Ma Rainey and her band, (including a young Louis Armstrong on cornet), recordedStack OLee Blues in 1925. Despite what had come to seem like long odds, when the spindles finally turned, the sounds that emerged were intelligible: Yes, I remember Stackalee, McKinney says, and David clearly thinks hes referring to the song. Because no one knows where that song really originated! He tells McKinney that even Nathan Young, the dean of St. Louis folk historians, hadnt heard of the real Stagolee: I said, Was he a real person? And he said, Oh no, he was a folklore character.. Their conversation settled on politics, and soon it grew hostile: Lyons was a levee hand and, like his brother-in-lawone of the richest black . Lyons was also a member of St. Louis' underworld, and may have been a political and business rival to Shelton. Because that need for vicarious freedom never went away, Stagolee then stuck around for a century, with an occasional aftermarket modification to reflect the tastes of the day. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. By the time his first trial ended in a hung jury, Shelton was already the subject of a popular prison ballad. He wanted to be just like his Dad and follow in his fathers footsteps. Friday's invite-only (and non-televised) awards dinner will go on as scheduled from L.A. Live Event Deck, a popular event venue located . Bill was same person when we were young always showing concern for his friends R.I.P. And that same Lizzie Ware, per the 1880 census, was a young African-American widow with two daughters: Ada (age five) and Estella (age eight). [1], In January 2020, he appeared in an episode of Doctor Who, alongside Jodie Whittaker, Jo Martin and The Judoon. Billy was the best of the best at Sac PD. She claimed thatthis song is sung by the Negroes on the levee while they are loading and unloading the river freighters. In 1911, Shelton broke into a mans home, murdered him, and was sent to prison, but by 1912, Shelton received yet another pardon from another governor, apparently due to political pressure. George M. Eberhart, probably the most meticulous Stagolee scholar, calls this a slander on Lee Shelton. [7] The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. I've heard of the Billy Lyons case. Lyons lunged for Shelton and Shelton shot. Directed by Simon Stone Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification Produced by Music by Stefan Gregory Cinematography by Mike Eley Film Editing by Jon Harris Casting By Lucy Bevan Production Design by Maria Djurkovic Art Direction by Costume Design by Alice Babidge Makeup Department Production Management you can rest everybody but cruel Stack OLee? (The bomb failed to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both structures were destroyed in the 9/11 attack . Billy Lyons is a producer and director, known for It Takes a Lunatic (2019), Missed Connections Live (2009) and Lost Bohemia (2010). Handman is survived by daughters Laura Handman and Liza . John Russell David was a graduate student in the early 1970s when he first uncovered the St. Louis origins of Stagolee by talking to a Black octogenarian who remembered the murder. Stagger Lee, alternately known as Stagolee or Stackalee, has been reinvented innumerable times as a work chant, field holler, blues, rag, jazz, rock, and folk song. You can rest everybody but cruel Stack O Lee And here is the tape of David interviewing Ed McKinney, an elderly musician with an encyclopedic knowledge of St. Louis history. He died in incarceration in 1912. The mythmakers work was already done. Years active. Over the course of 19 tracks, The Clash goes careening through rockabilly, reggae, soul, R&B, ska and Phil Spector pop. Within a few years, the city would pass a referendum banning black people from living on blocks that were minimally 75 percent white. Billy Lyons succumbed the next morning, one of five murder victims in St. Louis that Christmas Day. Or, as Mississippi John Hurt puts it. A couple of summers ago, I started poking around in those collections, and once I started comparing what I thought I knew about the Stagolee legend with what I was seeing in the documentary record, I found that I couldnt stop. Lee Shelton (March 16, 1865 March 11, 1912), popularly known as "Stagolee," "Stagger Lee," "Stack-O-Lee," and other variations, was an American criminal who became a figure of folklore after murdering Billy Lyons on December 25th, 1895. I never heard that before!, McKinney was born in 1885 and sounds like it. Hes a junk dealer.. Lincoln in the Bardo features a myriad of charactersdead and alive, historical and imaginary who offer perspective and input on the story as it unfolds. [11] Also in 1924, the first version with lyrics was recorded, as "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", by Lovie Austin. Nonetheless, Stagger Lee spread with extraordinary speed, beginning shortly after the actual killing. Punk, Hawaiian, HeavyMetal, Disco, Rock, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass, Country, and Soul have all seen recorded versions, often with great popularity and by names as wildly famous as Elvis and the Isley Brothers. "Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee" and other variants, is a popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag" Lee Shelton, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Christmas 1895. David Lyons (born 16 April 1976) is an Australian actor. OnChristmasEve, 1895, a shooting occurred in a North St. Louis saloon that was destined to find a prominentand permanentplace in American oral tradition. That same night alone, five murders were committed in Saint Louis, but only one shot to world-wide infamy through a tangled web of politics, folklore, and raw persistence. For such men as Stack Lee Shelton, however, business was booming. In addition to his holdings in Deep Morgan, Lee occupied an impressive brick house at 911 North Twelfth Street, situated in a more upscale neighborhood. You can check Billy out in the film John Nieto: An American Spirit Walk, he also has a part in the new release "Rough Boys". Despite the tendency of folktales to grow taller, the canonical Stagolee story has remained impressively stable over the years: Stagolee is a bad man who objects to Billy Lyonss stealing his Stetson. Thats one detail that the songs, understandably, have tended to get wrong, insisting that the bad man went proudly to the gallows. So we're lucky to have a full cast, totaling 166 narrators (including stars like Ben Stiller, Keegan-Michael Key, Julianne Moore, and Don Cheadle), lending their talents to this paranormal historical tale. [1]:102. Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Susan Lucci, Eric Bogosian, John Leguizamo, Woodie King, Jr. New York, Documentary, Drama, Art, Biography. Odum. That same night alone, five murders were committed in Saint Louis, but only one shot to world-wide infamy through a tangled web of politics, folklore, and raw persistence. When shes given a name, its often either Lillie or Nellie Sheldon. Keith's Cancer Fund. Lauren Lyons Casting. David Lyons (actor) 17 languages. He visited so many nursing homes, his widow told me. The first evidence for it is a reference to "Stack-a-Lee" being performed by "Prof. Charlie Lee, the piano thumper" in the Kansas City Leavenworth Herald in 1897. The actor Danny Masterson, known for his roles in the sitcoms "That . 1939 - John Amos, American actor 1943 - Cokie Roberts, American journalist 1944 - Mick Jones, English guitarist, and songwriter 1948 - Grard Depardieu, French-Russian actor . Discover Molly Lyons's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Such brushes with mainstream success never compromised Stags street cred, though. The next year, legendary Library of Congress musicologist John Lomax received a partial transcription of what was called The Ballad of Stagalee, from a woman in Texas. It is unfathomable why the obscure murder of a levee hand in a red-light bar would attain such far-reaching notoriety, while songs about equally sordid killingsfact-based murder ballads such as Ella Speed and Duncan and Bradyare doomed to relative obscurity. [14] By the time W.C. See full bio Known For Treaty Live Jim Spillane 2022 Hide all | | Edit Filmography Hide Actor (1 credit) 2022 Treaty Live (TV Special documentary) Jim Spillane Getting Started | Contributor Zone Contribute to This Page Edit page Clear your history Click To Watch Free 'NAACP Image Awards 2023' Live Stream. A brief search of the Stagger Lee name could reveal recordings from Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Lloyd Price, Professor Longhair, The Black Keys, Samuel L. Jackson, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Wilson Picket, Taj Mahal, Fats Domino, Bob Dylan, Beck, Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, and a great many others. Now, the journalism of the day was appallingly poora hodgepodge of hack reporting, rumor, speculation, and opinion, seasoned liberally with racism. Police officer, how can it be Hi my name is Mindy Lyons. The factory was guarded by two vicious bulldogs., Sheltons parting gesture, in other words, was to will his meager possessions to the biggest drug kingpin in St. Louis. The murder, reportedly motivated partially by the theft of Shelton's Stetson hat, made Shelton an icon of toughness and style in the minds of early folk and blues musicians, and inspired the popular folk song "Stagger Lee." He also played the role of Senior Clerk Billy Lamb in the BBC television series Silk. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globes including this year's Best Actor in comedy television series for The Kominsky Method, an Emmy and the AFI Life Achievement Award. Mr. Lyons (1945), Palm Springs . Here are prison records with Stack Lees signature and fingerprints. Im talking about Paul Harvey, whose daily broadcast The Rest of the Story aired on more than 1,100 radio stations for thirty-plus years. Privacy Policy, In 1928, Mississippi John Hurt recorded a definitive 1928 version of Stagolees story, Eric McHenrys annotation to the murder ballads oldest known lyrics, https://theamericanscholar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mchenry_audio.mp3, Hilary Mantel, one of Britains most revered novelists, died last year at the age of 70. [12][4][1]:73 he is often said to have received a death sentence for his crime, which he accepts stoically. Several older versions give Billy's last name as "De Lyons" or "Deslile". "Billy Lyons" redirects here. Who was Stagger Lee, who goes by different names depending on the storyteller;Stagger, Stack-O-Lee, Stackalee, etc.? Our family got back to our house around mid-afternoon and, as was her nature, Robin cleaned the Christmas leavings from the countertops and washed plates and glasses . They both believe, for example, that Stack and Billy were fighting over a craps gamea canard that made its way into the songs after being falsely reported by the papers. Stack O Lee killed Billy de Lyon about a five-dollar Stetson hat The version by Mississippi John Hurt, recorded in 1928, is regarded by many as definitive. Soon, the musical, mythical iteration of Stack Lee supplanted the man himself, as black America cultivated and nurtured a heroic outlaw to admire. The prolific Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent's cause of death was revealed after he passed away on Saturday (February 25), at the age of 92. On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton shot William "Billy" Lyons in a St. Louis saloon following a dispute. Physically, he was unprepossessing. Billy Lyons is an actor, director, teacher, and producer living in New York City, where he's trained with and been the close assistant to Wynn Handman for many years. Principal photography began in April 2015 in Georgia.The film is a co-production between the United States, the . Early versions were called "Stack-a-Lee" and "Stacker Lee", while "Stagolee" and "Stagger Lee" also became common. [15][16], Within thirty years of Shelton's death, Benjamin Botkin records stories among the superstitious of his having been born with a caul over his face (signifying one with the power to see spirits and destined for trouble), or of having sold his soul to the Devil (in exchange for the hat, said to be magic, over which he killed Billy Lyons). Billy Lyons is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Patsy Lucher. The only remaining option for the deceased killer is hell, and again Stagger Lee asserts himself, this time for control over the Devils domain: Even in death, the larger-than-life figure of Stagger Lee triumphs. She was sitting on the bedside lacing up her shoes So there are actually two plausible narratives in which Billy Lyons left behind a wife and kids. The William Lyons who failed to attend his kids baptism in 1894a year and a half before the Stack Lee murdermay have had the excuse of already being dead. Stagger Lee was a bad man, the original gangsta, and he murdered Billy Lyons on account of a John B. Stetson hat. I havent been able to track down the surviving documents he apparently saw. Enjoy our next guest, Billy Lyons. The participants were two black men, a levee hand named William Billy Lyons and a part-time carriage driver and full-time pimp named Lee Shelton. [8] The song was well known in African American communities along the lower Mississippi River by 1910. HarperCollins published "A Lush and Seething Hell" by John Horner Jacobs in 2019. [8] The name was quickly corrupted in the folk tradition. Billy Wonderful attempts to recreate. That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O Lee. Billy..you were one of my favorites when I worked at SacPD. In January 1896, according to a Post-Dispatch item that escaped the notice of earlier researchers, a young woman named Stella Casey took her own life by swallowing a box of rat poison. We know from these statements that Lyons left . Here they tak. [5] Subsequently, Shelton shot Lyons, recovered his hat, and left. Lyons is a graduate of Ithaca College (BFA Acting) and has performed both regionally and Off Broadway. William "Billy" Lyons April 18, 1946 - February 5, 2023 Sacramento, California - William (Billy) Lyons left us much too soon on February 5, 2023, surrounded by his adoring family. Gosh almighty. Sheltons case was retried in 1897, and Stagger Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the notorious Jeffersonpenitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. September 8, 2019. Danny Masterson, 44, was charged with three counts of rape by force or fear. [2] Shelton was well known locally as one of the Macks, a group of pimps who demanded attention through their flashy clothing and appearance. A bastion of blues and ragtime music, Deep Morgan was also a neighborhood in which gambling flourished and prostitution was rife. That its murder in the first degree? But the fact is that when children live in an orphanage, theyre usually orphans. Walter O'Keefe: August 18, 1900 June 26, 1983 American Website. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stack Lee, with a variety of explanations being given: he was given the nickname because he "went stag", meaning he was without friends; he took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stack Lee; or, according to John and Alan Lomax, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called the Stack Lee, which was known for its on-board prostitution. John Russell David died almost exactly 75 years later at almost exactly the same agejust a few months past his 47th birthday. The bad man emerged in their stories and songs as an alternative to more wholesome folk heroes like John Henry. As the oral legend spread of Stack Lee as a black man who would not back down, Billy Lyons turned into ''a small . Evrybody body talk about Stackolee. Nationality. $25. "I'm heartbroken," the grieving star laments. [7], The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. An 1896 Globe-Democrat article reveals an attitude among white St. Louisans toward the killing of Blacks that could fairly be called genocidal: Though the Morgue and the City Hospital are regularly supplied with subjects from [Curtiss saloon] it is generally conceded that he is acting as a public benefactor in allowing undesirable members of colored society to be dispatched in his place of business. The reason Shelton finally went to prison, in all likelihood, wasnt that hed killed a man but that hed killed the wrong man. Billy Lyons was the brother-in-law of Henry Bridgewater, an influential saloon owner and by some accounts the wealthiest Black man in St. Louis. Occupation. Through every generation and nearly every musical style, Stagger Lee has made an appearance. [10] The earliest versions were likely field hollers and other work songs performed by African-American laborers, and were well known along the lower Mississippi River by 1910. [3] In addition to those activities, he was the captain of a black Four Hundred Club, a social club with a dubious reputation. The real Billy Lyons was a bully who, it seems, all but had his fate coming. Neil Robert Stuke (born 22 February 1966 in Deal, Kent) is an English actor best known for his role of Matthew in the TV sitcom Game On and more recently for playing Billy Lamb in the BBC legal drama Silk . As an alternative to more wholesome folk heroes like John Henry such brushes with success! 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