Alice Ramsey, a dancer whom I'd met in the South, came backstage. Alice said she was working at Edmond's and sharing a flat with Lola Lee, another of his entertainers. I accepted her invitation to move in with them. "Why go back to Philadelphia when you're through here?" she asked me. "I want you to come down one night and meet my boss, Edmond." I promised I'd do that when I'd concluded my engagement at the Lincoln. While working I never cared to go to night clubs. I always worried about the heavy cigarette smoke hurting my throat. When I did go down to Edmond's, Alice, after introducing me to Edmond (Mule) Johnson, suggested that I go out on the floor and do my "Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble" number. "Will you give Ethel a job?" she asked him after he'd watched me work. He shrugged and grumbled, "All I've seen her do so far is shake her behind. But if she wants to put her money in the kitty she can work here."