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https://timeline.com/lena-horne-threw-dishes-at-racist-heckler-bb8e7c71a892
When a racist man heckled Lena Horne in a Beverly Hills nightclub, she threw dishes at him
“He had it coming,” her manager said, and her fans agreed
Laura Smith Mar 20
staff writer @Timeline_Now. Bylines @nyt @slate @guardian @motherjones Based in Oakland. Nonfiction book, The Art of Vanishing out from Penguin/Viking in 2018.
Lena Horne entertains a group of fans outside the Imperial Theater in New York, where she was performing in 1958. (AP)
It was 1960 in Beverly Hills and Lena Horne had had enough. The world renowned singer and actress was trying to enjoy an evening out with her husband when a man at the next table began making racial slurs. According to Horne, the man, an engineering executive named Harvey St. Vincent, looked Horne up and down and said, “So that’s Lena Horne, huh? Well, she’s just another black nigger to me. All niggers look alike to me, and there ain’t nothing they can do for me.”
Horne was outraged. She told him to stop. When St. Vincent continued his tirade, Horne picked up an ashtray and threw it at him. Then she threw dishes. And a hurricane lamp.
St. Vincent escaped mostly unscathed, save for a small cut above his left eye. Horne was unrepentant. “I really don’t like to make scenes like that,” she said, “but sometimes people push you too far.”
Fans began filling Horne’s mailbox with letters of support. St. Vincent claimed the attack was unprovoked. But Horne’s manager, Ralph Harris had no doubt about what had gone on. “She’s the most wonderful woman I have ever known,” he said. “If she did it, he had it coming.”
Watch: Hollywood didn’t know what to do with Lena Horne
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