Lady Sings the Blues

Plot synopsis:
In 1945 New York City, Billie Holiday is arrested on a drugs charge.
In a flashback to 1928, Billie is working as a housekeeper in a brothel in Baltimore where she is raped. She runs away to her mother, who sets up a job cleaning for another brothel in the Harlem section of New York. The brothel is run by an arrogant, selfish owner who pays Billie very little money.
Eventually, Billie tires of scrubbing floors and becomes a prostitute, but later quits and returns to a nightclub to unsuccessfully audition to become a showgirl. After "Piano Man" accompanies Billie when she sings "All of Me", club owner Jerry books her as a singer in the show.
Billie's debut begins unsuccessfully until Louis McKay arrives and gives her a fifty dollar tip. Billie takes the money and sings "Them There Eyes". Billie takes a liking to Louis and begins a relationship with him. Eventually she is discovered by Harry and Reg Hanley, who sign her as a soloist for their southern tour in hopes of landing a radio network gig. During the tour, Billie witnesses the aftermath of the lynching of an African-American man, which presses her to record the controversial song "Strange Fruit". The harsh experiences on the tour result in Billie taking drugs which Harry supplies. One night when Billie is performing, Louis comes to see Billie. She collapses on stage. In her dressing room, Louis notices her needle marks, knows that she is doing drugs, and tells her she is going home with him. Billie promises to stay off the drugs if Louis stays with her.
In New York, Reg and Louis arrange Billie's radio debut, but the station does not call her to sing; the radio sponsors, a soap company, object to her race. The group heads to Cafe Manhattan to drown their sorrows. Billie has too much to drink and asks Harry for drugs, saying that she does not want her family to know that the radio show upset her. He refuses and she throws her drink in his face. She is ready to leave, but Louis has arranged for her to sing at the Cafe, a club where she once aspired to sing. She obliges with one song but refuses an encore, leaving the club in urgent need of a fix. Louis, suspicious that Billie has broken her promise, takes her back to his home but refuses to allow her access to the bathroom or her kit. She fights Louis for it, pulling a razor on him. Louis leaves her to shoot up, telling her he does not want her there when he returns.
Billie returns to the Harlem nightclub, where her drug use intensifies until she hears of the death of her mother. Billie checks herself into a drug clinic, but because she cannot afford her treatment the hospital secretly calls Louis, who comes to see her and agrees to pay her bills without her knowledge. Impressed with the initiative she has taken to straighten herself out, Louis proposes to her at the hospital. Just as things are looking up, Billie is arrested for possession of narcotics and removed from the clinic.
In prison, Billie goes through crippling withdrawal. Louis brings the doctor from the hospital to treat her, but she is incoherent. He puts a ring on her finger to remind her of his promise to marry her. When she finishes her prison sentence, Billie returns home and tells her friends that she does not want to sing anymore. Billie marries Louis and pledges not to continue her career, but the lure of performing is too strong and she returns to singing with Louis as her manager. Unfortunately, her felony conviction has stripped her of her Cabaret Card, which would allow her to sing in NYC nightclubs. To restore public confidence and regain her license, Billie agrees to a cross-country tour. Billie's career takes off on the nightclub circuit.
Louis leaves for New York to arrange a comeback performance for Billie at Carnegie Hall. Despondent at Louis' absence and the never-ending stream of venues, Billie asks Piano Man to pawn the ring Louis gave her in exchange for drugs. While they are high that evening, Piano Man's drug connections arrive; he neither pawned the ring nor paid for the drugs. Piano Man is killed by the dealers. Within the hour, Louis and her promoter call Billie with news that they got Carnegie Hall. Louis returns to find a very fragile Billie who is traumatized and has fallen back into drugs. Louis takes her back to New York.
Billie plays to a packed house at Carnegie Hall. Her encore, "God Bless the Child", is overlaid with newspaper clippings highlighting subsequent events: the concert fails to sway the Commission to restore her license; subsequent appeals are denied; she is later re-arrested on drug charges and finally dies when she is 44. Nevertheless, the Carnegie triumph is frozen in time.

Tags: murder, blaxploitation

Review:
The recent death of Richard Pryor prompted me to look at the 2005 DVD package of 1972's "Lady Sings the Blues", which proves the then-young comedian to be a fine actor in the meaty supporting role of Piano Man. Even though he was a master stand-up comic, it's still too bad he never pursued roles of a similar dramatic caliber since he obviously had the talent.
Similarly, Diana Ross never fulfilled the promise of her big screen debut in the title role as legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday (1915-59).Bearing no physical and little vocal resemblance to Holiday, Ross somehow gets under her true-life character's skin much like Joaquin Phoenix does in "Walk the Line" or Jamie Foxx in "Ray".
Her vocal performances really don't evoke Holiday's earthier style, though to Ross's credit, her vivid renditions of standards such as "Mean to Me", "Fine and Mellow" and "Gimme a Pigfoot (and a Bottle of Beer)" don't sound like Supremes redux either.This achievement is all the more impressive since director Sidney J.
Moreover, as Furie discloses on the accompanying audio commentary, the dialogue for several scenes is improvised by the actors, for example, the unnecessarily lengthy Club Manhattan sequence, where the lack of discipline becomes wearing.Contrary to the fact that Holiday's true life story has been well documented and interest in her legacy increased, the filmmakers altered events and people in order to maintain interest from what they thought were mainstream audiences at the time.
Consequently, the character of Louis McKay, Holiday's love interest and eventual husband, played with toothsome charm by Billy Dee Williams, synthesizes a lot of men who came into her life and helped shape her career.
The dramatized results leave out key figures of the jazz world like saxophonist Lester Young, trombonist Jimmy Monroe to whom Holiday was married, and record producer John Hammond, as well as Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Artie Shaw and Teddy Wilson--all important colleagues and mentors during the period covered in the film.
I pondered this question for the longest time, and remained disappointed in Diana Ross until the very first moments of "Lady Sings the Blues", which play like a jazz tune that seems, at first, to make no sense until you as the listener finally tune into the music which actually made sense all along.
Diana Ross dosen't so much act the part of Billie Holiday -- she crafts an unforgettable performance that both embodies the spirit of Holiday while also demonstrating the simplest but most complicated acting demands....she simply poses the question, "What if this were my life?".
I knew that Diana Ross would sing in her own style without trying to imitate the real Billie Holiday.
Talk about an anachronism, to say nothing of the way it cheapens some otherwise powerful moments.Lastly, I have to say that fans of Billie's music will be pretty annoyed at Diana Ross's versions.
This is really a movie for Diana Ross fans or for casual jazz listeners who have never heard of Billie Holiday.
Like another reviewer suggested, if you're truly interested in Billie, you should buy some of her records or try to find some old films of her performances.
Other than Diana Ross's harrowing portrayal of a heroin addicted singer (who could have been anyone but Billie Holiday), there is nothing to recommend this movie.
The first question that would run across the mind of anyone who'd watch this movie is: "Can Diana Ross act?" The answer, I'm glad to say, is an unequivocal "Yes." And I think that's what the director wanted to clear up right from the very first scene, with a flash forward to Billie Holiday's drug bust while the credits were still on.
As I had read previously, Ms. Ross didn't seek to imitate Billie Holiday's style, and instead created a distinct and appropriate - yet similar - jazz style of her own just for the movie (check out "Good Morning Heartache"), and I, being a fan, didn't mind the song interludes.What dragged the movie was the constant focus on Holiday's drug addiction (to showcase more of Ms. Ross's acting?).
It's too bad, since with better direction and screenplay, coupled with Ms. Ross's capable acting and singing, this could've been one of the truly great musical biopics..
Even at this young age, I was impressed to see a film on this grand scale that elevated a historical Black icon like Billie Holliday; this was unprecedented and this was not lost on me then or now.This is an excellent movie and by the rating it has received here (7/10) and the five Academy Awards & three Golden Globe nominations it garnered (Diana Ross won the Golden Globe for Most Promising New Actress); my opinion is not in the minority.
While this film may gloss over a lot of Billie's life, the script was based on her autobiography (this may be how Billie chose to remember her past) and the screenplay was also nominated for an Oscar.Diana Ross did not capture the look and sound of Billie Holliday nor did she attempt to.
The double album soundtrack topped the Billboard charts for two weeks, Diana Ross' only number one Pop album as a solo singer.This film made me a Billie Holliday fan at age 4.
This film and its music still stands the test of time as implied by the recent success of Diana Ross' CD, "Blue" (which was previously unreleased material originally recorded for Motown as a follow-up to this soundtrack) on the jazz and adult contemporary Billboard charts.
In addition, for it to be the only screenplay that she has ever written, Suzanne DePasse (who was a Motown A&R executive at the time and was the first and remains the only Black woman to be nominated for an Oscar for writing) created a great story even if it presents a slightly less gritty portrayal of the troubled singer's life..
This was a wonderful star-making vehicle for Diana Ross but the worst thing that could have happened to the legend of Billie Holiday.
But Ross phones in the tunes, with little feeling or style.Most of the other characters are cardboard, with Richard Pryor doing the weirdest role of his life as a timid, comical piano player.Absolutely unwatchable for anyone but die-hard Diana Ross fans, and for Billie Holiday lovers and movie buffs, sheer torture..
Diana Ross is quite superb as jazz singer Billie Holiday, but even so this clichéd bio-drama of the drug-addicted torch diva from the 1930s is hardly convincing.
Let us keep perspective here.)I personally think Diana Ross has had a more interesting life and is the better singer because I prefer pop to jazz.The problem with any bio-pic is that it needs some driving narrative beyond "aren't/weren't they great on stage." Holiday was raped/abused at an early age and this is put forward as the reason for her behaviour and yet this is a guess and a clichéd guess at that.Addiction happens equally to people that are and aren't raped or abused, that come from good homes, that are from all ethnic backgrounds.
Furie directed this biographical film about Billie Holiday, starring Diana Ross (who also sings).
The problem with Lady Sings the Blues is the director and the producer allowed Diana Ross and Richard Pryor, and others, to improvise.
Which actress or singer could deserve to embody the thick, deep soul of Billie Holiday??-  Diana Ross?????
I wonder what Diana Ross thought when her lover and mentor Berry Gordy told her that as part of his plan to launch her post-Supremes solo career in entertainment, her debut film role would be playing the life story of the troubled blues singer Billie Holiday.
You have to at least admire their moxy.More than that, whilst the film I doubt follows Billie's life too slavishly and Ross certainly doesn't much look or sound like her, t'was often the way with Hollywood biopics.
Sure there's some airbrushing here but the film does show her troubled upbringing (and certainly one thing Ross could convey was waif-like as these early scenes demand) born to a single mother and forced to live apart from her, being raped at age 14 and then being put to work as a prostitute, indeed the film starts jarringly with the traumatic depiction of Ross being forcibly straitjacketed in a solitary confinement sanatorium padded cell, which must have come as a shock to her Motown fans used to seeing her in posh frocks and diamanté earrings.Of course the realism doesn't stop there as she later encounters racism out on the road in the South, having to sit outside a 'whites-only" diner while her band mates eat within, has a run-in with the Ku Klux Klan and witnesses a hanged fellow -black, the "Strange Fruit" which charged the famous song Holiday so chillingly evoked.
Most of all though, the eye-opening scenes are the vein-opening scenes as Billie finds that the only way to keep going out on the road is with narcotic stimuli.People might argue that the ending is too upbeat as she knocks them dead at her entertainment Holy Grail, the Carnegie Hall, but even then the screen insets tell us in reality Holiday ended up back on the drugs and was dead at only 44.While it's easy to see where the narrative is sanitised and takes short cuts, I consider the film well directed by the veteran Sidney J Furie.
She was never a truly great singer in the first place and blues could hardly be considered her natural musical idiom but while she neither looks or sounds like the real Holiday, you can see her feeling the songs and I think she does well in the traumatic scenes when she's at the mercy of the demon drugs.
In support Billy Dee Williams is fine as her initially aloof but later supportive husband and Richard Pryor puts in a scene-stealing shift as the singer's faithful piano accompanist.It's a bit of a cliche to say that I hope at least some viewers looked past Ross's interpretations of Holiday classics like "My Man", "Good Morning Heartache", "God Bless The Child" and her self-penned "Don't Explain" to the original versions.
Lady Sings The BluesThe thing that makes jazz musicians different from other musicians is they do their drugs before they perform.In fact, the singer in this drama did drugs constantly.Abused by men most her life, Billie Holiday (Diana Ross) abandons the brothel where she works for a nightclub where she accompanies the piano player (Richard Pryor).Her unique voice quickly attracts a suitor (Billy Dee Williams) as well as A&R types who sign her to a radio tour.Being on the road, however, only exposes Billie to the racial inequality crippling the country and the intravenous drug that will eventually enslave her.With Diana Ross' captivating performance as Billie both on and off the stage, this 1972 adaptation of Holiday's own biography is a heartbreaking account of her arduous life and untimely demise.And while drug use in Jazz may still be rampant no one cares enough to check.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
While we can all regale each other with stories of Miss Ross' idiosyncrasies, one thing is patently clear: She WORKED this movie and this is the best singing I have EVER heard from her (or since, for that matter and I was a Die-hard Supermes fan!) It is also especially wonderful to see some wonderful African-American treasures like Richard Pryor, Billy Dee, Isabel Sanford, Scatman Scrothers, among others.
Listening to Diana sing "The Man I Love" and hear Billy Dee say "You want my arm to fall off?!" is worth the price of admission.I haven't even had a chance to look at the special features or deleted scenes which I am sure will round out what I consider to be a classic African-American feature.I HIGHLY recommend!!!.
Ray and Walk the Line (parodied deservedly but with warmth in Walk Hard) are our centuries answer to this, but back in the 70's there was Lady Sings the Blues, which took the life story of Billie Holiday, arguably the greatest of all the jazz singers, and made it into a two and a half hour vehicle for Diana Ross.
A young 28 year old Diana Ross earned an Oscar nomination for this 1972 movie about Billie Holiday.
"Lady Sings the Blues" is a song written by jazz singer Billie Holiday, and jazz pianist Herbie Nichols.
In my opinion I thought Diana Ross did an OK job at portraying the troubled Billie Holiday.
Besides illuminating the story of Billie Holiday  and showing us early 1900's in America (fairly truthfully for Hollywood), it has Diana Ross, Billie Dee Williams and Richard Pryor.
diana ross gave the best performance of her career in acting out the role of lady day.
Diana's portrayal of Billie Holiday, Billie Dee Williams's acting, and Richard Pryor's performance were all Oscar calibur.
Lady Sings the Blues was an enjoyable Holiday biopic starring Ms. Ross.
In continuing my reviews of African-Americans in film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1972 with the biographical depiction of Billie Holliday as portrayed by Diana Ross called Lady Sings the Blues.
While the movie itself isn't very accurate in recounting Lady Day's life and career and Ms. Ross herself hardly resembles the legendary singer, it does move along nicely as a drama especially with two of her costars-Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor-providing many scene stealing moments.
LADY SINGS THE BLUES was the heavily fictionalized film biography of legendary cabaret chanteuse Billie Holliday, who rose to great stardom as one of the great blues impressionists of our time but, sadly, was never able to complete escape the multiple demons which haunted her for her entire life.
Diana Ross made an impressive film debut in the role of Lady Day, which garnered her an Oscar nomination.
Billy Dee Williams officially became a star with his charismatic turn as Louis McKay, Billie's true love and Richard Pryor also received an Oscar nomination for his funny and caustic performance as "Piano Man", Billie's best friend and piano player, who was chasing demons of his own.
The book Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday and ghost writer William Duffy came out in 1956.
Holiday had a great professional relationship and musical collaboration with pianist Terry Wilson who she called Prez and he called Lady Day but instead of the Wilson the film made up a character called Piano Man. Diana Ross in an over-the top performance in her film debut as Holiday received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for 1972.
Billy Dee Williams is Louis McKay the film's only other actual real life character.
She is playing the "Miss Ross" idea of Billie Holiday--she doesn't even attempt to sing like Billie.
Diana doesn't try to sound like Billie Holiday, but she's in her element as a torch song singer.
You BELIEVE she is Billie Holiday by the end of the film despite the heavy star persona that Diana Ross and Billie Holiday have respectively in real life.
The fact that the movie itself isn't very good and is wildly inaccurate in the portrayal of Holiday's life only seems to benefit Miss Ross.
Great wardrobe worn by Ross in this movie.Any good film is made up of a few really good scenes.
Diana Ross became Billie Holiday.
Diana and Billie Dee Williams looked great on screen together.
I thought the movie had a great mix of dramatic scenes mixed with musical numbers and a little comedy (Richard Pryor) to evenly pace this film.
This movie starts out bleakly- with Bilie Holiday's arrest for drug possession- but Diana Ross does a passable job as the great lady day-- all the bad things are accentuated- the rape as a young woman, the climb to stardom and the men who let her down- but the music is beautiful and Ross does a good job imitating the behind the beat style of Lady Day.
When this film opened, I was a 17 year old fan of Diana Ross.
He said that Miss Ross had failed to capture the essence of Billie's music, and that this film had reduced Miss Holiday's standing as the most important Jazz singer who'd ever lived to that of a mediocre pop vocalist.
Playing Miss Holliday in the film,Miss Diana Ross does not try to imitate her,nor does she resemble her in any way.She sings songs associated with her quite competently,and performs rather than acts,as top class singers(Frank Sinatra,Peggy Lee)tended to do.She is clearly a charismatic performer,and that shows on the screen.Unfortunately she does not share Miss Holliday's talent for turning dross into gold,for dross is what "Lady sings the blues" quite evidently is.
By the time she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 44 on July 17, 1959, Billie Holiday (real name: Eleanora Fagan Gough, a.k.a., "Lady Day") was already a show business legend: a singer of great talent and emotional power also notorious for a tragic, tortured personal life.
No matter; the intent of the movie all along was not to serve historical accuracy but to function as the ultimate prestige star vehicle for Gordy's protégé Diana Ross, former Supremes lead singer, who had just embarked on a solo recording and film career and demanded that Gordy give her the juicy part of Lady Day. The fact that Ross had very little acting experience and did not look or sound anything like Billie Holiday, prompted critics to wonder aloud if she could carry the film.
When all is said and done Diana Ross's Billie Holiday is the consummate victim-martyr and little else.
I got quite the education on the life of Billie Holiday by reading what some of the reviewers for this film had to say, most of which were derogatory about the story and Diana Ross's portrayal.
I think Diana did a damn good job putting her artistic touch to portraying Billie's life, her struggles, vices, love and yes, her music.
Billie Holiday.I thank my father for his love of good movies and for sharing movies like, "Lady Sings the Blues" with me.I'm out!