Barbara herself charted her fall as an inverse pyramid of declining cash. There was stardom and $10,000 a week. Then, all but inexplicably, no roles — instead $300 “gifts” tactfully deposited inside her purse by producers. Then, $100 gifts, left less discreetly on her dresser. She bounced a check at a Hollywood grocery store to purchase liquor. She slept with her landlady’s husband for the rent, and on Christmas Eve with an actor friend for $50, then $20 johns, then $10.
Now — her voice woozed from the speaker — “The little money I accumulate comes from old residuals, poetry, and favors to men.... I love the Negro race, and I will accept money only from Negroes.... White men don’t seem to go for me anymore.... Wine and bare bodies and nightmare sleep and money that was never enough to pay the bills…. One night I realized I was in bed with a Negro. He was gentle and kind to me…. He gave me five dollars…. Five dollars!”
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1999/oct/14/she-spoke-if-she-lived-movie/?page=1&;
