Moonlight Graham pc on ebay

[Kawika]

Very interesting thread. Civil discourse, to boot. N54 at it's best. I'd be content to just sit back and lurk but any thread that mentions Bix Beiderbecke and I'm in there like a dirty shirt. In fact, some of you may recall my pre-hard drive crash nom de plume on the old Board, Big Spider Beck. In lockstep with my passion for vintage cardboard is my love of pre-war jazz from the '20's and '30's. Don't even get me started.
Here is a YouTube clip which purportedly contains the only appearance of Bix in a sound film. He appears around 1:10 for fifteen seconds or so. It's not Bix at his best but it's all we've got. I have also seen a documentary which had a few seconds of silent footage of Bix walking with a group of musicians. As Annette Hanshaw would say, "That's all."

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by 2dueces

Back to the original postcard. I do find it amazing that because of a book and a movie a piece like this would command this kind of a price. I am a firm believer of collect what you like and money is relative to each person. But in the same breathe I find it amazing that the postcard pictured below can be found in the $250.00 range when a damaged postcard of an obscure player commands $460.00. I suppose that one is rarer than the other but the Detroit cards don't come up that often. I'm sure the new owner is very happy with his purchase.

The reason why some obscure minor league cards can bring big premiums is because they are truly rare. I can guarantee you that there are at least 100 Detroit cards for every one of those Toledo cards. Some early rppc of minor league clubs don't even have to have a notable player on it to go for big dollars...I've paid a lot of money for early Lincoln postcards just because I may never get another chance at it....You'll always have a chance at that Detroit card even if it doesn't come up often...you'll see at least a few per year.

[barrysloate]

Thanks for that clip David, but I know I saw something else. Perhaps it was a piece of footage without sound, and then a recorded performance was added later.

There is likewise only a single sound performance of Charlie Parker (with Dizzy Gillespie on American TV in 1952). But I have seen clips of him playing with music added to the background. Maybe that's what I recall about Bix.

[judsonhamlin]

Barry - Wasn't there some other Bird video floating around? Maybe with the Quintet? I need to check you tube (or Phil Schapp's web site)--

Just checked - all the YT clips are from the session w/Diz

[Rich Klein]

Now that's a name from my past -- when I was at KCR I did some news casts during his Jazz program.

Unless his web site is Phil Schaap.Com please post the link to his site.

And as an FYI; Phil was also considered the best at Sports Trivia at KCR.

Regards
Rich

[judsonhamlin]

I can't find any website for him, but I figured that if there was Bird video, he would know about it. Birdflight is still a great listen on the morning commute.

Doesn't surprise me about the trivia- must run in the family

[barrysloate]

Phil Schapp still does a Charlie Parker show every morning on WKCR, and Out to Lunch from Noon to Three.

Judd- I don't think there is other Parker footage, unless it has been found recently. I haven't seen it.

Rich- I guess you went to Columbia. I think the website is www.wkcr.org.

[tedzan]

JAZZ....one of my favorite subjects. During my College days in the late '50s (and early '60s), many of our evenings
were at the famous Jazz "hang out"....BIRDLAND. I was fortunate to see and hear such greats as......

Duke Ellington
Hoagy Carmichael
George Shearing
Dizzy Gillespie
Gerry Mulligan
Lionel Hampton
Count Basie
Dave Brubeck Quartet (Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright)
Jack Teagarden (across Times Square at his Metropole)
and,
the mesmerizing Gene Krupa

It was the best of times to live near New York....be a Yankees fan....love Jazz.


TED Z

[barrysloate]

I love Jack Teagarden...ever see the film of Jack and Louis Armstrong singing "Rocking Chair?"

[Kawika]

Check out Jack Teagarden's cover of Stars Fell on Alabama. More cooler no can get.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/teao.html

[judsonhamlin]

Wild Bill Davison or Zoot Sims anyone?

My favorite jazz memory is seeing Sonny Rollins at Blues Alley in DC in '89 - went up from college my senior year without the then girlfriend (I think the quote was 'why would you want to do that?'). Great show and got a chance afterwards to sit down and talk to him for about 5-10 minutes. Priceless.

[Rich Klein]

My mom was acting dean at William Paterson College in NJ (A position she had for six years) and one of the things she "deaned" was the art/music department. Thad Jones was a teacher there and I got to see regular concerts (and go backstage afterwards) of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis. Those were always quite the treat!

I also saw an very aged Count Basie in concert due to the insistence of my folks who made sure I got to see the all time great -- sadly he did not have much left when I saw him c. 1976

Rich

[Matt]

Originally Posted by JBirkholm

...It bothers me how much Graham's memorabilia fetches just because an author plucked him out of the 15,000+ players who have made the big time.
(Yes, we`ve debated this one before. I realize all of the Moonlight devotees have passionate reasons for craving this sort of material, but I`ll never understand why!)

If I may try:
Why does a T206 Ty Cobb carry more value then a Ed Abbaticchio? The old cardboard is worthless and the Abbaticchio is probably rarer. The fact that a player batted .400 or stole 20 bases doesn't inherantly make a cardboard likeness of them have value. Value is there because holding Cobb's image on a piece from his playing days connects you to all the stories that surround his career. The same is true with Archie "Moonlight" Graham. Only, his particular story took 80 years to become known. So long as the stories live on, the pieces have value.

Taking it a step further, would you suggest that Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie memorabilia is worthless because those items aren't even connected with anything that actually took place? Once again, it is the stories that are associated, which cause these items to have value.

With Archibald "Moonlight" Graham's story, as portrayed in Field of Dreams, you have the dramatic and inspiring story of someone who came so close to their adolescent dream only to see it disappear and then by some miracle be given a second chance 80 years later.

"Fifty years ago, for five minutes you came within... you came this close. It would kill some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it. God, they'd consider it a tragedy."

Only, the story was about a real player and this postcard is one of only a handful of artifacts with Moonlight Graham on it that still exist 100 years later. It carries with it that moving drama and therefore, quite a bit of value.

Now back to your easy listening station.

[tedzan]

I saw Jack Teagarden play his sweet sounding trombone many times at his place (The Metropole) in Times Square.
We'd switch between his place and Birdland (only 2 blocks away) depending on who the featured Jazz artist was.

My all time favorites are George Shearing and Lionel Hampton.

And, I cannot leave out Paul Desmond.....with his sweetest sounding Alto Sax.





TED Z

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

[QUOTE=Matt;742032]

With Archibald "Moonlight" Graham's story, as portrayed in Field of Dreams, you have the dramatic and inspiring story of someone who came so close to their adolescent dream only to see it disappear and then by some miracle be given a second chance 80 years later.

QUOTE]


OK, but please keep it in mind that this may all very well be artistic liberty on the part of the author. None of us ever sat next to Graham on a barstool and heard him lament about his failed opportunity. Either way, I understand how collectors and fans who saw the film have found themselves embraced by Kinsella's romanticised notion; it's what drags all of us out to the movie theaters to escape our workaday lives to begin with!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

It really surprises me how many of you guys are into the early jazz kick. I could be in a room of 10,000 people and utter the names of Hoagy or Bix, and everybody would look at me as if I were a Martian.