[Dixielandjazz] Bunny Berigan

[David Dustin]

The Bunny Berigan story, while tragic, is kind of riveting to me. You don¹t
hear people talking about Bobby Hackett, or Billy Butterfield, or even Harry
James today in quite the same way, though they might have been better
players.  (I do not offer an opinion because I have not studied the work of
each in detail.)  Perhaps it has something to do with his unique nickname.
The alliteration, the cuddly animal imagery might have exerted a peculiar
appeal, especially on young women (and their boyfriends or dates, by
extension!).  Bunny certainly was one of the real jazz matinee idols, the
big-band generation¹s version of Jim Morrison or Mick Jagger, but with the
terrific trumpet chops, suave elegance, the pencil-thin moustache and
brilliantined hair.   If he peaked in the mid-¹30s, I remember reading that
he disappeared for a while and suddenly turned up in Glenn Miller¹s band,
allegedly playing a guitar.  The source I read (possibly George Simon) said
Miller immediately caught a lot of criticism from Berigan fans who naturally
thought he should have had Bunny in the trumpet section and was being
disrespectful.  Turned out Bunny had lost his front teeth and Miller was
giving him some compassionate work, though that was not being publicized by
anyone at the time.  I don¹t know how long Bunny¹s guitar gig lasted before
he died.

And thank you, that comic strip I saw was indeed Crankshaft.  I thought it
was fascinating at the time because there couldn¹t have been many readers,
relatively speaking, who had a clue who Bunny Berigan was, circa 1995 when
the sequence was published.

David Dustin