[78-L] George Clarke (was Walter Winchell Varsity)

[zimrec at juno.com]

The Brunswick Houdini reissue album B-1023 gives:Gerald Clark's Night Owls.(I have never seen one of the 4 orig. Br 7000 series issues & Melotone 12900s & Per 700s & the single Br(E) listed in Rust-6).And it's Gerald Clark-bj/g on the Sam Manning Jazz Oracle CDs.But Rust lists a George Clark-ts with the Chicasaw Syncopators,and George ClarkE-ts under Lunceford's Chic.Sync. 1930.Is this the George CLARK-ts who recorded with Stuff Smith in 1939/40?(should be in some Evensmo volume)Han Enderman
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George Clarke, the tenor player with the early Lunceford aggregation is the same person who
played with Stuff Smith, Cootie Williams and Wild Bill Davis.  I met him in the early 1980s when he
was playing 4 nights a week in an organ trio (led by drummer, vocalist Della Griffin) at a club 
called the Blue Book on St. Nicholas Ave opposite 146th Street.  When Lunceford took his students
on the second summer tour which, IIRC, included Ohio, George left the band in Buffalo, NY where he
settled before the rest of the band continued to NY City.  About 1940, he began an engagement
at the Anchor Bar (or Anchor Lounge) in Buffalo, leading a group that included Hank Jones on piano.

George was a good cook and, once invited me to his apartment in the Bronx.  While there, I recall
him showing me an LP on which he played -- maybe as a leader -- that I think was on the Riverside
label.  Can anyone provide more identification?  I don't see it listed in Lord ver 6.0 when I look for
Clarke under the musician search.

George had a book of photos that I'd love to find out what happened to.  There was a large 11 by
14 inch photo from inside the Savoy Ballroom.  Another photo I recall was a black and white 8 x 10 inch,
glossy, personally autographed to George.  It showed a woman in a dress seated in a chair and was
signed "Sincerely, Francine."  George asked me if I knew who that was, but I didn't recognize the
personality.  It was, according to George, Frankie Dunlop.  Apparently, some musicians were aware
that Dunlop dressed in drag.  Some years later, I was having a meal at the West End Cafe before
a concert at nearby Columbia University.  At the table with me were Frank Wess and Joe Temperley.
Somehow, Frankie's name came up and when I mentioned seeing that photo at George Clarke's apartment,
Wess confirmed that he knew of Dunlop's proclivity.

Art
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