WEBVTT - Episode 1: Whispering Pines 0:00:17.268 --> 0:00:26.747 Pushkin a quick warning. Some of the language and imagery 0:00:26.828 --> 0:00:30.348 used to describe this period of time maybe upsetting. Please 0:00:30.388 --> 0:00:31.468 take care while listening. 0:00:37.388 --> 0:00:42.227 I was interviewing a gentleman about his participation in student 0:00:42.268 --> 0:00:47.548 demonstrations in nineteen sixty. He stopped me and he said, 0:00:47.588 --> 0:00:51.348 you know, I'm from South Carolina. Have you ever heard 0:00:51.388 --> 0:00:57.508 of Charlie Fitzgerald? He mentioned specifically knowing Charlie Fitzgerald, knowing 0:00:57.548 --> 0:01:00.908 his wife, and then relating to me what he remembered 0:01:00.948 --> 0:01:11.708 happening in nineteen fifty. Charlie Fitzgerald. It was notorious. That's 0:01:11.708 --> 0:01:16.947 a good adjective for him. He was constantly having the makeovers, 0:01:16.947 --> 0:01:23.947 seemingly always reinventing himself. He was a roving entrepreneur who 0:01:24.068 --> 0:01:29.028 was beloved and respected by some and despised and ridiculed 0:01:29.028 --> 0:01:41.228 by others. Trader, turncoat, folk hero, defiant. The atmosphere is 0:01:41.388 --> 0:01:47.588 thick with this vehement rhetoric of white supremacy. Here was 0:01:47.628 --> 0:01:53.388 a black man who thumbed his nose at laws and customs, 0:01:54.468 --> 0:01:58.868 and that is why he's a threat. What happened to 0:01:58.948 --> 0:02:03.148 Charlie Fitzgerald was almost I guess it would be an 0:02:03.148 --> 0:02:06.628 imit till moment. It would be a Pearl Harbor moment 0:02:06.708 --> 0:02:15.708 people remembered vividly. An ordinary person would say, the hell 0:02:15.748 --> 0:02:19.108 with it, I'm going to the Promised Land, I'm going elsewhere. 0:02:21.748 --> 0:02:46.228 But Charlie was not ordinary. 0:02:49.188 --> 0:02:52.348 I came to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in search of 0:02:52.388 --> 0:02:57.228 a folk hero, a man who died in nineteen fifty five, 0:02:58.228 --> 0:03:01.588 a man who's almost forgotten, but whose name is still 0:03:01.627 --> 0:03:05.268 in the air. He was the mythic proprietor of a 0:03:05.308 --> 0:03:10.468 mythic space, a place that sounded like a mirage. 0:03:11.108 --> 0:03:11.828 It did exist. 0:03:12.148 --> 0:03:15.308 On a Saturday night in nineteen forty in the seaside 0:03:15.348 --> 0:03:22.028 town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The smell of salty 0:03:22.068 --> 0:03:26.708 air and perfume, a night out on the town. Everyone 0:03:26.828 --> 0:03:35.188 is filing into a nightclub. The sound of Count Basie's 0:03:35.268 --> 0:03:39.548 orchestra carries into the night. Jim Crow laws are in 0:03:39.588 --> 0:03:40.188 full effect. 0:03:40.908 --> 0:03:41.708 It would still be. 0:03:41.708 --> 0:03:44.908 Decades before black and white people were allowed to even 0:03:44.988 --> 0:03:50.788 eat together in a restaurant. But something surprising is happening 0:03:50.828 --> 0:03:54.428 inside the club, something the laws were designed to prevent. 0:03:54.468 --> 0:04:00.068 Throughout the South, black and white people dance together. They partner, 0:04:00.388 --> 0:04:03.708 press against each other, swing and sway to the music. 0:04:06.108 --> 0:04:10.508 It doesn't feel dangerous, it feels joyous. Nothing else seems 0:04:10.548 --> 0:04:15.828 to matter. The lines on the outside don't exist. This 0:04:15.948 --> 0:04:21.827 was Charlie's place. It doesn't seem real, but a few 0:04:21.827 --> 0:04:30.748 people still remember. I heard a phrase on one of 0:04:30.748 --> 0:04:33.027 my visits to Myrtle Beach about Charlie's place. 0:04:33.827 --> 0:04:37.588 Segregation in the day, integration. 0:04:37.148 --> 0:04:42.547 That night, Segregation by day, integration by night. The people 0:04:42.548 --> 0:04:44.788 who lived it even have a hard time explaining it 0:04:45.588 --> 0:04:48.508 how this nightclub existed when it did for as long 0:04:48.548 --> 0:04:52.188 as it did from nineteen thirty seven to nineteen sixty six. 0:04:53.028 --> 0:04:55.948 But they say it had everything to do with Charlie Fitzgerald. 0:04:57.308 --> 0:05:01.027 Things just went that way with Charlie. He blurred the lines. 0:05:01.827 --> 0:05:05.308 The rules just didn't seem to apply to him, and 0:05:05.348 --> 0:05:08.068 when I asked why, it just led to more questions. 0:05:09.188 --> 0:05:13.028 Charlie was big question mark. A lot of people knew 0:05:13.068 --> 0:05:14.827 him but didn't really know him. 0:05:15.028 --> 0:05:19.548 He always had an aura about him, and people you 0:05:19.588 --> 0:05:21.988 say he was a serious man. I took that to 0:05:22.028 --> 0:05:24.228 mean that he could be a dangerous man. 0:05:26.908 --> 0:05:28.068 He carried two pistols. 0:05:29.308 --> 0:05:31.147 He had a forty five on one side and the 0:05:31.188 --> 0:05:33.508 thirty eight or another side, and he carried those guns 0:05:33.548 --> 0:05:34.628 with him all the time. 0:05:35.827 --> 0:05:40.668 The rumor was spread that Charlie was running a prostitution 0:05:40.788 --> 0:05:41.467 ring over there. 0:05:43.508 --> 0:05:48.347 Charlie was a source of constant speculation and misinformation. I 0:05:48.388 --> 0:05:52.828 got to work separating rumors from the facts. Now, as 0:05:52.827 --> 0:05:56.348 far as businesses go, what we learned about Charlie was 0:05:56.388 --> 0:06:00.707 he had gambling in the back, yes, yes, and. 0:06:02.388 --> 0:06:04.428 Some other businesses. 0:06:05.348 --> 0:06:07.628 Yeah, But I can't disclose that. 0:06:08.868 --> 0:06:11.828 When I came to Myrtle Beach, these questions were sometimes 0:06:11.908 --> 0:06:16.228 met with a guarded attitude. There was something here people 0:06:16.228 --> 0:06:20.188 were compelled to protect. I was on a mission to 0:06:20.228 --> 0:06:26.348 find out what that was. I Marine Giese and this 0:06:26.388 --> 0:06:46.108 is Charlie's Place. Episode one was Spring Pines. I had 0:06:46.108 --> 0:06:49.668 to prepare to go back to the South, a place 0:06:49.708 --> 0:06:54.028 I've rarely been since I was a girl in Louisiana. 0:06:54.148 --> 0:06:56.508 I usually wear my hair natural bud for the trip 0:06:56.548 --> 0:07:00.908 to Myrtle Beach, I straightened it. My parents and I 0:07:00.948 --> 0:07:03.108 first moved to the South when I was twelve years old. 0:07:03.948 --> 0:07:07.948 We came here from the Ivory Coast. I didn't speak English, 0:07:08.308 --> 0:07:10.628 and I still remember what my teacher told me. While 0:07:10.668 --> 0:07:16.068 I learned the language. She said listen. Things we do 0:07:16.148 --> 0:07:21.988 not talk about, sex, religion, politics, do not touch those 0:07:21.988 --> 0:07:25.788 subjects that never made sense to me as a kid. 0:07:26.188 --> 0:07:30.268 What else is there to talk about that stuck with me? 0:07:30.908 --> 0:07:33.748 And this story, it turns out, would touch on all 0:07:33.828 --> 0:07:36.788 the things that you don't talk about in polite conversation 0:07:37.108 --> 0:07:42.348 in the South. Coaxing out the truth would be delicate. 0:07:43.268 --> 0:07:46.588 I had one shot to get this right, and I 0:07:46.628 --> 0:07:49.028 didn't have a lot of time because most of the 0:07:49.068 --> 0:07:52.268 people who really knew the story were well into their eighties. 0:07:52.788 --> 0:07:58.228 There weren't a lot of people left, but there was 0:07:58.308 --> 0:08:01.988 Miss Pat. But Miss Pat, I was curious, do you 0:08:02.068 --> 0:08:04.428 still stay in contact with everybody you grew up with? 0:08:04.548 --> 0:08:05.388 That's still you know? 0:08:06.748 --> 0:08:07.068 You do? 0:08:07.748 --> 0:08:08.028 Yeah? 0:08:08.428 --> 0:08:13.988 The most fan I might take. Yeah, there's so many. 0:08:14.108 --> 0:08:18.268 I'm younger than me dead, and it bothers me. I 0:08:18.388 --> 0:08:21.708 get nervous. I'm not ready to go yet. 0:08:23.428 --> 0:08:23.748 M m. 0:08:25.668 --> 0:08:28.268 Miss Pat has a wheelchair ramp leading into her house 0:08:28.348 --> 0:08:31.588 because she has very limited mobility. She had a heart 0:08:31.588 --> 0:08:35.348 attack recently and can't leave her home. She says most 0:08:35.428 --> 0:08:37.508 everyone who worked dry cleaners and Myrtle Beach in the 0:08:37.548 --> 0:08:40.468 fifties like she did, ended up with either cancer or 0:08:40.508 --> 0:08:44.668 heart trouble because of the cleaning fluids they used. Each 0:08:44.748 --> 0:08:47.028 time I walked up to her house, she'd spot me 0:08:47.068 --> 0:08:49.588 first and call out through the screen door from her 0:08:49.667 --> 0:08:54.148 lazy boy, hey baby, And each time it was good 0:08:54.147 --> 0:08:56.148 to be reminded of the warmth in her voice. 0:08:56.627 --> 0:09:00.027 Charlie fitzher was a good man to the whole neighborhood, 0:09:00.147 --> 0:09:04.507 the town, everywhere. And you either respect him or you 0:09:04.548 --> 0:09:08.588 hate him. And see I respect him because see he 0:09:08.627 --> 0:09:12.628 didn't mind putting something on you. Next with mister Charlie 0:09:12.748 --> 0:09:15.988 was to us, you respect him. 0:09:17.228 --> 0:09:19.668 Not many folks really knew him, and I would come 0:09:19.708 --> 0:09:22.388 to believe that maybe that was intentional on Charlie's part. 0:09:23.147 --> 0:09:26.628 But Miss Pat knew Charlie, and everyone that sent me 0:09:26.667 --> 0:09:30.387 her way described her as a mess. I knew exactly 0:09:30.428 --> 0:09:32.988 what that meant. A mess in the South is someone 0:09:33.028 --> 0:09:34.708 who talks a lot. 0:09:35.068 --> 0:09:42.107 Now you stop me, because I don't know when the hoosh. 0:09:39.667 --> 0:09:41.748 A mess was exactly what I needed. 0:09:42.147 --> 0:09:44.788 Mm, Now, what do you want to talk about? How 0:09:44.788 --> 0:09:47.268 I was raised on Myrtle Beach on Clver Street. 0:09:50.508 --> 0:09:53.468 Miss Pat helped me understand the setting around Charlie's Club 0:09:54.508 --> 0:09:57.708 in the nineteen forties before integration. Carver Street was the 0:09:57.748 --> 0:10:02.828 center of black life in Myrtle Beach. There were shops, restaurants, clubs, 0:10:02.988 --> 0:10:07.468 juke joints, all owned by black people for black people. 0:10:07.828 --> 0:10:11.267 Crver Street was the only street that we could sell anything. 0:10:12.107 --> 0:10:15.947 Oop Moub a business. We weren't allowed on Oak Street 0:10:16.028 --> 0:10:16.428 at all. 0:10:17.867 --> 0:10:20.628 Back then, there were boundaries around where black people lived 0:10:20.867 --> 0:10:22.867 and where they were allowed to move freely. 0:10:22.907 --> 0:10:23.548 In Myrtle Beach. 0:10:24.508 --> 0:10:27.227 This neighborhood was known as the Hill, made up of 0:10:27.348 --> 0:10:31.068 several streets including Carver Set, a few blocks back from 0:10:31.068 --> 0:10:34.068 the ocean. Miss Pat was born on the Hill in 0:10:34.147 --> 0:10:37.188 nineteen forty three. By the time she was two years old, 0:10:37.627 --> 0:10:41.628 her mother and two sisters died from tuberculosis. She was 0:10:41.708 --> 0:10:46.588 raised by her grandmother. They survived by knowing where to 0:10:46.627 --> 0:10:50.868 find cracks in the system. They existed between broken rules 0:10:50.907 --> 0:10:55.507 and abandoned materials. During this time of extreme segregation. Miss 0:10:55.588 --> 0:10:59.748 Pat's grandmother was resourceful. Black people weren't allowed to buy 0:10:59.828 --> 0:11:02.987 coal in town, so they collected fragments that fell off 0:11:03.028 --> 0:11:05.788 the coal train. They dug tar out of the street 0:11:05.828 --> 0:11:09.188 before it dried to patch their roof. They worked at 0:11:09.268 --> 0:11:10.468 night to avoid the police. 0:11:11.107 --> 0:11:12.348 Sure did the. 0:11:12.308 --> 0:11:14.828 First gasto of her family owned was fished out of 0:11:14.867 --> 0:11:16.788 the ocean after Hurricane Hazel. 0:11:16.828 --> 0:11:18.988 And raged it out for three weeks before we could 0:11:19.068 --> 0:11:19.868 put it together. 0:11:20.348 --> 0:11:24.188 They kept pigs, grew their own fruits and vegetables, sold corn, liquor, 0:11:24.348 --> 0:11:25.548 and did laundry for Taurus. 0:11:26.188 --> 0:11:28.907 Oh god, there's some nasty girls come to Murtle Beach. 0:11:29.028 --> 0:11:30.148 Oh my god. 0:11:31.028 --> 0:11:34.628 I wouldn't touch your clothes. I said, no, no, I 0:11:34.667 --> 0:11:39.188 don't want the germs clean your clothes. The girls, the 0:11:39.268 --> 0:11:42.788 mens was all right, but them, girl, Oh my god. 0:11:43.748 --> 0:11:46.428 She shared her vivid memories with me, revealing them as 0:11:46.508 --> 0:11:50.188 kind of a mental map. Geographically, her world was small, 0:11:50.627 --> 0:11:54.148 but the details she shared conveyed something much bigger. It 0:11:54.228 --> 0:11:56.548 helped me understand what the community on the Hill was 0:11:56.548 --> 0:11:59.828 made of and what it took for Miss Pat to survive, 0:12:00.907 --> 0:12:04.428 To live out an entire life here. It was almost 0:12:04.428 --> 0:12:09.307 freedom as long as she stayed in the lines. Outside 0:12:09.308 --> 0:12:12.548 the hill, Miss Pat was barely allowed to exist because 0:12:12.588 --> 0:12:16.708 outside the hill, she couldn't eat inside restaurants outside the hill, 0:12:17.068 --> 0:12:19.547 she couldn't wear shorts on the boardwalk along the ocean. 0:12:20.548 --> 0:12:23.428 Outside the hill, she couldn't step barefoot on the sand, 0:12:24.147 --> 0:12:25.748 let alone touch the water. 0:12:26.468 --> 0:12:29.747 Maryle Beech was a good place. If you stay in 0:12:29.788 --> 0:12:34.227 your place. I put it like that. You couldn't go 0:12:34.228 --> 0:12:37.107 into the ocean. We couldn't go in none of the water. 0:12:38.667 --> 0:12:41.508 Until the late nineteen sixties, it was forbidden for black 0:12:41.508 --> 0:12:43.628 people to swim in the ocean in Myrtle. 0:12:43.308 --> 0:12:46.348 Beach because they say the dirt would come off and 0:12:46.428 --> 0:12:50.867 go in the water. That's why we couldn't. We could 0:12:50.907 --> 0:12:56.788 daminate the water. But other than that, it was all right. 0:13:17.268 --> 0:13:22.028 I love family. My family was the biggest thing that 0:13:22.107 --> 0:13:22.868 ever happened to me. 0:13:23.627 --> 0:13:26.627 When Miss pat wasn't helping her grandmother, she was hanging 0:13:26.667 --> 0:13:28.387 out at her grandfather's barbershop. 0:13:28.788 --> 0:13:31.028 My granddaddy was something you didn't nobody ever had a 0:13:31.028 --> 0:13:34.548 granddaddy like mine. And he will call me to cut 0:13:34.588 --> 0:13:37.708 his hair and say if I cut him, to go shoot. 0:13:37.428 --> 0:13:39.068 Me and shoot. 0:13:39.147 --> 0:13:42.988 And showed me how to shoot the gun, the pistol 0:13:43.468 --> 0:13:47.228 and the shotgun. Howse were you fifteen? 0:13:48.428 --> 0:13:52.428 Everything happened in her grandfather's yard behind the barbershop. It's 0:13:52.468 --> 0:13:54.828 where she learned how to shoot a gun, how to 0:13:54.867 --> 0:13:58.867 shave her granddad's head with a street razor without cutting him, 0:13:59.107 --> 0:14:00.388 and where she learned how to. 0:14:00.387 --> 0:14:02.028 Dance and dance. 0:14:02.107 --> 0:14:06.988 Oh my god, we dance in the yard. We didn't 0:14:06.988 --> 0:14:10.507 worry about what went on outside, but we dance all 0:14:10.548 --> 0:14:13.348 we won't. I love the dance more than I need anything, 0:14:13.387 --> 0:14:19.827 Yet didn't Drake, didn't hang out? I dance. Anybody want 0:14:19.868 --> 0:14:20.268 to dance? 0:14:20.308 --> 0:14:20.948 All Ridney. 0:14:21.667 --> 0:14:23.948 When Miss Pat says we didn't worry about what went 0:14:23.988 --> 0:14:26.668 on on the outside, she means outside of the hill. 0:14:27.428 --> 0:14:30.988 That world didn't matter. What mattered was who she was 0:14:31.068 --> 0:14:33.708 on the hill, and on the hill, Miss Pat was 0:14:33.748 --> 0:14:35.868 known as one of the best dancers in Myrtle Beach. 0:14:36.628 --> 0:14:40.268 Dance was everything, and right on Carver, in the center 0:14:40.308 --> 0:14:42.788 of all the action was the best place to dance. 0:14:43.388 --> 0:14:53.748 Charlie Fitzgerald's nightclub, Charlie's Place. The insiders know that before 0:14:53.748 --> 0:14:57.348 it was Charlie's Place, everyone knew it as Whispering Pines. 0:14:58.308 --> 0:15:00.067 They called it that because of a legend. 0:15:02.308 --> 0:15:05.708 Once Billy Holliday and Count Basie came and played two 0:15:05.828 --> 0:15:10.308 nights in a row. The locals say, Billy Holliday's voice 0:15:10.508 --> 0:15:13.548 lingered like a whisper through those pine trees. 0:15:13.828 --> 0:15:16.947 And that's why they called it Prisburne Pines. Because the 0:15:17.188 --> 0:15:20.388 wind blow those trees was Oh my god, it was beautiful. 0:15:22.228 --> 0:15:26.268 Whispering Pines was run by a married couple, two black entrepreneurs, 0:15:26.588 --> 0:15:30.348 Charlie and Sarah Fitzgerald. According to the people who lived 0:15:30.348 --> 0:15:33.388 on the hill, Charlie and Sarah were forces of nature, 0:15:34.348 --> 0:15:37.148 two outsiders who came to town in nineteen thirty seven. 0:15:37.948 --> 0:15:41.028 When I asked people, where did Charlie come from? I 0:15:41.068 --> 0:15:43.588 thought it was a simple question with a simple answer. 0:15:44.108 --> 0:15:46.188 So I'm saving you from Georgia. I think Charley went 0:15:46.228 --> 0:15:49.988 from New York ghwere so I think he came from Jamaica, simplace. 0:15:49.628 --> 0:15:52.708 And he came from north Nobody knew exactly where. Nobody 0:15:52.788 --> 0:15:54.908 talked about where he came from. 0:15:54.988 --> 0:15:58.947 So yeah, not so simple. But wherever Sarah and Charlie 0:15:58.988 --> 0:16:01.988 came from, they ended up in Myrtle Beach. When they 0:16:02.068 --> 0:16:05.308 opened their club in nineteen thirty seven, it drew entertainers 0:16:05.308 --> 0:16:08.668 and visitors from all over the country. On Saturday night, 0:16:08.748 --> 0:16:12.628 carswood line, Carver Street, women emerged in evening gowns and 0:16:12.748 --> 0:16:17.268 men in white tuxes. The crowd felt enormous, and they 0:16:17.268 --> 0:16:20.428 were all there for the music, and not just any music. 0:16:20.907 --> 0:16:22.108 It was the best music. 0:16:29.988 --> 0:16:34.748 Oh yes, God, Ruth Brown, James Brown, Girl. I see 0:16:34.788 --> 0:16:35.948 so many people up in there. 0:16:36.228 --> 0:16:37.748 Bill Richard, you haven't heard of him? 0:16:37.948 --> 0:16:40.988 Oh my god. They don't talk about Wilson Pickett. They 0:16:40.988 --> 0:16:42.268 don't talk about him there. 0:16:42.148 --> 0:16:49.988 Right now from the country, Roy Hamilton, Johnny is my 0:16:50.068 --> 0:16:51.748 favorite to drift to, Fat. 0:16:51.708 --> 0:16:56.508 Diaminal's, Johnny Taylor, Rossi Clarke, Curtis Mayfield. 0:16:56.028 --> 0:16:57.068 The Impressions. 0:16:57.788 --> 0:17:00.388 Marvin Gable was here. Marbin Gare used to come to 0:17:00.428 --> 0:17:03.948 there the shop get his haircut. 0:17:04.308 --> 0:17:07.868 The last concert that I tend to hear with Otis Redding. 0:17:08.548 --> 0:17:11.667 We were having such a good time that the floor 0:17:11.748 --> 0:17:12.747 was really caving in. 0:17:12.788 --> 0:17:17.788 It was crowded, people from all over South Carolinas. Please. 0:17:18.948 --> 0:17:21.588 Charlie's Place or with Spring Pines, was a stop on 0:17:21.588 --> 0:17:24.708 the Chillin Circuit, safe venues for black entertainers in the 0:17:24.788 --> 0:17:29.188 Jim Crow South. These clubs and Duke Joints launched artists careers, 0:17:29.668 --> 0:17:33.868 and Charlie's Place contributed to that. I wanted to know 0:17:33.908 --> 0:17:36.628 what it felt like to be inside that history. Most 0:17:36.628 --> 0:17:39.348 people I interviewed, their memories are of a specific era 0:17:39.388 --> 0:17:42.388 at Charlie's Place. Maybe if you remember the late forties 0:17:42.668 --> 0:17:45.588 and a lot like miss Pat. Remember the fifties and sixties. 0:17:46.268 --> 0:17:48.148 I would have loved to be a fly on the wall. 0:17:48.708 --> 0:17:53.508 It was like stepping in another world. And they had 0:17:53.508 --> 0:17:57.308 these black and white squares on the floor. You had 0:17:57.388 --> 0:17:59.508 never seen nothing like that. All you see the wood flow, 0:18:00.468 --> 0:18:02.788 I mean, it was so pretty and so different. 0:18:04.028 --> 0:18:06.228 Charlie and Sarah kept tabs on the kids and let 0:18:06.268 --> 0:18:08.668 them in to dance while the acts warmed up. As 0:18:08.708 --> 0:18:10.708 long as you were out of there by nine point thirty. 0:18:11.348 --> 0:18:13.748 Miss Pat took advantage of that. She put on a 0:18:13.828 --> 0:18:16.228 dress and went to see all the artists who came through. 0:18:16.708 --> 0:18:19.948 You couldn't wear no pants, no slacks at all, and 0:18:20.028 --> 0:18:21.708 my oldest sister went out the slacks on it. 0:18:21.748 --> 0:18:24.948 He marched or red bag home. That's right, and you 0:18:24.988 --> 0:18:27.508 had to be out of there by nine thirty. He 0:18:27.748 --> 0:18:29.708 just was strict when he come down to children. He 0:18:29.708 --> 0:18:31.868 didn't allow children to be in grown people company. 0:18:32.788 --> 0:18:34.748 The more time I spent in Myrtle Beach, the more 0:18:34.748 --> 0:18:37.428 people turned up with something to share about Charlie's place. 0:18:38.308 --> 0:18:40.748 The club isn't there anymore, but I heard many stories 0:18:40.788 --> 0:18:43.708 about what it looked like inside. I'd sketch as I 0:18:43.748 --> 0:18:45.868 listened and tried to capture it in as much detail 0:18:45.868 --> 0:18:50.707 as possible, piece together from people's distant memories. Roddy Brown's 0:18:50.708 --> 0:18:54.667 family ran Club Bamboo next door to Charlie's place. He says, 0:18:54.788 --> 0:18:56.667 Charlie's Place was always packed. 0:18:57.108 --> 0:19:00.868 Okay, you got it a huge building here, and you 0:19:00.908 --> 0:19:05.188 could see maybe fifteen hundred people in here. 0:19:05.828 --> 0:19:09.828 Fifteen hundred, that's a thousand, five hundred. See that. 0:19:10.348 --> 0:19:12.948 We have no need to get some un daddy pictures 0:19:12.988 --> 0:19:15.628 because there got to be some pictures of Charlie's there. 0:19:15.708 --> 0:19:18.427 There aren't any other than that bar in pictures. 0:19:18.548 --> 0:19:18.748 No. 0:19:20.268 --> 0:19:22.708 What I can gather is when you stepped inside, there 0:19:22.748 --> 0:19:25.348 was a big bar in front, and towards the back 0:19:25.548 --> 0:19:28.308 there were a set of folding tables and chairs. They 0:19:28.348 --> 0:19:30.988 were in clear view of the front door. Miss Pat 0:19:30.988 --> 0:19:34.028 says she always found her dad there with his girlfriends. 0:19:34.348 --> 0:19:36.508 If his wife walked in the door, he'd have time 0:19:36.548 --> 0:19:38.868 to spot her and move the girlfriend out of you. 0:19:39.468 --> 0:19:41.948 I didn't care what he did, as long as he'd 0:19:41.948 --> 0:19:45.188 bothered me. I didn't like my daddy too goood. 0:19:45.588 --> 0:19:49.348 Further behind the tables was Charlie's back room. As a kid, 0:19:49.468 --> 0:19:51.828 you'd be in trouble if Charlie caught you trying to 0:19:51.868 --> 0:19:52.788 sneak in there. 0:19:52.948 --> 0:19:55.868 But you're never allowed to go in that back room. Well, 0:19:55.908 --> 0:19:59.628 missus Charlie would let you know, I'll get you tomorrow 0:19:59.628 --> 0:20:00.707 if I don't get you today. 0:20:01.308 --> 0:20:04.028 Miss pat says that didn't stop kids trying to get 0:20:04.028 --> 0:20:06.667 back there to rob him. That's where the money was 0:20:07.148 --> 0:20:10.268 in the back room, or the grown up scambled. On 0:20:10.348 --> 0:20:13.788 the right side was a patio. That's where the musicians performed. 0:20:14.388 --> 0:20:17.268 It was sort of a makeshift enclosure made from old 0:20:17.308 --> 0:20:20.308 signs and a big green canvas curtain, so you couldn't 0:20:20.348 --> 0:20:21.907 watch the music from outside. 0:20:22.348 --> 0:20:23.907 I used to listen in my bed. 0:20:24.348 --> 0:20:27.068 I used to slip out of my bed to slip 0:20:27.108 --> 0:20:29.628 round the Charlie's and see the performance. 0:20:30.228 --> 0:20:31.348 That was twelve years old. 0:20:32.068 --> 0:20:34.508 Roddy and his friends climbed the trees outside to try 0:20:34.508 --> 0:20:37.628 to catch a glimpse of the performers. Of course, Charlie, 0:20:37.708 --> 0:20:40.228 the man of mystery, didn't make it easy for him. 0:20:40.548 --> 0:20:45.668 He had curtains, big military curtains to block off the view. 0:20:46.108 --> 0:20:48.908 Big I don't know where Childy got those curtains. Those 0:20:48.948 --> 0:20:51.548 things were so big you'd take a whole day to 0:20:51.588 --> 0:20:52.108 put them up. 0:20:54.948 --> 0:20:59.228 Everything happened at Charlie's place. The dancing, the music, yes, 0:20:59.708 --> 0:21:01.508 but it was also a place where people came to 0:21:01.508 --> 0:21:04.268 blow off steam, and that could look like a lot 0:21:04.268 --> 0:21:08.828 of things. Roddy remembers being there in the daytime and 0:21:08.868 --> 0:21:13.268 seeing something that would stick with him. In broad daylight 0:21:13.588 --> 0:21:16.947 in Charlie's club, Roddy saw a man get shot right 0:21:16.988 --> 0:21:20.028 in front of him, he said, a guy he knew 0:21:20.108 --> 0:21:23.868 named Nathan pulled the trigger. As Roddy puts it, he 0:21:23.948 --> 0:21:25.748 witnessed an almost killing. 0:21:25.988 --> 0:21:29.268 Yeah, yeah, yeah, Trevor is looking at it, almost to 0:21:29.388 --> 0:21:30.428 killing all kinds. 0:21:31.228 --> 0:21:32.428 We were so terrified. You. 0:21:32.988 --> 0:21:35.947 So this was during the day, these guys getting drunk, 0:21:36.548 --> 0:21:40.427 getting ready for the dance and starting some foolishness. Charlie 0:21:40.428 --> 0:21:42.348 came up to the board, Nathan put that good up, 0:21:43.828 --> 0:21:45.388 a better cussin and all that. 0:21:45.428 --> 0:21:47.948 But it was a time. You see, we were listening. 0:21:48.028 --> 0:21:49.268 We're living in an age. 0:21:49.668 --> 0:21:55.228 It's totally different from this atmosphere, totally cardval and the 0:21:55.268 --> 0:21:57.428 sin City. 0:21:58.228 --> 0:22:03.148 But Charlie was prepared for anything. He always carried two pistols. 0:22:03.628 --> 0:22:11.348 Everyone knew they were there under his coat. If the 0:22:11.428 --> 0:22:14.148 hell was one big family, Charlie and Sarah were the 0:22:14.228 --> 0:22:17.388 matriarch and patriarch to many who lived there. They were 0:22:17.428 --> 0:22:20.548 miss Pat's neighbors and they looked out for her and missus. 0:22:20.588 --> 0:22:23.308 Charlie is a good looking man. He is real told 0:22:23.428 --> 0:22:26.228 and his wife was kind of halfway short, and she 0:22:26.308 --> 0:22:29.227 had real curly hair, but she was so pretty and 0:22:29.268 --> 0:22:31.148 she would make hot dog the best hot dog he 0:22:31.188 --> 0:22:32.148 ever had on her beach. 0:22:33.268 --> 0:22:35.748 The Fitzgerald's also owned a motel next to the club. 0:22:36.268 --> 0:22:39.348 The building bent around in a horseshoe. In the center 0:22:39.388 --> 0:22:41.948 of the horseshoe was a house where the FitzGeralds lived. 0:22:42.468 --> 0:22:44.988 They ran a supper club out of it and sometimes 0:22:45.108 --> 0:22:47.388 invited the kids in for hot dogs and candy. 0:22:47.828 --> 0:22:48.908 Charlie was a good man. 0:22:49.548 --> 0:22:51.748 Charlie made sure Miss pat got her share. 0:22:52.668 --> 0:22:57.108 What he said, he meant it, and he said, Patrician, 0:22:57.428 --> 0:23:00.227 I was real skinny. He said, if you don't get 0:23:00.268 --> 0:23:01.828 in here and get the candy on the candy. If 0:23:01.828 --> 0:23:03.668 you go and you too little, let him take all 0:23:03.708 --> 0:23:06.268 the candy. And Miss Sarah will give me my hot 0:23:06.308 --> 0:23:08.748 dog first so I can gain weight. My other sister 0:23:08.868 --> 0:23:12.187 was big and I was little skinny. But there was 0:23:12.228 --> 0:23:13.148 a nice people. 0:23:13.708 --> 0:23:16.708 They were kind, but they were more than that, they 0:23:16.708 --> 0:23:18.788 had standards everyone learned to maintain. 0:23:19.188 --> 0:23:20.588 And Miss Sarah was a sweetheart. 0:23:20.708 --> 0:23:24.427 She was a pretty goodman, but she was very strict. 0:23:24.948 --> 0:23:26.828 You didn't go in her house any kind of where 0:23:26.868 --> 0:23:28.228 you come through the side. 0:23:28.948 --> 0:23:29.708 Ms Pat says. 0:23:29.708 --> 0:23:33.068 The FitzGeralds were big on education. Before there was an 0:23:33.148 --> 0:23:36.308 integrated school in Myrtle Beach, the kids on the hill 0:23:36.388 --> 0:23:39.868 had to ride a bus to Conway, fourteen miles away, 0:23:40.548 --> 0:23:42.388 and they never knew when it was going to come, 0:23:42.988 --> 0:23:45.268 and when it did it got stuck on a hill 0:23:45.308 --> 0:23:48.148 heading out of town. The bus would start to roll 0:23:48.228 --> 0:23:51.388 backwards and the kids would have to jump out and push. 0:23:51.148 --> 0:23:53.348 It over every time. 0:23:54.428 --> 0:23:56.947 But Sarah made sure Miss Pat got to school. 0:23:57.268 --> 0:23:59.508 And we missed that school bus. She a fuss all 0:23:59.548 --> 0:24:03.108 the way to come away fourteen miles. Why did you 0:24:03.148 --> 0:24:05.268 miss the school bus or the bus too early? 0:24:05.348 --> 0:24:06.228 Or was you lazy? 0:24:06.788 --> 0:24:07.588 You couldn't get up? 0:24:07.628 --> 0:24:10.068 What was the problem? 0:24:10.388 --> 0:24:13.508 Oh, my god, as long as you wasn't involved in 0:24:13.628 --> 0:24:16.628 it doing wrong, she would take it to school and 0:24:16.668 --> 0:24:20.588 wouldn't see nothing. But if it's your fault you didn't 0:24:20.588 --> 0:24:22.388 get up on time? Oh when did you first? 0:24:22.428 --> 0:24:22.988 The whole time? 0:24:23.868 --> 0:24:23.988 Uh? 0:24:24.068 --> 0:24:24.268 Huh? 0:24:24.268 --> 0:24:25.948 And takes your breakfast. 0:24:26.508 --> 0:24:29.148 That sounds brutal, but also very loving. 0:24:29.588 --> 0:24:30.508 It is she was. 0:24:31.388 --> 0:24:33.108