In July of 2000, open ended interviews were given to Jimmie Lee Robinson and Frank 'Little Sonny' Scott Jr. to document the link between Blues music on Maxwell Street in the 1940s and the area where the remaining buildings are on Maxwell Street and on Halsted Street.

After the interviews were initially transcribed, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Scott were asked to listen to the transcription and make corrections. Although Mr. Robinson and Mr. Scott played together with Freddie King in the 1950s with the Every Hour Blues Boys, they did not play together on Maxwell Street in the 1940s. So, I interviewed them separately on this era. -- Steve Balkin, July 19, 2000

July 14, 2000

by Jimmie Lee Robinson, 773-778-1476, <http://www.jimmieleerobinson.com/>

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Leavitts was a place down there by Maxwell and Halsted. It was a restaurant, a kosher restaurant and a liquor bar in the back, it ran north to south in the back. At the end of the bar was an eating place and tables.

We used to sit there by the tables where the people sit and eat and have their little drinks. We played there and sometimes we sit on the chairs and sometimes we stand on the floor. There was no stage.

I played down there going in the out of stores, bars, and restaurants from when I was 11 to 14 (from 1942 to 1945).

I played acoustic guitar, me and with Willy a mandolin player who was 10 years older, and I also played with another mandolin player named Johnny Young. Johnny Shines also played with us there sometimes.

We just played for tips. Whatever the public gave us is what we got. Leavitts didn't pay us.

Sometimes we played just outside of Leavitts on Maxwell Street, by the hot dog stand and by the sheds. We'd sit inside a shed and play.

Also, you could walk out of Leavitts on the Halsted Side and in a few steps to the left to the north be at Irvin Theater. I played outside of there sometimes at night, 10, 11, 12 o'clock at night. Levitts stayed open all night.

We'd go to the Irving to see movies, three movies for 7 or 8 cents. It was a little nasty looking show but it was a theater. We didn't have television in those days. The popcorn was really good in those days, oh man, ice cream and pop corn. I really liked the cowboy movies: Buck Jones, Tex Ritter, Johnny MacBrown, Hopalong Cassidy, a young John Wayne, Gabby Hayes, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Fuzzy Q. Jones. I went there with family and friends. Me and Johnny Shines and Jimmy Rogers, we use to go to the Irvin together to see cowboy pictures. Those cowboy pictures influenced me, country and western music always influenced me.

Farther down north on Halsted Street we'd play in front of Smokey Joes. It was a place where they sold clothes some of the most fanciest clothes in those days, jitterbug suits.

We also played on the north side of O'Brien at a tavern there. We got paid in there sometimes. That area was called the black bottom. It was dangerous at night.

I played at another tavern at the northwest corner of Halsted and 14^th Street and a restaurant on 14^th Street. I don't remember those names.

I played by a music store, next door to 910 Maxwell Street. There was a music store in the basement. You had to walk downstairs to get into it, maybe three stairs. They sold all kinds of musical instruments. The owner was found dead in the bathroom sitting on the toilet. I think somebody killed him. Then they went out of business.

Machevichs was open in the 1940s. They sold food and lots of stuff, appliances and watches too and a meat market all the way in the back. That was one of our main food stores. The prices were cheap. I played inside of Machevichs. Just standing around and playing. I'd walk in and walk out. We just did it.

The Jewish people. They understood. We were trying to make a little money so were they. They were congenial. No one said I couldn't play or get out.

We walked and talked and we'd play inside of places. I'd stand and play Blues but also some country and western. In those days a penny was worth a lot.

We played on the outside of stores and sometimes in the inside. We'd go far down as far as we could go, up and down Maxwell Street and Halsted Street. And we'd go to Roosevelt Road too. We'd get money from people, a nickel or dime or a quarter. Sometimes not even a quarter. Sometimes we were working and we'd get nothing.

We use to go to Gabels too on Maxwell Street. I played in front of Gables not inside. They had clothing and stuff like that. We shopped there too. When we shopped, we'd go in and out of the stores looking for bargains. If we go walking out the door, sometimes they stop us and give us a good deal. It was not like it is now with set prices.

We also played outside of Kay's Sporting goods. I shopped there too.

We were just two pieces. We would walk and play and sing up and down the streets.

July 15, 2000

By Frank 'Little Sonny' Scott Jr., 773-264-4746

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I was born in Montgomery Texas in 1927 on the Scott Plantation and then moved around ending up in Detroit after the war. I am a Navy Veteran.

I came to Chicago on Maxwell Street in 1950. I played on the street there near Maxwell Street and Jefferson in front of the Silivan Linoleum Store. I lived up above that store. They were Jewish people.

I hung around a lot at the hot dog stands on Maxwell Street and Halsted. I was crazy about those polishes. Freddie King liked them too. Everyone I know liked them. I ate them there a lot with the musicians I played with Little Connel, the McNeal Brothers, Porter, Sonny Cooper, Freddie King, and Eddie Taylor among others.

I really liked Jim's the best. I favored them more than the others.

We listened to Blues musicians play by the hot dog stands. There were so many of them I don't remember their names. I played on Maxwell Street several blocks away but they very much influenced me in my style of playing. The crowds were so big on Sunday you could hardly move. But there were people there all during the week and when people would be moving on the street that brought out the musicians.

I met my wife Nelma Dean Fowrkes on Maxwell Street. She was born in Tennessee. She worked for Levin's Shoe Store. It was on Maxwell Street in the 600 or 700 block. I don't remember blues musicians playing in front of that store but they be playing all up and down the street. Maxwell Street is very important to me.

Blues Note: Some of the musicians mentioned in the interviews above were some the biggest names in Chicago Blues. To learn about these musicians visit these websites:

Freddie King <http://www.hub.org/bluesnet/artists/freddie.king.html>

Jimmy Rogers <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/jrmem.html>

Johnny Shines <http://www.island.net/~blues/johnnys.htm>

Eddie Taylor <http://www.blindpigrecords.com/artists/Taylor,+Eddie.html>

Johnny Young <http://users.aol.com/maxwellstr/Biojohnnyyoung.html>

-- Steve Balkin

For more information about Maxwell Street visit <www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html>

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