rom 1952 through 1956,
from the release of his Capitalism STINKZ!
album to the release of That Civic Feeling! (his first,
self-funded attempt at a comeback album, Communism STINKZ WORSE!,
was a dismal failure and noteworthy in that it is the only
Starlight album known to have been refused even a review by all
respected recording industry papers), Jackie Starlight was blacklisted.
In truth, Jackie must bear some of the responsibility for his blacklisting, since he knew very well back in those dark days that distributing Communist Party pamphlets at the headquarters of RCA was tantamount to a mistake. Jackie's often-repeated defense, "I was drunk at the time," certainly holds some truth, but one must look deeper to find the true reasons for his unusual departure.
Many Jackie! scholars maintain that Mr. Starlight did in fact for a brief time in his highly experimental career fully embrace the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism. But if one looks deeply into the lyrics of his Capitalism STINKZ!!! opus, a pattern begins to appear. In "Bite My Ass, You Lousy Skunk!," Jackie assails the reputation of the then-famous U.S. Senator, Joseph P. MacCarthy--
Hey-hey Joe, you gotta know
Wisconsin's just full o' cheese!
I don't care, cause I got more hair,
and Maria's just a SLEAZE!
Like you!
You dirty, rotten, Lousy Skunk, Joe, You!
You dirty, rotten, Lousy Wisconsin Skunk!
From these enigmatic lyrics one begins to piece together the full story of what happened: In 1951 Jackie's then-wife, Maria Bassanova met the young Sen. MacCarthy at a joint fund-raiser for the American recording industry and the Wisconsin Republican Party. In his never-published memoirs, Jackie alleges that MacCarthy "put his goddam hands where no man but ME ought go," referring to some real or imagined dalliance on the part of the Senator with regard to Ms. Bossanova. Jackie's obsession with this purported incident snowballed as his career began to be eclipsed by more enduring singing stars, like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.
It is this writer's considered opinion, therefore, that Jackie's entire foray into Communist ideology was a mere attempt to "Get Back at That Sonofabitch Joe" as the mysterious slogan on the back of his Capitalism STINKZ!!! album indicates.
In hindsight, the blacklisted years ended up slightly enhancing Jackie's career, in that Jackie was able to ride the wave of the country's liberal backlash against MacCarthyism for more than a few albums. He even put out a special "Black-Listed No-More" poster in 1958, but to be candid, by that time, nobody really cared. Then, of course, came his "Beatnik Period," but that's another story altogether.