Page 12 — P.A. Features, January 6

Continued from Page 11

Paul Robeson

football team, Camp declaring,
“There never was a more serv-
iceable end, both on attack and
defense, than Robeson, the 200:
pound. giant of Rutgers.”

His feats on the gridiron are
still legendary and to this very
day J .meet athletes, coaches
and writers who speak of “that
greatest of all ends, Robeson.”
S=But busy as he was with ath-
letics—he went all through the
year playing one sport after
‘another Robeson did not neg-
lect his studies. He was cap-
tain of the debating team, was
elected Phi Beta Kappa and re-
ceived among the highest
marks ever achieved by:a stu-
dent at the school. He was the
idol of the campus and was
known far and wide as “Robe-
son of Rutgers.” Of him, the
University writes: “Paul Robe-
‘son is regarded as the greatest

living All-American football
player. In the opinion of most
people, he, of all “All-Ameri- -

cans, has gained the greatest
and most merited fame since
his graduation.”

Besides his football play he
“avas center.\of the basketball
team, catcher of the baseball
_team and heaved the shot-put
for the track team.

Strangely enough, he never
sang on the college glee club
for it wasn’t until years later
that he discovered he possessed
a voice which was destined to
‘thrill millions of people on
three continents. :

Despite his phenomenal suc-
cess in college, it did not come
without harsh and bitter set-
backs. At one stage of the
game he was ready to eall it

-_ quits; but his father streng-
-thened his confidence and he
returned to school after an at-
tempt to make the varsity foot-
ball team had resulted in a dis-
located shoulder. a broken nose,
bruises and welts all over his
body and all the fingernails
of his right hand ripped off.
Alj this, mind you, in one prag-
tice session.

After he had regained his
stréneth he went out for foot-
ball practice again and got
more of the same. This was
-about all the 17-year-old fresh-
man could stand. “I saw red.”
he says today, “and broke right
through the line, heading for
the first man I saw, who hap-
pended to be a sweet kid named
Kelly. if lifted him above my

_head and was about to dash him

_.to pieces on the ground when,
through the fog, I heard the
-Woice of my coach, an honest
and fair man, crying ‘Robey,
Robey, stop stop you’re on the
varsity’... I managed to come
to and suddenly realized that
fi had been accepted, that I was
“one of the boys, that my test
was over and done with.

“Tater I became fast friends
with Kelly eyen though I was
‘never able to forget that expe-
rience.”

Upon graduation from Rut-
gers, Robeson entered Colum-
bia Law School and it was
there that he met and married
a Spanish-Negro, Eslanda Car-
doza Goode, who received the
degree of Bachelor of Science
and Chemistry and who to this
very day is a source of great
inspiration to him.

' pelling

There followed a brief career
as a lawyer but Robeson knew
that & Negro member of the
bar was severely limited, and
so he quit.

The theater came next and it
was a logical choice. Possess-
ing a fine physique, a wonder-
ful speaking voice, tremendous
emotional intensity and an im-
personality, Robeson
joined New York Providence
Players and later became fast
friends with such men as Hey-
wood Broun, Eugene O’Neill
Alexander Woolcott and others.
Rapid appearances in “All
God’s Children Have Wings”
and a revival of “Emperor
Jones” were smash hits. But
after a while the limited supply
of vehicles for a Negro actor
was used up and Robeson fell
upon hard days.

It was then that he dis-
covered he could sing. This
came in 1925 when he was 27
years old. True he had sung
fer small mformal gather-
ings of friends; but never be-
fore on a concert stage. He
had never dreamed of becom-
ing a concert singer. For one
thing he couldn’t even read
music and then again he
didn’t have a repertoire of
songs.

But he did know hundreds of
Negro folk songs and spirituals
and, as it later turned out, that
was more than enough. His
first publie concert took place
on West 8th Street in Green-
wich Village on April 19, 1925.
It was a tremendous success
and thus was launched one of
the most remarkable careers in
the history of the concert stage.

It was in the folk song and

Negro spiritual that Robeson
came to understand things
about social forces. The folk

sone beeame a message of
solidarity for all people. It be-
came a weapon which he brand-
ished as a means of bringing
people together, of fighting in-
equality and reaction.

Success followed success and
in the late twenties he made
the first of many trips to Eng-
Jand, during the course of
which he was to become one
of the most beloved artists in
the history of the British Isles.

He broke all records at Lon-
don’s historic Kine Albert Hall.
He was worshipped and hailed
in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
His folk songs, although sung
in many languages, were un-
derstood by the people of the
Isles. To them he brought a
new form of international peo-
ple’s solidarity.

The British people fell head
over heels in love with him and
his fame was established on a
rock-solid foundation. He not
only sang; he played his first
Othello m London and was the
star of many dramatic produc-
tions as well as motion pic-
tures. With him all this time,
in fact from his very first con-
cert, was his beloved and in-
separable friend and ~ accom-

panist, - Lawrence (Larry)
Brown who, perhaps, more
than any other living man,

knows Robeson most intimate-
Ty.

He became the favorite of
the British Royal Family. His
fame was such that no royal
party was considered a success
if it did not list Robeson as the
guest of honor. He sang in-

numerable concerts for the
Prince of Wales. Winston
Churehill, Lord Beaverbrook

and others, but it is for one
particular concert that he had
a special fondness.

He was invited to St. James
Palace by the Prince of Wales.
Present were lord Beaver-
brook, Churchill, various lords
and their ladies and all in all
about a billion dollars worth
of royalty including King Al-
phonse of Spain who had an
American blonde with him that
night. The music had begun
and Robeson was about to sing
when he heard Alphonse talk-
ing to the blonde in the rear of
the hall. He stopped and stared
at the King. An uneasy silence
followed, punctuated only by
the King’s inane chatter, when
suddenly, the Prince of Wales,
in a fury strode over, hushed
him and made him sit up front
where he could be watched
Robeson
dainfully for a few moments
and then began to sing.

“You see,” he says now,
with his broad smile. “King
or no King, I just wasn’t go-
ing to sing until he got
quiet.”

T IS 1984 now. Fascism has
already taken Germany in its
cancerous grip. The threat of
war and reaction hangs grimly
over Europe and the world.
Robeson, now internationally
famous, is nevertheless troub-
led, and seeks an answer to his
questions.

He seeks a world of equality
for the Negro people. As a
colored man he has’ learned
through his own experiences
that he must ally himself with
others fighting tor democracy,
and despite his wholesome in-
stinets his ideas have not yet
been crystallized into scientific
thought. :

Then, at a meeting of African
princes and princesses in Lon-
don, he meets a Negro worker
who tells him to go to the
masses, the laboring folks, for
his answer. ‘He tells Paul of the
new experiment in Russia and
Robeson says, “Russia, yes,
I’ve heard of it. Vll be there
shortly.” Six days later he is
in the Soviet Union.

“How can I describe my feel-
ings upon crossing the Soviet
border?” he says. ‘“‘All I ean
say is that the moment I came
there I realized that I had
found what I had been seeking
all my life. It was a new planet
—a new constellation. It filled
me with such happiness as I
have never before known in my
ife.””

Inspired by. what he saw
there, Robeson determined to
help bring about such com-
plete equality and human hap-
piness everywhere in the world.

And then Spain. The struggle
of the Spanish people for a
free and decent life moved
Robeson to his very core. He

looked at him dis-.

Paul Robeson (Othello) and Uta Hagen (Desdomed|

in a.scene from the great Shakespearean tragedy Othello

left Russia to go to Spain in
1938. Using his great songs, he
urged, exhorted, inspired the
Republicans to resist, to fight
fascism. Once, outside imperil-
led Madrid a loud speaker sys-
tem was set up and Robeson

sang -his songs to the men
in the _ fighting lines. They
listened’ with lumps in their

throats and for weeks, inspired
by the great Negro fighter,
they held off the fascists.
Now his ideas are coming
into sharp focus. Robeson clear-

ly sees his purpose in life. He
lives with one idea. “Defend
democracy, fight fascism.” He -

becomes a singer of democracy,
bringing a message of courage
and hope to the peoples of
Europe. In 1939 he visits the
Scandinavian countries and in
Oslo, Copenhagen and Stock
holm he receives tumultous. un-
precendented
become anti-fascist .demonstra-
tions. In Oslo, after a concert
in which 10,000 people were
outside of the hall. the Nordic
patriots fall to their hands and
knees, kissing his hands.

No fight for democracy, no
matter how small and seeming—
ly insignificant, fails to get his
support In money, songs or
speeches.

And he says: “I cannot be-
lieve in art for art’s sake. My
art must be a weapon to fight
for freedom. I must
true to my conscience and my
people. I must never betray
them.” :

@
AUL ROBESON’S two aill-

consuming loves right now
are Othello and his only child,
16-year-old Paul; Jr., who bears
a simply phenomenal resem-
blance to his father.

He lives Othello and breaths
Othello. To him it means every-—
thing, at once both great art
and a mighty social weapon.

His son Pauli will enter Dart-
mouth this fall. Standing 6

feet tall

, faces but is at a_loss when ¢

receptions which.

remain ©

and weighing

pounds, he has been labe J

one of the greatest high sei}
football players ever develo}
in New England. He goes
Springfield Dech,-in Mass...)
Pauli is the center of
basketball team, plays basel §
and has already broken tk
records in track. He is an an
ing scholar, speaks five le
uages, and has received his
cense as a pilot.

Robeson has the same kin: §
affinity with his son as he”
with his father and will ©
you if you will only sit and
ten to him speak of Pa
feats.

-Robeson has a remark ©
memory for music, names

ing with workaday details.’
will absentmindedly wear
different socks or wear a
jacket to a black pair of t |
sers, never matching them.
is always forgetting to ¢
along money and will appre
Diane Summers, his secre:
at the Council for African
fairs, with a sheepish grin, |g}
ing: “Diane, I need sf,
money, the cabbie is wai)
outside.” With a boyish s#@
he will accept Diane’s adm
tion to be careful.

Soe

He is a prodigious reader, |
ing through six and seven bij
a week. When he walks df
the street with an armloac@l
packages, harassed Diane ¥i
say, “Paul’s passed a book: @)
again.” He is a noted linge
speaking nine languages,
eluding the rare African tor #!
of Swahili. Currently he i
studying Yiddish—by way (#1
schoolboy’s primer.. He tea @¥
himself, haying devised an#y
genious method whereby 7
breaks. down a language
something like basic Engg
He “broke the baek of Chi
in three months.” q

—Continued on pag ei