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  1. Feb 22, 2021 · The United States vs. Billie Holiday true story reveals that the song "Strange Fruit" was not written by Holiday. It originated from a 1937 poem written by Jewish-American songwriter and teacher Abel Meeropol, a member of the American Communist Party, a fact that manager Joe Glaser points out in the movie. The poem, originally titled "Bitter ...

    • “Strange Fruit”
    • Café Society
    • Harry Anslinger’s War on Drugs
    • The United States vs. Billie Holiday
    • Billie’s Comeback
    • Holiday’s Death and Legacy

    The movie starts with a graphic photo of white people attacking a Black victim, with overlay text noting that in 1937, an anti-lynching bill was considered in the Senate, though it ultimately didn’t pass. This is true: A bill was introduced in the chamber early that year but was filibustered out of further consideration, although a version of the b...

    Billie Holiday (Andra Day), accompanied by her stylist Miss Freddy (Miss Lawrence), sits down for an interview with radio journalist Reginald Lord Devine (Leslie Jordan). Neither of these two characters are real, though Daniels told Variety that Devine was based on “a fusion of Quentin Crisp and Skip E. Lowe.” Devine sets up a flashback to February...

    This newspaper does serve as an introduction to another major figure: Harry J. Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), then head of the Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics and one of the primary leaders of the government’s effort to stifle Holiday. Despite President Harry Truman’s tepid steps toward advancing civil rights for Black Americans, ra...

    According to Holiday herself, she really was forced off the stage after singing “Strange Fruit” at Philadelphia’s Earle Theater in May 1947, despite having received a rapturous welcome at first. The next scenes are somewhat fudged: The movie depicts Holiday at Joe Guy’s New York apartment the day after the performance, where she’s apprehended by a ...

    Holiday serves about a year at the prison before being let out early, by March 1948, for good behavior. After her release, her new manager Ed Fishman (Alain Goulem) wants to get her headlining Carnegie Hall. The effort goes through and the prestigious venue sells out, priming the path for Holiday’s comeback. While at the hall, someone yells for her...

    Billie Holiday comes down with cirrhosis of the liver and is hospitalized. As is seen in the movie, the feds tailed her even while she was in this condition, planting drugs in her room and attempting to get her to name her dealer. She was handcuffed to her bed, and law enforcement kept a tight watch over her quarters, even as fans gathered outside ...

    • Nitish Pahwa
  2. Apr 23, 2021 · The Infuriating True Story Behind. The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday was a survivor—of racism, of misogyny, of sexual assault, of a government witch hunt ...

    • 4 min
    • Natalie Finn
  3. Apr 21, 2021 · Hulu’s Oscar-nominated The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a fictionalized take on the life of the legendary jazz singer, played in the film by “Rise Up” singer and (now Academy Award ...

    • Hulu
  4. Feb 26, 2021 · The United States vs. Billie Holiday depicts the FBI chasing Holiday for her drug use and locking her away on narcotics charges as a roundabout way to suppress her musical activism. And that may ...

    • Hulu
    • 3 min
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  6. Feb 27, 2021 · Published Feb 27, 2021. Just how true is the story of Billie Holiday's battle with the government in the 1940s and '50s? Director Lee Daniels is back after a seven-year feature film hiatus with a ...

  7. Mar 3, 2021 · Published Mar 3, 2021. Billie Holiday was one of the foundational jazz and swing singers of the early 20th century, and the new Hulu film draws on her rich, true story. The titular character of The United States vs. Billie Holiday was among the most influential jazz musicians of her era, and this recent biopic streaming on Hulu captures the at ...

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