With Ossie and Ruby

Starred review from November 2, 1998
In December the co-authors will mark their 50th wedding anniversary, an almost unheard of milestone for two stars of the performing arts this century. Even before their marriage, according to Davis, "we were in love, head over heels, and stuck with each other forever!" Rather than just telling the story of a successful marriage, however, their book (related in alternate voices) provides a panorama of the 20th-century African American experience, or, as they label it, The Struggle. Both socialists and militant battlers for African American rights, Davis and Dee have known, and worked with, such leaders as W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King and Malcom X. And they haven't shied away from the consequences of taking a public stand: during the flowering of McCarthyism, Dee was called a Communist sympathizer in the press. Still, with refreshing honesty, they steer clear of self-congratulation, as when Davis tells how, as a little boy, in exchange for a few pieces of peanut brittle, he acquiesced as some racist local cops mistreated him. Of course, Dee and Davis also chronicle their careers as pioneers on stage, film and television, from their involvement with New York's African American theater scene during the Depression to their work alongside stars like Sidney Poitier and Lena Horne. From Davis's youth as a "Negro boy surrounded by white hoods, burning crosses, and stories that brought the smell of burning flesh," to Dee's concern for the future of African American theater, this is a compelling read, effectively evoking the challenges and rewards that have attended the authors' roles as black leaders over the past 60 years. Photos not seen by PW. Appendix, index. Agents, Betty McCort and Susan Crawford. (Nov.) FYI: Also out this November is Ruby Dee's My One Good Nerve, a collection of verse based on her one-woman show of that title.

Starred review from April 3, 2006
In 1998, renowned actors Davis and Dee celebrated 50 years of marriage by penning an engaging memoir of their life together, musing on the theater, the struggle for civil rights and what they considered their most important roles: being parents. Between the book's publication and Davis's death in 2005, the couple recorded this stellar audio version. It's a marvelous blend of readers' theater and classy, old-married style, with Davis and Dee trading off portions of their narrative and sometimes gently correcting each other's version of events. ("It takes two of us to get this story told," Davis chuckles after his wife amends his account of a particularly funny 1950s incident when the two were being pursued backstage by Joseph McCarthy's men, intent on serving the alleged Communist sympathizers with subpoenas.) The book has humor and pathos, pain and nostalgia, all told with Davis's deep, resonant baritone and Dee's fast-as-lightning wit. Most of all, it's a personal walk through the 20th-century African-American experience, with both reflecting on the many luminaries they have known, including Father Divine, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson and Sidney Poitier. Available as a Harper paperback