From 1993: James Earl Jones shares how poetry helped his stutter

Published: Sep 10, 2024 Duration: 00:05:00 Category: News & Politics

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INTRODUCTIONS AND THEN THERE IS JAMES EARL JONES MOVIES THEATER. YOU NAME IT. HE'S DONE IT. AND NOW HE HAS A BOOK OUT AS WELL DOCUMENTING HIS, HIS RISE TO, UH, TO STARDOM. IT'S CALLED VOICES AND SILENCES. IT'S WRITTEN WITH PENELOPE NIVEN AND JAMES EARL JONES IS WITH US THIS MORNING. GOOD TO HAVE YOU HERE. THANK YOU. I'M VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE. IT IS. UH, I, I, WE, WE WERE TALKING BEFORE. IT IS, IT IS THE KIND OF, UH, OF GET TOGETHER WHERE I SUDDENLY MY VOICE DOESN'T SOUND NEARLY AS STRONG AS I, I USUALLY THINK IT DOES. UH, I, I'VE BEEN OUT BASED EVEN A BIG CABOT OUT BASED ME ONE DAY, BUT HE MUST HAVE BEEN HURT AFTER THAT. LET ME ASK YOU, WHEN WERE YOU AWARE? I MEAN, SO I'M TEMPTED TO SAY THAT YOU HAD THIS GIFT BUT IT WAS IT SOMETHING YOU HAD TO WORK AT. NO, UH, BEING A FARM KID. UH, WE ALWAYS WERE ENCOURAGED TO USE OUR VOICES. I MEAN, IT WAS, IT WAS AN INSTRUMENT TO CALL THE COWS AND CALL, CALL THE HOGS AND SO ON. AND THEN I I LOST MY VOICE THROUGH, THROUGH BEING A STUTTERER AND I BECAME MUTE. AND UH UH THE VOICE I HAVE NOW CAME ON US BY SURPRISE. I MEAN, BY THE TIME I WAS 14, I STARTED TALKING AGAIN AND IT WAS A DIFFERENT VOICE. THAT'S AN AMAZING STORY. YOU ACTUALLY DIDN'T SPEAK, EXPLAIN HOW THAT HAPPENED. I DON'T KNOW. IT'S, IT'S VERY INTERESTING BUT ALSO COMP COMPLICATED STORY. BY THE TIME WE MOVED FROM MISSISSIPPI TO MICHIGAN, THE TRAUMA THAT MOVE, UH, REALLY PUT ME IN SOME, SOME SORT OF A FIX. AND, UM, AND I, I RESPONDED BY, YOU KNOW, BEING, BECOMING A STUTTERER AND I DIDN'T SOLVE THAT UNTIL I GOT TO HIGH SCHOOL. SO IT WAS A PROBLEM THAT, THAT PLAGUED YOU FOR, FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS AND I DIDN'T BLAME ME. I JUST BACKED OFF. I HAD SAID, UH, IT'S TOO EMBARRASSING TO, UH, SO IT'S ALSO VERY FUNNY. KIDS WOULD LAUGH AT ME AND BECAUSE STUTTERERS ARE, ARE FUNNY. I MEAN, I KNOW IT'S NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT TO SAY THAT, BUT IT WAS FUNNY PEOPLE WHEN THEY STUTTER, IT DOESN'T FEEL FROM THE INSIDE OUT, BUT IT DOESN'T FEEL THAT WAY. HOW DID YOU FINALLY BEAT IT? UM, I, I HAD A TEACHER WHO DISCOVERED I WROTE POETRY AND HE GOT ME TO READ MY POETRY IN FRONT OF THE CLASS AND LO AND THE WHOLE, I DIDN'T START IT WHEN I READ MY OWN POETRY, NOR WHEN I READ ANYTHING RHYTHMIC, UH, OR OR SANG, WHICH I DON'T, I DON'T DO. BUT UH WHEN, WHEN THERE'S A RHYTHM TO CARRY YOU, THEN YOU CAN GET PAST THE TRIPPING. WHY, WHY DID YOU FEEL COMPELLED TO, TO WANNA PUT THIS TO PAPER THIS STORY? WELL, UH I, I HAVE AN AGENT AND, AND A DEAR FRIEND WHO UH SAID THAT TO ALL OF OUR CLIENTS AND ALL OF HER FRIENDS THAT WE, WE OWE IT TO UH TO, TO THE PAGE, PUT YOUR JOURNAL DOWN AND THEN HISTORY WILL DETERMINE WHETHER IT'S RELEVANT OR NOT. AND I FAILED TO DO THAT. AND SO UM I DECIDED ABOUT FOUR YEARS AGO THAT I WOULD TRY TO, YOU KNOW, RECOVER WHAT I DIDN'T PUT DOWN ON PAPER AND YOU HAVE SOME UH UH AN EXTRACT YOU'D LIKE TO READ FOR US. I UNDERSTAND THIS MORNING. IF YOU WOULD PLEASE, THERE'S A WARM, GOLDEN LIGHT. IT SHINES FROM A COAL OIL LAMP SITTING ON A POT BELLIED STOVE. THE STOVE IS USED TO HEAT A FOUR ROOM HOUSE FILLED WITH FAMILY 11 AND ALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, MOST OF THE FAMILY IS ASLEEP. THE WOMAN, MAGGIE SENDS HER HUSBAND JOHN TO FETCH A MIDWIFE WHO COMES AS DAWN APPROACHES. SHE HAS TAUGHT MAGGIE HER BIRTHING SKILLS. SHE HAS LIFTED ALL THE CHILDREN FROM MAGGIE'S WOMB, THREE SONS, SEVEN DAUGHTERS. NOW, RUTH MAGGIE'S OLDEST DAUGHTER IS LYING SWOLLEN AND STILL THE WATER HAS LONG SINCE BROKEN. THERE'S ONLY SILENCE. RUTH ASKED FOR CASTOR OIL, CASTOR OIL. MAGGIE'S IMPATIENCE GROWS. GO AHEAD. BETTER HAVE ANYTHING SHE WANTS. THE MIDWIFE SAYS IT CAN'T HURT, IT WON'T COME. RUTH SAYS IT'S DEAD ALREADY. NO, IT'S NOT DEAD. MAGGIE VINCE OF FURY. HER, SHE SIGH, SHE QUIETLY KEEPS ABUSE ON RUTH AND THEN LOUDER AND LOUDER MODULATES INTO UNCHARACTERISTIC PROFANITY. RUTH IS RUTH LIES PAINED AND FRIGHTENED, BEAR DOWN, WORK HARDER. THE MIDWIFE SAYS, SIMPLY ENCOURAGING HER. THE MIDWIFE AND MAGGIE WORK EACH IN HER OWN WAY. THE MID THE MIDWIFE URGING MAGGIE WILLING THE CHILD INTO LIFE AT 605 IN THE MORNING, JANUARY 17TH, 1931. THE MIDWIFE LIFTS MAGGIE'S FIRST GRANDCHILD FROM RUTH'S WO I REMEMBER THE WARMTH OF THE LIGHT. MY MOTHER, RUTH TOLD ME THE OTHER DETAILS OF MY BIRTH AS SHE REMEMBERED THEM. BUT THE LIGHT IN THE COAL OIL LAMP THAT NIGHT FLOATS IN MY MEMORY. I HAD NO CONSCIOUS RECOLLECTION OF ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT THE LIGHT, JAMES EARL JONES VOICES AND SILENCES THE BEGINNING AND IT GOES ON AND ON FROM THERE. AND WE'RE GLAD YOU COULD TAKE THE TIME TO SHARE THAT WITH US THIS MORNING AND WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN. NEXT PROJECT. OH, PROBABLY UH TOM CLE NEXT NEXT THRILLER. OH, YEAH, I HOPE I'M IN THAT. WE HOPE SO TOO, JAMES J. GOOD TO HAVE YOU WITH US THIS MORNING, SIR. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

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