WEBVTT 00:11.367 --> 00:15.800 >>Hannah Freece: Good afternoon. Welcome. My name is Hannah 00:15.800 --> 00:20.080 Freece and I'm a writer editor in the Library of Congress 00:20.110 --> 00:23.320 publishing Office. And thank you. 00:25.720 --> 00:29.240 I'm delighted to welcome you here for a performance from the 00:29.240 --> 00:34.840 theatrical adaptation of Rudolph Fisher’s 1932 novel, The Conjure 00:34.840 --> 00:41.550 Man Dies. [Applause] The 00:41.550 --> 00:46.570 library recently reissued the Conjure Man Dies in its Library 00:46.570 --> 00:50.490 of Congress Crime Classic series, which is published in 00:50.490 --> 00:54.870 association with Poison Pen Press. And the series brings 00:54.870 --> 00:58.380 back into print some of the finest American crime writing 00:58.380 --> 01:03.630 from the 1860s to the 1960s, showcasing rare and lesser known 01:03.630 --> 01:08.460 titles that represent a range of genres from cozies to police 01:08.460 --> 01:13.450 procedurals. In addition to reproducing the original text, 01:13.750 --> 01:18.300 each book includes a critical introduction and annotations by 01:18.300 --> 01:22.590 our series editor Leslie S. Klinger, as well as cover art 01:22.690 --> 01:26.930 drawn from the library's collections. And our hope is for 01:26.930 --> 01:30.850 these books to start conversations, inspire further 01:30.850 --> 01:35.020 research, and bring obscure works to a new generation of 01:35.020 --> 01:39.060 readers. The National Book Festival and the publishing 01:39.060 --> 01:43.060 office staff are exploring innovative ways that books can 01:43.060 --> 01:48.030 be performed. And today we will present Act One, Scene One of 01:48.030 --> 01:52.000 the play that Rudolph Fisher adapted from his novel. The 01:52.000 --> 01:55.910 Federal Theatre Project, a New Deal program that provided 01:55.910 --> 02:00.490 grants to actors, directors and other theater professionals 02:00.490 --> 02:04.550 during the Great Depression, staged Fisher's adaptation in 02:04.550 --> 02:09.710 1936 at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, and the production was 02:09.710 --> 02:14.140 so successful it was revived after its four week run and 02:14.140 --> 02:18.360 performed in New York City parks and open air theaters throughout 02:18.360 --> 02:20.210 the summer of 1936. 02:20.840 --> 02:24.870 With more than 60,000 people estimated to have seen the play. 02:26.370 --> 02:30.500 Today, we're proud to share on the large screen, photographs 02:30.500 --> 02:34.040 from the original production, which are part of the Federal 02:34.040 --> 02:37.610 Theatre Project's archives that are held at the library's music 02:37.610 --> 02:43.440 division. Before introducing our performers, I'm thrilled that 02:43.440 --> 02:47.460 Les Klinger has joined us from Los Angeles, where he is an 02:47.500 --> 02:52.660 attorney by day and an expert in the history of mysteries and 02:52.700 --> 02:57.740 horror fiction all of the time. Les is considered one of the 02:57.740 --> 03:02.000 world's foremost experts on Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and 03:02.000 --> 03:05.830 H.P. Lovecraft, and he has authored and annotated many 03:05.830 --> 03:11.880 books on these literary giants. He brings his deep knowledge of 03:11.880 --> 03:15.310 the mystery genre to his annotations for the Library of 03:15.340 --> 03:19.410 Crime Classic series, and he'll provide some background on the 03:19.410 --> 03:23.220 Conjure Man Dies. And then after our performance, he'll be back 03:23.220 --> 03:27.430 to speak more about the book and answer questions. So thank you 03:27.430 --> 03:31.010 again for joining us. And I will turn the podium over to Les. 03:31.030 --> 03:33.200 [Applause] >> 03:38.090 --> 03:41.670 Leslie S. Klinger: Thanks, Hannah. One of the one of the 03:41.670 --> 03:45.300 phrases that Hannah didn't use about this series is time 03:45.300 --> 03:48.380 machines. I think that that's what we've been trying to 03:48.380 --> 03:53.100 produce here. These books are windows on their eras, and 03:53.550 --> 03:58.970 they're not all pleasant. They are not all politically correct, 03:59.630 --> 04:03.890 but they are, I think, very accurate depiction of the times. 04:05.130 --> 04:10.310 The Conjure Man Dies, published in 1932, was one of the great 04:10.340 --> 04:13.690 fruits of the Harlem Renaissance. The Renaissance was 04:13.690 --> 04:17.340 ebbing already at that time as the Depression began. But we 04:17.340 --> 04:22.050 selected this book for the series for two reasons. One, 04:22.900 --> 04:26.860 it's the first mystery novel by a black writer to feature an all 04:26.860 --> 04:33.840 black ensemble of characters. It's set in Harlem, and so it is 04:33.840 --> 04:37.840 in that way it's very evocative of a specific time when the 04:37.840 --> 04:44.000 white culture of New York had discovered black culture. And 04:44.580 --> 04:48.670 the other reason is it's a great mystery. It's a puzzling 04:48.670 --> 04:52.080 mystery. And Fisher, you won't-- we're not going to do the whole 04:52.080 --> 04:54.250 thing here, you're not going to solve the crime in this 04:54.280 --> 04:58.960 performance. For that, you have to actually read the book. 05:01.260 --> 05:03.700 But it's a terrific mystery. 05:03.700 --> 05:08.940 And the author combined his love of crime fiction. 05:09.040 --> 05:12.730 He clearly knew the work of Dashiell Hammett and some of the 05:12.730 --> 05:16.630 other early pioneers in the field. But it also is a very 05:16.630 --> 05:22.300 realistic book. The book has-- is filled with Harlem slang 05:23.340 --> 05:28.000 and a great sense of the culture of Harlem at that time. 05:29.840 --> 05:32.020 So in today's performance, we're only going to see, there are 05:32.020 --> 05:35.490 actually five detectives in this story. 05:36.430 --> 05:40.630 We're going to meet three of them in this scene. Dr. Archer, 05:41.130 --> 05:44.260 who is very much in the tradition of physician 05:44.260 --> 05:47.190 detectives. Fisher himself, the author, by the way, was also a 05:47.190 --> 05:53.490 physician, much as Arthur Conan Doyle was. Bubber Brown and Jinx 05:53.540 --> 05:58.560 Jenkins. Bubber and Jinx are denizens of Harlem. They all 05:58.560 --> 06:01.320 live in Harlem, actually. Doctor Archer is being played by 06:01.320 --> 06:06.140 Jonathan Del Palmer, Bubber Brown by Joshua Street, and Jinx 06:06.140 --> 06:09.840 Jenkins by Travis Brown. And now, on with the show. 06:26.950 --> 06:31.760 >> Dr. Archer: Hmm. That's one advantage of being an undertaker. You 06:31.760 --> 06:33.050 don't have to fear robbers. 06:44.680 --> 06:45.440 Not a twitch. 06:45.670 --> 06:47.690 >> Bubber Brown: Long gone, huh Doc? 06:47.750 --> 06:52.370 >> Dr. Archer: Not so long. Only about half an hour. But, gone. 06:52.520 --> 06:53.980 >> Bubber Brown: What’d I tell you. 06:55.497 --> 07:00.170 >> Dr. Archer: So, this was Frimbo. Conjure man, caster of spells. 07:00.760 --> 07:08.380 Prophet. I wonder if he foresaw his own— Oh, Hello. 07:08.560 --> 07:10.843 >> Bubber Brown: What is it, Doc? 07:11.360 --> 07:16.030 >> Dr. Archer: Ach. Blood in his hair. Scalp wound. 07:19.340 --> 07:21.480 Who are you two gentlemen? 07:23.200 --> 07:27.010 >> Bubber Brown: Why, uh,this is Jinx Jenkins, Doctor Archer. 07:27.410 --> 07:29.580 He's my buddy, see him and me-- 07:29.580 --> 07:31.710 >> Dr. Archer: And you, if I don't presume? 07:32.460 --> 07:35.740 >> Bubber Brown: Me? I'm Bubber Brown. 07:37.207 --> 07:40.110 >> Dr. Archer: Just how did this happen, Mr. Bubber Brown? 07:40.250 --> 07:45.080 >> Bubber Brown: 'deed I don't know, Doc. It's, somebody killed him? 07:45.080 --> 07:46.510 >> Dr. Archer: You don't know? 07:46.510 --> 07:49.220 >> Bubber Brown: Me? Noooo, sir. [laughs nervously] 07:49.970 --> 07:53.230 >> Dr. Archer: You came and got me, you must know something 07:53.320 --> 07:54.320 about it. Who found him? 07:54.320 --> 07:58.020 >>Bubber Brown: Jinx. [laughter] 07:59.416 --> 08:00.727 >> Dr. Archer: Where? 08:00.727 --> 08:03.070 >> Bubber Brown: Same place you did. Upstairs in that funny room 08:03.070 --> 08:04.084 of his. 08:04.217 --> 08:04.910 >> Dr. Archer: In that chair? 08:04.910 --> 08:05.990 >> Bubber Brown: Yes, sir. 08:05.990 --> 08:09.380 >> Dr. Archer: Mm hmm. Well, but how? 08:09.450 --> 08:13.930 >> Bubber Brown: You see, we just come here to get his advice. 08:13.930 --> 08:19.530 About something. Jinx took his turn. I waited in the waiting room. Presently, 08:19.770 --> 08:24.930 Jinx come busting out pop eyes, and beckon to me. I went back 08:25.030 --> 08:29.850 with him and there was Frimbo. Just like you found him. We 08:29.850 --> 08:34.100 didn't know he was already over the river. That's how come I run 08:34.100 --> 08:35.260 across the street for you. 08:35.660 --> 08:38.640 >> Dr. Archer: Did he fall against anything and strike his head? 08:38.670 --> 08:45.230 >> Bubber Brown: Go. Tell the doc you was in the room with the man. 08:45.230 --> 08:49.150 >> Jinx Jenkins: Not while he was talking to me. But I know it could have 08:49.150 --> 08:49.660 happened, though. 08:49.660 --> 08:50.990 >> Dr. Archer: When? 08:50.990 --> 08:55.860 >> Jinx Jenkins: Well. You told us to bring him down here so you. 08:55.860 --> 08:56.990 Could see him in a better light. 08:56.990 --> 08:58.330 >> Dr. Archer: Yes. 08:59.160 --> 09:00.510 >> Jinx Jenkins: Well, maybe we 09:00.890 --> 09:03.250 bumped his head on the banister or something? 09:03.250 --> 09:06.650 >> Dr. Archer: In which case the wound 09:06.650 --> 09:09.190 would not have bled since the victim is already dead. 09:11.453 --> 09:14.500 >> Bubber Brown: Would just getting hit on the head kill him? 09:14.500 --> 09:17.750 >> Dr. Archer: It might, but it didn't. This isn't a fatal wound. 09:17.750 --> 09:20.800 >> Bubber Brown: Well, what done it then? 09:20.830 --> 09:26.140 >> Dr. Archer: Patience, my friend. Let's see. Contorted features, 09:26.590 --> 09:33.020 retracted lips, bulging eyes. Frimbo was choked to death. 09:34.954 --> 09:37.024 >> Bubber Brown: Choked? 09:37.024 --> 09:39.260 >> Dr. Archer: Yet, there are no marks on his throat. Anyone else 09:39.260 --> 09:40.603 present when this happened? 09:40.720 --> 09:43.660 >> Bubber Brown: There was two ladies in the waiting room. 09:43.800 --> 09:46.290 They up there yet, I reckon, wondering what's the hold up? 09:47.683 --> 09:49.530 >> Dr. Archer: No one else? 09:49.530 --> 09:52.640 >> Bubber Brown: Well, there was three men went in and seen 09:52.640 --> 09:57.120 Frimbo ahead of us. Jinx was the fourth. But the others must have 09:57.120 --> 09:58.240 left by the hall door. 09:58.240 --> 09:59.380 >> Dr. Archer: You gentlemen will 09:59.380 --> 10:03.640 pardon my undue curiosity, I hope. But, which of you, if 10:03.720 --> 10:09.070 either stands responsible for the um, expenses of medical 10:09.070 --> 10:10.120 attention in this case? 10:11.523 --> 10:14.310 >> Bubber Brown: You mean, who gonna pay you? 10:15.823 --> 10:18.000 >> Dr. Archer: That makes it a rather bald question. 10:18.000 --> 10:21.910 >> Bubber Brown: Bald? But here's one with hair on it, 10:22.020 --> 10:25.710 Doc. Who's getting the medical attention? 10:27.010 --> 10:30.220 >> Dr. Archer: Hmm. Seems I must seek my compensation in 10:30.220 --> 10:34.230 something other than the coin of the realm. Well, what's money 10:34.230 --> 10:35.480 but a means of satisfaction. 10:35.480 --> 10:36.403 >> Bubber Brown: Oh, Sure. Sure 10:36.586 --> 10:37.333 >> Jinx Jenkins: Sure. 10:37.440 --> 10:40.430 >> Dr. Archer: This case may satisfy my native 10:40.430 --> 10:43.690 curiosity, yet, if not my cellular protoplasm. 10:44.410 --> 10:45.670 You follow me, of course. 10:45.880 --> 10:48.390 >> Bubber Brown: With my tongue hanging out. [laughter] 10:49.823 --> 10:53.740 >> Dr. Archer: In other words, gentlemen, suppose we notify the 10:53.740 --> 10:54.400 police? 10:55.390 --> 10:57.550 >> Bubber Brown: The police? [laughs] 10:57.590 --> 11:03.300 >> Dr. Archer: Yes, the police. You know the police. 11:03.430 --> 11:07.130 >> Bubber Brown: Why? Oh, sure. 11:07.130 --> 11:11.250 We'll go get em, won't we, boy? Come on. 11:11.250 --> 11:14.800 >> Dr. Archer: Just a moment, gentlemen. All first 11:14.800 --> 11:16.490 rate undertakers have telephones. 11:16.700 --> 11:21.463 >> Bubber Brown: Oh, you mean just call them up? 11:21.463 --> 11:24.640 >> Dr. Archer: I think you'll find Mr. Crouch's telephone, in there. 11:27.773 --> 11:29.030 >> Bubber Brown: In there? 11:29.413 --> 11:33.460 >> Dr. Archer: In there. If you see a body or two lying. 11:33.460 --> 11:35.880 Around, just ignore them. I'll check up here. 11:35.880 --> 11:39.654 >> Bubber Brown: A body? Hmm. [laughter] 11:39.660 --> 11:40.930 >> Jinx Jenkins: Police. 11:40.930 --> 11:44.200 >> Bubber Brown: He’ll check up in there, and we'll 11:44.200 --> 11:45.860 just about check out in here. 11:45.860 --> 11:47.330 >> Jinx Jenkins: I wish I could 11:47.390 --> 11:50.270 check out. This thing don't look so good to me. 11:50.270 --> 11:52.810 >> Bubber Brown: Alright, dumbo, check out and make everybody. 11:52.810 --> 11:53.490 Think you done it. 11:53.490 --> 11:54.810 >> Jinx Jenkins: Well, if I thought that--. 11:54.810 --> 11:56.000 >> Bubber Brown: Oh, oh--. 11:56.000 --> 11:57.170 >> Jinx Jenkins: Oh! Another one. 11:57.170 --> 12:00.030 >> Bubber Brown: What’d I tell ya! 12:00.220 --> 12:01.950 >> Jinx Jenkins: Graveyard’s a 12:01.950 --> 12:03.900 playground compared to this place. 12:04.423 --> 12:06.627 >> Bubber Brown: Ooooo. Where's the phone? 12:06.627 --> 12:10.070 >> Jinx Jenkins: Don't ask me. I got both of my eyes occupied. 12:10.070 --> 12:15.500 >> Bubber Brown: There it is, right by the thing. Go on. 12:15.987 --> 12:17.220 Use it. 12:17.390 --> 12:20.120 >> Jinx Jenkins: Use it yourself! I'm going out of here. 12:20.120 --> 12:24.150 >> Bubber Brown: Not alone! Come on. We use it together. 12:24.150 --> 12:28.850 >> Jinx Jenkins: All right. But if that whoosit say howdy, then I'm 12:28.850 --> 12:29.720 saying goodbye. 12:29.720 --> 12:31.840 >> Bubber Brown: Where the hell you think I'm 12:31.840 --> 12:33.470 gonna be when it say howdy? 12:33.470 --> 12:37.280 >> Jinx Jenkins: Church in the basement. Undertaker on the. 12:37.280 --> 12:43.700 First floor and the conjure man upstairs? Roll, Jordan, roll. 12:46.083 --> 12:47.500 Well step on it, slow motion! 12:47.500 --> 12:51.040 >> Bubber Brown: Hello? 12:51.650 --> 12:53.817 Hello? Operator? Operator! 12:56.067 --> 12:57.910 >> Jinx Jenkins: My God, is the phone dead too? 12:57.910 --> 13:02.420 >> Bubber Brown: Operate-- oh, here she is. Give me the station. Quick! 13:03.860 --> 13:06.330 Pennsylvania? No, no, ma'am. 13:06.530 --> 13:09.640 New York. Harlem. 13:10.310 --> 13:13.580 Listen, lady, not railroad. Police. 13:14.720 --> 13:17.290 Yeah, police station. 13:19.000 --> 13:20.790 Please, ma'am. 13:23.660 --> 13:28.960 Hello? Is this, is this? Hey, send a flock of cops around 13:29.090 --> 13:31.670 here. Big cops. 13:32.710 --> 13:35.450 Frimbo’s. The conjure man. 13:35.780 --> 13:38.660 On 130th Street. Yep. 13:38.740 --> 13:40.550 Somebody done put that thing on him. 13:40.650 --> 13:42.780 >> Jinx Jenkins: Mmm Hmm. 13:42.780 --> 13:45.650 >> Bubber Brown: How? You'll have to ask Doc Archer about 13:45.650 --> 13:49.730 that. He's right here in the next room. Huh? 13:51.590 --> 13:53.600 Okay, but make it fast. 13:54.550 --> 13:59.520 Hello? 18 West 130th Street. 14:00.610 --> 14:04.350 Yes, sir. Wait right here? 14:07.080 --> 14:09.850 We'll wait. But not right here. [laughter] 14:09.850 --> 14:11.166 >> Jinx Jenkins: No, sir. 14:13.810 --> 14:15.180 >> Bubber Brown: Find anything else, doc? 14:15.647 --> 14:17.077 >> Dr. Archer: Yes. 14:17.777 --> 14:19.124 >> Bubber Brown: What? 14:19.541 --> 14:24.830 >> Dr. Archer: A brand new way of choking a man to death. 14:26.379 --> 14:38.929 [Applause] 14:46.487 --> 14:50.104 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Oh, come on back, guys. Come on back. 14:50.104 --> 14:59.787 [Applause] 15:02.160 --> 15:06.613 I'm sure you all saw what the doctor did there, 15:06.613 --> 15:11.110 pulled out, and there's a little tiny spoiler here, but he pulls 15:11.110 --> 15:15.270 a handkerchief out of the throat of the corpse. Who put a 15:15.270 --> 15:18.830 handkerchief down the corpse's throat? 15:19.900 --> 15:24.930 And by the way, the handkerchief belongs to Jinx Jenkins. 15:24.930 --> 15:28.080 >> The Audience: Whoooaa?!? 15:28.680 --> 15:30.080 >> Leslie S. Klinger: The plot thickens. 15:33.310 --> 15:36.810 There are two other detectives featured in the book, Perry 15:36.810 --> 15:42.240 Dart, who is a black police detective, and he becomes sort 15:42.240 --> 15:46.270 of a partner to Dr. Archer. They work together on this case, and 15:46.270 --> 15:51.980 there's actually another story about Archer and Dart and a 15:51.980 --> 15:55.640 fifth detective, who you'll have to read the book to find out who 15:55.640 --> 15:59.000 it is. There's a lot of surprises in this book. 16:00.350 --> 16:07.830 So if the early 1920s to mid thirties was the Harlem Renaissance, then 16:07.830 --> 16:12.410 the author, Rudolph Fisher, was truly a Renaissance man. Born in 16:12.410 --> 16:17.640 1897, in Washington, he attended Brown University. 16:18.630 --> 16:20.830 He was raised in Providence, actually, and then he attended 16:20.830 --> 16:25.090 Brown. He also went to Howard, where he obtained his medical 16:25.090 --> 16:30.490 degree. He was a well known radiologist in New York. 16:30.710 --> 16:36.050 He wrote papers in the field, but he also played music. 16:36.510 --> 16:40.560 He was a regular habitue of Harlem. He played with various 16:40.610 --> 16:44.540 bands, and he was a writer. He was friends with Langston 16:44.540 --> 16:48.970 Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and the other luminaries of the 16:48.970 --> 16:55.790 Renaissance. People have suggested, as I said, that he 16:55.790 --> 17:01.150 had studied Hammet in particular. And as you can tell 17:01.150 --> 17:07.510 from this, he combined crime with realistic views of Harlem. 17:08.000 --> 17:10.740 There was a lot of debate in the Renaissance at that time about 17:10.930 --> 17:14.980 how the black culture should be depicted, what black writers 17:15.120 --> 17:20.140 obligations were--should they be presenting the noble, the best? 17:21.310 --> 17:25.300 Fisher decided that he wanted to present a realistic picture of 17:25.300 --> 17:27.480 Harlem, and so he did. 17:27.920 --> 17:32.470 Bubber Brown is not the clown that you saw a glimpse of here. 17:34.570 --> 17:39.310 Jinx is not the, mmm, he's a little, he's kind of suspicious. 17:40.100 --> 17:44.130 And Dr. Archer has his own long story about how he got to be a 17:44.130 --> 17:49.840 physician practicing here. And Perry Dart, one of the tiny handful of 17:49.880 --> 17:52.580 black detectives on the police force in New York at that time. 17:53.150 --> 17:57.270 So it's a very focused look at what was going on in the 17:57.300 --> 18:02.930 culture. So, as I said, this is the first novel by a black 18:02.930 --> 18:06.640 writer with an all black cast. There hadn't been very many 18:06.640 --> 18:09.980 people of color writing before this. One of the most important 18:09.980 --> 18:14.110 is Pauline Hopkins. She wrote, she was the editor of the 18:14.110 --> 18:19.730 Colored American Magazine from 1901 to 1903, and she produced 18:20.280 --> 18:23.960 two novels of great importance. One is called Of One Blood, 18:24.640 --> 18:28.990 which is essentially sort of a lost world. If you if you think 18:29.140 --> 18:31.660 Wakanda, she invented it. 18:32.290 --> 18:37.060 Of One Blood is in part about that and about a black artist 18:37.420 --> 18:42.170 assimilating in white culture in America, only to discover his 18:42.170 --> 18:47.300 roots. The other book, called Hagar's Daughter, is a crime 18:47.300 --> 18:53.480 novel with a female detective with roots of the crime in 18:53.480 --> 18:58.770 slavery. These are very important works and just about 18:58.770 --> 19:04.130 forgotten today. There were only two other works by people of 19:04.130 --> 19:07.720 color that we know of in the crime fiction field. One was 19:07.720 --> 19:12.550 called The Black Sleuth. It was serialized, so it doesn't count 19:12.550 --> 19:18.140 as the first novel, and it's not quite finished. And the other is 19:19.020 --> 19:25.500 a novel by, looking for his name at the moment--the hunt is-- 19:26.020 --> 19:29.100 W. Adolf, Adolph Roberts. 19:29.550 --> 19:32.740 This book was published in 1926. It's called The Haunted Hand. 19:34.760 --> 19:37.680 Roberts was a Jamaican who had moved to the United States at an 19:37.680 --> 19:42.670 early age. But there is nothing black about the book at all. 19:44.980 --> 19:50.070 The detective is a white Brooklyn born lowlife who turns 19:50.630 --> 19:55.780 out to be important in finding things out about the case. So, 19:56.750 --> 20:02.410 Fisher stands out as the first great writer of color. Later, of 20:02.470 --> 20:05.890 course, we have Chester Himes, who wrote the series, some of 20:05.890 --> 20:08.890 you may know the film, called Cotton Comes to Harlem. That's 20:08.940 --> 20:12.150 based on a novel called The Rage in Harlem. Himes was a very 20:12.150 --> 20:16.960 successful novelist in the 1950s, and that sort of opened 20:16.960 --> 20:20.910 the floodgates. And now we have a great diversity of mystery 20:20.910 --> 20:27.550 writers. So this play is, has never been 20:27.550 --> 20:32.580 published. The script came from the libr-- the New York Public 20:32.580 --> 20:37.000 Library, I believe? Where you can find it if you really have 20:37.000 --> 20:41.790 to have a copy of it. But we're hopeful that the play will see a 20:41.790 --> 20:44.940 greater audience at some point. Who knows? Maybe even film 20:44.940 --> 20:50.790 producers out there will say this deserves production. So 20:50.960 --> 20:55.660 that concludes our presentation of the Conjure Man Dies. 20:55.660 --> 20:58.820 You'll have to read the book to solve the crime. But we will 20:58.850 --> 21:03.100 take questions for the actors, the library staff or me about 21:03.210 --> 21:07.110 this or the series. And I should let me say a word or two about 21:07.110 --> 21:11.290 the series before we launch into that. The series spans the 21:11.290 --> 21:17.610 period 1867, with the first American mystery novel called 21:17.610 --> 21:20.290 The Dead Letter to 1960. 21:21.650 --> 21:25.980 And that's sort of our aim is that century of crime fiction. 21:26.760 --> 21:29.940 There are many titles that have gotten lost that haven't gotten 21:29.940 --> 21:32.890 the attention they deserve. We're not trying to be 21:32.890 --> 21:36.390 politically correct in the titles that we choose. We're 21:36.390 --> 21:40.230 trying to pick books that are evocative of the time periods 21:40.750 --> 21:45.490 and that may offend some people to remember our own history. But 21:45.720 --> 21:49.740 we think it's important that we do remember who we are and where 21:49.740 --> 21:53.720 we came from. Questions? 21:53.720 --> 21:59.480 [Applause] 22:02.690 --> 22:05.440 Questions, comments, rebuttals. 22:05.790 --> 22:08.360 Yes. Yes. There's a microphone here. 22:08.360 --> 22:12.290 >> Vanessa Atkin: Vanessa Atkin 22:12.290 --> 22:14.690 with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Thank you 22:14.740 --> 22:18.240 for the presentation. This is Questions for Hannah. I'm 22:18.240 --> 22:22.030 curious about your thoughts of working with this project and 22:22.370 --> 22:23.810 your impressions. Thank you. 22:29.560 --> 22:31.300 >> Hannah Freece: Thank you for that question. 22:31.490 --> 22:32.520 It's been a great privilege to 22:32.520 --> 22:36.400 work on this project. I think, as Les said, these books are 22:36.510 --> 22:39.540 snapshots of the time in which they were written, and they 22:39.540 --> 22:44.230 really provide the opportunity to think about sociopolitical 22:44.230 --> 22:47.860 history, cultural history and just so many different threads 22:47.860 --> 22:51.550 of history, but hopefully in an engaging and accessible way 22:51.620 --> 22:53.480 because you still want to find out who did it. 22:56.063 --> 22:59.480 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Speaking of who did it, I forgot to mention that in the 22:59.480 --> 23:04.900 course of putting this book together, we looked into Dr. 23:04.900 --> 23:11.500 Fisher, and we found his last surviving relative, his 23:11.500 --> 23:15.960 granddaughter named Laurel Fisher. She lives in Illinois. 23:16.570 --> 23:20.530 And I reached out to her. I mean, using the Internet, found 23:20.530 --> 23:23.740 her, called her up, and she was thrilled that we were publishing 23:23.740 --> 23:26.700 her grandfather's book. And you'll see in this edition that 23:26.700 --> 23:29.850 we have some memories of her grandfather that she 23:29.850 --> 23:33.200 contributed. The interesting part of the story is, she had no 23:33.200 --> 23:36.150 idea that she owned the copyrights to this book. 23:36.163 --> 23:39.213 [laughter] 23:41.063 --> 23:48.410 Other questions? Comments? This young woman here has a 23:48.410 --> 23:50.820 little something to do with the series, Becky Clark. 23:50.820 --> 23:52.920 >> Becky Clark: I'm Becky Clark. I'm director of the publishing 23:52.920 --> 23:56.450 office. And I thought it would be helpful, Hannah, if you could 23:56.450 --> 24:01.070 say a little bit about how we chose the cover for the book and 24:01.070 --> 24:02.210 where that cover comes from. 24:02.210 --> 24:03.870 >> Hannah Freece: Yeah, I would be 24:03.870 --> 24:07.920 happy to. All the cover art on all the books in the series does 24:07.920 --> 24:10.900 come from the library's collections, and we have a 24:10.900 --> 24:14.830 fantastic prints and photographs collection at the library, which 24:14.830 --> 24:18.470 has literally millions of images to choose from. We try to find 24:18.470 --> 24:22.190 ones that we can get permission to use or are in the public 24:22.190 --> 24:25.750 domain and that have something to do with the contents of the 24:25.750 --> 24:30.700 book, of course. So we did do a lot of research trying to find 24:30.700 --> 24:33.270 something from the Harlem Renaissance, from that era, and 24:33.670 --> 24:37.040 never found the right fit. Because if you think about it, 24:37.130 --> 24:41.040 the image has to relate to the plot, but not give something 24:41.040 --> 24:46.040 away, not be too graphic or disturbing, considering it is 24:46.830 --> 24:50.090 murder we're talking about. We have to be able to get 24:50.090 --> 24:53.820 permission and it also has to fit the aspect ratio of the 24:53.820 --> 24:58.410 design of the template for the series. So it's a tall ask for a 24:58.410 --> 25:03.280 single work of art. And this is actually a photograph by Camilo 25:03.280 --> 25:06.930 Jose Vergara, who's a very talented documentary 25:06.970 --> 25:12.300 photographer who has done many-- uh, for many decades, has been 25:12.300 --> 25:14.880 photographing urban neighborhoods and how they've 25:14.900 --> 25:18.790 changed over time in the United States. So this is a mural in 25:18.790 --> 25:22.630 Harlem that no longer exists, actually. But we thought that 25:22.700 --> 25:27.650 the abstract use of colors, the clear infrastructure of the 25:27.690 --> 25:31.920 urban environment, related to The Conjure Man Dies and its 25:31.990 --> 25:36.100 setting, even though it was a photo taken in 2010, not 1932. 25:37.427 --> 25:38.728 Thanks. 25:39.643 --> 25:42.480 >> Leslie S. Klinger: By the way, for more about the series, please visit 25:42.560 --> 25:47.190 the Library of Congress publishing table down in the, on 25:47.190 --> 25:51.680 the lowest floor where we actually have free books and a 25:52.100 --> 25:57.140 calendar showing the 12 titles so far that we have published so 25:57.140 --> 25:59.110 far. Yes? 25:59.860 --> 26:02.210 >> Audience Member: Hi. Yes, I've got a question for the 26:02.760 --> 26:04.600 amazing actors today. 26:06.130 --> 26:08.700 [Applause] Yeah, give 'em a hand. They deserve it. 26:09.960 --> 26:15.070 So I want to ask you guys, each of you individually, for your characters that you're 26:15.070 --> 26:19.330 playing, that you played in this short little excerpt, what drew 26:19.330 --> 26:23.040 you to them specifically and how did you kind of find your way in 26:23.040 --> 26:24.123 to them? 26:24.140 --> 26:25.730 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Come on up. Come on up. 26:28.330 --> 26:31.337 [applause] 26:31.337 --> 26:32.543 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Okay. Okay. 26:32.543 --> 26:34.053 >> Joshua Street: Show off. [laughter] 26:35.470 --> 26:38.360 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Hello? Oh, yeah. Still miked. Okay. 26:40.953 --> 26:43.130 I love mysteries. 26:43.770 --> 26:45.850 I'm a huge mystery fan. 26:46.450 --> 26:49.370 When we talked about this and we talked about me being Dr. 26:49.370 --> 26:54.230 Archer, I was like, Yeah, sign me up. I'm all for it. I was 26:54.230 --> 26:56.650 even willing to just be the Conjure Man, just lying there. 26:56.700 --> 26:58.000 [laughter] 26:58.647 --> 26:59.954 >> Joshua Street: Dream role. 26:59.954 --> 27:01.560 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Right. Right. I was, like, super 27:01.560 --> 27:06.310 psyched about it. But no, I am a huge, huge mystery novel fan. 27:07.230 --> 27:11.030 I'm into Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes and all those 27:11.030 --> 27:15.810 things. I loved the like Nancy Drew computer games growing up. 27:16.530 --> 27:20.290 I could talk about mysteries all day. So, yeah. And this 27:20.290 --> 27:25.060 character is just so cool and so composed and steady. And I 27:25.060 --> 27:28.990 really wanted to bring that out. And I hope I did. I hope I did 27:28.990 --> 27:29.997 that for you. [applause]. 27:30.207 --> 27:31.430 >> Leslie S. Klinger: And Archer, by the way. 27:31.430 --> 27:35.150 Archer is not a detective. I mean, he's this doctor who finds 27:35.150 --> 27:38.310 himself in the middle of the mystery and intrigued by it and 27:38.820 --> 27:44.240 really is the deep thinker of the book. And Bubber is a real detective. 27:44.810 --> 27:47.350 >> Joshua Street: Uh, I was... 27:47.350 --> 27:49.730 What about Bubber brought me? Well, I am Bubber Brown, 27:49.730 --> 27:54.220 basically. I talk far too much. I talk far too fast. When we 27:54.220 --> 27:57.020 were rehearsing, they're like, Can you just slow down? And I 27:57.050 --> 28:01.060 was like, Oh, right, gotcha, gotcha. I, I'm a busybody who is 28:01.060 --> 28:04.730 in too many people's business. I admit it. I'm far too nosey, 28:04.730 --> 28:09.710 too. So I was like, Oh, just be myself on stage? Cool. Easy. 28:10.310 --> 28:16.610 Done. But yeah, no, fully like just his both his kind of 28:16.610 --> 28:20.570 ribbing of Jinx, but also, like, don't you dare get caught or I 28:20.570 --> 28:24.260 will kill you myself. It's very much how I treat all my friends, 28:24.260 --> 28:27.150 where I'm like, please be safe. But if you're going to be not 28:27.150 --> 28:29.670 safe, just take a buddy with you. Please. Something. So, 28:30.090 --> 28:33.670 yeah, again, like you said, it's a great piece, it's really fun. 28:34.140 --> 28:37.020 Mysteries are always great to try and solve. I never solve 28:37.020 --> 28:38.220 them. But it's good. 28:38.220 --> 28:40.660 >> Travis Brown: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. For 28:40.660 --> 28:43.920 me, I just, I love the mystery plays, but I also love like the 28:43.920 --> 28:48.120 Harlem Renaissance in that era, that time period. I think Jinx 28:48.150 --> 28:52.540 Jenkins, for him, it's so interesting because these 28:52.540 --> 28:55.500 characters in their time period where they're living is, can be 28:55.500 --> 28:58.450 very reflective of how we are now, like how we were learning, 28:58.960 --> 29:02.180 or hearing earlier. And so with that it was just trying to 29:02.180 --> 29:04.730 connect into the reality of like, oh wow, I'm in this 29:04.730 --> 29:07.520 situation. I don't even know what's going on for real. I'm 29:07.520 --> 29:11.320 just trying to figure out why my handkerchief is in his throat 29:11.320 --> 29:14.150 and trying to solve those things. So just kind of leaning 29:14.150 --> 29:16.760 into that and just realizing that these stories really do 29:16.760 --> 29:20.270 reflect like society and how it's changed over time. And so I 29:20.450 --> 29:23.400 really just enjoy like the Harlem Renaissance that time 29:23.400 --> 29:24.410 period for that. So,yeah. 29:24.710 --> 29:26.420 >> Audience Member: Thank you. 29:26.420 --> 29:27.080 >>Travis Brown: Thank you. 29:27.080 --> 29:30.953 [applause] 29:31.170 --> 29:32.540 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Yes, sir? 29:32.540 --> 29:34.300 >> Josiah Weaver: Hi. My name is Josiah 29:34.300 --> 29:36.620 Weaver. I am from Connecticut and I'm 12 years old. 29:36.620 --> 29:37.923 >> Joshua Street: Hey. Hey. Alright. 29:37.983 --> 29:41.123 >> Josiah Weaver: I have a question about for the 29:41.123 --> 29:42.803 actors. Um. 29:43.000 --> 29:49.860 How did you, I have a question, did you incorporate the feelings 29:49.860 --> 29:55.300 that you had, like, let's say a happy or, you know, sad or just 29:55.300 --> 29:58.060 feeling real feelings that you felt deep feelings or like 29:58.140 --> 30:01.790 feelings that you felt? 30:01.840 --> 30:03.100 I don't know how to word it. 30:03.100 --> 30:03.900 >> Joshua Street: I hear what 30:03.900 --> 30:04.980 you're saying. I hear what you're saying. 30:04.980 --> 30:08.170 >> Josiah Weaver: How did you incorporate that in your acting? 30:08.170 --> 30:15.130 And I understand because I attend the Harlem School of Arts and I'm in Harlem 30:15.130 --> 30:18.580 a lot with that culture. And it's still going on today, to be 30:18.580 --> 30:20.840 completely honest with you. I mean, there are festivals all 30:20.840 --> 30:23.500 the time. I mean, street festivals, people walking up and 30:23.500 --> 30:25.600 down the streets just really expressing themselves and all 30:25.600 --> 30:28.480 that. So it's, it's really, uh, I understand the play. It's, 30:28.480 --> 30:32.270 this is really amazing. So how do you incorporate those deep 30:32.330 --> 30:34.620 feelings that you feel into your acting? 30:35.453 --> 30:36.860 >> Joshua Street: See, 30:36.860 --> 30:40.970 one of my old acting teachers, she always said, you find the 30:41.030 --> 30:44.850 Venn diagram of where the character is and where you are 30:45.120 --> 30:48.590 and you've got to live in that space in between. So like you 30:49.310 --> 30:52.390 should, like I said, Bubber is me basically. So you should 30:52.390 --> 30:55.770 never, never not bring your own feelings into it. It's kind of 30:55.770 --> 30:58.960 like you got to, like you said, it's still going on today. Even 30:59.020 --> 31:01.380 if this play was written in 1930, the feelings that they 31:01.380 --> 31:04.610 feel are still very real, still very prescient, still very 31:05.500 --> 31:09.200 human, basically. So you should never not bring your entire self 31:09.300 --> 31:12.430 to a performance. So it is very much like just finding that 31:12.630 --> 31:17.410 humanity of the character, in== finding that humanity of the 31:17.410 --> 31:20.230 character and then injecting your own humanity into it. Yeah. 31:21.930 --> 31:24.380 >> Travis Brown: Just adding on to that, first. I like that H.U. 31:24.380 --> 31:28.720 shirt. you got on right there, you know. But, 31:29.310 --> 31:33.610 also, like he was just saying very well, I think too, this, 31:33.610 --> 31:36.400 given the circumstances, like you said, Harlem is still doing 31:36.400 --> 31:39.570 this now. So you can probably see yourself in this world as 31:39.570 --> 31:43.620 well. So once you have the circumstances and this team here 31:43.680 --> 31:46.040 at the Library of Congress, they gave us a lot of research about 31:46.080 --> 31:48.850 the era and about the time period and seeing pictures of 31:48.850 --> 31:50.920 the productions when they were doing it at the Lafayette 31:50.990 --> 31:52.410 Theater in 1936. 31:52.720 --> 31:56.140 You just get that whole framework and then just be in 31:56.140 --> 31:58.970 that space and then allow whatever feelings come up to 31:58.970 --> 32:00.300 just live truthfully through you. 32:00.760 --> 32:01.790 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Yeah. 32:01.790 --> 32:05.530 And to what they were saying, I also feel like every 32:05.530 --> 32:09.890 space that you step into has its own set of emotions and you move 32:09.940 --> 32:13.630 through that as as a human being, as a character, when, 32:13.630 --> 32:16.590 whenever you take on any role, you can just feel it, when you 32:16.590 --> 32:19.110 walk into a room or you walk into a certain spot in the room, 32:19.110 --> 32:22.800 you're like, man, I feel really happy right here. Or I feel like 32:22.800 --> 32:27.470 really scared right here. So I try to take that into account. 32:27.470 --> 32:31.170 With every show I do, I'm like, What is this space given to me? 32:31.170 --> 32:35.190 Like, what is it telling me? What feedback am I getting that 32:35.190 --> 32:39.910 I can take into myself and put forward as the character? So, yeah. 32:39.910 --> 32:42.350 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Just to make sure you get the idea, I 32:42.350 --> 32:45.870 mean, this is an undertaker's place here. We've got two 32:46.030 --> 32:52.540 corpses and the Conjure Man is a, is a psychic for hire. 32:52.540 --> 32:57.070 I mean, he basically predicts people's futures. So you got 32:57.070 --> 32:59.320 this, what's the line about back to Jordan? 33:00.203 --> 33:01.760 >> Joshua Street: Roll Jordan, roll. 33:01.760 --> 33:03.790 >> Leslie S. Klinger: You got an undertaker 33:03.830 --> 33:06.530 on the ground floor. It's a church on the second floor and 33:06.600 --> 33:12.810 the Conjure Man on the second floor. It's a-- I love the supernatural 33:12.810 --> 33:18.460 element here, the fright. And by the way, kudos to Becky Clark 33:18.460 --> 33:20.920 and Hannah Freece, who produced two corpses for this one. 33:20.920 --> 33:22.537 [Laughter]. 33:24.620 --> 33:25.790 >> Josiah Weaver: Thank you. 33:25.823 --> 33:27.760 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: What was your name? Josiah you said? 33:27.760 --> 33:29.580 >> Josiah Weaver: Yes, my name is Josiah Weaver. And I forgot, I'm 33:29.580 --> 33:31.010 attending the Harlem School of Arts for theater. 33:31.010 --> 33:34.780 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Yeah. Everybody give it up for Josiah. [Applause] >> 33:34.780 --> 33:37.330 Joshua Street: He's going to be on this stage soon, right? Look out. 33:37.330 --> 33:39.580 >> Josiah Weaver: Thank you. 33:39.600 --> 33:41.310 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Other 33:41.310 --> 33:43.340 questions? Come on up to the microphone here. Yeah. 33:43.340 --> 33:45.820 >>Audience Member: Hi. 33:46.240 --> 33:48.370 So when talking about the series, I know there was a 33:48.460 --> 33:51.400 difficult decision to decide which books to include. I was 33:51.400 --> 33:53.260 wondering if there are any that stick out to you that made it 33:53.300 --> 33:55.660 into the collection or any that didn't make the cut that you'd 33:55.660 --> 33:56.740 still like to champion? 33:56.790 --> 33:59.370 >>Leslie S. Klinger: Well, we have 33:59.370 --> 34:02.960 a lot more to go. So if they haven't made the cut yet, 34:02.980 --> 34:05.290 there's still, if you want one of your favorites that you're 34:05.290 --> 34:07.680 waiting for, don't give up. 34:08.700 --> 34:12.650 We have three more in production already. And we're going to be 34:12.650 --> 34:14.300 putting out pretty much four a year. 34:15.650 --> 34:17.080 Forever. [Laughter]. 34:18.630 --> 34:20.050 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Or until we run out of 34:20.050 --> 34:23.610 steam here. In terms of favorites, I love the Conjure 34:23.640 --> 34:26.510 Man. It's just, it's one of my absolute favorites. But there's 34:26.510 --> 34:32.160 so many. We just finished a terrific book called The Master 34:32.160 --> 34:36.320 of Mysteries, which is just great stuff. 34:37.280 --> 34:41.800 Interestingly, another psychic Astro The Seer, is the 34:41.860 --> 34:47.270 detective, and he's a, he admits he's a fake psychic, but he uses 34:47.710 --> 34:53.200 his powers of observation to solve very real crimes. One of 34:53.200 --> 34:57.000 the more important books is, as I said, we spanned from early to 34:57.000 --> 35:02.990 late. The Dead Letter, 1867, the first American mystery novel by 35:02.990 --> 35:07.500 a woman named Seely Register. It's an interesting, it's a 35:07.500 --> 35:14.210 longish novel about a letter that shows up years after it was 35:14.210 --> 35:19.150 sent, providing a vital clue to the solution of a crime on up to 35:19.310 --> 35:25.120 the most recent in the series in terms of chronology. Is Case 35:25.240 --> 35:29.210 Pending, by Del Shannon, not the rock and roller, the other Del 35:29.210 --> 35:32.190 Shannon, who had a very, very successful career as a mystery 35:32.190 --> 35:37.630 writer. And this is one of her first. It's about the Hispanic 35:37.710 --> 35:44.710 police detective, Luis Mendoza in 35:44.710 --> 35:49.570 Los Angeles. And so, sort of everything in between. Another 35:49.570 --> 35:54.570 one of my favorites is The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope by C.W. 35:54.570 --> 35:57.160 Grafton. For those of you who are mystery readers, this was 35:57.160 --> 36:02.370 Sue's father, who had his own success as a mystery writer. 36:02.490 --> 36:07.060 He wrote three novels that were well regarded, and it's set in 36:07.060 --> 36:11.680 the 1940s, and it's one of the very first sort of humor, 36:11.740 --> 36:16.920 wisecracking detective, private detective kind of novels. So 36:17.320 --> 36:21.040 there's so many I can't pick out a favorite. It's like, which of 36:21.040 --> 36:22.370 your children do you like best? [chuckling] 36:22.370 --> 36:23.430 >> Audience Member: Thank you 36:23.500 --> 36:24.900 for that insight into the series. 36:25.450 --> 36:27.020 >> Leslie S. Klinger: Thank you. 36:28.560 --> 36:36.270 >> Becky Clark: It's Becky Clark again. I just want to point out, we've 36:36.290 --> 36:41.940 got three incredibly talented actors up here who did exactly one 36:41.940 --> 36:45.480 rehearsal for 45 minutes, just yesterday. 36:45.480 --> 36:47.560 So [Applause] So we should give them another round. 36:48.230 --> 36:52.970 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Aww, come on. 36:52.970 --> 36:57.140 >>Leslie S. Klinger: Imagine if he'd had two. [Laughter]. 36:57.200 --> 36:59.640 >>Travis Brown: The whole play. >> 37:02.473 --> 37:04.020 Leslie S. Klinger: You want to ask a question over there? 37:04.020 --> 37:09.910 You're just wandering around. Other questions? 37:09.960 --> 37:13.340 Comments? Okay. 37:14.040 --> 37:17.160 Well, thank you all for coming. And as I said, stop by the table 37:17.250 --> 37:17.910 downstairs. 37:17.910 --> 37:19.450 >> Joshua Street: Thank you so much. 37:19.450 --> 37:20.750 >> Jonathan Del Palmer: Thank you all. 37:20.750 --> 37:21.787 >> Travis Brown: Thank you.