When I initially conjured images for The Seven Second Kiss one thing that came up right at the beginning was that there would be a black musician who played the saxophone, that he would be older and more sophisticated than the young white woman, and that they would have a relationship. As it turned out Jordan Cropper is not much older than Connie, nor is he very sophisticated. He does, however, play a mean saxophone.
In my initial imagining I had Connie very briefly work in a night club washing dishes before she got hired to sing in a band, which she then went touring with to Atlantic City, Miami, Chicago, and other places in the United States. In the course of that she would experience drug addiction, violent crime, egregious racism, and other sleazy and nasty things.
The story turned out quite differently as she remained in New York City throughout the story. If the book ever finds an audience, I have ideas for a sequel that will involve the elements that were eliminated or reduced from the story. As well since Connie is seventeen in 1934 her life could well extend to the nineteen-nineties over a series of stories. One thing at a time.
One of the inspirations for the depiction of black people in this story was Buck and Bubbles and their appearance in the Danny Kaye movie, A Song is Born. They were also in the Dick Powell movie, Varsity Show. Each time they played janitors who happened to be, as it turned out, very talented musicians and dancers.
Watching the way black people were depicted in movies in those times is downright embarrassing now. "Beulah, peel me a grape." Please! "Feets, don't fail me now." Come on! So, to some degree, I wanted to be a little more realistic. I would like it if some black people were to read my book and tell me whether I succeeded or not.
I couldn't ignore the fact that in the nineteen thirties black people tended to be socially disadvantaged in terms of education and employment, never mind the discrimination. But just because a person is socially disadvantaged that doesn't mean they're stupid or ignorant. I wanted that point to come across very pointedly.
This is the first story I've made available as an e-book. It isn't the first one I've written. I think I have nine others. They need work to get out there otherwise I'd publish all of them today. As has been the case with the other stories I've written the characters I "create" take on a life all their own.
There's Jim. He's named Jim Baskett after the actor who played Uncle Remus in Disney's Song of the South. I love that movie and the book that came out based on it. Jim started out with Uncle Remus in mind but he changed very quickly. For one thing he has a fairly tragic back story.
After Jim, there's Mae Madison, and her best forever friend, Emma. Mae is fiery and feisty. She fearlessly speaks her mind and takes no prisoners. Emma is a softie by comparison but she isn't prone to backing down from anything either. Of the two Mae is the realist and Emma is the dreamer.
There are many black people involved in the story. One other minor character I'd like to mention here is Alva, the stage manager of the Apollo. She is a woman who probably didn't exist in the nineteen-thirties. I based her on the kind of black women in the nineteen-sixties and seventies who very much personified, "black is beautiful." Alva completely and unapologetically embraced who and what she was.
That's a bit of what went into my depiction of black people in The Seven Second Kiss. Was I accurate? Was I fair? I don't really know. I did the best I could do for the story I wanted to tell. I doubt very much that I was accurate. I hope I was fair.
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