[quote_box_center]
each other very well, worked together- Red as a dish washer and Malcolm as a waiter, at a New York eatery called The Chicken Shack and shared a common bed (literally a bed) of newspapers on a nearby roof.
“We had about 500 pounds of newspaper up there. Newspapers is some of the warmest stuff going.”
As a hard luck upstart showman, Redd had to make his bed wherever he could- on roofs, in doorways, or trucks.
[/quote_box_center]
And his friend Malcolm Little (X) did the exact same thing at that time- slept on newspaper and made his home wherever he lay. Wow, those brothas were hustling hard for a buck and doing whatever they had to do to survive.
Now here is what Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” about his friendship with Redd Foxx:
[quote_box_center]
When I had been around Harlem long enough to show signs of permanence, inevitably I got a nickname that would identify me beyond any confusion with two other red-conked and well-known “Reds” who were around. I had met them both; in fact, later on I’d work with them both. One, “St. Louis Red,” was a professional armed robber. When I was sent to prison, he was serving time for trying to stick up a dining car steward on a train between New York and Philadelphia. He was finally freed; now, I hear, he is in prison for a New York City jewel robbery.
The other was “Chicago Red.” We became good buddies in a speakeasy where later on I was a waiter; Chicago Red was the funniest dishwasher on this earth. Now he’s making his living being funny as a nationally known stage and nightclub comedian. I don’t see any reason why old Chicago Red would mind me telling that he is Redd Foxx.
[/quote_box_center]
Like I said, they seemed like an unlikely duo, but they weren’t so unlikely back then. Although both of these legends chose very different routes to greatness, they were both still great nonetheless and they impacted the world in their own way, so it makes sense that these two very driven and passionate people were drawn to each other. It’s the law of attraction and their determination to achieve their goals reminds us of this quote: “Where there is no STRUGGLE there is no STRENGTH.”
Continue to rest peacefully Redd Foxx and Malcolm X…job well done.
-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view
