FROM UN-MARKED GRAVE OF "QUEEN OF THE BLUES" TO UN-KEPT CEMETERY.

MAMIE SMITH(nee : Robinson) BLUES SINGER-PIANIST 1ST FEMALE TO RECORD ARCHETYPAL VOCAL BLUES(billed as Queen Of The Blues") 26-5-1883 to 16-9-1946 . Mamie was born in Cincinnati where she showed early talent as a dancer. At the age of 10 Mamie joined a vaudeville act, "The Four Dancing Mitchells." From there she went onto join Salem Tutt-Whitneys' Smart Set, a well-known revue troupe. While she was touring with The Smart Set, they came to New York in 1913, Mamie liked it so she left the troupe and stayed. She sung in Harlem, performing at Baron Wilkins Little Savoy Club, Leroys, Edmunds, Percy Browns, Banks Place. When Mamie was 20, she married William Smith and they settled in New York, she working in the Harlem clubs. Mamies' voice was strong, clear vibrant, but had no "Blues inflections/emotive stirrings." She appeared in Perry Bradfords 1918 musical "Made In Harlem." by way of happenstance, Mamie replaced Sophie Tucker(Russian-born American singer), as she was taken ill at this time. Also at this time Perry Bradford was trying/was eager to get some of his music recorded, but he wanted Mamie singing his music. He tried Columbia who flatly refused to record an African Female singing, he tried the Victor Label, who also turned him down. by refusing the release the pressing made by Mamie, when she stood in for Sophie Tucker

. Mamie was brought into the Okeh studio, Saturday 14-2-1920, to record "That Thing Called Love (A-side) & You Can't Keep a Good Man Down(B-side)," on a 78rpm cutting. It sold well so Okeh had Mamie go back to the studio 6 months later, Mamies next recording titled "Crazy Blues"-(originally titled Harlem Blues). This was more than they had anticipated, astounding result. In 1920, a record cost $1 a full days pay for a working man. So when 10s of 1000 s were sold each week, the economics spoke for themselves. Total sales of that 1 record, were said to top 1,000,000, with the record crossing-over into the white market as well. Suddenly Mamie Smith was a star, she formed The Jazz Hounds, to back her on her club dates/cabarets/recordings. Mamie was a stunning, elegant woman, wearing fabulous gowns/jewels on stage, setting a very high standard for the divas following behind her. Okeh released 23 songs in 1921-22, Mamie made a lot of money, was being billed as, "The Queen of The Blues." At the height of her fame-1920/early-30s, Mamie was earning $3,000 a performance, the queues were long at the theatres to get a ticket for Mamies' shows. She owned 3 mansions in New York, apparently with electric piano players in each room. By 1923, other Blues Divas with the blues inflections/emotive stirrings, were arriving all wanting to take Mamies' title from her. Mamie moved from the Okeh label to Ajax in 1924, then later to Victor(mother-label of RCA-Victor), but her records never reached the same volume again. Between 1932-34 she toured in a musical, "Yelping Hounds," 1936 she was touring in Europe. Despite the money she earned she was constantly in debt, due to all the extravagances she acquired, seemed to need. When she fell ill in 1944, at 61, she was living in a 8th Avenue boarding house, the mansions gone along with the electric piano players. Severely arthritic she entered Harlem Hospital, died there bankrupt/destitute/impoverished-1946. In a retrospective piece written in The Chicago Defender by journalist Floyd G Snelson, "Mamie carried $1,000 bills in her money belt. She bought gilt securities, a farm in the South. All of this went in the crash of 1929, and the poor girl lived off charity and friends until her death." Then the same journalist describes Mamie 10 years on. "Mamie is hale and hearty and looks the picture of health, having lost many fortunes during her eventful career. She is a grand gal if you ask me." adp.library.ucsb.edu/mamiesmith Discography Of American Historical Recordings : from 10-1-1920 to 19-2-1931 95 items to view. syncopatedtimes.com/mamiesmith 20 items to view. imdb.com/mamiesmith filmography + snippets inside her biography discogs.com/mamiesmith 19 items to view. You Tube.com/mamiesmith Crazy Blues 1920-3minutes 25seconds. Harlem Blues 1935-3minutes 9seconds. Mamie Smith Buried : "UNMARKED PLOT FOR 68 YEARS. Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Richmond, Richmond County, Staten Island, New York. Buried in the remotest corner, so no-one could find her. 68 YEARS FORWARD. The long unmarked Oakwood gravesite of legendary blues singer Mamie Smith, finally received a fondly inscribed headstone with her likeness appearing too, thank to the effort of local fans. SATURDAY 13-9-2014, the marker was was unveiled/dedicated in Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, 3201 Amby Road. Island based singers Larry Marshall & Jeannine Otis performed tributes at the ceremony, along with guitarist Big Frank Mirra, harmonica player Mike Smith. Mamies biography mentioned a "paupers grave," so a Grasmere journalist Michael Cala set sbout investigating. He consulted the parks records and managed to find the plot, Michael then launched a fundraising effort, that culminated in 6 hour concert at Killmeyers Old Bavaria Inn, Charleston. The proceeds covered the cost of the marker and set up a maintenance fund.(there are some photos at : silive.com/mamiesmith) 3 YEARS ON-THIS IS NOW 2017. SUNDAY 5-11-2017. New York Amsterdam News, 2340 Frederick Douglass Boulevard , NY 10027. Headline : Cemetery Holding Black Bodies is in Disrepair. Driving through the Richmond Town neighbourhood of Staten Island, on a warm Spring day, brings you towards Frederick Douglass Memorial Park. Just like any day the front entrance to the African/American cemetery is open, not because it was daytime, or a family had just finished burying a loved one. The cemeterys' front entrance was open because, it was busted and swinging loose, it had not been repaired for sometime. That was just the beginning of the AmNews tour given by Friends of Frederick Douglass Memorial Park Incorporated CEO + plot owner, Patricia Willis. The AmNews hounds saw untreated grass, gravestones mashed together because of the weather, land-shifts, gravestones stuck between trees, barely put-together graves, unpaved/decrepit roads around the premises, uneven land, dips, hills, holes, that could lead to injuries, sunken graves. The cemetery is home to some of the most hallowed names in African + African/American figureheads. Someone who only saw the picture of Frederick Douglass cenotaph, would think the whole cemetery was in pristine condition. How wrong could they be? There are only 3 maintenance workers for a 17 acre site, there are no computer records of those that are buried there, it is currently run by a court-appointed receiver who seems to have very little interest in its proceedings. A decade ago former cemetery director Dorothea Morton King was removed from her position, for embezzling $667,593 from the maintenance fund. Taken to court, ordered to pay the funds back, Nothing! Willis asked the court if they knew where King was, as she had not paid anything to date. The court did not know where King was. According to the court documentation The State of New York, listed King & The Cemetery as defendants. The board of directors has slowly died off, none of them has been replaced. So as King is paying nothing back, the payment is defaulted the cemetery; "So the cemetery is paying itself back for stealing its own money." The court-appointed receiver was no better, Arthur Friedman/wife Ilana were appointed to control Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, but in 2011 they were both arrested and ordered to pay back more than $1,000,000 in restitution , for stealing $850,000 from monument companies and families for The United Hebrew Cemetery. Willis said when she checked to see if they had stolen anything, from the Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, the court told her no. The court-ordered receiver is there to maintain the cemetery, until a board of directors is appointed. It has been 12 years, no board of directors, no maintenance happening. Willis also said with the lack of upkeep at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, something dire could happen. "The cemetery is not far from the beach, if you dig deep enough you're gonna come up with sand. You have to keep replacing the dirt otherwise the caskets, could go floating all over the place." Trees around the cemetery have uprooted gravestones , caskets, even fencing around the Memorial Park. "At this point in time I don't know what is going on, because the receiver Dominick Tarantino who runs Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn is barely there. There is supposed to be a plot owners meeting every year. There's not been one since the new court-appointed receiver. The only reason people know what's going on is because I tell them." Willis intends on going to court to make sure they get what they paid for. "You could look at it in a consumer way, you could look at it simply as a lack of maintenance. If this was vandalism, there's a vandalism fund that the state has, that can get it fixed. But this is just neglect." For more Information on The Cemetery contact : [email protected] There is a photo of the park in 2017 at : nycemetery.wordpress.com/2018/08/18frederick-douglass-memorial-park. there is a site for the cemetery : fdcemetery.com FREDERICKDOUGLASS MEMORIAL PARK INC. a selection of photos there, the 1st one showing a dilapidated cemetery with the maintenance workers dong the best they can. The site states : with your donations we will be able to re-roof the chapel and office building. Install a metal fence around the entrance to the park. Also repair the internal roads/pathways.