CREDIT: All S Buckley / Depositphotos.com
ICON
relative of
Mary Wilson's,
joined the Revue
as a comedian.
One day he walked
into a restaurant
and politely asked
the waitress for a
ham and egg
sandwich. The waitress
replied, “I'm sorry, but
we don't serve niggers.”
His quick-witted reply
was, “That's good, 'cause I
don't eat 'em!”
Generally speaking, in most
theatres, audiences were
segregated with blacks relegated
to balconies and whites in the
stalls. A theatre in Macon hosted
a Coloured-Folks Night, which meant that
for just one evening only blacks were allowed in the
stalls while whites were restricted
to the balcony. Such occasions,
however, were rare. If a venue did
not have balconies a rope was hung
from centre stage, down the aisle
and right to the back of the theatre;
it was blacks on one side, whites on
the other. During these shows,
Diana often rebelled, standing at
the centre of the stage with her feet
planted at the point where the rope
began. As she sang, she looked
strai v