[78-L] Bessie Smith album

[David Lennick]

The convenor of the CAPS meetings was asking for presentation ideas yesterday. 
He thought needle tins was a great idea (good, I'll stay home that day). I 
suggested 78 album artwork, Steinweiss and earlier. So we'll see.

It'll be for June so I'll be able to pirate all Mike's scans..

dl

Cary Ginell wrote:
> I'm glad you and Leah are doing this, Mike. My letter to the L.A. Times caused nary a ripple. Even my parents didn't see it. A more formal paper at ARSC will certainly do a lot more to dispell this urban legend, but no matter what is done, Steinweiss's book cover will still say "inventor of the album cover."
> 
>  
> 
> Cary Ginell
>  
>> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>> Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:19:26 -0700
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Bessie Smith album
>>
>> If I wake up in time (I gotta start getting to bed earlier) Leah and I
>> are going to R&H to look at some catalogs and magazines and I will be
>> looking to see the issue date. I do think the album was sold with the
>> specific records and I think that George Blacker and I did figure out an
>> album catalog number decades ago, but it wasn't easy. If I can't come
>> up with a copy to photograph myself, I NEED a color scan or photo of
>> it!!! Is the photo a glued-on glossy photo?
>>
>> By the way, on Friday in less than three hours, Leah and I BLEW THE
>> STEINWEISS LEGEND OUT OF THE WATER with some of the evidence we found at
>> another branch of NYPL in journals unrelated directly to records that I
>> bet nobody has ever thought to use. No further hints about this stuff
>> -- you will have to go to ARSC in New Orleans to find out. It helps to
>> know where to find things.
>>
>> Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com 
>>
>>
>>
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: [78-L] Bessie Smith album
>> From: "Philip Fukuda" <pfukuda at att.net>
>> Date: Mon, January 11, 2010 2:23 am
>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm just catching up on reading my emails after my vacation, so forgive
>> me if this has been discussed before.
>>
>> I've been following the Alex Steinweiss thread with interest, but
>> didn't have anything to add to the discussion until today. Imagine my
>> surprise at finding the c1937 (Driggs and Lewine's "Black Beauty, White
>> Heat" say 1938, but I think the label was defunct by then) Bessie Smith
>> Album at the 78 swap meet today. It has a brown cover with a photo of
>> Bessie with the names of the accompanying musicians. I tend to believe
>> the 1937 date since there is no mention of Bessie's death. Did it come
>> with a booklet (mine doesn't have one)?
>>
>> There is no text on the inside front or back covers. The album itself
>> doesn't have a number, so doesn't look like part of a series.
>> Unfortunately, I only have 4 of the 6 records. Also, I get the feeling
>> the records were sold individually, but the album was a "freebie" if the
>> customer bought all six records. Of course, they are the last six
>> records in the -D series.
>>
>> Does anyone have a 1937 or 1938 Columbia catalog or monthly supplements
>> to back up any of my wild guesses? 
>>
>> By the way, Happy New Year to all,
>> Philip
>>