A Film’s Journey

2. COURAGE AND CONSCIENCE In the early 1960s, black entertainers risked violence on the road, especially in the South. Don Shirley and Anthony Vallelonga embarked on their tour anyway, challenging Jim Crow just by traveling together.

4. AN IMPROBABLE JOURNEY By all odds, “Green Book” shouldn’t even exist. Every- thing about the film is unlikely, from the frienship that it depicts to the team that crafted it. Yet it’s a hit and boasts four Oscar noms, including Best Picture.

5. SPENCER TAKES NEW ROLE Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer, known for her period dramas “The Help” and “Hidden Figures,” boarded “Green Book” as executive produc- er after she was charmed by the script.

6. CHANNELING TONY LIP Anthony “Tony Lip” Vallelonga’s lived an only-in-Amer- “The main ica story. With the help of the Vallelonga family, Viggo thing I liked Mortensen was able to evoke the late actor’s humor and spirit with uncanny accuracy. about him was his 7. IN THE GROOVE Known for an eclectic roster including such chart-top- heart... He ping pop acts as the Everly Brothers and Andy Wil- actually liams, Cadence Records nurtured Don Shirley’s unique blend of classical, jazz and pop. turns out to be a man of 8. STRIKING PERFECT NOTES Prodigy Kris Bowers was tasked with recreating the his word.” music of Don Shirley starting from only the original recordings, coaching Mahershala Ali on piano moves, Viggo Mortensen and writing “Green Book’s” original score. on Tony Lip

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A BRAVE TREK ON A LONELY ROAD In the 1950s and ‘60s, black entertainers risked humiliation and violence on the road, but pianist Don Shirley took a chance and made a statement with his 1962 tour of the South. BY JAMES LINHARDT

ETER FARRELLY’S FILM “GREEN BOOK,” WHICH follows Dr. Don Shirley’s 1962 concert tour of the Jim Crow South, frames the trip as an act of conscience, a brave challenge to the status quo. PIn that era, black headliners often played to whites-only hous- es and even radio stations were still segregated. Stereotypes and discrimination were still the rule — but from Broadway to Holly- wood, many in the industry were pressing for change. Even so, being queer, gifted, and black in the Jim Crow South, as Dr. Shirley was, meant confronting all kinds of barri- ers. But Shirley knew that. He and other black entertainers had long labored under indignities and threats — and not just in the South. “To be in the South and have a A 1952 Variety piece about the singer/dancer Josephine Bak- er noted that in Las Vegas, black headliners were often segregat- white man open your door and ed. Some stars managed to stay in the Vegas hotels where they carrying your bags. And for him to played, but Variety wrote that others “must shuttle back and forth between hotels and the Westside where a couple of apart- be in that relationship and be the ment motels exist for Negro entertainers’ housing.” person in power, to be as talented Baker astonished management at the Last Frontier Hotel by enforcing a clause in her contract saying she would not perform and intelligent as he was… That for a segregated audience. The local NAACP arranged a table of six black patrons nightly. It was a token concession for the hotel, was the most present I have ever but Baker felt that when the hotel saw that their patrons wouldn’t been in a project.” flee, and that black patrons wouldn’t disrupt the refined atmo- sphere, it would remove the justifications for discrimination. Mahershala Ali In 1962, around the time of Shirley’s tour, Variety ran a front page article, “Dixie Film’s Desegregation ‘Pace’,” reporting oth- at big city movie theaters would integrate ahead of small towns. “Fear continues of the hysterical rabble and of angry incidents,”

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“I just wasn’t quite sure I’d be right for it because I hadn’t played a guy like “[The role this,” he says. I guess part of it was that of] Dr. Shirley I was afraid I wouldn’t do justice to the character.” Paradoxically, those concerns was the best ended up helping prod him to take the opportunity role. “Whenever I end up doing some- thing, if it’s something out of choice, cre- that had ever atively, it’s maybe always an element of fear involved. come my way.” “Even in our first days of shooting, I Mahershala Ali was still a little worried,” he adds with a laugh. “But once we got going, I got more and more comfortable.” tion: “‘Well, here we,” he wrote. Ali, who received the script shortly For producer Jim Burke, the dream after winning an Oscar for his small but that came true was seeing his friend Far- meaty role in “Moonlight,” says “[The relly, famous for comedies, pursue the role of] Dr. Shirley was the best oppor- dramatic story Burke always knew he tunity that had ever come my way. … had in him. [‘Moonlight’] was an amazing experi- “I know that he has a tender heart,” ence, but I’m present in that movie [for] Burke says of Farrelly. “And I do believe the first third of it, you know? And that that in this story, which could have some had been my largest, most profound sharp edges on it with both of these char- experience in my 25 years of working.” acters, that he would handle it tenderly.” As it happens, Mortensen and Ali Burke admires Farrelly’s overall Writer-director had met when both were up for Acad- approach. “He’s both collaborative and Peter Farrelly (left) with stars emy Awards, Ali for “Moonlight” and he has a point of view,” says Burke. “And Octavia Spencer, Mahershala Ali Mortensen for “Captain Fantastic.” they don’t interfere with each other. So, “Green Book” (center) and Viggo executive producer Mortensen. Mortensen recalls “It was at one of he knows what he wants to do, but he’s these sort of cocktail party situations. I open to other ideas.” just looked at him and he looked at me, Farrelly’s democratic approach also musician below the Mason-Dixon line and there was this connection. Right appealed to Ali. “Peter is by far the most with the help of a guide that told Afri- away.” collaborative, open director I’ve ever Embracing a can American motorists which restau- The two talked for half an hour, he worked with,” Ali says. “I can honest- A LITTLE PICTURE rants, hotels and towns would accommo- says. “We both kinda said ‘Well, may- ly say that from the first day I met with date them. be we’ll get to do something sometime him, Peter has said, ‘Hey, if you’ve got Different Role Farrelly was intrigued. “I just kept together.’ And we laughed, beause we ideas, if you think something should be Octavia Spencer joined ‘Green Book’ THAT COULD thinking about it,” he recalls. “For like were saying the same thing, same time.” different, let’s talk about it.’ as an executive producer after being Almost everything about quadruple Academy Award nominee a month, two months I’d be lying in bed When Ali, Mortensen and Farrelly “Because, as a director, he clear- charmed by the original screenplay. and think, ‘God, that’s a good story.’ I’d began emailing during prep for “Green ly openly, unapologetically approaches ‘Green Book’ is someone’s improbable dream come true. BY MEKEISHA MADDEN TOBY be driving along, ‘Man, that’s a good Book,” Ali remembered that conversa- directing as a student.” BY MEKEISHA MADDEN TOBY [story].’” A couple of months later, Far- REEN BOOK” IS A STORY OF THE FRIEND- REEN BOOK” IS AN vince audiences that it was Ali who could relly called Currie to ask if he could help SHIP of two men, told from the point of view of improbable dream come true. vivify a Steinway like a classically trained write it. Bronx-bred Anthony Vallelonga and co-written The entire project could eas- master. Tony Lip had left hours of taped Gby his son. Gily have died on the vine. So much of it Yet here is “Green Book,” nominated interviews with his son, writer and pro- But prominent among the producers is Academy was unlikely: The friendship between Dr. for five Academy Awards including Best ducer Nick Vallelonga, as well as the let- Award winning actress Octavia Spencer, who doesn’t Don Shirley and reformed racist Tony Picture, Best Actor for Mortensen, Best ters he had written home from the trip. appear in the film. Lip; the pairing of comedy director Peter Supporting Actor for Ali and Best Film It was great fodder but there was much “Don Shirley chose to help change perceptions for Farrelly with a period drama; the very Editing for Patrick J. Don Vito. work to do. “The hardest thing making people of color,” says Spencer about her decision to join concept of a story about the bond that The film is a passion project that a movie by far is writing it,” says Farrel- the project. “It’s a drama that has funny moments — it’s forms between a brilliant black pianist sprouted from anecdotes Anthony “Tony ly. “Once you have a script people want what life is. I was captivated by it.” and his loquacious white driver navigat- Lip” Vallelonga told his son Nick about to be in, it becomes way easier for me. Spencer is no stranger to 1960s-set dramas. She won ing the racially segregated South as the his tour of the South with pianist Don But it’s because you’ve done that really her supporting actress statuette for “The Help” (2011) Civil Rights Movement was nearing its Shirley during the early 1960s. Nick hard work by writing a script that pulls and went on to be nominated for memorable turns in peak. enlisted Brian Hayes Currie to help him in a Viggo Mortensen, a Mahershala Ali, “Hidden Figures” and “The Shape of Water.” Then, once in production, Viggo write the story as a screenplay. Currie, a Linda Cardellini.” Tony Lip with his wife Dolores at It was director and executive producer Peter Farrel- Mortensen had to gain over 50 pounds in turn, mentioned to his friend Peter When Mortensen read the script, the Copacabana, ly who approached her about coming on board “Green to play the chunky driver while Farrelly Farrelly that he was working on a script though, it wasn’t an easy sell. He had a where he mingled Book,” named after the guidebook that told “Negro with stars and and his team had to meld Mahershala Ali about his friend’s father, who’d chauf- long talk with Farrelly about whether the mobsters alike. motorists” where it was safe to drive, eat and sleep. with piano virtuoso Kris Bowers to con- feured a Carnegie Hall-dwelling black role was a good fit for him.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Label Spun Shirley’s said the story. “Business elements shudder lest bitter images emerge.” The Chamber of Commerce may have Disks Up the Charts worried about a PR hit, but black entertainers faced that anger personally. Cadence Records found success with pianist’s unique blend of Quincy Jones, who knew Don Shirley, hosted a taste- classical technique and American musical genres maker event on behalf of “Green Book” at Ysabel Restau- BY MICHAEL KOSSER rant in Los Angeles. He told the gathering: “I did that ‘Chitlin’ Circuit’ tour through the South when I was with ARLY IN “GREEN BOOK,” icant audience. the Lionel Hampton band, and let me tell you… It was no two men from Don Shirley’s Beginning with 1955’s “Ton- picnic. And we were a band. I can’t imagine what it would record label surprise his driv- al Expressions” in 1955, Cadence have been like to do it alone with just a driver.” Eer and bodyguard, Tony Lip, handing released at least 16 Don Shirley Though that driver, Frank Anthony “Tony Lip” Val- him a cash-stuffed envelope with half albums, mostly featuring Shirley’s clas- lelonga (played by Viggo Mortensen in the film) was also his pay for the next two months. They sically influenced renditions of pop to serve as bodyguard, the company of a white man proved also deliver a warning: If Shirley misses standards. In 1960, Shirley was espe- scant protection. “[The tour] was dangerous,” says Michael a single show, Tony won’t be paid the cially prolific, as Cadence released a Kappeyne, who was a rest. series of albums collectively named “Because piano student of Shir- Tony doesn’t realize what kind of “Don Shirley Plays”: “… Love Songs,” ley’s. “It was only six Viggo Mortensen, hurdles he’ll be up against, but the “… Gershwin,” “… Standards,” “… Bird- genius isn’t years earlier that Nat center, stars as King Cole was almost Anthony “Tony Lip” label and the executives surely did. land Lullabies” and “… Showtunes.” Vallelonga; In real life, Shirley’s label from 1955 But his repertoire went far beyond enough, lynched on stage when Linda Cardellini, through 1962 was Cadence Records, the American songbook. Negro spir- he attempted a per- left, shines as his it takes wife Dolores. one of the most best independent ituals and hymns also found their formance in the Deep labels of the era. way onto his albums, and he created courage South.” Cadence was founded in 1952 by unique interpretations of ’50s and ’60s to change Kappeyne remem- maître d’, at the Copacabana night- Archie Bleyer, an arranger and band- songs like “Stand By Me” and “Drown bers Shirley’s stories club in the 1960’s. “He’s just a work- leader who was a powerful TV pres- In My Own Tears.” In 1961, the old work people’s about the trip. “There ing-class guy,” observes Mortensen. “yet ence as musical director for superstar song “Water Boy” was released as a hearts.” was a police car that ‘LIP’ LICKED he’s friends with Bobby Darin, Sinatra. radio and TV host Arthur Godfrey. In single off his album “The Don Shirley followed them all the He rubs elbows with all these import- the fall of 1953, Godfrey made national Trio.” It stayed on the top 40 on the Bill- Oleg Malakhov way down from Penn- ant people, even though he’s just barely headlines (and permanently damaged board Hot 100 chart for 14 weeks. in “Green Book” sylvania, through three LONG ODDS making the rent, the whole time.” his image) by firing his most popular Bleyer sold Cadence in 1964. Over states, and they final- Starting without education or means, Anthony Vallelonga Maybe it was the touring with the Don singer, Julius La Rosa, on live national the next decade Shirley had a cou- ly gave him a bogus traffic ticket for a speeding violation, Shirley Trio, maybe it was hobnobbing at even though there was no speed limit.” relied on his wits to shape his life into a classic American story. radio, and fired Bleyer the same day. ple of releases on the Columbia and the Copa, but Tony caught the showbiz bug. Free to devote more time and ener- Atlantic labels, but it was his time with Shirley on this tour he made a statement on this tour BY PAUL PLUNKETT When a young filmmaker named Francis gy to Cadence, he assembled an Cadence that yielded the remarkable simply by employing a white man. Mahershala Ali, nomi- Ford Coppola met Tony at the Copa and unusually eclectic roster. While Shirley’s body of work that still sounds refresh- nated for an Academy Award for his performance as Shir- HE MELTING POT” IS OFTEN his way. He left school in the seventh offered him his first role, an uncredited recordings did not sell as well as the ing today because of his unique musi- ley, told reporters backstage after his SAG Awards it was used to describe America, but it grade, but he was street-smart enough to bit as a wedding guest in “The Godfather,” label’s headliners, they did find a signif- cal outlook. one of the things he appreciated about the role. also describes what shapes the avoid falling in with the neighborhood’s Tony’s life took a new direction. “To be in the South and have a white man open your Tlives of Americans — put separate ingre- “made” guys. He did a tour of duty in the He had a long run as a character actor, door and carrying your bags. And for him to be in that dients together, add some heat and Army in the 1950’s, stationed in Germa- mostly playing gangsters, culminating in relationship and be the person in power, to be as talent- something new and special emerges. ny, before settling down with his wife his recurring role as Brooklyn mob boss ed and intelligent as he was… That was the most present I That’s one way to look at the life of Dolores. They had two sons. One of Carmine Lupertazzi on “The Sopranos.” have ever been in a project.” Frank Anthony Vallelonga, better known those sons would go on to write a screen- Actor Vincent Curatola, who worked Filmmaker John Singleton observes that Ali portrays as ‘Tony Lip,’ the real-life figure played play about a moment in Tony’s life, with him on the show, says “Tony had a Shirley as a man “who eschews all pretensions of what by Viggo Mortenson in “Green Book.” “Green Book.” hard exterior, but once you got to know black men were prejudiced to be defined as.” That itself Vallelonga’s wit and quick tongue took When Mortensen received the script, him, and you made him laugh, I’ll tell was an eye-opener for some, including Tony. Dr. Shirley’s him from the streets of the Bronx to New about Tony’s tour of the South with you, that was a shining smile.” example helps him overcomes his own prejudices. York’s legendary Copacabana nightclub the Don Shirley Trio, he was hesitant. Tony died in 2013. But if you listen to And that was the point. Late in “Green Book,” the cellist and a long acting career, including roles “[Tony’s] whole social, economic, eth- Nick Vallelonga, anyone who wants to Oleg Malakhov tells Tony: “Genius isn’t enough. It takes in “Goodfellas,” “Donnie Brasco” and nic background was different from me,” get a sense of the real Tony Lip need only courage to change people’s hearts.” “The Sopranos.” Mortensen says. Still, he found Tony look at Mortensen’s performance. Kappeyne agrees with that sentiment. “[The tour] was Born in 1930, Tony grew up amid appealing. “The main thing that I liked “I see my father,” says Vallelonga really an act of courage, rather than an act of protest,” he Depression-era poverty in a rough and about him,” says Mortensen, “was his of Mortensen in the role. “The way he says. “It’s not that [Shirley] wanted to make a point about tumble Bronx neighborhood dominat- heart. As coarse as he seems at first, he smokes, because my father smoked a cer- being black and going through the Deep South. It was ed by wise guys. The ‘Lip’ nickname actually turns out to be a man of his word.” tain way, lit a cigarette, the way he sat, Don Shirley at the Mahershala Ali more, ‘I want to share my music.’ He was pretty aware of piano in a 1960s as Don Shirley in stems from his gift of gab; he was able Tony’s magnetism came in handy he’s got all of it down. publicity photo. “Green Book”. his talent and skill, and what it did to people’s emotions.” to use words instead of muscle to make during his years as a bouncer, then “It’s very eerie but in a good way.”

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RIS BOWERS MAY HAVE HAD THE TOUGHEST “To take the technique and dexterity that you need to be a music gig of anyone working in movies last year. He concert pianist, and play pieces by Chopin and Rachmani- not only composed the score, he also transcribed and noff, then play these jazz songs in that kind of way, was kind of Kplayed all of the Don Shirley music heard in “Green Book,” and mind-blowing,” Bowers says. “I went back to practicing eight or he coached actor Mahershala Ali through all of his on-set piano nine hours a day. The music was so difficult; it was the hardest performances. stuff I had to play since college.” “We looked around for the best jazz pianist in the world,” With no sheet music available, Bowers transcribed all of the remembers director Peter Farrelly, “and his name just kept Shirley material, meticulously notating every note, every chord, coming up. We saw him on YouTube and I was like, ‘let’s get every musical line. this guy in here.’ And it all worked out.” “It sounds more like written classical pieces than jazz Bowers, who was just 28 at the time, says he “worked for improv,” Bowers explains. “Most of what he did was to take about two or three months” with Ali. “When we were on set, American Songbook pieces and arrange them in very unique it was all about the choreography”: Ali’s finger placement on ways. All of the Don Shirley performances are re-recordings by the keys. “He was so intensely focused,” says Bowers, “that he myself, a bassist and cellist. We tried to stay as close to the orig- would play it once, make a mistake, start over and then play inals as possible.” until he got it right. As for Bowers’ original dramatic music — realized with a “We would meet together just before we shot a scene and I 60-piece orchestra — “we wanted the score to be as different as would play the keyboard so he could watch me. I would make possible but somehow still fit in this musical world, this combi- sure that he was comfortable and that it looked as authentic as nation of jazz and classical influences. possible.” The piano performance scenes in the film are a mix of “He was also influenced by Negro spirituals and church Bowers’ hands and Ali’s. hymns,” Bowers points out. “My idea was to create themes that Even more challenging was re-creating the Don Shir- could exist on their own as folk melodies, but then to orches- ley material material — a unique interpretation of standards trate them in a way that combined my personal influences and that was partly classical and partly jazz, and performed by an those of Don Shirley — at the end of the day, to represent this unusual trio of piano, cello and bass.. American story in a subtle, American-inspired way.”

Kris Bowers, standing, recreated Don Shirley’s music and coached Mahershala Ali on his piano moves.

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