Blog – Joseph Papin Artist

Blackie McBride: 30 Years on the Bowery

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by

JPapin
in


“’Share and share alike’ was the motto of Blackie McBride, a citizen of 30 years standing on the Bowery. His face and general person showed the truth of his statement that he been all over and knew and had done it all! Blackie was of medium build, rather short with thinning gray hair and deep set eyes, eyes that were everywhere at once, sizing you up, as though measuring you for the correct size of his touch.

“When I found him he was by his customary stand at the water fountain at the (Christian Herald) Bowery Mission in one of those discussions which, among the denizens of the ‘stick,’ seem to be both earnestly heated and almost momentarily explosive, and sometimes punctuated by exclamatory shouts of disbelief or agreement. I had been wandering through the Bowery, unobtrusively sketching the various scenes, and as he expressed interest in my work, we soon fell into a lively discussion.

“Blackie had a great deal of vitality and life about him. He stood out from his more nondescript fellows. He talked proudly of being one of the few old timers left and of the fact that he had spent 30 years on this stick. I thought it interesting that he had not been reduced in familiar fashion to the sad shuffling, sometimes incoherent, state of his compatriots.” (Joseph Papin, c1957).


“Eastern State Pen in Western Pennsy, it was fair as prisons go.”

“I don’t have much to do with women since I left my wife, all of ’em is trouble!!”

“I got 20-40 years for ‘stickups’ and heists. I served 13 years, 8 months and 17 days.”


“The good ole days when the ‘El’ was still up.”

“Why I helped carry Jeff Davis, the real king of the hoboes’ out of the Palace when he died!”

“Bum’s would look out for one another, if you was sick there was ordinary whiskey to fix you up and make you well!”


“Blackie introduced me to one of his favorite ‘horse markets’ or restaurants. Eating was on a communal basis, if you wouldn’t or couldn’t finish your food someone else would oblige.”

“Combination waiter, prompter, bouncer.”


“Waiting on the wagon – Annual roundup on the Bowery.” “Cops is usually pretty good on this beat.”

“The treatment you get at second and second (2nd Ave Precinct) or at the ‘Tombs’ (city prison) is ‘varied’ depends on whose on duty and whether or not you can ‘piece off a cop’ (pay off for special treatment).”


Mike McTagg
Blackie McBride
30 years on Bowery
Billy Graham took [his] picture and gave him $10.


Night Court – Plainclothes policeman swears to charge as bailiff reads affidavit.

“And how many times does this make for you Blackie?”


“The ride from these institutions to the ferry for Hart’s Island (city work house) can be real hell. It takes an hour and it all depends on whether or not the cop riding with you opens the door for air. If he’s a good cop it’s ‘O.K.’ if not you faint and fall out. You’re crammed in in the first place and you sweat like a bum.”


Pier 77
Charon’s Ferry
Red Tug No. 69
Hart Island, Prison
East River


“Grave digging detail at Potter’s Field, where the bodies ‘actually arrive, and are no longer dumped in the East River like they used to be.’ ‘Permanent record by photography is keep so the correct body may be claimed.’

“They got lots of folks out there, most of my friends at least!”

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Comments

2 responses to “Blackie McBride: 30 Years on the Bowery”

  1. Brenda Scatterty Avatar
    Brenda Scatterty

    Wonderful peek into history and as always – superb drawings! I truly feel in a sense, that your father was a genius, in his ability to give life to his subjects – both in his stories and drawings – he really engaged in heartfelt communication with these people – so of course, they weren’t mere stories – but gut level truths. In reflection, I believe that some of the Bowery residents, have been given the grace to see the positive, or perhaps just choose to find bright spots in their dim light. What is for certain, is that most of us have never walked in their shoes, and your father provided a profound catalyst to allow us a different perspective – embrace gratitude for our blessings and compassion for those less fortunate. <3

    Reply
    1. JPapin Avatar
      JPapin

      Thank you very much Brenda, it is a real gift to hear your perspective and to step into seeing things as you do. My father had the ability to talk to anyone, regardless of who they were, and he treated people equally regardless of their “station in life.” He loved to tell stories and hear other people’s, and he drew virtually every one he met.

      Growing up he was simply my father. He was a good father and a fun one but it has been the process of going back through his career and attending to comments like the ones you have written that I have gained a new perspective and very valued vantage point on his work as an artist. I so very much appreciate it!

      I have also been glad to find his writings describing what his vision was. I go back to what he wrote in 1958:

      “For the past few years I have been primarily concerned with reportorial art and have attempted to depict the people, places, and events in a continuing effort to see and understand; and, in the great tradition that is always before me, to dignify human activity.”

      He added to that in a lengthy letter to one of the editors of the Daily News, written in 1970, where he outlined what he envisioned as his role as an artist and the importance he placed on drawing on-the-scene:

      “To study the meaning, the significance of what one sees – to depict and interpret contemporary life – is the profession of the artist. These drawings are one with the crowd, the mass, the multitude in the moment. Not just to copy one thing which remains stationary as one works but rather the immensity, the world in microcosm, the undulating mass, the phantasmagoria of life.

      “The possibilities are virtually endless. The ever changing spectacle of this city is a kaleidoscope: street life, rallies, riots, confrontations, parades, the mechanics of everyday life; contrasted with pomp and circumstance, whether it be within the peculiarities of politics, or the cultural world, or pretenders to culture. … To go wherever the characteristic aspect of the scene is to be found, to be as it were a mirror with consciousness and with a conscience.”

      Reply

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