[Dixielandjazz] Ethel Ennis interviewed

[John Blegen]

Thanks for posting this, Bob.  I have a brief and very tenuous connection to 
Ethel Ennis.  In the mid-80's I was working at Baltimore's public library, the 
Enoch Pratt Free Library, and we were having serious problems with folks who 
failed to return borrowed books.  Fines weren't working, so we tried a positive 
approach, a publicity campaign with the slogan "Bring Back the Book: Make 
Yourself Feel Good!"  In a rare creative moment, I wrote a musical jingle for 
the campaign.  Our director knew someone who knew Ethel, and we asked her to 
record it.  My friend Ed Goldstein, a great tuba player and leader of the 
Peabody Ragtime Ensemble, wrote a big band arrangement of the tune, and we went 
into the studio with Ethel and a fine band from Columbia, Maryland, to record 
it.  She was very gracious, and did a great job with it.  It played as a PSA on 
a number of Baltimore radio stations for a couple of years.  I have no idea 
whether the campaign worked, but it was worth a try.  And I got to say that 
Ethel Ennis had recorded my work.

 John Blegen, clarinet
Evanston, IL, USA
jcblegen.com