Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp Page #5

that I was, um...

I was four months-

around four months pregnant.

I said,

you've got to be lying.

And he said, no.

And then I started crying,

and bob came in.

He said, what's the matter?

I said, didn't they tell you

what's wrong with me?

And he said, yeah.

I said, and who's gonna

help take care of me?

And he said, I am.

So he took me

over to the apartment

Where he was living

with his mother.

She married a man

that worked for the railroad.

His name was beck.

That's why bob took beck

as a last name.

When he brought me in there,

Then of course immediately

The wheels started turning

in her mind,

And she would go back

And she would say, baby,

you get away from him.

Bobby's no good.

He's my son.

I love him.

He's no good.

And I asked him

what was she talking about?

He said, I'll tell you,

But now's not the time.

She was an old woman,

And she died,

And I have never

in my life

Seen anybody suffer

the way he did

The day his mama died.

In June I had robin,

And then 15 months later,

I had camille.

We were so broke,

so he started exterminating.

He said, I don't know

how to do anything.

He figured that was

the only thing that he could do

Without going back

into the life.

All he wanted was me

And the children sometimes.

They were totally

my responsibility.

- She was, like,

the head of the house.

She was the person

that gave discipline.

She was the person

who made meals, rules.

- Anytime the children

did something wrong, honey.

Or I'm gonna tell mommy

And all this kind of crap.

He was a great dad.

I mean,

he could have been better,

But we could all be better

than what we are.

From what he came from

And to what

he was trying to do,

He didn't have

any experience with kids,

And then suddenly

he has four

And three are girls.

That's-

Three of them are girls,

And he was in a position

his entire life

Of putting his boot

in the back

Of every single female

that he came across.

- My dad used to say

it was a curse.

This must be

my sentence before death,

The three of you.

When we were younger,

They lived on

90th and crenshaw

In a black neighborhood,

And someone threw a brick

at melody when she was four.

It hit her in the head.

She's, like, a four-year-old

baby playing.

I think that that scene

in his mind

Kind of set the stage

for, wow.

I've got these mixed kids,

This white woman,

And people are angry.

- It took 14,000 troops

to bring an end

To what both negro

and white leaders called

Insurrection by hoodlums.

- When they had

that terrible riot,

It was bad.

He told me to keep

the children in a bedroom

And keep that bedroom locked

And I wasn't

to come out of that bedroom

Until I heard his voice.

'cause he was scared

to death

Something was gonna happen.

He said, you have to realize

I ain't never, ever

gonna be accepted

In the white world,

And we'll never

be able to live

Anywhere except on

the outskirts of the ghetto,

Where there's

a mixture of people.

The census takers,

They don't even count

people in the underworld.

That's what

I liked about it.

You see?

I didn't have

to be bruised and wounded

In my efforts

to make a living

By coming in contact

with white society.

I was never reminded

that I was a n*gger.

All day long,

He would go and kill

those roaches and rats

And sh*t like that.

He would come in

nasty and sweaty and...

He hated it.

Even then, though,

This man could not get up

and go out in the streets

Without putting on

a pair of dress pants

And a dress shirt

and a goddamn hat.

When he got home

from canvassing,

As he called it,

to find other jobs,

He'd want to talk.

And he would tell me

these outrageous things

And I said, a woman would

go out and sell herself

And give the money to a man?

I said, you're out

of your goddamn mind.

And then he would talk about

the different experiences

That he would have.

I said, you know what?

Give me a note pad.

You start talking to me,

And I'll start

writing it down.

And I did.

After I put

the children to bed,

It was in there.

And then he'd say,

You think you can get

any typing done tonight?

And 12:
00, 12:30, I'd go out

and turn that typewriter on.

- She could type

160, 170 words a minute.

- And he was really

animated.

- Yeah.

- And excited.

- And he would act out

the whole book right there.

- He would be telling me

what to write down,

And I'm sitting in a chair

and I'm writing,

And he's standing-

do you-

And all up in my face.

He was a consummate actor

absolutely.

- She could put

this thing together

And act it out with him.

It was

an amazing experience.

I wish that all of you

could have seen it.

- We could finish

each other's sentences.

His stories, they were

so fascinating to me.

I felt that if they were

that fascinating to me,

They obviously

were going to be fascinating

To more than

a million people.

I had seen the ad

in the sentinel,

The black newspaper

for los angeles.

Holloway house

was running a little ad

For black writers.

At that time,

There was no venue

For a talented

young black author period.

- When you're attached to

something like holloway house,

It's such an iconic place

Because of the fact

that they are the doorway

For so many

unique american voices

Like joseph nazel,

donald goines,

And odie hawkins.

Bentley morriss I think

Should be considered

a pioneer in one sense

But a drag in another.

- Bentley is this really

epic personality.

He was interested

in a trajectory

That kept him

under the radar

Of fabulous success.

- Holloway house

first came into being in 1961.

We felt that

we could...Not compete,

But at least be a part

of the world of publication.

Now, we're not hardcover.

We're paperback,

Which is the low ring

of publishing.

- It was

a third-tier publisher,

Which would,

at that point in time

Lock you out,

freeze you out

Of the new york

literary scene.

- I thought

he did a lousy job

Bringing out books

with lousy covers.

He did almost nothing

to promote the books.

They were almost sold

by word of mouth.

- They were sold in drugstores

and newsstands.

That's how you find

your holloway house books.

- They didn't want

to call their books

African-american books.

They wanted to call them

books from the black experience.

- Bentley is not a racist

in any kind of way.

If they could find a way

That you could make money

for them,

They didn't care

who you were.

They were willing

to exploit anyone

Who could make money

for them.

We were not proselytizers.

We weren't

socially inclined.

We were in the business

to make money.

But with it

was the additional caveat

Of you're doing

something good.

You're doing

something important.

And, hey, you know,

that's a great formula.

- I asked bob

why he didn't find out

What these people required

And let's see

if it's sellable.

Because if it's sellable,

Then we're setting here

struggling like this

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