Speaker 1: Pushkin music, dance lyrics. The creation of it, more than
Speaker 1: any judge's gabble, brought the races together.
Speaker 2: In the nineteen thirties, forties and fifties, segregation was the law,
Speaker 2: but one mysterious black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his
Speaker 2: own rules. Segregation in the day, integration that night.
Speaker 1: And dance, Oh my god.
Speaker 3: We didn't worry about what went on outside.
Speaker 1: It was like stiffing in another world.
Speaker 2: Inside Charlie's place, black and white people could listen to
Speaker 2: music and dance together.
Speaker 3: Girl, I've see so many people up in there.
Speaker 2: It was grown and people from all over South Carolinas
Speaker 2: are jolly fish, sure please. Charlie's was on the Chitlin
Speaker 2: Circuit where black artists could perform in the South.
Speaker 3: Heard of him. Oh yees, God, Ruth Brown, j Brown,
Speaker 3: Curtis Mayfield, you're drifted with Otis Red. At Domino, we
Speaker 3: had as many whites as we had blacks when they
Speaker 3: had a.
Speaker 2: Band, but not everyone was happy about it.
Speaker 1: But there was a lot of shooting. Peoples running there
Speaker 1: in through the building and the shot and you know,
Speaker 1: they're just chaos.
Speaker 2: During that time, they was, you know, looking for Charlie
Speaker 2: and you saw the KKK.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they was dressed up in their uniform.
Speaker 3: The KKK set out to ray Charlie, take him away
Speaker 3: from here. He wanted people to unite and some just
Speaker 3: did not want that.
Speaker 2: Everyone was paying close attention to the things Charlie did.
Speaker 2: But did anyone know who Charlie really was?
Speaker 1: I think he came from Jamaica, someplace.
Speaker 2: I'm saving you from Georgia.
Speaker 1: They came from north Nobody knew exactly where. Nobody talked
Speaker 1: about where he came from. A lot of people knew him,
Speaker 1: but didn't really know him. He was using another name.
Speaker 1: Where he found out Charlie was big question mark.
Speaker 2: Was he a businessman, a showman, a criminal, a hero?
Speaker 2: Charlie was an example, a power.
Speaker 1: They had to crush you.
Speaker 2: Charlie's Place a nightclub that defied segregation, A man who
Speaker 2: became a legend, A story that was nearly lost to
Speaker 2: time until now. A five part series from Atlas Obscura
Speaker 2: and Rococo Punch in partnership with Pushkin Industries and presented
Speaker 2: by Visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's Place on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast
Speaker 2: binge the entire season of Charlie's Place ad free by
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Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts, or pushkin dot fm, slash Plus. Pushkin
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