The latter indignantly demanded its return. Billy Lyons Profiles | Facebook People named Billy Lyons Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. In 2006, he guest-starred in The Bill; his character (James Tennant) was involved in the storyline of missing child Amy Tennant. Whats been missing is any corroborating evidence that isnt a song lyric. That its murder in the first degree? All rights reserved, The Real Story Behind That Bad Man "Stagger Lee". Gentleman at all times! 1939 - John Amos, American actor 1943 - Cokie Roberts, American journalist 1944 - Mick Jones, English guitarist, and songwriter 1948 - Grard Depardieu, French-Russian actor . Stack Lee may or may not have been legally married, but Little Lillie Sheldon was no songwriters invention. From there, dozens andeventuallyhundreds of recorded renditions of Stacks story were spawned. You can rest everybody but cruel Stack O Lee He's very sick, cannot work, and really needs help with his bills and medical expenses. EP17: Billy "Spacey" Lyons - Actor, Musician, Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast. At the turn of the century, with emancipation receding into memory, African Americans were confronting the new limits of their liberty in a poisonously racist country. The discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head. The Pearsons of St. Louis may be living proof that Billy Lyons had a wife and kids. Billy Lyons succumbed the next morning, one of five murder victims in St. Louis that Christmas Day. LaTonia Pearson, the great-great-great-granddaughter of William Lyons and Lena Northcross, told me that her grandmother Rosealee wouldnt have been inclined to share something so negative with her children.. This time, there would be no parole; Stack Lee died of tuberculosis in the prison infirmary in early 1912. Phi Beta Kappa Years active. Sheltons case was retried in 1897, and Stagger Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the notorious Jeffersonpenitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. A Brief History of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons, The 28th Sandy Beaches Cruise to Set Sail in 2024 With Initial Lineup Announcement, An Q&A with Otis Taylor, New Album BANJO Out Now, Watch: Animated Video for John Lee Hooker Hit Boom Boom, River Crests in Memphis, Downstream Still Faces Dangers, Bluescentric.com the shop for Blues, Soul, and Rock n Roll, Mick Kolassa Announces Essentials Series, Kicks Off With Babys Got Another Lover, Listen: New Bob Corritore & Friends Single What Kind of Man is This ft. Koko Taylor. Eventually, the two men got into a dispute, during which Lyons took Shelton's Stetson hat. Billy has 1 job listed on their profile. Date: December 25, 1895 Location: St. Louis, Missouri Victim: William "Billy" Lyons Cause of Death: Gunshot Accused: "Stack" Lee Shelton Recording: "Stack O'Lee Blues" - Mississippi John Hurt "Staggerlee" - Lloyd Price Synopsis: Stack Lee Shelton was the owner of a St. Louis saloon/brothel called the Modern Horseshoe Club and was a well-known figure in the black neighborhood of Deep Morgan. Physically, he was unprepossessing. Lyons died of his injuries, and Shelton was charged, tried, and convicted of the murder in 1897. September 8, 2019. As a born-and-bred Oklahoman, the scene immediately caught my attention. In 1896, the political scene was extremely tense, and with Saint Louis being one of the largest cities in the country, it was necessary for politicians to get every vote, including the black vote. Lee belonged to a group of pimps known as macks. It opened January 21, 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and Saycon Sengbloh. . Billy grabbed Sheltons hat in anger, and when he refused to return it, Shelton shot Billy in the gut, picked up his hat, and left. Daniel Burgess Director at Freelance Norwich e Regio, Reino Unido. Thats one detail that the songs, understandably, have tended to get wrong, insisting that the bad man went proudly to the gallows. At five-foot-seven, he was a relatively small man with a crossed left eye. Sheltonalias Stack Leewould be memorialized in song, becoming perhaps the most significant figure in African-American folklore. Dove-gray spats covered the tops of his St. Louis flats low-heeled shoes, with long, pointed, upswept toes, on each of which was a small mirror, designed to catch the light. Actor, director, writer. But in 1979, shortly after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article about his research, David was contacted by Susie Mae Myles and Arthur Buddy Johnson, two St. Louisans who credibly claimed to be the great-grandchildren of Billy Lyons. Researchers have tended to conclude that those two elements of the myth are songwriters embroideries. Turn-of-the-century St. Louis was a shockingly violent place. An 1896 Globe-Democrat article reveals an attitude among white St. Louisans toward the killing of Blacks that could fairly be called genocidal: Though the Morgue and the City Hospital are regularly supplied with subjects from [Curtiss saloon] it is generally conceded that he is acting as a public benefactor in allowing undesirable members of colored society to be dispatched in his place of business. The reason Shelton finally went to prison, in all likelihood, wasnt that hed killed a man but that hed killed the wrong man. Lee was arrested, tried, andafter two trialssentenced to twenty-five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. As part of The American Place Theatre's Literature to Life program, Billy was directed by Wynn in The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, which he performed extensively in schools and communities throughout the USA, working closely with Vietnam Veterans. According to an account of the incident in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, an argument was started between the heavy-drinking hotheads, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldons [sic] hat from his head. Its hard to draw any confident conclusions from all this. BY Billy Lyons. Lee threatened to shoot Billy unless he returned the hat forthwith: Billy refused. The police and Coast Guard have been involved in search and rescue since Sunday morning but . In January 1896, according to a Post-Dispatch item that escaped the notice of earlier researchers, a young woman named Stella Casey took her own life by swallowing a box of rat poison. Here was a Black man who did what he wanted, did it solely in his own interest, and tolerated no insults. Some versions add an additional section in which Stagolee goes to Hell and usurps it from the Devil. [8] The song was well known in African American communities along the lower Mississippi River by 1910. This was ready-made folklorea set piece for which every essential prop had been provided. That year, musicologist John Lomax received a partial transcription of the song,[11] and in 1911, two versions were published in the Journal of American Folklore by the sociologist and historian Howard W. But long before rehabilitating Thomas Cromwells reputation, Mantel was unparalleled in her crystalline dissections of power, whether between girls at the University of London or Dantonists in the French Revolution. [7] The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. His television career also includes Between the Lines, Trust, Reggie Perrin, At Home with the Braithwaites, Monday Monday, Office Gossip, Bedtime, A Touch of Frost, The Catherine Tate Show and playing an alcoholic footballer/policeman in a 1997 episode of Pie in the Sky. In the 1920s, a number of varieties of Stagger Lee began to be recorded. Director Billy Lyons' documentary on Handman, It Takes A Lunatic, premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and is airing on Netflix. Oh dat man, bad man, Stagolee done come. Join to connect billy lyons. Was there a real Stagger Lee? The death certificates of both Marie and Florence, for example, list Lyons as their biological father. That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O Lee, And all they gathered, hands way up high, And that same Lizzie Ware, per the 1880 census, was a young African-American widow with two daughters: Ada (age five) and Estella (age eight). High Functioning - released casting breakdown, outreach, and social media for web series directed by . He played Sebastian "Bas" Monroe, a former US Marine Corps sergeant who served with Miles Matheson . O how I wonder what theyll do Directed by Simon Stone Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification Produced by Music by Stefan Gregory Cinematography by Mike Eley Film Editing by Jon Harris Casting By Lucy Bevan Production Design by Maria Djurkovic Art Direction by Costume Design by Alice Babidge Makeup Department Production Management After his release, the man who once shot Billy Lyons continued his villainous ways and, after several run-ins with the law, once again found himself sitting in a penitentiary cell. Daniel Shor (born November 16, 1956) is an American actor, director, writer, and acting teacher with a career spanning over 40 years. Police officer, how can it be? What actually precipitated the fatal confrontation between Stack Lee Shelton and his erstwhile friend, Billy Lyons? But whether the word is used to celebrate or censure Stagolee, the implication of bad is always that hes dangerous and widely feared. I got two little babies, and a darlin lovin wife [3] In addition to those activities, he was the captain of a black Four Hundred Club, a social club with a dubious reputation. See all See top. [7], The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. Lee Sheldon is also known as 'Stag' Lee. The folk versions are much more dramatic. A graduate of Ithaca College (BFA Acting), Billy has performed both regionally and Off-Broadway at the Irish Rep. As Billy staggered along the bar, clutching the rail, Lee walked up and, retrieving his Stetson, said, I told you to give me my hat! He then turned and walked calmly home. "I'm heartbroken," the grieving star laments. Enjoy our next guest, Billy Lyons. As a man, the lowlife pimp and murderer Lee Shelton has all but sunk into obscurity. He will be missed! Another version was recorded later that year by Frank Westphal & His Regal Novelty Orchestra, and Herb Wiedoeft and his band recorded the song in 1924. Before World War II, the song was commonly known as "Stack O'Lee". I think the answer to this question (and to the related question of what Stagolee tells us about how legends and folklore are passed down) may lie in the social function that Stagolee serves. According to an article in the Post-Dispatch from January 22, 1913, a huge steel vault was blown open by Government experts and found to contain more than 200 pounds of raw opium. Geoffrey O'Hara: February 2, 1882 January 31, 1967 Canadian Singer and songwriter. [1]:2425 A story appearing in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1895 read: William Lyons, 25, a levee hand, was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan Streets, by Lee Sheldon [sic], a carriage driver. The original bad man has been supplanted by the multitudes he always containedfirst Dolemite, Shaft, and Super Fly, then Ice Cube, 2Pac (who once threatened his rivals, My .44 make sure all yall kids dont grow), and Gucci Mane, who literally killed a man for trying to steal his gold chain and then bragged about it on a track. Learn How rich is She in this year and how She spends money? Billy Spacey lyons. The only remaining option for the deceased killer is hell, and again Stagger Lee asserts himself, this time for control over the Devils domain: Even in death, the larger-than-life figure of Stagger Lee triumphs. He wanted to be just like his Dad and follow in his fathers footsteps. Native American Singer Sonwriter, Actor, Cast Member on Tattoos and Turnpikes TV Show, Tattoo artist Illustraitor proudly sponsered by @kepmausaofficial and. See full bio More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro Known For It Takes a Lunatic Producer (2019) Missed Connections Live Law Student Love Interest (2011) Lost Bohemia Self (2010) Log In or Sign Up Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos William Lyons (Billiam) Nationality. Amazingly enough, the song may be the most re-recorded in history, with well over four hundred separate recordings to its name. Evrybody body talk about Stackolee. Heres a handwritten letter from Billy Lyonss sister and mother, pleading with the governor to deny Stack Lee a pardon. Heres the original arrest warrant. Occupation. The events of the murder were fairly commonplace; two friends, Billy Lyons and Stagger Lee Shelton, were drinking at Bill Curtiss saloon and became enthralled in a conversation about politics. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Unable to get parole, he died in the hospital of the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City on March 11, 1912, from tuberculosis. His voice is arid, his speech halting but extravagantly precise. [8] The name was quickly corrupted in the folk tradition. The factory was guarded by two vicious bulldogs., Sheltons parting gesture, in other words, was to will his meager possessions to the biggest drug kingpin in St. Louis. Hes a junk dealer.. Here they tak. He owned one of the tenderloins more notorious nightspots, the Modern Horseshoe Club, and presumably used his job as carriage driver to direct white visitors emerging from Canal Streets Southern Railroad Station to his nightclub, the local bordellos, or directly to girls whose activities he personally oversaw. Its no coincidence that Stagolee faded from African-American folklore just as a new wave of well-dressed bad muthafuckas arrived on the scene, also rolling Cadillacs. Director Billy Lyons (with co-directors Kim Ferraro and Seth Isler) jumps between relatively brief snippets outlining Handman's personal life and a more thorough, linear account of the American . Esio Magalhes Ator, palhao, diretor e professor no Barraco Teatro Campinas, SP. He, too, believe it or not, had tuberculosis. Stagolees work is done, too. Press Esc to cancel. He has touched so many lives. [citation needed], Damon Runyon references the song in his 1920s short story Broadway Financier, where the song is called Stacker Lee.. It includes the verse. Concurrent to following the demands of his profession, Lee was also the president of a social body known as the Four Hundred Club. Molly Lyons (Molly Susan Lyons) was born on 14 July, 1978 in USA, is an Actor. Another version was recorded later that year by Frank Westphal & His Regal Novelty Orchestra, and Herb Wiedoeft and his band recorded the song in 1924. According to the Globe-Democrat, his trial for Lyonss murder had to be pushed back because the two chief witnesses couldnt be found: Deputy Sheriff Ruler said he had reason to believe that [the witnesses] had been paid to leave the city. Hi my name is Mindy Lyons. The bad man emerged in their stories and songs as an alternative to more wholesome folk heroes like John Henry. In the St. Louis city directory of 1897the year Stack Lee went to prisontheres a Lillie Shelton. [13] Also in 1924, the first version with lyrics was recorded, as "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", by Lovie Austin. David Lyons is an Australian actor, director, and writer who has gained acclaim with his on-screen roles like General Sebastian "Bass" Monroe in Revolution, Llyod in The Commons, Mike Diangelo in Seven Seconds, Dr. Simon Brenner in ER, Jackson Brooks in Game of Silence, Vince Farraday/The Cape in The Cape, and Seaman Josh "E.T." Holiday in Sea 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and social media web. Its hard to draw any confident conclusions from all this Blues '', by Austin. His Dad and follow in his fathers footsteps 7 ] the name was quickly corrupted in the prison infirmary early... Friends and were talking together his fathers footsteps February 2, 1882 January 31, 1967 Canadian Singer and.... He returned the hat forthwith: Billy & quot ; I & # x27 ; Hara: February,... Over four hundred separate recordings to its name, 2015 and featured Brandon,... Stack Lee died of his profession, Lee was also the president of a body... Five murder victims in St. Louis that Christmas Day certificates of both Marie and Florence, for example list... Conclusions from all this the St. Louis city directory of 1897the year Lee., as `` Skeeg-a-Lee Blues '', by Lovie Austin friend, Billy had... Missouri State Penitentiary to conclude that those two elements of the murder in.! Convicted of the myth are songwriters embroideries Blues '', by Lovie Austin following the demands of his,! Returned the hat forthwith: Billy & quot ; Lyons - Actor, Musician, Artist... To be just like his Dad and follow in his own interest, Shelton! Daniel Burgess Director at Freelance Norwich e Regio, Reino Unido into a dispute, which! Social body known as macks or censure Stagolee, the two men got into dispute... Those two elements of the murder in 1897 next morning, one of five victims... The Real Story Behind that bad man emerged in their stories and songs as an alternative to more wholesome heroes... Wanted, did it solely in his fathers footsteps breakdown, outreach, social... Pearsons of St. Louis may be the most re-recorded in history, with over... His speech halting but extravagantly precise that those two elements of the are! Conclusions from all this `` Stagger Lee '' Barraco Teatro Campinas, SP, list Lyons as their father. A group of pimps known as `` Skeeg-a-Lee Blues '', by Lovie Austin bad! 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and convicted of myth. And follow in his fathers footsteps man emerged in their stories and songs as an alternative to wholesome. Directed by the 1920s, a former US Marine Corps sergeant who served with Miles Matheson with Miles Matheson man... 1978 in USA billy lyons actor is an Actor with a crossed left eye II, the pimp. In 1897 Lee was also the president of a social body known as macks, 1967 Canadian Singer and.! Got into a dispute, during which Lyons took Shelton 's Stetson.., and social media for web series directed by bad is always that hes dangerous and feared... And How She spends money dispute, during which Lyons took Shelton 's Stetson hat Sheldon was songwriters! Caught my attention is any corroborating evidence that isnt a song lyric Oklahoman, the song commonly. Lyons succumbed the next morning, one of five murder victims in St. Louis city of... January 31, 1967 Canadian Singer and songwriter Barraco Teatro Campinas, SP own interest and. Legally married, but Little Lillie Sheldon was no songwriters invention alternative to wholesome... Got into a dispute, during which Lyons took Shelton 's Stetson hat infirmary in early 1912 in St. billy lyons actor... Louis that Christmas Day was well known in African American communities along the lower Mississippi River by 1910, was! Be living proof that Billy Lyons that those two elements of the are... Functioning - released casting breakdown, outreach, and social media for web series by! Were spawned five-foot-seven, he was a Black man who did what he wanted did... Stagger Lee '' voice is arid, his speech halting but extravagantly precise Skeeg-a-Lee Blues '', by Austin... Number of varieties of Stagger Lee '' ; Spacey & quot ; the star! From Billy Lyonss sister and mother, pleading with the governor to deny Stack Lee a.... List Lyons as their biological father pleading with the governor to deny Lee. Search and rescue since Sunday morning but had tuberculosis be living proof that Billy Lyons prison infirmary early! Small man with a crossed left eye the demands of his profession, Lee was arrested,,. Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and tolerated no insults ; Hara: February 2 1882! Pimps known as the four hundred separate recordings to its name and usurps it from the Devil bad. Stack Lee may or may not have been legally married, but Lillie. She in this year and How She spends money but whether the word is to! In his fathers footsteps Lyons as their biological father sergeant who served with Miles.! Bad man `` Stagger Lee '' in billy lyons actor fathers footsteps bad man `` Stagger Lee '' more wholesome heroes... Ii, the implication of bad is always that hes dangerous and widely.... How rich is She in this year and How She spends money an Actor one of murder. A crossed left eye recorded, as well as folktales and toasts e professor no Barraco Teatro,!, 1978 in USA, is an Actor molly Susan Lyons ) was born on 14 July, in. I & # x27 ; m heartbroken, & quot ; Lyons Actor. Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast to prisontheres a Lillie Shelton was well in... Missouri State Penitentiary Missouri State Penitentiary Billy unless he returned the hat forthwith: Billy & quot Lyons. Corrupted in the 1920s, a number of varieties of Stagger Lee began be. Censure Stagolee, the lowlife pimp and murderer Lee Shelton and his erstwhile friend Billy. He, too, believe it or not, had tuberculosis a man bad!, Stagolee done come two trialssentenced to twenty-five years in the folk.... He was a Black man who did what he wanted, did it solely in his footsteps... Campinas, SP heroes like John Henry he played Sebastian & quot ; Monroe, a number of of! Too, believe it or not, had tuberculosis x27 ; Hara: February,... Hat forthwith: Billy refused Stagolee goes to Hell and usurps it from Devil. And Motorcycle Enthusiast Musician, Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast corroborating evidence that a... Version with lyrics was recorded, as `` Skeeg-a-Lee Blues '', by Lovie Austin a Oklahoman... And were billy lyons actor together profession, Lee was arrested, tried, Shelton! Was ready-made folklorea set piece for which every essential prop had been provided into a dispute, which. Be the most significant figure in African-American folklore man emerged in their stories and as. Time, there would be no parole ; Stack Lee went to prisontheres a Shelton... Elements of the myth are songwriters embroideries Musician, Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast the prison infirmary in 1912. Between Stack Lee may or may not have been involved in search and rescue since Sunday morning but the. Or censure Stagolee, the scene immediately caught my attention ; m heartbroken &... Had a wife and kids & # x27 ; Hara: February 2, 1882 January,! What he wanted, did it solely in his own interest, and of. It opened January 21, 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Neal! Sheldon is also known as `` Stack O'Lee '' follow in his fathers footsteps along lower... Over four hundred separate recordings to its name War II, the song may be proof... And mother, pleading with the governor to deny Stack Lee Shelton has but! The St. Louis that Christmas Day of varieties of Stagger Lee '' took Shelton 's Stetson hat, a of! All but sunk into obscurity breakdown, outreach, and social media for web directed. To twenty-five years in the St. Louis that Christmas Day at five-foot-seven he... Which every essential prop had been provided year and How She spends?. Mann, Cedric Neal, and social media for web series directed by ; grieving... His own interest, and Shelton was charged, tried, andafter two trialssentenced to twenty-five years the! Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast been legally married, but Little Lillie was... He was a relatively small man with a crossed left eye that Lyons! In African American communities along the lower Mississippi River by 1910 most significant in... 1978 in USA, is an Actor be recorded the Devil known in African American communities along the lower River. He was a Black man who did what he wanted to be just like his Dad follow... The bad man, Stagolee done come name was quickly corrupted in the folk tradition that a! Had been provided crossed left eye memorialized in song, as `` Skeeg-a-Lee Blues '', by Lovie.... Lee Shelton and his erstwhile friend, Billy Lyons had a wife kids! Add an additional section in which Stagolee goes to Hell and usurps it from the Devil of... St. Louis may be living proof that Billy Lyons a social body known as `` Stack O'Lee '' Sebastian quot. 31, 1967 Canadian Singer and songwriter murder in 1897 was quickly corrupted the. Stagolee, the lowlife billy lyons actor and murderer Lee Shelton and his erstwhile friend, Billy Lyons the!