by Faustino Gonzalez <TINO_GON@classic.msn.com>, Wed, 1 Jul 98
Mr. Gonzolez was raised in the old Maxwell Street area and his father was a close personal friend of author Willard Motley. Mr. Gonzalez and his wife, Maria, were vendors in the old market and are still vending in the new market, designing and selling Maxwell St. T-Shirts.
I convey this information in the hopes that it will aid in endeavors to show that Maxwell Street is significantly important both historically and culturally.
Willard Francis Motley was born in 1912 and grew up in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago where he attended Englewood High School.
He wrote four novels:
Of these novels "Knock on Any Door" and "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" are set in and around Maxwell Street. We now know (evidenced by his published diaries <by Iowa State University Press> which were faithfully maintained from 1926 to 1943) that he always knew that he wanted to be a writer. His style of writing was such that he would take facts from observing people and places and turn it into fiction for his novels. Thus, when he moved to the Maxwell and Halsted street area in 1941 he was like a sponge and absorbed the ambiance of the neighborhood and the characteristics of its people. One of the neighborhood locals was my, now deceased, father (Alex) who became good friends with Mr. Motley and was one of the "gang" that Mr. Motley talks about in his diaries. He states in his diary that "Alex proves to be a fine fellow". And like many of the real life people that Mr. Motley met on his journeys it now appears that my dad also became one of the characters in his novels.
Mr.Motley's first novel, "Knock on Any Door" was made into a movie of the same name and starred Humprey Bogart and John Derek. Unfortunately, Mr. Motley was not happy with the movie as it took on a Hollywood slant and he felt that it did not depict the Maxwell Street area or the characters of the novel.
Experience these descriptive passages of Maxwell Street in "Knock On Any Door":
"Nick turned onto Maxwell Street. Before him stretched the Maxwell Street Market extending between low, weather-grimed buildings that knelt to the sidewalk on their sagging foundations. On the sidewalk were long rows of stands set one next to the other as far as he could see. On the stands were dumped anything you wanted to buy: overalls, dresses, trinkets, old clocks, ties, gloves-anything......men and women shouting their wares in hoarse, rasping voices, Jewish words, Italian words, Polish and Russian words, Spanish, mixed-up English......The smells were hot dog, garlic, fish, steam table, cheese, pickle, garbage can, mold and urine...... the people were crowded in thick, shoulder to shoulder, tripping over each other, pushing down both sides of the street in a noisy, bargain -hunting crowd. The pavement had no rest from the shuffle of their feet. They even took up every bit of room in the middle of the street as they wove around the pushcarts. The venders gestured and lifted their wares for the people to see."
In his third novel "Let no man write my epitaph" (1958). Which was also made into a movie starring James Darren, was actually a sequel to "Knock on any Door" Mr. Motley once again drew on his first hand knowledge gathered from his Maxwell street days. Consider this depiction of Maxwell street from this novel:
"This is Maxwell and Halsted. The neighborhood awakens. People come out on the street. A parade of hunched shoulders, hard faces, battered felts, baggy pants, ragged coats. Through the hush of half-light they find their way, specters in the city fog of smoke and grit, of lifting dark and spreading dawn.....Maxwell Street is a small hub around which a little world revolves. This is Jerusalem. The journey to Africa is only one block. It is one block from Africa to Mexico, from Mexico to Italy two blocks, from Italy to Greece three blocks..... this is Halsted Street. This is the World street, the Mother street. Mother Halsted is wise. Is patient. She knows their taste, their traditions, their beliefs. She puts the immigrant to sleep in his first New World bed. She holds him in her slum arms. Chicago's most humane street, she adopts them all.....
No grass grows.......in this neighborhood. But from every window hang tin pails, crocks and mason jars of green growing things. Surprising growths from milk bottles and tomato cans in front room windows and on fire escapes. Sweet potato plants. Peppermint. Ferns. Wandering Jew. Memories of the grape lands of Italy, the wide valleys of Mexico, the long fields of the south, the olive- twisted shores of Greece, Gypsy and Jew recollections of the sun-warmed, rain colored growths of many lands. Evidence of a love of the soil and what it bears."
Mr. Motley passed away in 1965 while living in Mexico. In 1967 he was cited as one of the " ten most noted names in American Negro writing". His novel "Knock On Any Door" (1947) became a Best Seller and sold over 1.5 million copies through 1975.
For those who are interested there have been numerous articles and dissertations written about Mr. Motley and his works and many are available through the public library system.
Well I hope this information is useful to those who are interested and I also hope I have sparked an interest in Mr. Motley's writings.
Thank You.
Tino Gonzalez (A current vendor at the New Maxwell Street Market).
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