The movie is directed by Lee Daniels from a script written by Suzan-Lori Parks, but its based on the 2015 book Chasing the Scream by writer Johann Hari. Not every color is as it seems. Her best friend, Maely Dufty, insisted to anyone who would listen that Billie had been effectively murdered by a conspiracy to break her, orchestrated by the narcotics policebut what could she do? (It even smells like the South.) That is also what partly drew him in. But he remembered Moonlight and its colors. Holiday tracked Fletcher down and sent him a signed copy of her 1956 autobiography, writing inside: Most federal agents are nice people. Laugh? She was handcuffed to her bed, photographed for a mug shot, and fingerprinted. WebA day for an FBI special agent might entail surveilling a subject in the morning, tracking terrorists online social activity before lunch, testifying in court in the afternoon, and addressing a public forum on identity theft in the evening. It just is what it is., Billie Holidays life story reemerging in 2021 feels almost willed to be. Johann Hari is a London and New York-based journalist. She was, her friend Annie Ross told me, as strong as she could be.. In his assessment, Rhodes believes that history had remembered Fletcher for his faults, but none of his circumstances or motivations. She died addicted. In the way that we should is what's going to hold me up. Some studies suggest it exists more predominantly in creative minds. White had been a journalist in San Francisco in the 1930s until he applied to join the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. But I'm the kind of person, bro, I got to see where I'm going. Billie, why dont you make a short case of this and, if youve got anything, why dont you turn it over to us? he asked. This young lady was gifted by her creator with tremendous talent . It's not your fault. Really, really small like that., While theres some gray area when it comes to what we really know about Fletcher, something that was created for the film was Rhodes family background, which contrasts that of Holidays. Anslinger hated hiring Black agents, according to And also, she was resisting white supremacy. Then randomly, the feelings came rushing in. She was taken to the Knickerbocker Hospital in Manhattan and made to wait for an hour and a half on a stretcher, and they said she was a drug addict and turned her away. Then hed send the best ones to Daniels. It sounded, his internal memos said, like the jungles in the dead of night. Another memo warned that unbelievably ancient indecent rites of the East Indies are resurrected in this black mans music. The FBI on Wednesday named the man who shot five agents, killing two, as they tried to execute a search warrant in South Florida. But Anslinger was going to be given a break on Billie, one he got nowhere else in the jazz world. In our culture, there's one heroic story we tell about people with addiction problems, which is that sometimes they recover from their addiction, Hari says. Immediately after, Billie Holiday received her first threat from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. They took a mug shot of her on her hospital bed. In his downtime, he would go swimming in the filthy waters of New York Citys Hudson River, as if daring it to poison him. This is heartbreaking. As he looked over his new staffjust a few years before his pursuit of Billie Holiday beganhe saw a sunken army who had spent fourteen years waging war on alcohol only to see alcohol win, and win big. In 1994, Connolly gave Bulger advance warning that state and federal law enforcement officers were poised to arrest him. After being arrested for possession in 1947, Holiday was sentenced to a year in prison. In the new film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, a little-seen segment of the great jazz singer's life is finally given the cinematic treatment. I had very high hopes that she would be able to come out of it alive, another friend, Alice Vrbsky, told the BBC, until all this happened. The full sourcing for this article can be found in the books endnotes. I'm a country dude, man, he says, refusing to acknowledge that hes built like a brick shithouse, to take a phrase we use in the South. Harry told the public that the increase [in drug addiction] is practically 100 percent among Negro people, which he stressed was terrifying because already the Negro population . That's just what Lee does in the most beautiful way with his works, Rhodes says of Daniels. The Japanese man couldnt breathe. Convicted of racketeering, lying to an FBI agent and obstruction of justice in 2002, he was given a 10-year sentence. Stick it under the door! she yelled. Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. If you Google Fletcher, you wont find out too much about him that isnt in the film or, That gives me an opportunity to really cultivate a character from the ground up, he told Refinery29 ahead of the films February 26 release on Hulu. It's about having the opportunity to be a part of those paintings and be as profound a color as you can. What followed was an onslaught of visibility. The agents were acting on a tip provided by Tony Zerilli, 85, a former mobster, who was released from prison in 2008. Billie had got used to turning up at gigs so badly beaten by her husband, manager and sometimes pimp, Louis McKay, they had to tape up her ribs before pushing her onstage. That's always been the artists' job to speak truth to power or to attempt to. The most recent one was introduced in 2019 by now Vice President Kamala Harris. How Lady Day was in the middle of a Federal Bureau of Narcotics fight for survival. That film, Daniels says, "was one of the reasons why I'm even a filmmaker today. She was too afraid to go to the policebut finally she was brave enough to cut him off. We may earn a commission from these links. In all her time behind bars, she did not sing a note. Neither Holiday nor Fletcher ever admitted to having a relationship on the record but there is strong evidence to support that Fletcher was in love with her. F rom his first day in office in 1930, Harry Anslinger had a problem, and everybody knew it. Her friend Maely Dufty screamed at them that it was against the law to arrest somebody who was on the critical list. WebIn 2019, they searched a parcel of land in Hillsdale Township, Michigan. He wanted to bring the full thump of the federal government down upon that scourge of modern society, his Public Enemy #1: Billie Holiday. That's our life. Anslinger sent Fletcher, one of the FBIs few Black Rhodes was immediately interested. Rhodes says he read an excerpt of an interview with Fletcher and it was what Fletcher didnt say that struck a chord with him. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Then, one night, at Club Ebony, they ended up dancing togetherBillie Holiday and Anslingers agent, swaying together to the music. When Billie was busted again, she was put on trial. Onlookers gather at the site where FBI agents search a field for the alleged remains of Jimmy Hoffa on June 17, 2013 in Oakland Township, Michigan. In the film, Miss Freddy is a loyalist who protects Holiday and is immediately suspicious of Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), the FBI agent who takes an actual Neither passed. Man Id wake up and start crying for like a week. One of the ambulance drivers recognized her, so she ended up in a public ward of New York Citys Metropolitan Hospital. How they were carrying the paint. "He said, You might want [Garland] to take longer vacations. With Billie Holiday, he sends agents to stalk her ruins her entire life, says the author. [It's about a] Black American woman living in America who's been in love with her country her whole life. I like to drive slow., Part of that journey included sitting down with Lee Daniels at the end of 2018 to discuss what an adaptation of Billie Holidays life might look like. The real Holiday did record the song in 1939. 1975 to 'Moscato's Dump' by FBI agents in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey." We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Worst of all, it is a mongrel music made up of European, Caribbean and African echoes, all mating on American shores. It's always that kind of a thing., Everything I choose to do is representative of who I am in some way to kind of show you more about me, Rhodes says. I had been wanting to work with Lee because his sister Leah, Leah and Kim Coleman and Lindsay Graham, three casting directors who always brought me in since I moved to L.A., Rhodes explains. But if youve ever taken a painting and held it close to your faceso close that your nose touches the canvasyou can see that theres a chaotic rhythm in the brushstrokes. When journalists asked White about this, he blustered; his reply, they noted, appeared a little defensive.. Billies greatest talent, after singing, was swearingif she called you a motherfucker, it was a great compliment. Set partly in the South, Lee shot the film in Montreal, though Rhodes says its a great replacement. As Hari tells NPR, "Jimmy Fletcher's brief was follow Billie Holiday everywhere she goes; befriend her; document her drug use, and get it ready for an indictment. To me, this is all about how we love this country and it dismisses us, Where else [but in the Bureau of Narcotics] could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All-Highest? He may well have been high when he busted Billie for getting high. . Some of the nicer ones have feelings enough to hate themselves sometime for what they have to do . What happened to Jimmy Hoffa may soon be known, if the government reveals what it has kept hidden for decades. The Time Ray Liotta Eviscerated Bradley Cooper. The United States vs. Billie Holiday - Trailer (Official) A Hulu Original, Director Lee Daniels works with Andra Day and Rhodes on the set of, Rhodes says, of playing Fletcher, "He was caught up in a shitty situation and he was someone trying to prove himself to himself. They grilled her on her hospital bed without letting her talk to a lawyer. This content is imported from youTube. In other instances, you might taste noise. ", Daniels' film is based on a chapter called "Black Hands" in British writer Johann Hari's non-fiction book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. When she refused, he sent agent Jimmy Fletcher to frame the singer. Painted in history as the Black man who betrayed Holiday, Rhodes devoured books on Holiday and Fletcher and their relationship. For example, the song That Funny Reefer Man contains the line Any time he gets a notion, he can walk across the ocean. Anslingers agents warned thats exactly what drug users were like: He does think that., Anslinger looked out over a scene filled with rebels like Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk, andas the journalist Larry Sloman recordedhe longed to see them all behind bars. I have a lot of friends who are murderers, he bragged years later, and I had very good times in their company. He boasted to his friends that he kept a photo of the man he had throttled hanging on the wall of his apartment, always watching him. Anslinger sent Fletcher, one of the FBIs few Black agents at the time, to follow Holiday, because he knew a white agent tailing her into Jazz clubs would raise She's based (and born and raised) in Brooklyn, New York. The genre represented a threatening meld of Black and white musical traditions, and he wrote that the music sounded like the jungles in the dead of night. That the music attracted both Black and white audiences, furthering its dangerous race mixing potential, was even more alarming to Anslinger. Protesters sent the song to Congress in hopes of passing an anti-lynching bill, per the BBC. Jimmy Fletcher is literally, actually an agent for the United States and she falls in love with him. "And I had so many close conversations with her, about so many things," Fletcher had said in a rare interview. So as he got to work on Billie, Colonel White was watched by his last victim, and this made him happy. Harry and his men refused. It was crazy. A six-inch deep blanket of white is out there, causing all kinds of problems for a state unprepared for the weather. There is this neurological phenomenon known as synesthesia. No new projects on his IMDb page. He might be the star, but some days, he was also the lighting guy. For her, Harry wrote with satisfaction, there would be no more Good Morning Heartache., This article is an adapted excerpt from Johann Haris book Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, published by Bloomsbury. CNN . Rhodes is a self-taught student of art, whose admiration of color and details seeps into his role in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, out now on Hulu. Maybe they would have been kinder to me if theyd been nasty; then I wouldnt have trusted them enough to believe what they told me.. In The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Andra Days Holiday embarks upon a steamy romance with Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), the agent Anslinger tasks with finding ways to imprison her on drug charges. Southerners dont do snow. But then I found out that was not the true story of Billie Holiday. So it's like, if I'm constantly being fed by this person, I'm going to obviously emulate them in some way, he says. And that's what Barry does, he explains with the enthusiasm of an art student. To me, its really kind of true to life, to the mess that I know life to be. Rhodes believes that Fletcher had to hurt when it came to how he treated Holiday. He says its simpler than all that: I needed this feeling again. Thats not to say he didnt appreciate his string of soldier-driven action thrillers. Once it was all over, White told the authorities he strangled this Jap because he believed he was a spy. The maroons, the magentas, the soldier inspired trilogy pieces. Holiday was busted again, arrested, and put on trial. It was called The United States of America versus Billie Holiday, she wrote in her memoir, and thats just the way it felt. She refused to weep on the stand. ", Day adds: "I was obsessed with that movie and Diana Ross's performance, but the movie was done in the early '70s; [J. Edgar] Hoover and Harry J. Anslinger were still in power, [Holiday's abusive husband] Louis McKay was still alive, and the technical director on that film. Whether or not they actually had a physical relationship is hard to say, but it does seem that Fletcher and Holiday did have some sort of relationship, though it may have involved a sense of betrayal. From 2017 to 2018, Rhodes pivoted hard from indie prestige of Moonlight. But of all the people Rhodes could be stranded with, mom is a top choice. In the end, the Treasury Department told Anslinger he was wasting his time taking on a community that couldnt be fractured, so he scaled down his focus until it settled like a laser on a single targetperhaps the greatest female jazz vocalist there ever was. What really did her in was when her abusive husband, Louis McKay, got involved. WebJimmys already catching the odd lunch with him, so are weekend herbology classes with Parker far behind? When Billie was forty-four years old,a young musician named Frankie Freedom was serving her a bowl of oatmeal and custard in his apartment when she suddenly collapsed. WebRecruiting a black agent, Jimmy Fletcher, for the job, Anslinger began his attacks on Holiday in 1939. For Rhodes to play part in it does as well. Did Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher Really Fall in Love With Billie This should never have happened to you. They sent her to prison. She would later endure relationships with abusive men, and became addicted to alcohol and heroin. Maybe they would have been kinder to me if theyd been nasty; then I wouldnt have trusted them enough to believe what they told me. Not until much later did Fletcher realize how damning his role in Holidays life was. A doctor was brought into the hospital at the insistence of her friends to prescribe methadone. Holiday died on July 17, 1959. The next scenes are somewhat fudged: The movie depicts Holiday at Joe Guys New York apartment the day after the performance, where shes apprehended by a Fletcher ultimately led a raid on Holiday, pretending to have a telegram to deliver. He wrote to MGM, reporting he observed no evidence of a drug problem. Her biographers Julia Blackburn and Donald Clark studied the only remaining interview with Jimmy Fletchernow lost by the archives handling itand they wrote about what he remembered in detail. She had written inside it: Most federal agents are nice people. Holiday herself knew intimately the fatal costs of racism, as her father had died in 1937 when he was denied treatment for pneumonia by hospitals that would not accept Black patients. Im going to do her up so goddam bad she going to remember as long as she live. He travelled to D.C. to see Harry, and he agreed to set her up. My mom raised two boys here by herself. It's easy to say you want to do something, but walking to do it is very, very difficult. Harry hated to hire black agents, but if he sent white guys into Harlem and Baltimore, they stood out straight away. Eventually this led to Holidays infamous arrest in May 1947, which came with an outsized 366 day prison sentence. Drugs became racialized, with cocaine coded as being associated with Black Americans, opioids with Chinese immigrants, and marijuana with Mexican immigrants. It imagined black bodies hanging from trees as a dark fruit native to the South. She was the type who would make anyone sympathetic because she was the loving type. The man Anslinger sent to track and bust Billie Holiday had, it seems, fallen in love with her. One of the things that he was most proud of was his ability to code switch and his ability to feel like a chameleon, Rhodes says of Fletcher. To be able to be hip with the cats when he was hip. Shes been getting away with too much shit, MacKay said, adding he wanted Holidays ass in the gutter in the East River. That, it seems, was the clincher. "Jimmy Fletcher is literally, actually an agent for the United States and she falls in love with him. Main Image: Andra Day and Trevante Rhodes in The United States vs. Billie Holiday from Paramount Pictures. According to Holiday biographer Julia Blackburn, the singer was itching to record the song after seeing the audience reactions. Holiday arriving at a court hearing in 1947. Fletcher met Holiday after he was hired by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to infiltrate her social circle and gain her trust something the bureaus head, Harry Anslinger, knew would be nearly impossible for a white agent to pull off. Holiday's song, "Strange Fruit," is a central point of the film. Most federal agents are nice people. In the film, Fletchers mother insists that the feds interest in Holiday was squarely about silencing her incendiary performances of Strange Fruit. The song has become known as one of the most recognizable anthems of civil rights, painting a gruesome picture of the lynchings of Black people across America. We will have a great national round-up arrest of all such persons on a single day. Just to imagine what he felt like after that, you know what I mean? This central moral struggle, and understanding the relationship between Fletcher and Holiday is the challenge that intrigued Rhodes about this role. . And on another occasion, they ended up dancing together at a spot called Club Ebony. Theyve got a dirty job to do and they have to do it. One is white, two is red, three is blue, four is yellow, for example. Fletchers mother wasnt alone in her assessmenthistorians also believe that the fight against Holiday was to stop her from fanning the flames of the growing movement. I come from a family of strong Black women. Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" Live 1959 [Reelin' In The Years Archives], 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' True Story, 35 Classic Photos from the Academy Awards, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. He wrote to all the agents he had sent to follow them and instructed: Please prepare all cases in your jurisdiction involving musicians in violation of the marijuana laws. Chinese-Americans, racists warned, were luring white women into their opium dens for sex. The conviction also cost Holiday her cabaret performers license, which prevented her from singing at nightclubs for more than 10 years. He believed that the response to being dealt a weak hand should always be to dramatically raise the stakes. This content is imported from youTube. Cocaine supposedly made Black people almost superhumanly strongNEGRO COCAINE "FIENDS" ARE A NEW SOUTHERN MENACE blared a 1914 New York Times headline. Knowing he must kill this man or be killed himself, the Chief drew his revolver, placed the muzzle over the negros heart, and firedintending to kill him right quick, as the officer tells it, but the shot did not even stagger the man. Cocaine was, it was widely claimed in the press at this time, turning blacks into superhuman hulks who could take bullets to the heart without flinching. 01:19. Declassified FBI files quote an agent inside the narcotics bureau (possibly Anslinger) as saying that 'because of the importance of Holiday, it has been the policy of his bureau to discredit individuals of this caliber using narcotics. After starring in Moonlight, a 21st century masterpiece, he appeared in a trio of action films then stepped back from the spotlight. That movie seeped into my soul. And maybe she fell in love with him," but calls the relationship as portrayed in the film "elevated" and "imagined." The personality test given to all applicants on Anslingers orders found that he was a sadist. He learned of Anslinger's plan and agreed to set her up, Hari reported. It tells the story through three central characters: Billie Holiday, Jimmy Fletcher, who was one of the first Black federal agents, and Harry Anslinger, the I felt like after that I knew how to make films., Barry Jenkins 2016 Best Picture winner was Rhodes introduction to the upper echelons of Hollywood. And Anslinger worked very hard to encourage the use of the word marijuana instead of cannabis, because marijuana is a Spanish-Mexican word, says Hari. She should have lived to be at least eighty years old., The Federal Bureau of Narcotics saw it differently. Billie Holiday Lover Explained, Over the decades, popular culture has created dominant narratives of the Dominican Republic that are most often synonymous with poverty, crime, or state vi, This story contains spoilers for Ant-Man: Quantumania. In the book, Hari tells stories of the casualties of the drug war, from its 20th century origins to profiles of contemporary dealers and users. In the course of a year, he appeared as a muscly sergeant in 12 Strong, a former Marine in The Predator, and a soldier-like survivor named Tom in the Netflix apocalyptic thriller, Bird Box. Police were stationed at her door to stop her visitors from seeing her. He would carry large amounts of drugs with him, and he was allowed to deal drugs himself so he could gain the confidence of the people he was secretly plotting to arrest. "Billie Holiday's styling fulfilled the bitterness and the shocking quality I had hoped the song would have," Meeropol said, according to The Guardian. We do know that George White had a long history of planting drugs on women. Harry had heard whispers that she was using heroin, andafter she flatly refused to be silent about racismhe assigned an agent named Jimmy Fletcher to track her every move. At Billies funeral, there were swarms of police cars, because they feared their actions against her would trigger a riot. We come from a different tribe. But what pulled Rhodes attention most was the idea of stepping into the role of Jimmy Fletcher. 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