RIP - Studs Turkel

So Mahalia is now internationally known with CBS. The first experience was with NBC. And CBS says, "Mahalia, we're going to give you a national radio program." She says, "Yes," and, "Studs Terkel is going to be the host," she said. And they said, "Oh, no." She said, "Oh, yes." So I'm the host. So the show has an audience that comes to see it, as you did [tonight]. It's about 7 o'clock at night and we're doing a dress rehearsal. It's about the third week of the show, when another guy comes in from New York, and he hands me a leaflet, a piece of paper to sign. He says, "This is just pro forma. It's a loyalty oath. Are you [or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party]?" I said, "Well, I'm not going to sign ... I don't believe in this stuff." And our voices are raised, and Mahalia is going to the piano to rehearse a new song we thought of as the theme. And what was it? I forget the song now ... "His Eye is on the Sparrow." And so we're going to do a song, and she hears this back and forth argument. And she always said to me, "Studs, you've got such a big mouth, you should have been a preacher," you know, Mahalia said. So, finally, she says, "Is that what I think it is, baby?" I says, "Yeah." She says, "Are you going to sign it?" I says, "No." "Okay, let's rehearse." He said, "But Miss Jackson" -- he's very polite -- "Mr. Terkel has to sign it, because headquarters said he must." That's when Mahalia said, "If they fire Studs, you tell them to find another Mahalia." And you know what happened? Nothing. He disappeared. He vanished. The moral is: She said no. She said no to the official word. And she had more Americanism in her, more guts, than General Sarnoff, Bill Paley and all of them put together.