Moonlight Graham pc on ebay

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

When Marty Appel was the PR guy for Topps; we were chatting about his King Kelly book (Must reading by the way for you 19th century types). He mentioned he had seen a photo on Burns' Baseball of Kelly he had never seen before. So he called up the office; asked about the photo and was told something to the effect of "Well, that is someone who looked like him, so we just ran with it"

I've never quite looked at those documentaries the same way since. Also; since the infamous (on SABR-L) board discussions about the inaccuracies either.

Rich

In Burns documentary of Jack Johnson they identified a photo of "Barbados" Joe Walcott as being of Sam Langford.

I'm pretty sure it was just an inadvertent mistake as there are plenty actual photos of Sam Langford out there.

Still a great documentary however.

[barrysloate]

Rich- I realize that there were some errors in all the Burns documentaries, but I know Bix Beiderbecke and I have seen footage of him.

I took a course in the 1970's at the New School in NYC called Jazz on Film. It was a great class and we saw footage of Bix, and Burns had the same one. I know my memory could be playing tricks but I think I'm right on this one. He died in 1931, which leaves a very small window for sound film, but like I said, it does exist.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Rich- I realize that there were some errors in all the Burns documentaries, but I know Bix Beiderbecke and I have seen footage of him.

I took a course in the 1970's at the New School in NYC called Jazz on Film. It was a great class and we saw footage of Bix, and Burns had the same one. I know my memory could be playing tricks but I think I'm right on this one. He died in 1931, which leaves a very small window for sound film, but like I said, it does exist.

Sure beats The History of the English Language from 1500-1800

[barrysloate]

It was a cool class, and I didn't take it for credit, it was just for fun. It was taught by the late Dave Chertok, who amassed an encyclopedic archive of jazz on film. Ken Burns was very indebted to that collection for his documentary.

[slidekellyslide]

I like Burns Baseball, but there are some inaccuracies. I also think he should have included The Nebraska Indians who preceded and popularized some of the barnstorming antics the House of David and other barnstorming teams became famous for. But I may be biased.

[Hankphenom]

It was actually Bill Wambsganss reading Grantland Rice in the audio version of The Glory of Their Times, which I co-produced and edited with Neal McCabe. And speaking of mistakes, the most egregious in the Burns production was not using the real voices for his many quotes from GOTT. I've always suspected Burns of wanting the chance to hang out with the actors he has reading the bits, but nobody, and I mean NOBODY, could top the real guys Ritter captured on his tape recorder. Anybody who's listened to the set knows what I mean. And lastly, as a big Bix fan, I would love to see footage of him playing. I've always assumed none existed.

Here's the complete poem "The Way of the Game" as read by "Wamby" on GOTT:

Now summer goes and tomorrow's snows
Will soon be deep.
And skies of blue, which the summer knew
See shadows creep.
And the gleam tonight, which is silver bright
Spans ghostly forms.
As the winds rush by with their warning cry
Of coming storms.
So the laurel fades in the snow-swept glades
Of flying years.
As the dreams of youth find the bitter truth
Of pain and tears.
Through the cheering mass let the victors pass
To find fate's thrust.
As tomorrow's fame writes another name
On drifting dust.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Hank,

Sorry for my mistake on the Snodgrass/Wamby. I recall that Wambsganss said that he kept that poem in his wallet until it disintegrated.

[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.

[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.