Black History Month was hard. There were people I considered writing about but for a couple of reasons couldn’t or didn’t have enough time or Name Something.

I considered Bunny Wailer – whom I didn’t realize is practically Bob Marley’s brother– they stayed together as kids, Bunny’s dad fathered a kid with Bob’s mom. But a lot of what I was reading indicated Bunny is a bit of a recluse and could have been one of the reasons Bob and Peter Tosh went solo since Bunny wasn’t trying to leave the islands. Right now as far as surviving members of the band he’s the last man standing.

Florence Ballard came up, too. She’s one of the founding members of The Supremes, but her story is so tragic it even depressed me. Would make a good movie though.

Berry Gordy was so hard up for Diana Ross (and thought her voice would appeal better to white audiences) he railroaded Mary Wells and Ballard who was apparently a much stronger singer than Ross. Early in her career with the Supremes she was physically assaulted by a dude she thought she knew. She was never the same after that. This coupled with her being relegated to being Ross’s back up singer as opposed to member of a group, she was eventually asked by Gordy to leave the group which she did. And for years struggled with a solo career before giving up on music altogether. She ended up on Welfare and eventually died of a blood clot.

I doubt seriously I’d ever do a profile of Ross– but I may eventually give in if I keep up this blog over the years. And after learning about this and Gordy’s opinion of Marvin Gaye’s work on What’s Going On I may never seriously look at Berry Gordy either. A solid business man, yeah, but he doesn’t yet come off as someone I’d like to know. Feel me?

The man emblazoned on your Creme of Wheat box has a name. Its not Rastas– one of the holy trinity of black slavery throwback icons– but Frank L White. White was born in Barbados in 1867. He came to this country in 1875 and became a citizen in 1890. White worked as a professional chef in Chicago and was apparently photographed in 1900 in full chef’s gear for an advertisement which was reused by the folks at Creme of Wheat. Depending on which story you heard or believe he was either paid Nothing or Five Dollars. White lived in Leslie, Michigan and that was where he died in 1938. I looked around and couldn’t turn up any other information about him– there’s no word on what kind of family life he had, exactly where his restaurant was, whether he was married, Nuthin.

Well, there is ONE thing.

As mentioned he died in 1938. But his grave was unmarked until 2007.

Finally, there’s Willie Tyler and Lester

“You get in front of the mirror and try to talk without moving your lips,” He said. “It was frustrating, but I kept doing it. After delivering papers, I would come home and rehearse. Finally it happened several years later.”

IT would be the start of a career that, I daringly say, will never happen again. Not from another African American artist. I don’t see it.

But Willie Tyler and Lester were the most unique comedy team in history.

Willie Tyler was born in September, 1940 in Red Level, Alabama.

At about 10, he saw an advertisement promoting a correspondence course on ventriliquism and began practicing with a figure he painted brown. When Tyler was 13, he purchased his first nameless ventriloquist figure. He christened it Lester after a classmate who the figure resembled, adding glasses and an Afro.

“He came in three sizes,” Tyler said. “I had the small one. Then I got the medium one and when I started performing with Motown, I had to get the big one. That’s the Lester that you see today. This one has been around 30 years.”

Tyler joined the Air Force where he continued practicing. But the time of his discharge he signed with Motown and toured with pretty much every Motown act active in the 1970’s.

Tyler is the father of actor Cory Tyler who’s doing pretty well for himself.

Willie Tyler & Lester are both still alive and well and available for your next special event.