Paul Robeson

He had a hot ass but couldn’t live forever

Paul Robeson stopped performing before anyone here was born.

He went after young Lena Horne...and, you know, she wasn't interested.

He had a deep but highly unlikely friendship with Albert Einstein.

[quote] Black Princeton also gave him an entrance into the civil rights movement. He joined the NAACP and the American Crusade Against Lynching (ACAL), an organization founded by actor-singer-activist Paul Robeson. At Robeson's invitation, Einstein served as co-chair of ACAL, a position he used to lobby President Harry S. Truman.

[quote] He made friends with Robeson, who had grown up in Princeton, and found common cause with him on a wide variety of issues. As Jerome and Taylor note, "almost every civil rights group Einstein endorsed after 1946 ... had Robeson in the leadership." In particular, Einstein joined Robeson and other civil rights leaders in calling for national anti-lynching legislation.

Sang about Old Man River.

Beautiful man. Intelligent, multitalented and unfortunately held back by a racist, backward time. Modern actors today just don't compare.

He took off his clothes a lot - big, beefy body.

Marched with the Welsh miners and donated a lot to their hardship funds.

he sang and made me cry

Shenandoah I Long to Hear You ...A beautiful voice. Also, a great tasting tomato from the former Soviet Union named after him, my favorite, Paul Robeson

His commanding baritone voice could fill a concert hall without amplification.

He fucked the great doyenne of the London stage, Dame Peggy Ashcroft. That will get Daily Mail readers reaching for their smelling salts

Great singer, actor, athlete. Passionate advocate for social justice. Nothing unlikely about the friendship with Einstein. Really screwed by the Red Scare.

R12 When they were in Othello? Robeson was the Moor, Ashcroft was Desdemona, and Sir Ralph Richardson was Iago.

Fine man.Fine voice.

Went to my High School.

Soviet stooge

Phi Beta Kappa. Was never a Communist but defended others' right to be. He was hounded in a way that we'll never see happen to the fascists and Putinites on the Right who have said and done more. The Hitler apologists were never treated as badly as people on the Left. People like Philip Johnson (a consummate social climber) and Lindbergh never lost anything. What we see now from the Right was what Robeson and others experienced in the 40s and 50s.

Nigga

Fascinating man.

I'd have done him.

So glad we're discussing him. Robeson was a true renaissance man; I don't know anyone else in the 20th century who achieved so much in so many different fields -- and did so in the face of vicious prejudice.

He was valedictorian of his class and All-American football player at Rutgers (ironically, Princeton University, which is located in his home town, wasn't accepting Blacks at that time -- today they'd be falling all over themselves to land a POC like him), got a law degree, became a renowned actor, singer and then civil rights activist only to be blacklisted and have his physical and mental health destroyed. He was literally broken in every way for the last 15 years of his life.

If you wrote his life as a screenplay, no one would consider it plausible enough to film.

R21, I agree, he was a fine figure of a man.

R22 Why has no one written a book about him?

Read about the 1949 Peekskill riots:

I make sure to teach my students about him when we do the 1950s.

Hullo.

My grandmother was a big fan.

Are you, R28?

I wouldn't call myself a big fan, R29, but he had a wonderful voice.

Agreed, R30.

There's no exact process.

R25- I hope the Eastland School with Mrs. Garrett and the GIRLS was affected in the riots.

WASN'T affected

[quote]Read about the 1949 Peekskill riots.

Mrs. Garrett threw Tootie out in front of Edna's Edibles so the coloreds wouldn't burn the shop down. Worked too.

Beautiful, talented, intelligent, complex man. He was a victim of the prejudices of the America of his day. He was right to criticize. Still, Paul Robeson was blind to the reality and brutality of Soviet life under Stalin.

[quote]Paul Robeson stopped performing before anyone here was born.

He was performing up until early '60s. I, for one, was born before that.

[quote]If you wrote his life as a screenplay, no one would consider it plausible enough to film.

If a film treatment is greenlit, I'm available for the lead.

He has a monument on the Rutgers University Campus.

There’s also a bust of him at Columbia University School of Law, from which he also graduated.

[quote] Beautiful man.

His pendulous lower lip detracted.

He claimed he wasn't a Communist but Moscow embraced him.

There is even a play about him.

Can he start some type of classification or caste system for eldergays? I'm 52 and I can't tell you much of anything that you ask. Why don't you ask things like "Eldergays I'm 25 where can I find Eldergays and what's the quickest way to bed them?"

He remained pro-Soviet long after he knew of Stalin's atrocities. In doing so, he wasn't alone among American leftist intellectuals.

So many remain pro-American despite knowing about America’s atrocities

America’s atrocities aren't as atrocious as other's atrocities.

He tried to strangle sweet Peggy Ashcroft.

He reminds me of Colored gentlemen I have known.

He was very big, Mamie.

Known in the Biblical sense, Mamie?

[Quote] America’s atrocities aren't as atrocious as other's atrocities.

Um…

[Quote] America’s atrocities aren't as atrocious as other's atrocities.

Um…

[Quote] America’s atrocities aren't as atrocious as other's atrocities.

Um…

[quote]America’s atrocities aren't as atrocious as other's atrocities.

Um...

It’s interesting that there was really no one his equal before or since. What singer or actor has a law degree and has exceptional intellect? And played football like a pro? Most actors and singers are losers, nothing more. They might have exceptional talent but they don’t have exceptional intellect.

Hah I meant to say most actors and singers are posers, not losers at r56.

[quote]It’s interesting that there was really no one his equal before or since.

Until now.

I forgot all about Kitara, r58! Intellectual giant. Beautiful model. Excellent cock. Future Academy Award winner. The next Paul Robeson! Hell, she IS Paul Robeson.

He was OK in a loincloth.

Who wants to bet he was a guest at Danny Thomas' glass coffee table?

R61 Are you suggesting that he was involved in unsavory acts?

[quote] There was more class, elegance, and talent in Paul Robeson's pinky than most people have in their entire bodies.

[quote] Favorite songs, trivia, and other anecdotes are appreciated.

Reply 19 should be taken down - immediately. He/she used the "N" word to describe one of the greatest artist's, athletes and intellects in history. How does one go about lodging a complaint on the DL? I'm not a cancel culture zealot by any means - but to use such a vile slur against a celebrated humanitarian (who bore an enormous financial burden for his principles) is downright despicable and a huge insult to the African-American visitors to this forum.

How old do you think we are??

This pic is the Paul Robeson I know.

I saw him in London in Showboat when I went on a class trip.

He had a secret, long term affair with acting legend Uta Hagen. They met doing a production of OTHELLO..

O Thello, Uta! O Thello, Uta!

It's so nice to be back home where I belong.

[Quote] How old do you think we are??

A million billion zillion.

Eldergays, tell me about John Barrymore. Did you ever meet him?

R67 Did you sail there on the Aquitania?

So many fond memories of Aquitaine including Eleanor.

My class sailed on the Berengaria. The trip lasted a month.

Who here was huddled within the Trojan Horse, shoulder to shoulder against other scantily clad soldiers?

Discuss.

He was so good as Pee Wee Herman!!!!

A very dramatic physical transformation!

A versatile actor.

Robeson came to Sydney when the Opera House was being built--which wasn't difficult: it was being built for about a thousand years. He stood in the framework and sang for the workers. AFAIK, it was the first ever Sydney Opera House concert.

Also quite reminiscent of DL fave FOLLIES, I guess, except that the building was on the way up, not down.

[quote] He had a secret, long term affair with acting legend Uta Hagen. They met doing a production of OTHELLO..

And Uta Hagen married Jose Ferrer, who played Iago in the production.

The council estate on the 63 year-old British soap [italic] Coronation Street[/italic] is called the Paul Robeson estate.

He picked me up in a village bar in '29. He was MASSIVE. And a cuddly sweetheart.

Wow, R78, that's VERY Iago.

Hot! A real maverick! Was a member of CPUSA----not sure why people are saying "he wasn't a communist." For about 15 years there, joining CPUSA made perfect sense. Of course, they couldn't do anything without a directive from Moscow, and quickly became irrelevant and highly vulnerable to accusations of treason, disappointing tens of thousands.

Robeson was dumb, but he didn't deserve what he got. Social isolation for his views should have been enough.

John Barrymore was at my house, got drunk and shit on my rug. I called Ethel to complain.