By the time Waters connected with Lymon, he had become a junkie, and she ended up ruining herself trying to pay for his drugs. At one point, Levy owned more than 90 companies that employed 900 people.These included record pressing plants, tape-duplicating plants, a distribution company, a prominent New England chain of record stores, and numerous record labels. Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes. Published by Legacy on Jul. Frankie Lymon/Wife. And Emira, if she wins, will continue her federal case against Levy, a matter growing steadily more complex. Elizabeth Waters Found 1,173 people in Florida, Georgia and 49 other states. The film travels back and forth in time to explore their relationship with the singer. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Elizabeth Waters was a struggling part-time bill collector from Philadelphia. "Remember, Frankie needed the money badly," Borstein says. Editor Nancy Richardson. She and Frankie began living together in 1962, she testified. Required fields are marked *. Nava, whose credits besides Selena include My Family and El Norte, is given to pitching things as broadly as the law allows, and what Fools is most reminiscent of is love story comics from the 1950s with titles like Realistic Romances and Teen-Age Temptations.. Music Stephen James Taylor. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Zola Taylor, a former member of the teen-age doo-wop group the Platters, also said. Elizabeth may have had the hardest time of it. Rubin's 200 or so clients, from the Del Vikings to the Coasters, constitute an honor roll of early rock 'n' roll. It didnt last long, however. The names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy were now listed as the songwriters. Borstein, Levy's attorney, says the charges are "complete speculation; there's absolutely no proof.". They're awaiting the decision now, the quiet schoolteacher from Georgia, the brassy singer from California and the struggling part-time bill collector from Philadelphia, all nursing their separate memories of life with a former teen idol. Friday, November 06 2020. He had always regarded Zola as his stage mother, she said. Lymon didn't even leave a grieving widow to serve as keeper of his flame. She and Frankie became teenaged lovers in 1956 while they were on an Alan Freed bus tour of 81 one-nighters, each performing with their group along with an all-star cast. "He was honest, completely honest," Elizabeth insists. Also Read:Antoinette Giancana Biography, Family and Movies. However, it turned out she had been married to someone else at the time. The only child he is known to have fathered died hours after her birth. As a result, they fought and separated numerous times. DONALD LYMON OBITUARY. And while Fools ends with an on-screen disclaimer that it is a dramatization based upon certain historical events and the lives of real people, its inability to incorporate key elements of the real Lymon story hampers it dramatically. Your email address will not be published. It was also Rubin who located Emira, put her in touch with an attorney, helped line up witnesses and documentation. He had the looks; he had the voice; he had the moves. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Ms. He then was a private in the Army taking basic infantry training at Fort Gordon and assigned to Company D, 16th Battalion, 2nd Training Brigade. Published by Mobile Register and Baldwin County from Jan. 25 to Jan. 27, 2023. Though Waters was not yet divorced from her first husband when she and Frankie Lymon married in a civil ceremony in Alexandria in 1964, their union became valid when that divorce became final in 1965, the judge found. She was 19 and sympathetic; she wanted to help him regain what he'd lost. Frankie Lymon had been on his record label for most of his career, and Levy knew much more about the singer than Emira, who had only been with him for a year. Yet just over a year later, Lymon would be found dead in his grandmothers bathroom from drug abuse. His widow in 2013 said she was lucky to know and love Lymon at a good time in his life when he was happy being in the Army and still had hopes for the future. Also a plus is the entertainment value of the films infectious classic rock soundtrack, which (besides the Teenagers hits sung by Lymon) includes songs like The Great Pretender, Try a Little Tenderness and Heat Wave., Hampering this on the negative side, besides the films awkwardness with its dark moments, is an inability to provide more than the most superficial look at anything. Emira came to New York to arrange for Frankies funeral mass and burial. He claimed that both women thought that their agreements with Levy were fair, and that neither planned to take legal action against him if she is found to be Frankies widow. The resulting trial was fascinating look into Frankie Lymons post-stardom personal life, and it was covered in great detail by Washington Post reporter Paula Span. Executive producers Gregory Nava, Mark Allan, Harold Bronson. He told Zola that the new house guest was "a friend from New York," Zola remembers. Frankie, by 1965, had pretty much been reduced to lip-synching at record hops on the East Coast. Why Do Fools Fall in Love is not quite the question asked by this up-tempo, relentlessly cartoonish biopic focusing on the tangled romantic life of an early rock star. DAPHNE, AL 36526. The death certificate said he died of "acute intravenous narcotism.". She claimed to have . Lymon was only 12 when he hooked up with the foursome that became the Teenagers, but there was an aura about him that the city's doo-wop entrepreneurs recognized. Levys attorney responded that the agreements with Elizabeth and Zola amounted to standard industry contracts. "He sort of changed my life for me," Elizabeth says. Lymon's 1967 marriage to Eagle, marked by a ceremony at the Beulah Grove Baptist Church, was invalid, according to the opinion, because he was still married to Waters. Zola got to be pretty friendly with the first wife. He was back in New York where, Elizabeth and several other witnesses swore, he said that his marriage to Zola had been only a publicity stunt. Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago, the two surviving members of the original Teenagers (Sherman Garnes, the inventive bass, and Joe Negroni were the others), say they wrote "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" When she left to tour Japan with the Platters in December 1965, she says, she left Frankie living in her hillside house with instructions to pay the bills out of an allowance forwarded by her attorney. Cinematographer Ed Lachman. Levy had been arrested earlier in 1986 as part of the F.B.I. Believing that she had the stronger case, Big Seven agreed to pay Elizabeth an additional $5,000 if the federal lawsuit was dismissed because the plaintiff (Emira) was determined to not be the legal widow. Emira Eagle Lymon Bryant, the legally declared widow of '50s teenage rock star Frankie Lymon, died Saturday at AU Medical Center. A memorial service. She told Span that she never recovered financially from the loss of her home and still feels "cheated." His attorney called the charges complete speculation claimed and that there was absolutely no proof of Levy's guilt. She says he didn't mean to hurt her, and blames his behavior on his addictions. Both Elizabeth's and Zola's attorneys say Emira offered their clients 20 percent (for Elizabeth) and 5 percent (for Zola) of the estate. Similar to the stars of today, whenever the press cites "exhaustion" it's drug related. She told the judge that Frankie Lymon was a charmer. I caught Frankie at a good time in his life. The Surrogate Court judge hearing the widowhood case pushed for a settlement. Also Read:Family of Lorenzo Dominic Lavalle. It was not, for long, a happy one. Her sister's boyfriend introduced them; soon, Emira was cooking meals for Frankie and they were shopping for wedding rings. Back in 1956, the hit song had first been credited to Frankie Lymon, Herman Santiago, and George Goldner - head of Gee Records. Lymon and his group followed up with three more hits in 1956 and another in 1957. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon told The Chronicle. I feel sorry for him, most of all," echoed Zola. Eagle's New York counsel Ira Greenberg agreed that his "current inclination" was to appeal. Depending on how the judge rules, the decision may reactivate a federal suit to wrest Lymon's royalties and publishing rights from the record industry executive who claims to own them. The losing widows might appeal. Paula Span revealed that if Elizabeth or Zola was found to be his widow, they agreed to share the proceeds of his estate equally. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. 1200 Observatory Drive | Madison, WI 53706-1212 | Map. And that was that, the last of the hits. Why Do Fools Fall in Love With Frankie Lymon is more like it. They point to the absence of documentation from Mexico as evidence that Zola and Frankie never married at all. Id have killed him, I was so angry, Zola told Span. Neither has Elizabeth or Zola. He lived for 26 years, was a star for one and a half of them, and left behind a miserable financial and legal mess and three wounded women. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Fox), a prison-hardened former shoplifter and prostitute. Hell, the boy had so many needle marks on him, I thought he was a God-damned . View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. She's going to call it "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". Her divorce didn't come through until 1965. For part of Lymons appeal to women was how uncommonly young he was; the singers first hit came before he was 14, younger than most romantic leads can play. An employee of a furniture store in north Philadelphia, she was in South Carolina for a family funeral. In his book, Me, the Mob, and the Music, Tommy James characterized Levy as willing to strong-arm the artists signed to Roulette, and that the label was notorious for not paying its artists for their record sales. It is in fact three wives who face the camera, one after another, each claiming to be Lymons true love and legal spouse. Rochon portrayed Bryant, who married Lymon on June 30, 1967, at Beulah Grove Baptist Church near Paine College when Lymon was stationed that year at Fort Gordon. became part of the "American Graffiti" sound track and album, was a No. The sum, he says, "might have been $1,500. He and two codefendants are busy preparing for their April 11 trial for extortion and conspiracy in federal court in Camden, N.J., stemming from an FBI investigation of organized crime in the recording industry. She met Frankie when he was 20-years-old, backstage at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Who owns the rights to old songs matters as much or more now than it did when they were hits. "Frankie was that kind of person, your honor," she said. They were there in Surrogate Court -- the three would-be widows and their teams of lawyers and witnesses -- for 10 days this past December and January, raking over the past. The Teenagers tried recording on their own, with a new lead singer. Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 - February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group The Teenagers.The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid-teens. Unfortunately for Zola, she was unable to locate records documenting her Mexican wedding to Frankie, or documentation of her Mexican divorce from her previous marriage (her second). When you made a deal with Ronnie, it was usually oral, a real old-school type of business person. 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