[Dixielandjazz] Re: Billie Holiday's birth details

[Fred Spencer]

Dear Bill,
Thank you for both your equally informative emails. Yes, I do have 
O'Meally's book ( 1 ed, 1991) which adds to the confusion because it cites 
Philadelphia as the birthplace but doesn't have notes (hence no 
verifications) or index, and a picture of a 1925 baptismal certificate 
which, if my lapsed Latin is correcxt, says that Clarence Holiday was 
Billie's father. However, O'Meally's main  source is the same as Donald 
Clarke's (1994)--the data gathered by Linda Kuehl. Unless some other birth 
document is discovered, Stuart Nicholson's governmentally verified statement 
is the only one that is legally valid. This shows that Sadie Harris 
registered Billie's name as Elinore and the father as Frank DeViese 
[DeVeazy] on 24 April 1915. The tangled web (Harris, de Viese, Holiday and 
others) could be untwined by anyone willing to write a summary of the data 
in print. How about you, Bill?; although it is probably more than you , or 
certainly I, wish to attempt. Incidentally, Nicholson also wrote an equally 
scholarly book on "Ella Fitzgerald. A Biography of the First Lady of 
Jazz"{Da Capo, 1995, paperback). My best wishes.
Fred


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au>
To: "fred spencer" <drjz at bealenet.com>
Cc: "dixieland jazz mail list" <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 3:09 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Billie Holiday's birth details


> (DJMLers may read this, in the hope that they can throw additional light
> on
> the subject. Some will find it boring, which is what the delete key is
> for.)
> Dear Fred,
> I have just purchased (at a good discounted price) 'If You Can't Be Free,
> Be
> A Mystery. In Search of Billie Holiday' by Farah Jasmine Griffin. (2001.
> Free Press).
> I have only had time to skim it.
> In her book Ms Griffin mentions another book that escaped my DJML listing
> the other day, which predates Clarke (1994) and Nicholson (1995).
> 'Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billy Holiday' by Robert O'Meally. (1991.
> Arcade Publishing).
> Ms Griffin  says (page 51): "Robert O'Meally confirms Holiday was born on
> April 7, 1915, in the Philadelphia General Hospital."
> In the preface to 'Wishing On The Moon' Donald Clarke (from the UK) does
> not
> mention O'Meally and states that he hired Susan Koelble in Philadelphia to
> find the birth certificate and conduct other research.
> It seems that Mr O'Meally found the elusive birth certificate
> independently
> prior to 1991.
> I wonder if he provided details of this in his book?
> Do you have it?
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>