Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Kay, 1980Biographical NoteKay was born in 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother died in childbirth and her father spent much of his adult life in a Veteran's hospital in Northport, Long Island after being injured in World War I. She was raised by her grandparents. She graduated from a Catholic high school in Greenpoint in 1940, and began working first as an assistant bookkeeper, then as an underwriter for the Insurance Company of North America. Kay got married in 1942 and had two children. Her husband spent much of their marriage in the army, and when he returned home, became physically abusive. Kay escaped to Chicago when she was twenty-three years of age, leaving her two daughters with her grandmother and mother-in-law. In Chicago, she went to nursing school during the day while working as a card dealer in a nightclub at night. She began using Demerol, and after one year, transitioned to using morphine. Kay finished nursing school and started working at St. Luke's in Chicago, but felt she was hindered by her morphine addiction and quit. Kay then began working for a call service. Kay was arrested three times in the 1940s and twice in the 1950s, but never served jail time. She married her second husband, who was a carnival worker with Royal American Shows, in 1951. She quit doing sex work, and the couple traveled through the United States, Mexico, and Canada with the carnival. At this time, they were both using Dolophine and Dilaudid. She went to Lexington, Kentucky Hospital in 1953, 1954, 1956 and 1962 to detox from drugs. When she left Lexington in 1962, Kay moved back to New York with her husband, and used opium until she joined the methadone program in 1967. Kay was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project. In the book, Kay was referred to by the pseudonym "Brenda"
Scope and ContentsIn this interview, Kay discusses her life in New York City and Chicago, focusing on her drug use. Kay discusses her upbringing and family life in great detail, including her experience being raised by her grandparents, the alcoholism of many members of her family, and how she was ostracized and belittled by her family when she got pregnant at eighteen years of age. She describes how she escaped her abusive first marriage, and moved to Chicago at twenty-three years of age, leaving her children in the care of her grandmother and mother-in-law. She explains how she first began using narcotics to ease her hangovers, because she was drinking alcohol heavily. She details how she attended nursing school during the day and worked as a card dealer in a nightclub at night. She describes the milieu of Chicago nightlife during the 1940s and 1950s. Kay describes in depth her experience working for a call service in Chicago including her hours and clientele. She explains in detail how she and her husband acquired narcotic prescriptions from doctors while traveling with the Royal American Shows carnival, and compares the relative ease of acquiring narcotics across different cities. She also describes a class of doctors called "writers," who were known to prescribe narcotics. She describes her time at Lexington, Kentucky Hospital, and her difficult experience detoxing from drugs. She discusses changes she observed in the demographic of the patient and staff population and at Lexington over the years, as well as the condition of the facility, aspects of daily life, and returning to the outside world after a stay. She describes a game that her husband and other conmen operated at the airport to trick strangers out of their money. She discusses her various arrests. She explains how, in times where it was difficult to acquire narcotics, she would ask a doctor for a hemorrhoid prescription and extract the opium from the medication. She describes how the methadone program has changed over time, and how she and her husband's lifestyle of frequent travel had to change in order to adapt to the program. She also describes prejudice from doctors for being an addict when being treated for medical issues unrelated to drugs
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
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