As a vaudeville performer, Jackie Robinson thought, he would make a good first baseman. Explained Jackie: "I can't sing or dance." But at Harlem's Apollo Theater and Washington's Howard, Robbie picked up more money in two weeks than the $5,000 Branch Rickey paid him for seven months with the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers (TIME, Sept. 22). Last week his show played Chicago's Regal Theater. It wasn't much of an act. He was onstage only eight minutes, and he neither sang nor dancedjust answered, in a modest manner and a clear voice, questions about his career.
Out of his $7,500 take at the Regal,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
