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Early Friday afternoon of May 24, 1963, presumably following at least a few hours of much-needed sleep after the late night before, James Baldwin showed up for a previously scheduled interview with Lewis Funke of the New York Times at Sardi’s, the midtown restaurant famous for the caricatures of Broadway stars adorning its walls. He was there to discuss Baldwin’s play Blues for Mister Charlie , which would end up as the lead story for Funke’s weekly column in the drama section of the paper on June 2—further proof that anything Baldwin did was now newsworthy. Even more newsworthy, however, was what happened as the interview approached its conclusion. “I’m going to

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