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Sam Cooke: An Insatiable Libido and a Justifiable Homicide · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The circumstances surrounding
0:21
Speaker 1: soul singer Sam Cook's death have long been shrouded in mystery.
0:25
Speaker 1: The mafia did it, His jealous wife did it. The
0:29
Speaker 1: racist music industry industrial complex did it. Truth is, Sam
0:34
Speaker 1: Cook did it. His own actions were the reason he
0:37
Speaker 1: was shot and killed by a woman he had just
0:41
Speaker 1: physically attacked for no good reason other than the fact
0:45
Speaker 1: that he wasn't accustomed to being told no. Sam Cook
0:50
Speaker 1: was an infinitely skilled performer, producer, and businessman. His talent
0:56
Speaker 1: afforded him things beyond the material world earthly delights that
1:00
Speaker 1: you did mere mortals. Sam Cook could have whatever and
1:03
Speaker 1: whoever he wanted. And Sam Cook made great music, some
1:09
Speaker 1: of the greatest music ever made. As a matter of fact,
1:12
Speaker 1: the music you heard at the top of the show
1:14
Speaker 1: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from
1:17
Speaker 1: my mellotron called slow Fox Tremelo Organ MK two. I
1:23
Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the rights
1:26
Speaker 1: to Ringo by the actor turned singer Lauren Green.
1:31
Speaker 2: Why would I play.
1:32
Speaker 1: You that specific slice of Bonanza inspired cheese? Could I
1:35
Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one song in
1:39
Speaker 1: America on December eleventh, nineteen sixty four. And that was
1:44
Speaker 1: the day that Sam Cook aka Mister Wonderful, pulled his
1:49
Speaker 1: brand new red Ferrari out onto the four h five
1:52
Speaker 1: and sped fast toward the airport, kicking into gear what
1:56
Speaker 1: would become the last hours of his very short, very
2:00
Speaker 1: successful life. On this episode, Slow Fox, Tremolo Organs speeding
2:07
Speaker 1: Red Ferraris Bonanza inspired cheese, and mister Wonderful Sam Cook.
2:13
Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is disgrace man to those
2:38
Speaker 2: who knew him. Sam Cook was many things.
2:41
Speaker 1: A gentleman, a provider, a civil rights champion, a supremely
2:46
Speaker 1: talented producer, chart topping songwriter, whip smart businessman, and a
2:52
Speaker 1: great vocalist. But the thing that Sam had over everybody
2:56
Speaker 1: else was his ability to perform sisma in presence for days.
3:02
Speaker 1: Sam Cook had it even back when his name was
3:06
Speaker 1: spelled co o K, before he added the e at
3:10
Speaker 1: the end for sophistication, before he was topping the pop
3:14
Speaker 1: charts or scene ripping through Hollywood in his cherry red ferrari,
3:18
Speaker 1: or out on the town dressed to kill in the
3:20
Speaker 1: side divorce suit.
3:22
Speaker 2: Before that Sam Cook.
3:24
Speaker 1: There was Sam Cook no E at the end, the
3:27
Speaker 1: polite son of a Chicago by way of Mississippi minister.
3:32
Speaker 1: Sam's dad was a fire and brimstone country preacher who
3:35
Speaker 1: took his musical family Sam included, of course, on the
3:39
Speaker 1: road to perform at various services throughout the Midwest. The
3:44
Speaker 1: gospel touring circuit is where Sam Cook no E started
3:47
Speaker 1: to hone his performance chops. The point of gospel music
3:51
Speaker 1: may have been to celebrate the Lord, but the point
3:54
Speaker 1: of gospel performance was to captivate the audience and vanquish
3:58
Speaker 1: all rivals. Gospel performers were highly competitive, and they had
4:03
Speaker 1: to be. The amount of talent within the scene was astounding.
4:07
Speaker 1: The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Mahalia Jackson in the
4:10
Speaker 1: group Sam Cook would one day join and lead the
4:13
Speaker 1: Soul Stirrs, all shared immense talent. The Five Blind Boys
4:18
Speaker 1: of Mississippi's live shows were known to be devastating, and
4:22
Speaker 1: Mahalia Jackson's talent was such that she was able to
4:26
Speaker 1: take American gospel music all over the world. And Sam Cook,
4:31
Speaker 1: by the time he joined the Soul Stirers at the
4:34
Speaker 1: age of nineteen, was a unique natural talent all of
4:38
Speaker 1: his own.
4:39
Speaker 2: Sex.
4:40
Speaker 1: Appeal, though subversive, was always part of gospel performance, but
4:44
Speaker 1: Sam Cook brought a different kind of sexuality to it.
4:48
Speaker 1: It was subtle, less suggestive, more sophisticated. It was inee
4:53
Speaker 1: and as effortless as his uniquely intimate style of singing.
4:57
Speaker 1: In his singing style was. Indeed, it wasn't like what
5:01
Speaker 1: other gospel singers brought to the game. It wasn't all emotion,
5:06
Speaker 1: it wasn't all truth like cupids Arro. Sam Cook's voice
5:11
Speaker 1: was a shot to the heart like Frank Sinatra's voice.
5:15
Speaker 1: Sam's voice transcended style, it transcended technique, and it effortlessly
5:22
Speaker 1: balanced vulnerability and authority, and in doing so it made
5:27
Speaker 1: him irresistible. Irresistible to record executives who saw in Sam
5:32
Speaker 1: a crossover into secular pop music and who wanted a
5:35
Speaker 1: big payday, Irresistible to seasoned musicians who knew a special
5:40
Speaker 1: talent when they saw it and wanted to go along
5:42
Speaker 1: for the ride. Irresistible to young musicians and young black
5:46
Speaker 1: men who saw a successful artist and a businessman who
5:49
Speaker 1: they wanted to be. And irresistible to women who wanted him.
5:54
Speaker 1: Lots and lots of women wanted Sam Cook. Forget cupids Aro.
6:00
Speaker 1: With that voice, Sam Cook may as well have been
6:02
Speaker 1: cupid himself. When Sam was in the room, he felt
6:06
Speaker 1: his sexuality. It wasn't an accident that he was referred
6:10
Speaker 1: to as mister Wonderful. Mavis Staples referred to him as
6:14
Speaker 1: Sam the Seducer.
6:16
Speaker 2: Back in the soul stir days.
6:18
Speaker 1: Sam hadn't quite graduated to bespoke suits yet, but he
6:21
Speaker 1: dressed impeccably and had that tight processed hair. He kept
6:26
Speaker 1: himself looking good and out on tour. As a soul steerer,
6:29
Speaker 1: Sam was as much as sexual conquista door as he
6:32
Speaker 1: was a gospel missionary. There were women in every town
6:36
Speaker 1: either waiting for him or waiting to meet him for
6:39
Speaker 1: the first time. Old girls, new girls, black girls, white girls.
6:45
Speaker 1: In Peter Grillnick's excellent biography of Sam Cook Dream Boogie,
6:49
Speaker 1: Sam's friend James early Bird is quoted as saying that
6:53
Speaker 1: Sam referred to white women as quote snow and sleeping
6:57
Speaker 1: with black women as quote shoveling coal. It was a
7:01
Speaker 1: well developed circuit, one that for a young man must
7:04
Speaker 1: have seemed bountiless and unwanted pregnancies. Well, that was just
7:09
Speaker 1: the cost of doing business. By the time Sam was
7:13
Speaker 1: twenty one, he'd had three different children from three different women,
7:18
Speaker 1: but it didn't matter. His image was teflon the out
7:21
Speaker 1: of wedlocked pregnancies and rep didn't stick. His image remained
7:26
Speaker 1: squeaky clean shit. If that nice boy next door with
7:30
Speaker 1: a wide smile and polite manner, the one who keeps
7:33
Speaker 1: himself so clean and sings like an angel, if he
7:36
Speaker 1: wants to sleep with my granddaughter, then better him than
7:39
Speaker 1: that flashy campaign shouting southern diplomat from down.
7:42
Speaker 2: On the corner.
7:43
Speaker 1: If it's got to be someone, it might as well
7:46
Speaker 1: be Sam Cook, or so went to thinking of little
7:49
Speaker 1: old lady churchgoers everywhere. Understanding the effect Sam Cook had
7:55
Speaker 1: on people on stage and off is not easy. I
7:59
Speaker 1: can sit here and tell you all about his good looks,
8:02
Speaker 1: his charm, his talent, and you'll likely nod and think
8:05
Speaker 1: you understand. But to truly understand his appeal, you have
8:10
Speaker 1: to understand that Sam learned how to reach people by
8:13
Speaker 1: being a gospel singer, which means he got to people
8:17
Speaker 1: on a spiritual level, by using all of his God
8:20
Speaker 1: given gifts to shake you to your core, to hold you.
8:25
Speaker 1: His voice shot straight to the hearts of young and
8:28
Speaker 1: old women alike. As a performer, he owned you. You
8:32
Speaker 1: were enraptured. He was able to do whatever he wanted
8:36
Speaker 1: to you. You were powerless to his terms. And because
8:40
Speaker 1: of this, Sam Cook aka Mister Wonderful aka Cupid aka
8:47
Speaker 1: Sam the Seducer, the man with the golden tongue, and
8:50
Speaker 1: the unbridled libido grew very accustomed to getting exactly what
8:55
Speaker 1: he wanted, whenever he wanted it. Sam had gotten what
9:15
Speaker 1: he wanted all right, a shot at the big time.
9:18
Speaker 1: It wasn't easy, but he was able to navigate his
9:21
Speaker 1: way out of the gospel scene and for the most part,
9:24
Speaker 1: avoid the dreaded sellout wrap. His first single, You Send Me,
9:30
Speaker 1: went to number one on the pop charts, not just
9:32
Speaker 1: the R and B charts, the top of the pop
9:35
Speaker 1: charts and getting to the top sometimes seemed like a
9:39
Speaker 1: giant pain in the ass, but it was worth the sweat.
9:43
Speaker 1: Success was indeed sweet, and Sam deserved it. He was special.
9:49
Speaker 1: He knew it. When most of his peers were blowing
9:52
Speaker 1: their bread willy nilly, Sam was investing in himself. He
9:57
Speaker 1: founded his own record label, Saar, writing and producing and
10:01
Speaker 1: giving younger soul musicians on the come up a shot.
10:04
Speaker 1: He and his new manager, the various stute Alan Klein,
10:08
Speaker 1: had just swung a deal with RCA Records where Sam Cook,
10:12
Speaker 1: a black man in nineteen sixty four America, would own
10:16
Speaker 1: Saur's master recordings.
10:19
Speaker 2: This was a big deal.
10:21
Speaker 1: It meant power in the music industry, in industry that
10:24
Speaker 1: in the early nineteen sixties was entirely controlled.
10:28
Speaker 2: By white men and gangster con artists.
10:30
Speaker 1: Now Sam Cook, a black man and a real artist,
10:35
Speaker 1: was also an executive producer who controlled his own future
10:39
Speaker 1: and was able to provide real opportunities for young black
10:42
Speaker 1: men and support with both his voice and his wallet,
10:46
Speaker 1: a cause that had grown dear to him, the growing
10:49
Speaker 1: civil rights movement. It had been a long time coming,
10:53
Speaker 1: for sure, but change in a lot of ways had come.
10:57
Speaker 1: Sam had come a long way from selling quote unquote
11:00
Speaker 1: race records out of barbershops and shoeshine stands to hanging
11:04
Speaker 1: with Muhammad Ali and headlining the COPA, and now a
11:09
Speaker 1: stable of younger artists depended on him for guidance, material expertise, tours, support,
11:14
Speaker 1: financial support. It was heavy and heavy lay the crown.
11:18
Speaker 1: Plus there was still his own career that needed minding.
11:22
Speaker 1: His current album for RCA, Ain't That Good News was
11:26
Speaker 1: ending its cycle, and Sam had plans for his greatest
11:29
Speaker 1: creative achievement yet, a blues album that perfectly melded his patented,
11:34
Speaker 1: sophisticated soul with the down home, gut punch of blues
11:38
Speaker 1: artists he loved, like John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.
11:42
Speaker 1: It was unclear how Sam was going to pull this off,
11:45
Speaker 1: but he was obsessed. Some days it was all he
11:48
Speaker 1: could think of, But finding the space to think and
11:51
Speaker 1: be creative was not easy. There was always something. It
11:55
Speaker 1: was a lot. The investment in himself it was paying off,
11:59
Speaker 1: but man, it was stressful sometimes. He'd married Barbara Campbell,
12:04
Speaker 1: one of the mothers of his six children, thinking marriage
12:07
Speaker 1: would add a sense of order to his life, when
12:10
Speaker 1: in effect all it did.
12:12
Speaker 2: Was add more chaos.
12:14
Speaker 1: The home, despite the Walldewall carpet, the brand new high
12:17
Speaker 1: Fi and the pool out back, was a straight up
12:20
Speaker 1: battlefield when Barbara was around. That woman was almost as
12:23
Speaker 1: restless as he was. The tension was thick and ever present.
12:28
Speaker 1: In the phone it never stopped ringing. The Valentino's bus
12:32
Speaker 1: had broken down on tour. Little Billy Preston needed money
12:36
Speaker 1: for a new organ. Johnny Taylor was pissed off again
12:39
Speaker 1: about something or.
12:40
Speaker 2: Another, and Martin was calling.
12:42
Speaker 1: He wanted to talk to Sam about performing at a
12:44
Speaker 1: benefit for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference early next year.
12:49
Speaker 1: Sam would do anything for Martin Luther King Junior, but
12:52
Speaker 1: right now the civil rights movement would have to wait.
12:56
Speaker 1: Sam needed to blow off some steam and get his
12:58
Speaker 1: head right.
13:01
Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word word word.
13:07
Speaker 1: Sam Cook's ferrari hit the valet at Martini's in Hollywood
13:11
Speaker 1: sometime on the evening of December tenth, nineteen sixty four.
13:15
Speaker 1: He'd meant to get dinner, but never made it to
13:17
Speaker 1: the table. From the bar, He'd been swarmed by friends
13:21
Speaker 1: and hangers on. The drinks were flowing, and Sam was
13:25
Speaker 1: leading the bar and sing along after singalong, until a
13:28
Speaker 1: pretty young woman in one of the booths caught his eye.
13:32
Speaker 1: Sam was at her side in no time with a drink.
13:35
Speaker 1: She was just as tight, and of course he was hers.
13:38
Speaker 1: With Sam's energy now focused on the task at hand,
13:42
Speaker 1: the vibe in the bar had died down. A change
13:45
Speaker 1: of scenery was needed, so it was decided they'd hit
13:48
Speaker 1: PJS over on Santa Monica. Now after midnight, Sam was
13:53
Speaker 1: at least four or five martini's deep. The woman Eliza
13:57
Speaker 1: Boyer was stunning, even more so on closing time, and
14:01
Speaker 1: was garnering attention from other men beside Sam. This did
14:05
Speaker 1: not please mister Wonderful. A fight nearly ensued. Fuck the bars,
14:11
Speaker 1: let's get some privacy. The two jumped in Sam's ferrari
14:15
Speaker 1: and were out on the four or five in no time.
14:18
Speaker 1: He was driving fast, heading out of town. Where were
14:21
Speaker 1: they going? Aliza was staying downtown and don't worry about that,
14:26
Speaker 1: relax enjoy the ride. Aliza was worried. She told Sam
14:31
Speaker 1: she wanted to get out. He was clearly drunk, driving
14:34
Speaker 1: like a lunatic and pulling off of a bottle of
14:37
Speaker 1: Scotch and apparently headed somewhere out by the airport. She
14:40
Speaker 1: had no idea where, but Sam had an idea. The
14:44
Speaker 1: Hacienda Hotel. It was perfect, that little place that Sims
14:49
Speaker 1: Twins first told him about, remote, quiet, cheap, an indiscriminate
14:55
Speaker 1: of color or marital status.
14:57
Speaker 2: No last call Etharios to loosen the vibe.
14:59
Speaker 1: While trying to get a little miss Strange to help
15:01
Speaker 1: him blow off his steam, but Eliza seriously wasn't having it.
15:06
Speaker 1: It didn't matter. She'd come around. They always did. He
15:10
Speaker 1: was Sam Cook, mister fucking Wonderful. The Ferrari sloppily roared
15:15
Speaker 1: into the Hacienda parking lot at two thirty five am.
15:18
Speaker 1: Sam hit the motel manager's office, looking like a damn fool,
15:22
Speaker 1: wild eyed, anxious, drunk to the motel manager, exactly like
15:27
Speaker 1: every other man who checked in at two in the morning.
15:30
Speaker 1: She gave him a room key and noticed the girl
15:32
Speaker 1: on the Ferrari with the Jacqueline Kennedy scarf and glasses
15:36
Speaker 1: in the motel room. Things were not going as Sam planned. Eliza,
15:41
Speaker 1: despite her googly eyed bullshit back at the bar, wasn't
15:43
Speaker 1: picking up what Sam was putting down. Sam had had enough.
15:47
Speaker 1: He was impatient, horny. He grabbed her, groping, kissing, all
15:52
Speaker 1: hands no heart gone was a subtlety he was known
15:56
Speaker 1: for on stage and on record. It was replaced by
16:00
Speaker 1: base colonel desire that was obvious and boring, the same
16:03
Speaker 1: as all the other ordinary men she'd known. Eliza was
16:07
Speaker 1: grossed out. She wanted no part of it. She wanted
16:10
Speaker 1: Sam to take her home now, but Sam wouldn't have it.
16:15
Speaker 1: She'd come around. They always did. He was the Sam Cook,
16:19
Speaker 1: executive seducer. It was only a matter of time, he thought. Besides,
16:23
Speaker 1: he had a piss. He hit the bathroom to give
16:25
Speaker 1: a little miss Strange a minute to collect herself. Instead,
16:31
Speaker 1: she collected her clothes and got the fuck out of
16:33
Speaker 1: there in a hurry. She split ran out of the room,
16:36
Speaker 1: half naked and just her bra and slipped and through
16:39
Speaker 1: the parking lot, past the motel manager's office and out
16:43
Speaker 1: onto the street, and just like that.
16:45
Speaker 2: Gone in the wind. Sam came out of the bathroom
16:49
Speaker 2: to an empty room. No Strange. The door was open.
16:53
Speaker 1: Sam was naked and his clothes were gone, and his
16:55
Speaker 1: wallet what the fuck? He grabbed all he could find,
16:59
Speaker 1: his blazer and one shoe, scooped up his car keys,
17:02
Speaker 1: jumped in the ferrari and squealed over to the manager's office,
17:05
Speaker 1: where he imagined Lisa to be hiding out in Again,
17:08
Speaker 1: he parked like an asshole, jumped out of the car,
17:11
Speaker 1: left the driver's side door open, and with one shoe
17:13
Speaker 1: on and with little Sam Cook hanging out beneath his blazer,
17:16
Speaker 1: he began pounding on the door. Let me in, Where
17:21
Speaker 1: is she? The fuck wear are my clothes? She took
17:24
Speaker 1: my wallet. On the other side of the door was
17:28
Speaker 1: fifty five year old Bertha Lee Franklin. She checked Sam
17:32
Speaker 1: in earlier and knew exactly how fucked up the fool
17:34
Speaker 1: on the other side of the door was. She was
17:37
Speaker 1: nonplussed and was on the phone with her boss at
17:39
Speaker 1: the moment, as she always was at this time of night,
17:42
Speaker 1: so she ignored Sam. Sam grew more upset started shouting again.
17:48
Speaker 1: She ain't in here, Yes she is, I know she is.
17:52
Speaker 1: Let me in, mister. There ain't no one in here
17:55
Speaker 1: but me. That's when Sam started ramming the door with
17:59
Speaker 1: his shoulder three tries, and he came pouring into the
18:01
Speaker 1: joint like a bag of banged up bricks.
18:04
Speaker 2: Bertha Lee was stunned.
18:05
Speaker 1: Still on the phone, she told this naked fool to
18:08
Speaker 1: get out, and that the woman he was looking for
18:10
Speaker 1: wasn't there, But Sam cock blocked and blue balled, was
18:14
Speaker 1: not hearing it.
18:15
Speaker 2: He was leering over her.
18:16
Speaker 1: Shoulder into the apartment adjacent to the motel manager's office.
18:20
Speaker 1: He knew she was in there, and now thought that
18:23
Speaker 1: this woman was in on whatever scam was being run
18:26
Speaker 1: on him. After all, why the hell else wouldn't that
18:29
Speaker 1: woman sleep with him?
18:30
Speaker 2: Where the fuck was she? And where are my clothes? Mister?
18:34
Speaker 1: She ain't in here. You gotta go, Sam snapped. He
18:38
Speaker 1: grabbed Bertha Lee by the shoulders and started shaking her.
18:40
Speaker 1: The struggle intensified. The phone fell to the floor. Bertha
18:44
Speaker 1: Lee tried biting, scratching. Sam threw her to the ground
18:48
Speaker 1: and pounced, still naked and even more enraged, but Bertha
18:51
Speaker 1: Lee was able to get out from under him and
18:53
Speaker 1: wobble to her feet.
18:56
Speaker 2: She knew where the gun was.
18:57
Speaker 1: It was there for a reason, to fend off some
19:01
Speaker 1: wild eyed, horny, drunk fool in the middle of the night.
19:05
Speaker 1: She grabbed the twenty two resting on the television, and
19:08
Speaker 1: as Sam started to come at her again, she aimed
19:11
Speaker 1: and pulled the trigger. The first shot whistled over his head,
19:15
Speaker 1: the second passed his shoulder, and the third straight into
19:19
Speaker 1: the heart of cupid. Stunned, Sam Cook looked up at
19:26
Speaker 1: Bertha Lee Franklin and said, lady, you shot me. Sam
19:31
Speaker 1: fell to his knees and for a moment seemed subdued,
19:35
Speaker 1: but then, in a last burst of adrenaline, attacked Bertha
19:37
Speaker 1: Lee again. This time would be his last. She could
19:42
Speaker 1: sense that life was a fleeting proposition for this naked
19:44
Speaker 1: fool and showed mercy. She dropped the gun, grabbed a broom,
19:49
Speaker 1: and gave Sam a simple oops upside the head to
19:52
Speaker 1: keep him at bay. It was all that was needed.
19:55
Speaker 1: He fell over and died. The official cause of death
19:59
Speaker 1: a shot to the heart. Bertha Lee Franklin shot and
20:21
Speaker 1: killed Sam Cook. The court cleared her of any charges.
20:26
Speaker 1: The homicide was ruled justifiable, but the court of public.
20:30
Speaker 2: Opinion thought otherwise.
20:32
Speaker 1: Bertha Lee received numerous death threats, was forced to quit
20:36
Speaker 1: her job, go into hiding, and was sued by Sam
20:40
Speaker 1: Cook's widow for her husband's funeral expenses. A husband who
20:45
Speaker 1: was one of the most successful pop stars in the world,
20:48
Speaker 1: a husband she grieved over for exactly three months before
20:53
Speaker 1: marrying his best friend Bobby Womack. But Bertha Lee didn't
20:57
Speaker 1: deserve this treatment, not a according to the jury that
21:01
Speaker 1: took all of twenty minutes before coming back with the
21:03
Speaker 1: ruling of justifiable homicide. Why because she was the victim,
21:08
Speaker 1: not Sam Cook. Because she voluntarily took and passed a
21:13
Speaker 1: lie detector test, as did her boss. The owner of
21:16
Speaker 1: the hotel, Evelyn Carr, who was on the phone with
21:19
Speaker 1: her at the time the incident went down. Then, at
21:23
Speaker 1: three point fifteen am, as soon as the line disconnected
21:27
Speaker 1: in the middle of the melee when Sam was attacking
21:30
Speaker 1: Bertha Lee, Evelyn Carr, her boss, called the police to
21:34
Speaker 1: report what she heard on the other end of the
21:36
Speaker 1: motel phone in Her call came minutes after Eliza Boyer
21:41
Speaker 1: had called the police from a payphone out on the
21:44
Speaker 1: street by the hotel to report that she had been kidnapped. Furthermore,
21:49
Speaker 1: as soon as the police arrived on the scene, Eliza
21:51
Speaker 1: emerged from the shadows to voluntarily speak to them about
21:55
Speaker 1: everything that had just happened. These are facts corroborated by
21:59
Speaker 1: phone records in the Los Angeles Police Department. Facts that
22:03
Speaker 1: don't sound like the acts of thieves conspiring to rob
22:06
Speaker 1: a pop star, which was the theory being pushed by
22:09
Speaker 1: Sam's friends, family, and management. The excuse making machines started
22:14
Speaker 1: up immediately, and frankly, it's still hums. The thinking from
22:19
Speaker 1: Sam Cook apologist goes like this, Sam was high class.
22:23
Speaker 1: Why would we believe these women? One Bertha Lee Franklin
22:26
Speaker 1: was working in this fleabag motel and the other Eliza Boyer,
22:31
Speaker 1: was hanging out in it with a married man, and
22:33
Speaker 1: Aliza Boyer was arrested a month later for prostitution. She
22:37
Speaker 1: was a pro so she was probably also a scam artist.
22:42
Speaker 1: She had to have taken Sam's wallet scooped it up
22:44
Speaker 1: along with his clothes when she made her hasty escape
22:47
Speaker 1: from the room.
22:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
22:49
Speaker 1: She claims she grabbed all this stuff by accident, but.
22:52
Speaker 2: Come on, do you believe her? As a matter of fact,
22:56
Speaker 2: I do believe her.
22:58
Speaker 1: If it were all a scam on Eliza's why would
23:00
Speaker 1: she have called the police to claim she'd been kidnapped.
23:04
Speaker 1: At that time, she had no idea Sam had been shot.
23:07
Speaker 1: The smart move would have been to disappear and not
23:10
Speaker 1: involve the police, But when the cops showed up, she
23:14
Speaker 1: did too right away to deal with the problem. Let's
23:18
Speaker 1: assume the apologists are write about Alisa that it was
23:21
Speaker 1: a scam that she robbed him. It doesn't erase the
23:24
Speaker 1: fact that Sam Cook physically attacked Bertha Lee Franklin, broke
23:28
Speaker 1: down her door and entered naked into her office like
23:31
Speaker 1: a madman, enraged over not getting what he wanted sex
23:35
Speaker 1: with a woman he'd been worked up into a frenzy over.
23:40
Speaker 1: When I started thinking about Sam Cook's death, I thought
23:43
Speaker 1: I'd write about the mysteries surrounding his murder. He was
23:47
Speaker 1: set up by the two women. His wife did it
23:49
Speaker 1: so she could marry Bobby Womack. The mafia did it
23:52
Speaker 1: because Sam was gaining too much power in the music industry. Please,
23:57
Speaker 1: a half hour's worth of research easily debunks the theories.
24:01
Speaker 1: The only mystery here is why we as a culture
24:04
Speaker 1: are still letting Sam Cook skate. There is a victim here,
24:08
Speaker 1: but it ain't mister Wonderful. It's Bertha Lee Franklin. Yet
24:12
Speaker 1: history doesn't regard Sam Cook as a lecherous creep. Instead,
24:17
Speaker 1: history shifts the blame to his victim under the cloud
24:20
Speaker 1: of conspiracy. Because in the pantheon of pop music, Sam
24:25
Speaker 1: Cook is a sacred cow. He's teflon. You can't touch him.
24:29
Speaker 1: He did so much good. He was a civil rights champion.
24:33
Speaker 1: He was a proud black entrepreneur. He was immensely talented
24:37
Speaker 1: and intelligent. Yes, all of this is true, and all
24:41
Speaker 1: this deservedly should be part of his legacy, But why
24:45
Speaker 1: can't it be both? Why can't we reconcile the artist
24:49
Speaker 1: and the public figure with the physically abusive cree. Are
24:53
Speaker 1: we incapable of nuance as a society? Why does Sam
24:56
Speaker 1: Cook's legacy have to be one or the other? What
24:59
Speaker 1: if the same crime happened today, how would we as
25:02
Speaker 1: a society treat Sam Cook's murder under the exact same
25:06
Speaker 1: circumstances in the era of Me Too? We'd bury him
25:10
Speaker 1: in the court of public opinion and throw Bertha Lee
25:12
Speaker 1: Franklin a parade. We'd put her on the cover of
25:15
Speaker 1: Time magazine for standing up for herself, which would be
25:18
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. Everyone loved Sam Cook. They
25:22
Speaker 1: still do, even in death and in life. Because he
25:25
Speaker 1: was so beloved. He was used to getting exactly what
25:28
Speaker 1: he wanted, and when he didn't, he couldn't handle it,
25:31
Speaker 1: acted like a maniac and ultimately met an early demise.
25:35
Speaker 1: But in the end he's still got the legacy, and
25:38
Speaker 1: guessing he would have won it, and his victim, Bertha
25:41
Speaker 1: Lee Franklin, got the shaft, which is unfortunate and some
25:46
Speaker 1: would say disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is disgraceland.
25:57
Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in
26:00
Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
26:04
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26:51
Speaker 2: He then