Willard Motley | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Motley byCarl Van Vechten, 1947. | |
| Born | Willard Francis Motley (1909-07-14)July 14, 1909 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, 1965(1965-03-04) (aged 55)[1] Mexico City, Mexico |
| Pen name | Bud Billiken |
| Occupation | Author |
| Education | Englewood High School |
| Years active | 1923–1965 |
| Notable works | Knock on Any Door (1947); Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1958) |
| Children | Sergio Lopez (adopted) |
| Relatives | Archibald Motley(uncle) |
Willard Francis Motley (July 14, 1909 – March 4, 1965) was an American author. Beginning as a teenager, Motley published a column in theAfrican-American orientedChicago Defender newspaper under the pen-nameBud Billiken. He worked as a freelance writer, and later founded and published theHull House Magazine and worked in theFederal Writers Project. Motley's first and best known novel wasKnock on Any Door (1947), which was made into amovie of the same name (1949).
Motley was born and grew up in theEnglewood neighborhood,South Side, Chicago, in one of the few African-American families residing in that neighborhood at the time. The family wasCatholic.[2] His grandfather, Archibald Motley Sr. was aPullman porter who raised him as a son. His grandmother Mary ("Mae") was a homemaker.[2] Motley graduated from Lewis-Champlain grammar school, andEnglewood High School.[3] He and the noted artistArchibald Motley Jr. were raised as brothers, although Archibald was in fact Willard's uncle; Willard's mother, Florence (known as "Flossie") moved to New York City after he was born and left him to be raised by her parents.[2]
When he was 13, Willard was hired byRobert S. Abbott to write a children's column called "Bud Says," under the pen name, "Bud Billiken," for theChicago Defender.[2][4] Later, Willard traveled to New York, California and the western states, earning a living through various menial jobs, as well as by writing for the radio and newspapers. During this period, he served a jail sentence forvagrancy inCheyenne, Wyoming.[5] Returning to Chicago in 1939, he lived near theMaxwell Street Market, which was to figure prominently in his later writing. He became associated withHull House, and helped found theHull House Magazine, in which some of his fiction appeared. In 1940 he wrote for theWorks Progress AdministrationFederal Writers Project along withRichard Wright andNelson Algren.[6]
In 1947, his first novel,Knock on Any Door, appeared to critical acclaim. A work of grittynaturalism, it concerns the life of Nick Romano, an Italian-American altar boy who turns to crime because of poverty and the difficulties of the immigrant experience; it is Romano who says the famous phrase: "Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse!"[7][8][9] It was an immediate hit, selling 47,000 copies during its first three weeks in print. In 1949, it was made intoa movie starringHumphrey Bogart. In response to critics who charged Motley with avoiding issues of race by writing about white characters, Motley said: "My race is the human race."[10] His second novel,We Fished All Night (1948),[11] was not hailed as a success, and after it appeared Motley moved to Mexico to start over. His third novel,Let No Man Write My Epitaph, picks up the story ofKnock on Any Door.Columbia Pictures made it into a movie in 1960.Ella Fitzgerald's music for the film was released on the albumElla Fitzgerald Sings Songs from the Soundtrack of "Let No Man Write My Epitaph".
According to the citation statement for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame awards, "Motley was criticized in his life for being a black man writing about white characters, a middle-class man writing about the lower class, and a closeted homosexual writing about heterosexual urges. But those more kindly disposed to his work, and there were plenty, admired his grit and heart....Chicago was more complicated than just its racial or sexual tensions, and as a writer his exploration was expansive...."[12] Motley was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
On March 4, 1965, Motley died of intestinalgangrene inMexico City, Mexico.[3][4] Some sources say he was 52, giving his birthdate as July 14, 1912;[3][5] however, the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature at theChicago Public Library, which holds a selection of his papers, notes his date of birth as July 14, 1909.[4] After his death, his adopted son, Sergio Lopez, said, "He let this illness go too long before getting proper medical treatment."[5] Lopez also said that Motley had been working on a novel tentatively titledMy House Is Your House.[5]
His final novel, posthumously published in 1966, wasLet Noon Be Fair.[13] Since 1929, Chicago has held an annualBud Billiken Parade and Picnic (acknowledging his pen name during his early career at theChicago Defender) on the second Saturday of August.[14] The parade travels through the city's Bronzeville, Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighborhoods on the south side. The bulk of Motley's archive is held in the University Libraries, Rare Books and Special Collections, atNorthern Illinois University.[15]
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