William Dufty

William Dufty
William Dufty
Born	William Francis Dufty; February 2, 1916; nearGrand Rapids,Michigan,U.S.
Died	June 28, 2002(aged 86); Birmingham, Michigan,U.S.
Occupation(s)	Writer, musician
Spouses	Maely Bartholomew; Gloria Swanson;
Children	Bevan Dufty

William Francis Dufty(February 2, 1916 – June 28, 2002) was an American writer, musician, and activist.

Dufty was a supporter oftrade unionismand was an organizer for theUnited Auto Workers,wrote speeches for former UAW PresidentWalter Reuther,edited MichiganCongress of Industrial Organizations(CIO) News and handled publicity forAmericans for Democratic Action.^[1]

Biography

Dufty was born nearGrand Rapids,Michigan.

Youth

Dufty produced some autobiographical notes in the first chapter, "It is necessary to be personal", of his bookSugar Blues(1975):

We spent our summers atCrystal Lakeuntil I was twelve or thirteen. By that time I was making $75 a week in the wintertime season – an undreamed of fortune in those days – as a prodigaljazz pianiston the radio...The day my voice began to change was the beginning of the end of my radio career. If my voice didn't sound childlike any more, there was nothing remarkable about the way I played the piano.^[2]^: 14

College

In the twenties, I had been so rich I never carried a cent on me. In the thirties – mooching my way through college holding a job or two on the side – I was so poor I put every cent on my back where it would show…I took tocollegiate journalismas a kind of lark. There I discovered that the cigarette companies virtually subsidized the university paper with their advertising.^[2]^: 17

After suffering through two years of college, I finally dropped out.^[3]It took daring in those days to dream of facing life without a degree. But I could sniff another war in the offing...I was drafted in 1942...^[2]^: 18

Army

In due course my body was shipped overseas. Bound for Britain, I trotted around the top deck of the blacked out S.S. Mauretania with acarbineon by shoulder and a heavy Armygreatcoatsoaked with Atlantic spray. Two hours on, two hours off. By the time we docked in Liverpool, I had a lovely case ofwalking pneumonia.^[2]^: 19

Eventually, I was packed off by train to Glasgow, by ship to Algiers, then by truck toOranin the Mediterranean. Three weeks in the desert and I was as good as new...After the landings in southern France, I was packed off to join the First French Army: Arabs, Senegalese, Goums, Sihks, Vietnamese, with French officers andnoncoms.We lived off the land, no fancy rations and luxuries. Some brought along pots and pans, ducks and geese, sheep and goats, wives and mistresses...We lived on horsemeat, rabbit, squirrel, dark French peasant bread, and whatever else could be scrounged. Winter in theVosges mountainswas brutal and endless, yet I never had a cold or a sniffle.^[2]^: 20

New York

After the war, he moved to New York and began a newspaper career. His columns and exposés for theNew York Postdrew acclaim, including one that charged that the FBI bungled cases underJ. Edgar Hoover's leadership. He was awarded theGeorge Polk Awardfor an exposé on immigrants.^[4]

Dufty had one son,Bevan Dufty,with first wife Maely Bartholomew, who had arrived in New York City duringWorld War IIafter losing most of her family in the Nazi concentration camps. She settled nearHarlemwhere she met her best friend and Bevan'sgodmother,Billie Holiday.They later divorced and Maely raised Bevan as a single mother.

Dufty took Billie Holiday's oral history and wroteLady Sings the Bluesin 1956, which in turn was made into a1972 moviestarringDiana Rossin the title role.^[5]^[6]

Macrobiotic diet

Dufty credits the death ofJohn F. Kennedyand an article byTom WolfeinNew YorkMagazine with starting him on the way to good health.^[7]The article described a condition,sanpaku,as a morbid symptom that precedes death, according toNyoiti Sakurazawa.After obtaining some literature from the Ohsawa Foundation in New York, and following its strict regime of vegetables and rice, Dufty transformed his body and mind. He lost weight and became "calm, cool, collected, precise, and unrattled". He became an advocate ofmacrobiotics,met Sakurazawa, and prepared the manuscript ofYou Are All Sanpakufor publication withFelix Morrowin 1965.^[7]

Dufty practiced and promoted macrobiotic nutrition, advocating a low-fat, high-fiber diet ofwhole grains,vegetables,sea vegetables,nutsand seeds, combined in accordance with the principles ofyin and yang,said to optimize digestion by attention to nature.

Dufty had struggled with the symptoms ofhypoglycemiaand had sought the help of physicians. Describing the frustrating search similarly pursued by Dr. Steven Gyland,^[8]Dufty wrote,^[2]^: 89

If you've ever gone through this kind of medical rigmarole, as I and millions of others have, one ends up a little bitter, with a sense of mission.

In the 1960s, he metGloria Swanson,a nutrition enthusiast who convinced him thatwhite sugarwas unsafe. Dufty undertook a program of research of the impact that sugar has had, and wroteSugar Bluesin 1975.

He became good friends with Japanese artistYoko Onoand her husband, musician and formerBeatle,John Lennon.When John and Yoko visited Singapore, they wrote to Swanson and Dufty. As Hunter Davies, editor ofThe John Lennon Lettersexplains,

[Swanson] was strongly against sugar, as a curse of society; her husband had written a book calledSugar Blues,which John Lennon bought lots of copies of, giving them out to friends.^[9]

Marriage and death

Dufty and Swanson were married, she for the sixth time, he for the second time, in 1976. He helped Swanson write her autobiography,Swanson on Swanson,in 1981.^[3]

After Swanson's death in 1983, he returned to his home state of Michigan, settling inMetro Detroit.From there he continued to lecture, write newspaper and magazine articles and teach macrobiotics to a new generation. Dufty died at age 86 on June 28, 2002, at his home inBirmingham, Michigan.^[10]^[11]

Books

1956:Lady Sings the Blues,Billie Holiday with William Dufty
1958:My Father- My Son,byEdward G. Robinson Jr.with William Dufty, viaHathi Trust
1965:You Are All Sanpaku,Sakurazawa Nyoiti with William Dufty
1966:Spoiled Priest: the Autobiography of an Ex-Priest,Gabriel Longo, University Books
1969:Mannequin My Life as a Model,Carolyn Kenmore, Bartholomew House Press
1975:Sugar Blues
1980:Swanson on Swanson,Gloria Swanson, Random House

References

^Shearer, Stephen Michael (2013).Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star.New York: Macmillan. p. 374.ISBN 978-1250001559.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fDufty, William (1975).Sugar Blues.Warner Books.ISBN 978-0446305129.
^^a ^b"Obituary: William Dufty".The Daily Telegraph.August 20, 2002.RetrievedFebruary 12,2020.
^"1955 George Polk Award winners".Long Island University.RetrievedFebruary 12,2020.
^Holiday, Billie; Dufty, William (March 2, 2011).Lady Sings the Blues(50th Anniversary ed.). Crown. p. ii Introduction.ISBN 978-0307786166.RetrievedFebruary 12,2020.I'm not sure Billie has the literary background to write a book. So Dufty interviewed her and wrote the book in her voice.
^Hamlin, Jesse (August 24, 2010)."Billie Holiday's bio, 'Lady Sings the Blues,' may be full of half-truths, but it gets at jazz great's core".San Francisco Chronicle.
^^a ^bOhsawa, George (2002).You Are All Sanpaku.Translated by Dufty, William. Citadel. pp. 9–58.ISBN 978-0806524054.
^Gyland, Stephen. (1953) "Possibly Neurogenic Hypoglycemia",Journal of the American Medical Association152: 1184, § "Queries and Minor Notes", July 18
^Lennon, John; Davies, Hunter (October 9, 2012).The John Lennon Letters.Little, Brown and Company.p. 310.ISBN 978-0316200806.
^Oliver, Myrna (July 4, 2002)."William Dufty obituary".Los Angeles Times.
^Lentz III, Harris M. (2003).Obituaries in the Performing Arts 2002.McFarland and Company.p. 88.ISBN 978-0786412785.

External links

Herring, Hubert B. (April 16, 2002)Sweet taste of beating sugar habit,The New York Times.
William DuftyatIMDb

[1] Shearer, Stephen Michael (2013).Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star.New York: Macmillan. p. 374.ISBN 978-1250001559.

[Sugar-2] Dufty, William (1975).Sugar Blues.Warner Books.ISBN 978-0446305129.

[daily-3] "Obituary: William Dufty".The Daily Telegraph.August 20, 2002.RetrievedFebruary 12,2020.

[4] "1955 George Polk Award winners".Long Island University.RetrievedFebruary 12,2020.

[5] Holiday, Billie; Dufty, William (March 2, 2011).Lady Sings the Blues(50th Anniversary ed.). Crown. p. ii Introduction.ISBN 978-0307786166.RetrievedFebruary 12,2020.I'm not sure Billie has the literary background to write a book. So Dufty interviewed her and wrote the book in her voice.

[6] Hamlin, Jesse (August 24, 2010)."Billie Holiday's bio, 'Lady Sings the Blues,' may be full of half-truths, but it gets at jazz great's core".San Francisco Chronicle.

[GO-7] Ohsawa, George (2002).You Are All Sanpaku.Translated by Dufty, William. Citadel. pp. 9–58.ISBN 978-0806524054.

[8] Gyland, Stephen. (1953) "Possibly Neurogenic Hypoglycemia",Journal of the American Medical Association152: 1184, § "Queries and Minor Notes", July 18

[9] Lennon, John; Davies, Hunter (October 9, 2012).The John Lennon Letters.Little, Brown and Company.p. 310.ISBN 978-0316200806.

[10] Oliver, Myrna (July 4, 2002)."William Dufty obituary".Los Angeles Times.

[11] Lentz III, Harris M. (2003).Obituaries in the Performing Arts 2002.McFarland and Company.p. 88.ISBN 978-0786412785.

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