WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.239 You are groping down a dark alleyway in the French 2 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.320 Quarter of New Orleans, driven by terror, hounded by the 3 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.519 curse of the Populoi, a curse from which there is 4 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:25.120 no escape. 5 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:41.039 Escape produced and directed by William N. Robson and carefully 6 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:43.679 contrived to free you from the four walls of today. 7 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:46.560 For a half hour of high adventure. 8 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:56.119 Tonight, we escape into two worlds, one of modern jazz, 9 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:00.399 the other of primitive voodoo, and to a doomed man 10 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:03.799 who brought them together. As William Irish imagined it in 11 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.640 his Eerie story, Papa Benjamin. 12 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:39.200 All his Police Department Fourth Precinct, Sergeant Tolliver speak, yeah, yeah, 13 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:46.920 well pick him up on a drunk seventy two three? Right, yes, sir? 14 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.200 What can I do for you? 15 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:50.359 Are you in charge here? 16 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:51.879 Yeah? Hey? 17 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:56.599 Aren't you ready? Block the bandleader? That's right, hey, Joel, 18 00:01:56.599 --> 00:01:57.680 look us here, Eddy Block. 19 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.560 Well, I never thought we'd get a visit from celebrity 20 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.280 like you, mister Block, and at four o'clock in the morning, 21 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:05.560 I suppose though, this is just a shock of the 22 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:07.400 evening for a big shot orchestra leader. 23 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:09.159 What can we do for you, mister Block? 24 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:14.639 I just killed him man, Yeah, you're kidding. I'll tell you. 25 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:15.360 I've just killed him. 26 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:18.159 Man, I guess you've been working too hard, mister Block, 27 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:19.439 imagining things. 28 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:20.960 Here, here's the gun, look at it. 29 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:23.800 And I sit down. Mister Block. 30 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:25.479 Better have a drink of water. 31 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:26.199 You'll feel better. 32 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:28.639 Oh no, I'm all right. 33 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:35.960 Yeah, this gun' have been news to or right. Smell m. 34 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:39.000 Was it an accident, mister Block? 35 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:39.960 No? 36 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:42.039 Who'd you use it on? Who was it? 37 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.800 I don't know his name. They call him Papa Benjamin. 38 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:48.439 Sounds like white man. 39 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:50.479 No he was a negro. 40 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:53.039 Oh well now here in the Orleans. 41 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:55.479 Oh no, no, no, it was nothing like that. 42 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:59.719 Well what was he doing to you? He was killing me, 43 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:01.039 killing it? 44 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.840 But how look at me? I used to weigh two 45 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:06.560 hundred pounds, him down to one hundred and two. 46 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:08.840 How how was he killing you? 47 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:11.840 But you'll believe in anything you can't see, can't here, 48 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.560 can't touch. Well, I've been to the biggest doctors in 49 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.840 the world. Hey, don't believe me. How can I expect 50 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.840 you to simply sam cracked and let it go at that? 51 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.560 I don't want to spend the rest of my life 52 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:25.120 and on the site. 53 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:25.360 Ill. 54 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:28.319 Look, mister Block, you say He was a Negro named 55 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:29.039 Papa Bench. 56 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.240 Yeah. He was an all old man, eighty maybe ninety, 57 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:38.520 skin and bones. He could hardly walk, and I shot him. 58 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:40.759 You're sure you're sure you're killed him? 59 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:41.360 Yeah, of course? 60 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:42.319 Or where? 61 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:46.919 I don't know exactly. A little back alley in the 62 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:52.479 here curry here, Congo square. Supposing you take us there? 63 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:53.360 Can you do that? 64 00:03:53.719 --> 00:04:12.719 Then maybe we'll find out this is just a bad dream. 65 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:16.199 This is the alley to the right between the buildings. 66 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:17.079 All right, let's go. 67 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.800 You pack serge and catch cold without it. 68 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:23.959 Don't go back there? 69 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:33.399 Why are you? Oh cops, O nice neighborhood, this is it. 70 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.720 You're not going up the stairs? Come on, no, nom 71 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:40.600 te'll make me go up there? Can please? 72 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.839 Better comes to Block. You're showing us, Hey, flesh of lights. 73 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:48.079 Somebody here on the stairs. 74 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:52.319 He won't bother us. Step over him and let's go. 75 00:04:52.439 --> 00:05:00.639 This ain't the most pleasant neighborhood of calling him? 76 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:01.360 Release it? 77 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:03.600 Yeah? 78 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:05.000 He not doing Come on. 79 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:17.079 Better, call a commissioner. Mister Block wasn't kidding. This man stayed. 80 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.439 But why why? 81 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.560 Because he was killing me? Commissioner. 82 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:35.800 It was self defensive. 83 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:38.399 He never came near me once I was the one 84 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:42.519 who went to him. I offered him three thousand, ten 85 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:46.720 thousand any amount, and he refused. Finally I offered him 86 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:48.279 my gun and asked him to shoot me, whether to 87 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:49.920 get it over with quickly, not to drag it out 88 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:50.480 any longer. 89 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:52.920 Then when he said no, you shot him. 90 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:56.839 Yeah, so you can lock me up. 91 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.199 Now, mister Block, do you think we wanna hang a 92 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:02.160 murder rap on you one of the most popular celebrities 93 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:03.199 in the United States. 94 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.040 Use your head now. I'm trying to find an out 95 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:06.360 for you. 96 00:06:07.560 --> 00:06:08.399 He was killing me. 97 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:11.160 Look, an eighty year old colored man who's so feeble 98 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:13.519 he can't even go upstairs by himself, who has to 99 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:15.240 have his food pull it up to him and a 100 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:19.399 basket is killing who? A stumblebum his own age? No, 101 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:23.360 mister Eddie Block, the top bandleader of America can name 102 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:26.040 his own price anyway, who has about everything a man 103 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:31.519 can want? Tell me just one thing, mister Block, how 104 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:32.319 was he killing you? 105 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.240 My thinking thought waves of death had reached me through 106 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:37.519 the air. Now, mister Block, you want to hush the 107 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:38.600 whole thing up, don't you. 108 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.839 No, No, mister Block, but I'm going to get the 109 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:45.160 whole story, so you might as well. 110 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:49.000 Start telling me from the beginning. All right. 111 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:55.000 Began one night about two years ago. We were playing 112 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:07.079 at Maximus on Charles Street. We were just another band, 113 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:13.000 small Dixie Land outfit. Then Eddie blocking his chips, Judy Jarvis, 114 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.720 my wife did the vocals, but we weren't setting the 115 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.360 world on fire. Business was so bad. I knew what 116 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:21.560 to expect when I got a call from the manager 117 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:23.399 one night after closing time. 118 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:25.199 Of it. 119 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:30.680 Oh, hi, Erdie, I thought we'd better have a little talk. 120 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:32.319 It's that bad. 121 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.240 We took in forty five hundred this week. 122 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:38.800 I see. And you can cancel my contract anytime it 123 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.439 falls under five thousand. I get it. 124 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.199 Eddie can get the same liquor and sandwiches anywhere, but 125 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:46.800 they'll go where the band has something. Tonight there were 126 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.199 more waiters in the place than customers. Judy didn't even 127 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:51.240 get a hand. It's not her fine, No, it's not 128 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.959 her fault. She's okay. But well, I'm asking you what's wrong? 129 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:58.879 Oh, I don't know. I'm getting the latest arrangement sent 130 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:02.600 to me from New York. We sweat our heads bald rehearsing. 131 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:05.240 This is New Orleans, practically the cradle of jash you 132 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:06.160 got to give them something new. 133 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:07.199 I know, I know, I know. 134 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:12.519 When do I leave, well, finish the week up, see 135 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:15.720 if you can do something about it by Monday. If not, 136 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.279 I'll have to wear Saint Louis to get Krueger's band. 137 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:20.959 I'm sorry, Edie. 138 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:35.600 Oh, that's okay, you're not running a charity bazaar. But 139 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.799 I didn't feel so cocky about it. It looked like 140 00:08:38.840 --> 00:08:41.399 we were on the skids. The band just didn't seem 141 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.120 to have it, and I wasn't good enough to figure 142 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.519 out why and pull them out of it. I was 143 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:49.720 feeling pretty low, and I went back to the deserted 144 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:54.120 bandstand to pick up some music. The place was dark 145 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:56.919 and empty except for a couple of scrub women cleaning up. 146 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:02.360 A dark nightclub can be an eerie place sometimes. I 147 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:07.080 got that feeling just before I saw it. Saw it. 148 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:11.159 Lying on the floor between the stands was a severed 149 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:14.960 chicken claw with a red ribbon tied around it. I 150 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:19.039 almost laughed, how did that thing get there? Then I 151 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.720 picked it up and tossed it out of the floor 152 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:23.600 where the scrub women were cleaning up. I certainly wasn't 153 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.919 expecting the reaction I got. They took one look, turned 154 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:37.919 and ran out. I just recovered from that surprise and 155 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:39.879 was bending down to pick up some music that had 156 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:41.840 slipped to the floor when I heard someone come in. 157 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:45.720 I guess I was pretty well hidden from view anyway, 158 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:49.080 he didn't see me. It was Johnny Stats, my drummer, 159 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:53.320 and he was acting funny, looking intently at the floor, 160 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:57.879 searching for something. Suddenly he spotted this chicken claw on 161 00:09:57.919 --> 00:09:59.960 the floor and grabbed it up with a terrific soun 162 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:02.679 I have relief, stuffed it into his pocket and walked out. 163 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:12.759 What I did then, I did on a strange impulse, 164 00:10:12.759 --> 00:10:16.240 and it changed the whole course of my life. I 165 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:20.960 followed Johnny Stats. I suppose I just meant to catch 166 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:22.679 up with him and have a cup of coffee with 167 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:27.720 him somewhere and ask about the chicken claw. But as 168 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:30.320 I followed him farther and farther down into the view 169 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:35.000 carrie down to Congo's Square, it was a growing curiosity 170 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:38.440 that kept me on his trail. When he turned into 171 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:41.759 that dark alleyway, I stopped and debated. I felt like 172 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:46.200 an eavesdropper, and yet something drew me on and I 173 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:51.039 walked up that dark alley I passed that one lighted window, 174 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:56.120 but I went on, threw a sort of tunnel into 175 00:10:56.159 --> 00:11:00.840 another alleyway, and then I stopped. Ahead of me, Johnny 176 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:03.679 Stad stood before a dark, dismal looking old wreck of 177 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:11.799 a building. Suddenly he whistled quietly. A gigantic man appeared 178 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:15.480 out of the shadows. Johnny handed in the chicken claw 179 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:19.600 and was motioned into the building. And then I heard 180 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:24.720 sounds coming from the upstairs of that building. A throbbing drum, 181 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:30.039 a wailing, an unearthly sound, and yet wonderful, an exotic, 182 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:35.759 fascinating rhybon. This was music, something new, something sensational, something 183 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:37.559 that would set New Orleans on its ear and put 184 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:40.159 Eddie Block in a big time. I had to get 185 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:43.000 in there and hear it. I was mighty busy for 186 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:46.120 the next five minutes. I ran back down the alley, 187 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.759 overturning five or six garbage cans before I found what 188 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:52.120 I needed. Then back to that lighted window in the 189 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.440 alley and a five spot in exchange for a red ribbon. 190 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:58.720 Then I was back at the dark building, walking up 191 00:11:58.759 --> 00:11:59.879 to that menacing shadow. 192 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:08.480 Right up, let me see your face. 193 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:12.879 Okay, okay, easy with that knife. My ribs are tender. 194 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:16.080 Your face never been here before. 195 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:18.120 My friend Johnny starts up there. 196 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.159 He'll tell you, mister Johnny, your friend you guess would come. 197 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:24.720 This, uh, this chicken claw told me to. 198 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:26.879 Come, Benjamin, send you there. 199 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.320 Certainly you'll make me late, Papa. Benjamin won't like. 200 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:34.840 That, all right, go along here first, singing no one 201 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:35.360 on the wall, and. 202 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:40.000 I groped up the stairs, half expecting to feel his 203 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:44.919 knife in my back. When I got to the top, safely, cautiously, 204 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:46.039 I opened the door and. 205 00:12:46.159 --> 00:13:08.759 Stuck contoon, cartoon, dumb carto. 206 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.720 The room was full of people, and they were in 207 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:16.840 such a state of frenzy I wasn't even noticed. I 208 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:19.279 slipped into a corner and slid down by the walls, 209 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:26.639 sitting on the floor. It was a sight I'll never forget. Wild, fantastical, hideous, revolting. 210 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:31.240 Fascinating in the center of the room was an incredibly 211 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:34.080 old man, naked to the waist, wearing a hideous mask 212 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:39.440 and holding a live chicken. There were wild gestures, weird incantations, 213 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:43.000 frantic dancing, shouting, rolling of eyes, and there was blood, 214 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:48.440 and always there was the chant. Nobody noticed me. After 215 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.240 a moment, I took a piece of copy paper out 216 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:53.039 of my pocket and began putting down the notes. It 217 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:58.360 was wonderful, fantastic and wonderful. And ten minutes I had it, 218 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.120 and I'd seen enough enough for a lifetime of nightmares. 219 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.000 I began to feel sick. I wanted to get out. 220 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:10.080 I started to stand up. Suddenly the room wait, dead 221 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:14.279 stranger is here. He's Bonny. I'm stretched out straight from 222 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:17.080 the shoulder, pointing at me like a narrow and there. 223 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:20.720 Was blood on it. What you do here, hi, I 224 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:22.679 know this man? Let me find that. 225 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:26.159 No one moved. There was no sound in the room 226 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:29.320 as Johnny Stats came over and squatted beside me. You're 227 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:31.200 in terrible trouble, Eddie. I don't know if I can 228 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:31.759 get you out of it. 229 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:33.000 What is the Stats? 230 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:36.000 What are you doing here? There's no time to talk now. 231 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:37.039 You've got to do something quicker. 232 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:37.799 You'll be a dead man. 233 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:41.279 Why I'm in the very heart of New Orleans. They 234 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.039 wouldn't dare listen. You've seen enough tonight to know better, Eddie. 235 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.279 Is only one way what joy become one of us. 236 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:50.440 It's the only way, Eddie. I can't save you. 237 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:51.840 You had better hurry up. 238 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:53.559 Because unless you do, you'll never get out of here alive. 239 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:57.600 You know what this is, don't you. This is voodoo? 240 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.399 Okay, sure, I'll joy why a minute. 241 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:03.799 There's a lot more to it than you think. 242 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:06.679 Unless you're serious it, it'd be better to get cut 243 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:09.120 to pieces right now, all right, don't worry, I'm serious, 244 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.879 all right, hoppoloy. 245 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.360 His spirit wishes to join our spirits. 246 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:20.360 The old man burns some feathers while the others watched silently, 247 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.480 and he nodded. 248 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:26.840 Came out all right, he reads him. The spirits are willing. 249 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:33.440 There were other things, ritual ceremonies, another sacrifice. Then as 250 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:36.519 the chatting started again, they brought me the sacrificial bowl. 251 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:39.759 I didn't have to be told what was in it. 252 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:43.399 I started to draw back. Drake, Eddy, Drake, or I'll 253 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:49.879 kill you on the spot. Late next morning, the band 254 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:53.840 assembled at Maxims for a rehearsal. When Johnny Stats got there, 255 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:56.480 he found another drummer sitting in his place. Naturally, he 256 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.039 came to me, what's all this about, Eddie? I don't 257 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.320 want any voodoo lever and my band, that's all Stats. 258 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:03.960 Here's a check for two weeks selling, So. 259 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:07.240 You're crossing them, maya boy, I would want to be 260 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.000 in your shoes for all the golden port knocks. 261 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:11.399 If you mean that a bad dream last night, I 262 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:13.960 haven't told anybody, and I won't. I'd be laughed at. 263 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.720 I'm only remembering what I can use of it. The 264 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:19.279 jungle is just trees to me, the congo A river, 265 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:22.240 and the nighttime is just a time for electric lights. 266 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:24.200 But this new number you're going to rehearse this morning, 267 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:26.480 I said I'd remember what I can use listinity. 268 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:29.000 That chat is sacred, its secret, it was secret. Don't 269 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:29.200 do it. 270 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.720 Look, here's a couple of scenoes. Hand them these. I 271 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:34.759 out to pay up my dues from now to doomsday, 272 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:37.480 and I don't want to receipt. And if they tried 273 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.759 putting poison to my orange juice, they'll end up in 274 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:40.120 a chain. 275 00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:40.960 It's not that easy. 276 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:41.799 Yet you're one of us. 277 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:46.600 Oh, get out, okay, goodbye dead. 278 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:53.639 Man Graham, the manager of the club, changed his mind 279 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:58.000 about canceling our contract when he heard us rehearse the chat. Instead, 280 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:01.759 he spent five g's in publicity, and Saturday night was 281 00:17:01.799 --> 00:17:05.240 set for the big Unfailing. It seemed like all New 282 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.640 Orleans tried to jam at the Maxims came to hear 283 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:11.880 the Voodoo Chat, the real thing. Just before we were 284 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.960 ready to hit it, Judy came up to me, Erry, listen, 285 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:17.640 let's not do it. What do you mean, baby, not 286 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:19.759 do it? This is it. This is our ticket to 287 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:20.200 the big time. 288 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:21.680 It will be a some safety, I know, but I 289 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:24.920 got a funny feeling. And look I found this under 290 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:26.440 you addressing room door. It just now it sounds like 291 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.839 a warning. Somebody doesn't want you to play that number. 292 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:29.359 Let me see. 293 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:34.599 You can summon the spirits, but can you dismiss them again? Think? Well, 294 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.359 forget it. Baby Stats is trying to scare me because 295 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:42.400 I fired him. Ladies and gentlemen, come on, honey, let's 296 00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:42.960 go there, will you. 297 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:47.559 Takes great pleasure in bringing you a historic moment and 298 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:51.559 musical estuary you're about to hear for the first time anywhere, 299 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.319 the Voodoo Chat, the age old ceremonial rhythm no one 300 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:57.240 but the initiated has ever heard before. 301 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.200 This is the real thing. 302 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.720 Accurate transcription, not a note has been changed. So, ladies 303 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:06.160 and gentlemen, Eddie Block and his Chips present for the 304 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:09.119 first time anywhere, a voodoo chant. 305 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:18.359 I'm safe I've been pricing for it. I screamed for more. 306 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.640 But we were playing at paper once a night. I 307 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.720 had packed him in. After it was over, I went 308 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.279 back to our dressing room. Judy got there before me. 309 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.039 She was reading a newspaper. Somebody had brought him. Baby. 310 00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:32.519 You were wonderful, and we wowed him. We're in the money. 311 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.440 Oh boy, am I tired. I feel more tired than 312 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.559 I've ever felt in my life. Nervous train, I guess, 313 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:39.160 h let down? 314 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:40.799 Look here in the paper. 315 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:42.799 Who cares about the paper money? 316 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.240 It's Johnny's dead? Huh he's dead. He drown himself, and 317 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:48.400 like train this afternoon. 318 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:54.359 This afternoon. Then that note it wasn't Johnny. 319 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:56.680 Oh look at it. You can't blame yourself. 320 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:58.880 Oh no, no, no, no, no, of course not. But 321 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:04.720 I think I know who to blame. What do you mean, nothing, nothing, Eddie. 322 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:06.319 Wouldn't you lie down and rest for a few minutes? 323 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:07.039 You look worn out? 324 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:09.640 I am, I I feel dead. 325 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:11.359 Here. Let me take off your coat. 326 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.119 I'll be careful. I don't know. Funny thing. Well, I 327 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:18.039 was waving the baton on the chat. I felt something 328 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:20.119 of sharp pain there in my back, like a pin 329 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:21.079 of something stuck in me. 330 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:23.759 I don't feel anything there now. Maybe it'd slipped down. 331 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:27.160 I don't know, couldn't have been much there. Now, you 332 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:29.079 just lie down, you'll feel better at a few minutes. 333 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:32.400 You've been working too hard. You should relax now, maybe 334 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:37.279 take a few days off. Hey, Annie, look here, where 335 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:39.759 did this come from? It's a little doll that was 336 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:42.960 lying on the dressing table. Why Annie, it looks just 337 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:43.319 like you. 338 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:45.000 Let me see. 339 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:50.880 That's funny. Look there in the bag. There's a little 340 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.079 pin sticking in the bag. 341 00:20:52.400 --> 00:21:02.920 Yes, that's right where I felt the pain that started it. 342 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:06.279 The next day, I had a back ache. Later there 343 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:09.039 was a numbness that spread to my shoulders, arms, legs. 344 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:14.000 I felt tired all the time, listless dead. I began 345 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:17.440 to lose weight. I couldn't get Johnny's stats out of 346 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.799 my mind. He'd introduced me to them, vouched for me, 347 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:27.319 and he'd committed suicide. He knew he hadn't waited. I 348 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:30.880 decided to get out of New Orleans. I went to 349 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.680 New York playing the chant. Of course I had to. 350 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.480 It was my biggest asset now. But nothing changed. I 351 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:40.440 was losing weight from a husky two hundred down to 352 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:45.039 one hundred and sixty. I couldn't sleep. Maybe if I 353 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:48.599 put a notion between I took an offer in London, 354 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.640 toward the continent away a year. I was an international hit, 355 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:57.319 now the biggest attraction in music, but I was down 356 00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:00.839 to one hundred and ten, dying on my feet. The 357 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.519 doctors couldn't figure it out. Reynolds in London. 358 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:07.640 Told me, you're as normal, mister Block, as anyone I 359 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:10.960 ever examined. You're so well balanced that you haven't even 360 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:13.960 got that extra little touch of imagination most actors and 361 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:14.599 musicians have. 362 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:20.839 I guess that's true, doctor, I'm just mediocre, And yet 363 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.200 you might say my success is killing me. 364 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:33.240 And so. 365 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:38.240 After two years, I finally realized there was no use. 366 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:44.680 I came back back to New Orleans and back to 367 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:49.599 the dark alleyway down near Congo Square. I could just 368 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:54.720 barely drag myself along, but I had to see Papa Benjamin. 369 00:22:58.759 --> 00:23:02.880 I slowly climbed the stage up to that lowesome door 370 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:05.119 and I went in. 371 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:07.440 There he was. 372 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:13.039 Papa Benjamin, staring at me from the bed as if 373 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:16.519 he'd been expecting me, And then he started, at last, 374 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:26.519 take that churse off me, give me my life I'll 375 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:28.200 do anything. Anything you say. 376 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:34.000 Been there cannot be undone. You think spirits of earth? 377 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.880 By what you what forgiveness means in. 378 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:44.920 A sat for me? Then you brought it about. Here's money. 379 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:47.000 I'll give you twice as much. All I learned, all 380 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:47.880 I have a hope to arn. 381 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.160 You have fouled you by a death has been on 382 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:56.200 you from that night. All over the world in the 383 00:23:56.279 --> 00:24:00.559 air above you have mock spirit with the chance that 384 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:01.359 summons him. 385 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:05.759 And please, please, here's a gun. Kill me now and 386 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.640 be done that. I can't stand anymore. All you have 387 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:12.880 to do is shoot. I'll write a note, sign it 388 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:13.880 that I did it myself. 389 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.559 It will come what different? 390 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:23.359 Slow? Oh slow, no, no, no, I. 391 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:26.720 Can't stand that. I won't. I won't. 392 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:33.559 Maybe if I kill you, maybe then the spello will 393 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:53.200 be broken. Yeah, that's what I'll kill you know, And 394 00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:58.519 that's all, Commissioner, and I came here the police station. 395 00:24:58.839 --> 00:24:59.519 You know the rest? 396 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:04.000 Well, all right, mister Blogg. 397 00:25:05.400 --> 00:25:07.559 Don't believe me, do you? Yes? 398 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:08.440 I believe you. 399 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:12.319 Not about the curse. Of course, that was your own mind. 400 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:16.039 They planted the suggestion in your mind. You did the rest. 401 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:21.160