Muddy Waters hit the headlines in June 1956 when a fight broke out on the bandstand at Ricky’s Show Lounge on Indiana Ave, reported under the headline “Cast in Muddy Waters Fracas.” Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956. 1/🧵 
Those charged in Women’s Court were Muddy Waters, Dorothy Shelton, Geraldine Williams, Ruth Johnson, and Muddy’s manager James Triplett on counts of malicious mischief and fighting. Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956. 2/🧵
Shelton, 19, a West Side tavern manager who said she was Muddy’s girlfriend, confronted 23-year-old Geraldine Williams during the show after Muddy “dropped” her following a long courtship, and a brawl erupted on the stand. Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956. 3/🧵
The article notes Shelton had a revolver in her possession and that windows of Muddy’s station wagon were smashed in the aftermath of the melee. Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956. 4/🧵
Judge Cecil postponed the case to June 19 when Muddy’s attorney failed to appear, moving the nightclub dust-up from stage drama to a formal court calendar. Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956. 5/🧵
Ricky’s Show Lounge at 3840 Indiana Ave sat in the South Side show-lounge belt where blues stars mixed with neighborhood crowds and late-night press, a setting that made private quarrels very public. Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956; South Side club histories. 6/🧵
Why this matters: the Defender framed a blues love triangle as front-page theater, showing how Black press, South Side nightlife, and rising blues celebrity turned offstage life into citywide news. Source: Chicago Defender, June 9, 1956. 7/🧵
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