Document text
STATE
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
New York
FORM A
Circumstances of Interview
NAME OF WORKER Vivian Morris
ADDRESS 225 lest 130 Street
DATE March 22 1939
SUBJECT "Race Horse Row"
1. Date and time of interview
2. Place of interview
3. Name and address of informant
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
/S
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
STATE New York
NANE OF wouEn Vivian Morris
ADDRESS 225 West 130 Street
DATE March 22, 1939
SUBJECT "Race Horse Row"
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
RACE HORSE ROW'
Now "Race Horse Raw" is not a swanky bookmakers establishment
where the landed gentry places thousands on a horse's nose and scarcely
flickers an eyelash as their choice runs second in a photo. -finish.
Oh no --to the contrary, it is the three blocks between 15th
and 138th Streets on the West Side of Lenox Avenue. "The Rows", tall
unkempt, overcrowded, exorbitantly priced apartment houses seem to scowl
dawn at passersby like an evil ogre.
There we will find a few of the vast army of ilarlemls unemployed
chancing their nickels, dimes, and quarters in a desperate last ditch
gamble trying to raise the rent or food.
The stores around lure prospective buyers with flaming red
signs, shouting out "bargains" in meats, most of which is unfit for
human consumption. The groceries are old and stale; the eggs are listed
"Fresh from nearby farms" but in reality cold storage. There are vegetable
stands and cut rate stores with everything out but the prices.
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The block between 136th and 137th Streets on the East side of
Lenox Avenue facing "Race Horse Raw" ironically enough is Harlem Hospital.
The casual observer, on this warm sunshiny afternoon sees a
stream of toilers, domestic workers, with roomy bags containing their
working paraphernalia, the coal worker sprinkled with flecks of the
grimy material with which he labors, professionals with their brief
cases all wending their way, presumably to their homes.
The keen eye detects more than the aforementioned; it sees
neatly dressed, furtive looking men walking hurriedly up and down
the blocks, in and out of stores, glancing quickly at pieces of paper
and writing as they scurry. One of the men passes close to a hopeless
looking woman and hands something to her, and whispers from the corner
of his mouth, "Killer" Bogart style, "Yo hoss was secunt--even money.
What cha want in 'd1 nex'?"
The woman says "Dig me later --got a li'l figgerin to do."
She goes around the corner followed by five or six other women. The
runners hurry on their way dropping a word here and there to persons
who have placed bets with them. You can tell by the expression on a
face whether the wo,lrer has won or lost. A smile equals a win-- a
look of abject despair almost invariably equals a loss.
I watched the women until they had secluded themselves in a
doorway and then I quickly made my way to that same spot.
They were dividing the winnings. The little woman who had
collected the bet was saying, "Heah Mary --your dime gits you twenty.
Macie, your quarter zits you fifty. Your dime gits you twenty. Mae: Lou
and let's see, Kitty your thirty gits you sixty, an' my nickel gits me
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ten. Where the hell did I git this extry dime?" She. puzzledly held a
dime in her palm. A little woman of about sixty snatched the remaining
dime snorting, "Ah 'dare Mae Lou you fuggits me evah time. Ah bilieve
you sup lm algin me,' 'Glare Ah does."
"Honey you ainl nevuh been so wrong --Haw you 'speck I got sup'm
a'gin you wien you is de one whut giv us de hunch to play de hose an' save
us all", expostulated Mae Lou with a hurt expression on her thin face. "Yo'
dream 'bout yo' dead gram'ma shot brung us luck", opined one. "Ah us dead
set on dat favirite "Dead Ready".
"He's 'dead' aw'rite--ant ready hp' de glue factl6r." 'Who we
gwine play in the flex' race?" asked Mae Lou. "I walk way up in de Bronix
t'day--didn' git no job. an'y had one nickel. Thought I'd play today
and git suptm. Nickel am' nuthino
"Yeh, lee git together" The women dug into their bags and
pulled out newspapers with the varied and vague selections of the so-
called leading handicappers. Their brows take on heavy frowns as their
lips move and they slowly mumble the naMew of the horses.
'Well ah think we oughta play White Hot' said Made slowly.
"Das a good name." Mae Lou thought differently, "I think we ought to
play 'Veiled Lady' cause I et pig feet las' night and dreamed some
funny, crazy things. I dreamed dat I was at a fun'al an' some no'
crazy mess. But y'all knaw dat wten yo, dream bout funtals dat dey's
got to be ladies ant wten dey's ladies at a funlal dey got to have veils
wten dey's moaninl, aint dey?"
-4
"Mae Lou's right, chimed one "dat dream is clear as day.
'Veiled Lady' is de hoes allright"
"Come on Vali" said Mae Lou quickly putting her paper back
in the bag, "better get our bets in. Near pos' time --thirty-eight de
post. Hits thirty-three now. Come on."
"Y'all kin play who y'all lake but ah lak 'White Hot', said
Macie--an' ah gut fit" cent an' ah'm gunna put it on his nose. Macie
left them to place her bet.
"Kin ya bet dat," said lase Lou. D'as de way hit is yid some
people--wlen she had huh li'l quarta she wuz glad to play in wid us.
Now she gut muff to play by huh self she gits real independent. We
still gut nuff to bet tween us.
(to run second) The runner heard
Les play 'Veiled Lady' in de belly.ft
a low whistle and looked up. A
woman leaning precariously out of a window on the top floor dropped
something down wra_Ted in a piece of paper which was deftly snatched
by the bet taker. He gave her a knowing nod. The next ten minutes
seem to be an eternity as far as the betters were concerned. Some of
them shifted nervously from foot to foot, others blinked and twitched
spasmodically, some walked to and fro.
Macie came back, but got the cold shoulder from her buddies.
"If dis'n wins --a pot o' greens and polk fot me" said Mae Lou
cheerfully.
"If he doan min--yhut?" asked acie.
"I won't act you for a looie" (cent) said Mae Lou angrily.
Her buddies nodded agreeably.
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"Y'all best stop etabbint (playing long shots) ant play hosses
dat figger. Dat White Hot' don' yin his las' two races ant kin win algin",
said Aacie philosophically.
The runner breezed by. The women waited with bated breaths.
He almost passed the women, who looked at him with Sinking hearts.
He saw Macie and stopped, "Ah--you had a half on 'White Hot' didin you?"
He starts giving her first, some change, then two crumpled bills. Ileven
foty (eleven dollars and forty cents, for two dollars) de win. Git cha two -eighty
for fifty cents."
Mae Lou asked timidly wetting her lips Veiled Lady' git second?"
"Nuthinl--out de money", he answered cruelly as he went on his way.
"Ah sho' lakked dat 'White Hot?", said Kitty, "Ah cm' nigh
playin' him ef it had'n been fot Mae Lou an' her "Veiled Lady'."
She looked angrily at Mae Lou, and the ones who lost their
last, thoroughly agreed with her, because they "shot lakked that 'White Hot''.
They left 14ae Lou. The "runner" caught up with them as they were moving.
"What cha want in de nex'?" The little woman who had been the first to
attack Mae Lou, asked Miele sweetly "Whut we gwine play honey? Ah gut a thin."
"We aim' gwine play nuthin" said Necie, "Um thu, you better tek
INMEIm
that thin ant buy yutse some hog ears -or sup'm else to eat."
They blended in with the other passersby and were quickly swallowed
Up*