Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp Page #8

these hookers into the house.

- Well, they were

his assistants.

- They were, like,

supposed to be assistants-

Or publicists.

- But there was a lot of

traffic between the rooms.

- I'd have to say 150%

that is not true.

My mom was psychotic.

There is no way-

I mean, yeah,

he had sex with other women,

But making money

off of them?

Mm-mmm. Reformed.

Airtight willie & me,

A collection

of short stories,

Is his last book to be

published by holloway house

In 1979.

- For each one

of those books,

We were getting advances

from bentley.

And then royalties

And bentley would pay whatever

he wanted to on royalties.

- Well, the royalty statements

of holloway house

Are really comical because

you know that they're a farce

And they have no bearing

to any kind of reality.

I'm happy when my, you know,

when my beer money comes

In the form

of my royalty check.

- Well, we were

a small house.

We had very modest

type of financing.

We'd lay it on the line

to the author,

This is what we pay,

And if you can live with it,

We'll become partners.

It was never that an author

was working for holloway.

It was always a partnership.

- How many authors did not

take you up on your offer?

None.

- There's a story

told about bentley

Where one of his writers

goes to him.

Listen, I know

you're cheating me

And you need

to pay me more.

And bentley

sat behind his desk

Got up,

walked to his window,

Looked down at the street,

down at melrose below

At the cars going by

And saying, you see

that street out there?

Yes.

You know, there are scores

of writers down there.

I could throw a rock

down there

And kill 20 writers.

I don't need you,

you know.

If you want to continue

to be published by me,

You shut the f*** up

and take what I give you.

He sent me down there

When bentley

had to be motherfucked

'cause bentley wouldn't send

the goddamn royalty checks out.

- Then he started

looking at the breakdown sheets

And he was, like,

they sold?

But the checks don't add up.

- Don't reflect it.

- Don't add up to the numbers

of books that are sold.

- They always received

the amount of money

That they should

have received.

We did an honest job.

We never took advantage

of our authors

Because they were,

in effect,

Our bread and butter.

Holloway would receive

many calls

For personal appearances,

book signings, and so on,

And we would take advantage

of every one

Because it was additional

promotion and merchandising.

- He was definitely

out of the house a lot

When the books

started taking off.

That was the distance

between my parents

Was him just kind of off,

You know, becoming,

you know, this writer.

Actually a pimp again,

is what she would say.

You know,

he's back out there

And then she's left at home

with four kids.

She was unhappy,

And that made for

an unhappy union.

- You have no idea

what it was like.

I had four kids to feed,

Wash clothes,

house to clean,

Typing to do,

And he's been diagnosed

with diabetes,

So I've got that trauma

Taking care of him.

My mom was drinking a lot,

And really sad and depressed

With my dad's philandering

around town and things.

I believe

a lot of depression set in

During that time, too.

- He should have been

better to me.

However,

he wasn't mean to me.

And I was the one that

always started the arguments,

And when they got

really heated,

He was the one

that would leave the house.

- My mother used to call

my father a god

When they were arguing.

She would say you're god,

so you must know everything.

And it wasn't

a term of endearment.

She did want a little bit

of the limelight

And kind of wanted

to travel

And do things with him.

She probably wanted more of

a celebration with our lives

As far as just, like,

Now we have, like,

you know, a nice house,

And it only made him

more distant.

He was a total loner.

The only one that he had

That came

on a consistent basis

Was r.G. Armstrong.

And he and r.G.

Used to sit in there

And write movie scripts.

I said, bob, why aren't you

writing a novel?

You haven't written a damn thing

since we've been in the house.

Why aren't you writing?

How many more times

I have to go up there

And motherfuck that jew

And make him give me

some more money

To feed these children?

And then I got

a part time job.

And then he quit writing

altogether.

And I told him,

I said, uh-uh. No, baby.

We ain't pimping me,

all right?

I never paid a man's rent

in my life,

And I goddamn sure

don't intend

To start paying yours now.

You either do

what you know how to do,

And let's get some money

rolling in here,

Or you lay here

on your dead ass

And I'm moving out

with my children.

And I did.

- He didn't want to leave

his family.

That's all he had.

That's all he worked for

was us.

- Yeah, I think my mom-

- he didn't just do that-

Hold on. Hold on.

- I think she's the one

that wanted to leave town.

- He didn't do that sh*t

for any other reason

But for his kids

and his woman.

Mm-hmm.

- And he had to leave

because of her,

Because she was crazy

and she was out of her mind.

- My father didn't know how

to be in a relationship,

Whether it's with a woman,

with a buddy,

I mean,

certainly not children.

- I still

have not been able

To unearth what it was,

But there was some need

that he had for me

That just crushed him

when I left.

'cause he didn't think

I was gonna do it.

He just did not believe

that I would leave him.

Toward the latter years,

He was living

in a one-room efficiency

Over at 48th and crenshaw.

The sugar diabetes

had taken its toll,

And he was married

at that time

To another woman.

After I read death wish,

I wrote him a letter

thanking him for writing it

And I never expected

a response.

Oh, I had put

my phone number in the letter,

And a couple weeks later

he called

And we just started talking.

- But he only let her

come by and visit.

We was more in isolation,

Almost in seclusion.

- I think his health

was really deteriorating,

And it was happening

for some time,

I wanna say

a good six years

Where he was

going through dialysis.

Once your body

is failing on you,

That pretty much takes away

from your creativity.

But, you know,

he really did

Care about what

was going on in the world.

It was really important,

world events.

It was really important

that we had the tools

To enter whatever

was happening in the world.

- You have to have

a realization

That when you exploit

your own kind,

That you are in effect

counter-revolutionary.

That you are hobbling

and crippling

The struggle

of black people,

Of freedom and dignity.

- He was my god.

Are you kidding me?

I knew

that he knew sh*t

That people...Don't know.

Don't know,

would never figure out,

Or even try.

Because they didn't have to.

Because they had

a support system,

Something that he never had.

I mean, when

I got arrested that time-

That was the only time

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes