A PHOTO OF BIX AND
HOAGY TOGETHER?
A PHOTO OF BIX AND
HOAGY TOGETHER?
Pat Kellar wrote to me on May 11, 1999 asking if there was a photograph of Bix and Hoagy together. I answered that, as far as I knew, no such photograph existed. There was some discussion following my answer with interesting contributions from Ambjoern Berglund and from Mike Heckman. The contributions can be found in the "Readers' Queries and Remarks" section of the Bixography site. (For the convenience of the readers, the postings are reproduced below).Return to homepage Brief Table of Contents
In October 1999, I was looking at the archives of the Dixieland Jazz Mailing site and found a contribution by Jim Denham from April 7, 1999. Jim Denham answered inquiries from Ron Halstead and Bradley Cook about a photograph of Bix and Hoagy together. Jim Denham stated that such a photograph indeed existed. It was reproduced in the cover of the JSP (UK) CD "Hoagy Carmichael, Volume 1". Jim Denham wrote: "The photo shows Bix and Hoagy sitting together in an old car (Ford 'T'?)".
On October 30, 1999, I posted in the Bixography Forum the following question: "Does any one have a copy of the CD? Does the photograph on the cover show both Bix and Hoagy?" For months my question was left unanswered. On Feb 21, 2000 Scott Alexander (of the great web site at www.redhotjazz.com with about 3000 {!!!} jazz recordings from the 1920's) responded on the affirmative, yes he had a copy of the CD and he kindly offered to scan the cover and send it to me. I accepted, gratefully. Scott e-mailed the image this afternoon (Feb. 23) and provided the following information: "The car is a 1915 Ford that Hoagy
called the Open Job. He bought it used and it had served many years as a delivery truck that had been stripped down before Hoagy bought it. It had no fenders or hood. I've included another picture of it from Hoagy's book "The Stardust Road"."
With a mixture of excitement and anticipation, I clicked on the link. A beautiful image appeared on the screen. (You can view the image by clicking on the link below), but unfortunately, I could not discern Bix's familiar face. An older gentleman was sitting in the back of the car. Hoagy was in front on the driver side. Next to him sat a fellow with a cap. His face could hardly be made out. Could that be Bix? The answer is a loud no. As a matter of fact, it turns out that I had a copy of the photograph in the cover of the CD all along, but did not know it.
The photo is included in Hoagy's "Sometimes I wonder". Following p. 186 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1965), there are a number of photographs. One of them is the photo used in the CD. The caption reads: "Below, the first Open Job. My guest is John Hastings, now a federal judge and a former trustee of Indiana University." Clearly, the fellow sitting in the back is not Bix. Could the fellow with the cap be Bix? Just from the caption, it is highly unlikely. If it had been Bix, would not have Hoagy mentioned that fact in the caption? This is an indirect argument, but we need not rely on it exclusively. There is conclusive evidence that the fellow in the cap cannot be Bix. In pages 144-146 Hoagy gives an account of his sale of the first Open Job: it took place in 1920 - Bix and Hoagy had not met at that time.
In conclusion, with the help of Scott Alexander, we have eliminated the cover of the CD as a possible photograph of Bix and Hoagy together. I will continue searching, but the probabiblity of finding such a photo is, by now, near zero.Cover of the JSP (UK) CD "Hoagy Carmichael, Volume 1".
Another Photograph of the First Open Job. (From "Hoagy's "The Stardust Road").
I am grateful to Scott Alexander for providing the two images of the First Open Job and for all his help and generosity.
Photograph of Bix and Hoagy
Initial Remark. Pat Kellar writes on 5/11/99. This e-mail address was given to me suggesting that you might be able to help in my search for a photo with Hoagy Carmichael together with Bix Beiderbecke. I have many of each of them but none showing them together. They were close friends and it seems strange that no such picture exists.
Follow-up 1. Albert Haim writes on 5/27/99. I am afraid I do not know of any photograph of Hoagy and Bix together. I would venture to guess that such a photo does not exist. If it did, it would have been in many books and magazines. It would have been a "classic". The closest that I can come up is the photo in p. 146 of Evans and Evans' book: a photograph of Hoagy with several members of the Wolverine Orchestra, when they visited your campus (I assume from your address that you are at Indiana University); unfortunately, Bix is not present. I agree with you, there were many opportunities for a photograph of Bix and Hoagy together. I know that Dick Sudhalter is writing a biography of Hoagy, and I understand that Hoagy's son, Bix, has made available to Dick a lot of the family records. Who knows, (wishful thinking?) there may be a photograph of Bix and Hoagy somewhere in the family records. (Addition 7/14/98: Dick Sudhalter tells me that there are thousands of photographs in the Indiana University Library Hoagy Collection, but nary a one of Bix and Hoagy together).
Follow-up 2. Ambjoern Berglund from Luxembourg writes on 7/2/99. I remember that I, in the early sixties, browsed through a voluminous book of pictures of famous jazz musicians in a bookshop in Malmö, Sweden. Somewhere in the middle, I saw a photo of Bix and some fellow musicians sitting on the rear out-door platform of a train. The reason for me remembering this is that in front of them, attached to the train, was a board saying DETTA TÅG TILL GÖTEBORG (THIS TRAIN TO GOTHENBURG). It surprised me that Bix had had this Swedish connection. Under the photo the text said something like BIX AND HOAGY RELAXING WITH SOME MUSICIAN FRIENDS GETTING PHOTOGRAPHED IN AN AMUSEMENT PARK. The title of the book was A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF JAZZ. Am I wrong? After all, it was rather long ago!
Follow-up 3. Albert Haim writes on 7/2/99. I cannot locate the photograph in question. I looked through my copy of Keepnews and Grauer's "A Pictorial History of Jazz", and could not find the photograph Ambjoern described. The closest I can come up with is a photograph in "Eddie Condon's Scrapbook of Jazz" (1973). In the chapter entitled "The Beginnings and Bix", there is a photograph (see scan at right) of Mezz Mezzrow, Josh Billings, Frank Vernier and Frank Teschmacher in the observation deck of a caboose. A sign hanging on the rail reads "Back to the Old Home Town". The caption for the photograph reads "Cutting up at White Amusement Park, Chicago". Could this be the photograph that Ambjoern remembers? There are numerous similarities: a train, an amusement park, a sign about going to a city. I, and many people, wished that Ambjoern was right. The discovery of a photograph of Bix and Hoagy together would be a historic event of major proportions.
Follow-up 4. Mike Heckman writes on 7/14/99. I've been following the Q&A re. the observation car sign. Keepnews and Grauer has three pictures of musicians on amusement park observation car platforms, at least in my edition (1966). Page 86 and 88 have the same car with different signs. The one on page 88 with Jess Stacey, Frank Teschemacher, George Wettling and bride has the sign in Swedish. A different car on page 98 shows Bix with Pee Wee, Mezz, Condon and two unknowns on a car that says Golden State.
I don't know if it counts but Hoagy says in one of his books that he was under the piano when the picture of Bix and his Rhythm Jugglers was taken.
P.S. Railroading is another hobby of mine. That's not a caboose! Cabooses are, or were, found at the end of freight trains. Observation cars with open rear platforms were found on snazzy passenger trains. If you saw the movie Double Indemnity you've seen one of the sinister uses to which the observation platform can be put. I can remember the LIRRstill had one in the late 1960s. They used to run an all parlor car train to Montauk on Friday evening. The observation car was gone by 1969 because I saw it in a scrap yard near Shea Stadium that year.
Follow-up 5. Albert Haim writes on 7/2/99. I am grateful to Mike for pointing out my error. Indeed, there are three photographs of jazz musicians on observation car platforms in pages 86, 89, and 98 of Keepnews and Grauer's "A Pictorial History of Jazz" (either the first, 1955, or second, 1966, edition). I missed these photographs when I looked through my copy of the book (1955 edition). I have no explanation other than I may be in need of a new brain. In order to make things perfectly clear, the description of the photographs is repeated here. (I will scan the photos and post them on 2/26/00)p. 86 This photograph is identical to the one in "Eddie Condon's Scrapbook of Jazz" mentioned in follow-up 3.
p. 89 This is a photograph in the same platform as the photograph in p.86. The musicians are as stated by Mike in follow-up 4 and the sign in Swedish reads "DETTA TÅG TILL GÖTEBORG".
p. 98 As stated by Mike in follow-up 4, this photograph is in a different observation car and has Bix, Pee Wee, Mezz, and Eddie Condon. The sign reads "Golden State". In the same page and adjacent to this photograph, there is a photograph (a portrait) of Hoagy.
It turns out that Ambjoern was almost right (and I was totally wrong). The book has a photograph of Bix and other musicians in an observation car and the portrait of Hoagy is right next to this photograph, but, alas, there is no photograph of Hoagy and Bix together. Also, Ambjoern was almost correct about the sign in Swedish; there is such a sign in the book, but it was not under Bix's photograph.
Ambjoern is to be congratulated for his amazing memory. My apologies to him for my error and my thanks to Mike for correcting it. I try to keep Bix's site as free of errors as possible. I hope other visitors follow Mike's example and send corrections and/or additions. I accept criticism cheerfully!
P.S. I also stand corrected in the use of the word caboose. I used it incorrectly. Mike has it right.
"Through his music, Bix is alive."
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