November 2002 Strange Fruit

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Reviewed by Wilson Morales Strange Fruit Distributor: California Newsreel Director: Joel Katz Producer: Joel Katz As music and film seem to go hand in hand nowadays (8 MILE, STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN), here comes a documentary that gives history to the root of the song. STRANGE FRUIT is a song about lynching and made famous by Billie Holiday as she sang it in the late 1930s. What is not known is that a Jewish schoolteacher wrote the song from the Bronx. Director Joel Katz does a splendid job at capturing the history behind the words as he credits the writer and singer for making the song last through time. Abel Meeropol (who went by Lewis Allan as a pseudonym) was a writer, teacher, and political activist who taught at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx who despised the actions taken against African-Americans. Disturbed by a photo of lynching, he wrote the words initially as a poem. Recited at a political rally in 1938, the song was heard by a shoe salesman who ran Café Society, where Billie Holiday used to perform. Since Meeropol never copyrighted the song, it was basically up for grabs. With Holiday singing it and drawing a wide audience, mostly African Americans, the song was naturally associated with her. What Katz does with this documentary is illustrate the beginning of the lynching era to where Meeropol felt the need to write the song. The film also shows the struggles Holiday faced with trying to get the song recorded by a label. Meeropol tried many times to get the recognition and the film highlights some of the upheaval battles he faced. With commentaries from Amiri Baraka, Don Byron as well as Meeropol’s sons, Katz captures their feelings towards Holiday and the song. The highlight is a BBC television broadcast of Holiday singing the song. STRANGE FRUIT is a film that should be seen by those who want to learn about the American past. STRANGE FRUIT will have a two-week engagement, Nov.6-19, at Film Forum, West Houston Street (West of 6th Avenue).