Petey Greene

Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, Jr. (23 January, 1931 – 10 January, 1984) was an African-American television and radio talk show host. A two-time Emmy Award-winner, Greene overcame drug addiction and a prison sentence for armed robbery to become one of Washington, D.C.'s most prominent media personalities. On his shows he often talked about subjects such as racism, poverty, religion, sexuality, drug abuse, and government issues.

Biography

Ralph Waldo Greene was born in Washington, D.C. to Ralph Waldo Greene, Sr. and Maggie Floyd. Greene's father was a professional con artist who spent time in and out of prison and Greene's mother was a prostitute.

At a very young age, Greene was sent to be raised by his very religious maternal grandmother Margaret "An't Pig" Floyd, and lived on 23rd Street which was a poverty stricken area in Washington, D.C. and attended Stevens Elementary School. As a teenager, Greene often got in trouble with the law by charges such as shoplifting, assault, truancy, and underage drinking. Greene was eventually sent to a reform school charged with assault and robbery when he was fourteen years old. Upon being relased from prison when he was sixteen, Greene dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade and enlisted in the Army.

His tour of duty sent him overseas to fight in the Korean War before being dishonorably discharged in 1953 for heroin abuse. When he returned home to Washington, D.C. from Korea he became a heavy drinker.

In 1960, he was convicted of armed robbery at a small grocery store, and imprisoned at Lorton Reformatory with a ten-year sentence. There, he became the prison's disc jockey, which made him popular and well liked by other inmates and his loquaciousness soon proved beneficial in other ways. In 1965, Greene persuaded a fellow inmate to climb to the top of a water tower and threaten suicide, so that he would be able to "save his life" by talking him down. "It took me six months to get him to go up there," he later recalled. [See Bachrach. Greene's many feats and "Petey-isms" have altered through the years; some reports (see Milloy) say that the inmate he "saved" climbed a flagpole instead of a water tower.] This act, combined with his generally good behavior, earned him a reduction in his prison sentence and parole.

Shortly after leaving prison, he was hired by Dewey Hughes to work as a disc jockey at the AM radio station WOL in 1966 to host his own show, "Rapping With Petey Greene" which aired in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.

His stature grew, and he soon found himself hosting his own television show, "Petey Greene's Washington", which ran from 1976 to 1982 on WDCA and BET. "Petey Greene's Washington" eventually made Greene a two-time emmy winner. On March 8 1978, he was invited as a guest to the White House by President Jimmy Carter to honor visiting Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito. He famously quipped to the "Washington Post" that he "stole a spoon" during the evening gala. [See Milloy.]

In the early 1980s, he had radio personality Howard Stern; who, at the time, had just begun to pioneer the comedy style that would make him a legend on a Washington, DC radio station, on his show for what was one of his first television appearances. Stern showed up in blackface, which was laughed off by Greene; the audio of this interview would eventually be played as part of the 2007 Sirius satellite radio documentary "The History of Howard Stern" in which Stern called Greene "way ahead of his time." The two shared a mutual admiration as they both dealt with such controversial subjects as race and sexuality, with Stern since recognizing him as an influence, calling him a "broadcasting genius" in his book "Private Parts".

In 1982, Greene was diagnosed with liver cancer after many years of chronic alcoholism. Because of Greene's cancer his career as a radio and television personality ended.

Greene died from liver cancer on January 10, 1984, thirteen days before his 53rd birthday. Approximately 10,000 mourners lined up outside Washington's Union Wesley AME Zion Church to pay their last respects (the largest funeral in Washington D.C. for anyone not elected to office). Greene was survived by his wife Judy Greene and their three children—Ralph Waldo Greene III, Petra, and Melanie. He also has a daughter named Renee from a previous relationship with Vernell Watson. Renee is his first child. He also has eleven grandchildren.

Petey Greene was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the 2007 film "Talk To Me", which is based on his life and career.

Activism

Aside from being a radio personality and talk show host, Greene was also a community activist, joining the United Planning Organization and founding The Ralph Waldo Greene Community Center and Efforts for Ex-Convicts, an organization devoted to helping former prisoners succeed in legitimate ways and to advocate prison reform. He railed against poverty and racism on his shows and on the streets, participating in demonstrations during the height of his popularity, such as speaking at Georgetown University in 1968 about his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Notes

References

*Bachrach, Judy (January 24, 1977). "Petey Greene, Star of His Own Show". "Washington Post", C1.
*Frey, Jennifer (July 30, 2006). "Retroactivist: The Black Power of Petey Greene; 'Talk' Goes on Location, Back in the Day". "Washington Post", D1.
*Milloy, Courtland (March 9, 1978). "Petey Greene Goes to the White House". "Washington Post", C1.
*Smith, J.Y. (January 12, 1984). "TV Commentator Petey Greene Dies". "Washington Post", B1.

Published biographies

*Rackley, Lurma (2003). "Laugh If You Like, Ain't a Damn Thing Funny: The Life story of Ralph "Petey" Greene as told to Lurma Rackley". United States: Xlibris. ISBN 1413432891.