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Introduction                            

Book of Numbers is a 1973 film directed by (and starring) Raymond St. Jacques.  It was produced by AVCO Embassy Pictures, and is the story of two black waiters who team up in El Dorado, Arkansas to run a numbers racket among the poor and working class black community in the 1930’s.  Meanwhile, they evade and outsmart the KKK, corrupt white police officers, and deflect a hostile take-over from a nearby mafia gang.  The movie is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Robert Deane Pharr, and is the only film directed by actor Raymond St. Jacques.  It was filmed in Texas and received critical praise upon release for its stylish depiction of the South in the 1930’s.

Plot

The film begins with Dave Greene’s narration about how he and Blueboy Harris had saved up enough money to quit their jobs as waiters and move to Arkansas with the intention of starting a numbers racket.  He foreshadows that he wished he had never come to El Dorado, as he is seen walking in a jazz funeral.  The remainder of the film is a flashback to the illegal business with his partner and mentor, Blueboy, their struggles with the mafia, the KKK and a corrupt police force.  Together with various employees, they start an illegal lottery in the back of a hair salon which quickly becomes profitable.  A nearby white mafia boss sends one of his black lieutenants to intimidate Dave and Blueboy into handing over their profits, but they refuse, resulting in a shoot-out where several characters are killed.  The rival mafia gang later attacks the salon and steals all of the numbers books (vital receipts to keep the business operational), so Dave has his friends concoct a plan to steal more. They dress up as members of the KKK to sneak over to the rival gang's hideout, but a posse of the real KKK arrive and originally mistake them for members. Once they pull off a hood to reveal their true identity as four black men stealing numbers books, a car chase ensues. A corrupt white police force raids the salon, steals all the cash and arrests Blueboy, but he enters the courtroom and acts like a black stereotype (scraping and begging and wringing his hat) until the white judge lets him off with a warning. This enrages Dave who is ashamed that Blueboy degrade himself for the white judge, but Blueboy explains that his actions were smart, and he used the white man’s prejudice to get away with their crime.  The partners fight and Blueboy leaves, but when the mafia returns to attack Dave, Blueboy appears with a shotgun to save his friend.  In the final battle, Blueboy is shot and dies in Dave’s arms.  

Thus established, the El Dorado numbers bank begins to grow with increasing success.

In a nearby town, however, there is another numbers bank set up by a white man, Luis Antoine (GILBERT GREENE), and fronted by Black hood Joe Gaines (JERRY LEON) and his flunkies (RAY McDONALD and CHARLES LEWIS). They are also abetted by a white psychopathic killer, Carlos (FRANK de SAL).

In an effort to run Blueboy and his crew out of town and thus eliminate competition, Antoine has Carlos and his goons raid Blueboy's counting house, and destroy his numbers pads and adding machines.

Refusing to run, Blueboy has Flick, Blip Blip, Billy Bowlegs and Dave disguise themselves as Ku Klux Klansmen, drive to the headquarters of the rival group, set up a burning cross and frighten Antoine's Black associates out the back door. The phoney Black Klansmen then proceed to load Antoine's numbers pads into their pickup, destroying his machinery as they go.

But Blueboy's men are then surprised by a group of real Klansmen who see the burning cross and robes and plan to get in on what they think is some "good action." The whites soon realize that there are black faces beneath the familiar white hoods and the real Klansmen (DESMOND DHOOGE, FRANK SCHAEFER, BILL WHITE and JOHN KUHN) take off in pursuit of the Blacks. After a harrowing chase, the Klansmen are eluded.

Blueboy and Dave are back in business and in time a beautiful young local girl, Kelly Simms (FREDA PAYNE), is attracted to Dave and eventually moves in with him. She is opposed to the numbers operation and tries to talk Dave into giving it up.

Unexpectedly, the local constabulary stage a raid on the counting house. After stuffing whatever money is present into their own pockets, they arrest Blueboy. But the crafty old man beats the rap by pretending to be an ignorant, shuffling colored man when his trial on charges of gambling comes up. His case is dismissed and the whites still have no idea of how really big his operation is.

But their problems are far from over. Dave and Kelly are making love when they are interrupted by Carlos and his hoods. Carlos grabs Kelly and threatens to kill her. In an attempt to help Kelly, Dave rushes Carlos, who shoots Dave in the shoulder. Blueboy then enters and kills Carlos, but is himself killed by one of the hoods. Antoine, also present at this melee, is killed in an ensuing gunfight by Kelly.

The final scene finds Dave, Kelly, Kid Flick, Billy Bowlegs, Pigmeat and Makepeace leading a somber funeral procession for Blueboy. But a portent of the future is offered by Pigmeat, who stops long enough in the procession to take a bet from an onlooker.

And the El Dorado, Arkansas numbers bank rolls on.

Background

From the August 2014 Ebony interview “Freda Payne Talks All That Jazz” with Michael A. Gonzales: “[Freda] Payne played the love interest, Kelly Simms. ‘Now, that was an experience,’ Payne says. ‘Raymond called me personally and asked if I would star in the movie with Phillip Michael Thomas and D’Urville Martin. It was a fun movie. We shot on location in Texas, and it was hot. I remember having to wear a wool skirt and a cardigan sweater and it was really humid. But it was a project I really enjoyed.’” 

Themes

Injustice and Mentorship

Another important theme is the difference between the two main characters and how they approach racism, interactions with whites and activism.  Blueboy is the older generation who works within inherent prejudices and discrimination of white people to manipulate and evade confrontation, but also to succeed.  When Dave argues that Blueboy’s courtroom behavior made the white people think they were fools, Blueboy states in the film, “Son, what they think don’t matter. Don’t you know having the crackers’ respect don’t mean we ain’t one bit less nigger to them?!”  However, Dave, who is young and proud, argues that they should fight and stand up for their dignity in the face of racism.  “And you call being reduced to nothing ‘foolin em’? Crackers ain’t that crazy.  Now I can see fighting them and losing ‘em, but what you done…?!”  The relationship between the two main characters is very much that of a father and son, and Blueboy says, “Dave, do you think I’m proud of what I done?  You think I’ve been proud all my life of having to bow my head and ‘Tom.’  Just so as I could survive.  Son, I did what I done today for you.  For you youngins.  ‘Cause you youngins got to carry on the good fight.  Me?  My kind, we’re finished.  But you can’t do it behind bars.” 

Blazing Saddles (1974) “The latter presented audiences with a new-style coon: a coon with a double consciousness.  Here in this uneven but wildly energetic spoof on Westerns, Cleavon Little plays a black man who shows up in a white (and hostile) Old West community. As the town’s new sheriff, he knows the only way he’ll survive is by playing the role of a dumb black nigger; he does precisely that and is able not only to survive but to triumph too.”

Criminal Activity and Racism

One theme of the film is the use of illegal or criminal activity for the black characters to achieve financial independence in a white-dominated Depression Era southern community.  The two characters, Dave and Blueboy, transition from positions of servitude as professional waiters, to positions of leadership and influence as controllers of the numbers racket. 

Playwright and professor of literature at Emerson College, Jabari Asim, writes, “Dave, a young man with a nose for cash, and Blueboy, a ‘born professional if ever there was one,’ have few legitimate avenues open to them.  It is this lamentable absence of opportunity that makes numbers banking ‘the only business in America that was open to every enterprising Negro.’  Their success – and the creativity and intelligence they must utilize to attain it – make the pair prototypical ‘race men,’ figures in black whose rise invigorates the community that bears witness to their climb.  To many of the scrambling regulars of the Block, Blueboy and Dave are antiheroes in the best possible sense, doing for self and kind without appearing to bow and scrape before ‘the Man.’” 

From Encyclopedia Virginia, contributor John J. Roberts III writes, “[The author], Pharr stated that ‘in order for there to be black wealth in that novel, there had to be law breaking. As long as black people could not break out of the economic ghetto into a world of free enterprise, they had to commit crime.’ Thus, The Book of Numbers became Pharr's analysis of an American Dream distorted by the denial of opportunities to African Americans.” 

The director's objective for the film was not to glorify crime, but to show a part of the community that offered financial hope and independence. He clarified, "I didn't want to glorify the numbers racket per se... Rather, I wanted to document the lifestyle of the 'colored' people of the period, and relate it to the Black lifestyle of today, so that young people, and even older people, could have a visual understanding of the way things were in the past."

Soundtrack

Book of Numbers has a soundtrack by composer Al Schuckman, with performances by blues musicians Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. It was released by Brut/Buddah Records in 1973 and included the songs, "I Walk with the Lord," "Blue's Last Walk," "Cracker Cops," "Blueboy's Holler," and "Moog Montage: The Klan / No Way Out / Chase Down."

Reception

Film critic, Roger Ebert wrote “Book of Numbers has a point to make: If blacks had to play a role to survive, they did - and they did survive.  The older gangster, for example, shuffles into court as a half-paralytic Uncle Tom, and is found not guilty by the white judge. He warns the prosecutor to ‘stop persecutin our Negroes.’ The younger black gangster finds his partner’s behavior reprehensible, but St. Jacques explains: ‘If I went in there with a fancy lawyer, I’d go to jail for sure.’”