they charged you the same thing as they charged whites?
[00:08:39]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
[[inaudible]] Sure it even might have been more. So you wouldn't go.
[00:08:43]

{SPEAKER name="Louise Spence"}
So sometimes you would go down and they wouldn't let you in at all?
[00:08:49]

{SPEAKER name="Anita Scott"}
Well, I'm thinkin of other places you might go to.
[00:08:53]

like restrooms. Bathrooms would be downstairs so [[inaudible]] turned you around so [[inaudible]].
[00:09:05]


Transcription Notes:
Louise - the younger sounding voice and Pearl is the older voice of the one's asking the questions. Anita was being interviewed, but there is one or two other ladies around them who talk. Timestamps are off! The transcriber typed in their own timestamp instead of using Control i. They used {00:02:10} instead of it being [00:02:10]. Had to fix all of them. She mixed up Louise with Pearl. Louise is first. Pearl comes in later. A Harmonium is a brand of accordian. When Anita speaks the audio has a harder time picking it up. Louise Spence is talking to her, Not Pearl. Pearl's voice is more mature than Louise's. There is a third speaker around 00:01:18. This third is NOT Pearl. She was a lady there when James was there talking too. Could be a sister. A fourth speaker might show up around 00:02:26, I marked her as unknown speaker too cause I was unsure if she was the other woman or not - at 3:55 transcription says "Let me see if I can think of any of the titles" but audio sounds like "some" rather than "any"