[Dixielandjazz] Fw: [TPIN] ARTIE SHAWS FUNERAL - FROM ANOTHER JAZZ CHAT LIST

[Bob Romans]

Can any one help??
Thanks...
Bob Ro.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert H. Strickland" <strickla at airmail.net>
To: "Bob Romans" <cellblk7 at comcast.net>
Cc: <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: [TPIN] ARTIE SHAWS FUNERAL - FROM ANOTHER JAZZ CHAT LIST


> Hey Bob,
>
> Thanks for this terribly interesting post. Could you get me in touch with 
> Mr. Ginell?
>
> Bob
>
> At 01:17 PM 1/13/05 -0800, you wrote:
>>Hi Listmates...Artie Shaw was not a trumpet player, but he WAS a fellow
>>musician...I thought maybe some of you might want to read this...
>>Bob Romans
>>
>>>Subject: Fwd: Artie Shaw Funeral
>>>
>>>      Just got back from Artie Shaw's funeral, which was held indoors in
>>>the chapel of the Pierce Brothers Mortuary in Westlake Village because of
>>>the pouring rain outside. Services were supposed to be public and held at
>>>graveside, but because of the weather, guests were limited to family,
>>>friends, press, and a few acquaintances (that's where I came in). It was 
>>>a
>>>nice service, filled with funny stories, "Artie-isms," and of course,
>>>music.
>>>
>>>   The coffin was flanked by an early photo of Artie at the beginning of
>>>his career and a more recent picture of Artie in his library, looking
>>>either pensive or annoyed. Both of these pictures were included in the
>>>program. If anyone is interested in scans of these, I'll be glad to send
>>>them as an attachment to whoever wants one.
>>>
>>>      There was also the award presented by the NEA to Artie on Friday 
>>> and
>>>a framed letter of congratulations from President Bush, dated November 
>>>30,
>>>2004. There was a succession of speakers at the service, which was led by
>>>Larry Rosen, Artie's longtime secretary. As he introduced each speaker, 
>>>we
>>>got an impression of a man who was not a curmudgeon, but someone who was 
>>>a
>>>Renaissance Man, a true genius, and a perfectionist, expecting no more
>>>than
>>>the same from people he knew. His motto: "Good enough is not good enough"
>>>sums up his sometimes abrasive personality and mindset. Although there
>>>were
>>>many funny stories told, I couldn't commit all of them to memory, but 
>>>here
>>>are a few highlights:
>>>
>>>   The man whose job it was to catalog Artie's massive collection of over
>>>10,000 books reported inscriptions in the front of three books in the
>>>library. One was by Albert Einstein, one by Sigmund Freud, and one by
>>>another famous author, whose name escapes me now. The handwritten
>>>inscription in the front of the Einstein book read: "To Artie Shaw, with
>>>profound admiration and respect." In the Freud book, the inscription 
>>>read,
>>>"To Artie Shaw, with profound admiration and respect." Not only did the
>>>third book have the exact same words, but the cataloguer noticed that the
>>>handwriting was the same on all three. He asked Artie about it and Artie
>>>replied that he had written them himself, to identify the books in case
>>>they were ever stolen. As we speak, Artie's book collection is still at
>>>his
>>>house. The shelves are reportedly completely full and stacks of books are
>>>on the floor and even piled on the stairs of his staircase.
>>>
>>>    Musician Tom Rainier chose to play two musical selections, which were
>>>played on Artie's own boom box that was brought to the chapel. One was a
>>>1938 radio broadcast of Artie's hot big band playing a song that I 
>>>believe
>>>was called "Everybody's Jumpin'." Artie wanted that played because it was
>>>five minutes long and gave the soloists a chance to spread out (Artie
>>>hated
>>>most of his studio sessions because of the restrictions in time). Artie
>>>took two choruses, another was by Georgie Auld, one by Tony Pastor and I
>>>couldn't identify the others. The other song was the result of an
>>>interesting experiment in which Rainier took selected snippets of Artie's
>>>playing, reassembled them and inserted them into a new recording of 
>>>Johnny
>>>Mandel's "The Shadow of Your Smile."
>>>
>>>    The intent was to predict what Artie would sound like if he had
>>>continued to play after 1954. The result was actually pretty amazing.
>>>Buddy
>>>DeFranco finished off the piece with an Artie-esque 8-bar cadenza that
>>>brought tumultuous applause throughout the chapel. Artie himself had
>>>admired the work and approved of it. Then Dick Johnson, leader of the
>>>Artie
>>>Shaw Orchestra for the past 20 years, played a poignant a cappella
>>>performance of "I'll Be Seeing You."
>>>
>>>   Eighty-five-year-old comedian Red Buttons talked about meeting Artie 
>>> for
>>>the first time. "It was during the War," he remembered, "and we were both
>>>in uniform. Artie was in his Navy uniform and I was the bellhop at the
>>>Astor hotel." Buttons recalled that Shaw's first words upon meeting him
>>>were, "What kind of a name is 'Red Buttons'? Who in their right mind 
>>>would
>>>give anyone that name?" To which Buttons reported that his real name was
>>>Aaron Schwat, to which Shaw immediately responded by calling Buttons "The
>>>Sultan of Schwat."
>>>   Sid Caesar was scheduled to be there and speak but he couldn't make it
>>>because of the rain. At that point, Larry asked if anyone else had
>>>anything
>>>to say about their relationship with Artie and there were a succession of
>>>very funny stories. I told of my nerve-wracking first broadcast with him
>>>in
>>>2000 and then my final meeting with him in 2003 to discuss Bix
>>>Beiderbecke's 100th birthday. Artie's admiration of Bix was not because 
>>>of
>>>the notes Bix played or his technique, it was the sound he produced on 
>>>his
>>>cornet. Artie rhapsodized about this sound and the fact that it could 
>>>only
>>>have come from Bix.
>>>
>>>  Above all, Artie admired the individual and hated when people said they
>>>tried to play like Artie did. "Play like yourself," he'd say. When I 
>>>asked
>>>him to comment on Eddie Condon's oft-heard description of Bix's sound,
>>>which was likening it to "a girl saying yes," Artie paused, shook his 
>>>head
>>>and said, "Poor Eddie...He must have been pretty hard up." The end of the
>>>service came after the playing of Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me" 
>>>as
>>>sung by Lee Wiley, Shaw's favorite singer. It was an unusual recording,
>>>recorded in 1939, in which Wiley was accompanied by Fats Waller on pipe
>>>organ (Liberty Music Shop L-282).
>>>
>>>Cary Ginell Sound
>>
>>
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>
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