Live from Vout-ville

Along with Gaillard's date of birth, his family lineage and place of birth are disputed. One account is that he was born in Santa Clara, Cuba of a Greek father and an Afro-Cuban mother;^[2]another is that he was born in Pensacola, Floridato a German father and an African-American mother.^[3] Adding to the confusion, the 1920 U.S. Census lists a 19-month-old boy named "Beuler Gillard" in Pensacola, but born in Alabama.^[4] He grew up in Detroit and moved to New York City in the 1930s.

According to the obituaries in leading newspapers, Gaillard's childhood in Cuba was spent cuttingsugar-cane and picking bananas, as well as occasionally going to sea with his father. However, at the age of 12, he accompanied his father on a world voyage and was accidentally left behind on the island of Crete. After working on the island for a while, he made his home in Detroit. In America, Gaillard worked in an abattoir, trained as a mortician and also had been employed atFord's Motor Works.^{[citation needed]}