I am saddened to read of the death of my friend Larry Givens, and
friend of so many readers here.  During the 1960s I traveled from coast
to coast and New England to the deep South, doing marketing programs
for the Sheraton Hotels.  I was an active member of the MBS and then
AMICA, boosted in such by their founders.

In my travels I carried member directories and contacted folk across
the US.  Delightful friendly open houses resulted.  They in turn
gave birth to chapters, where previously there had been none.  I was
privileged to meet many of the folk in the AMICA Honor Roll.  At
a concert where she performed marvelously in her late 70s, I came face
to face with Guiomar Novaes and mentioned her rolls.  A puzzled look
appeared on her face, so I pulled two of her Duo-Art rolls out of a
bag.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "Aeolian!"  She was fascinated; she autographed
them both, and we sat down for a long chat.

I chatted with another virtuoso whom I met at another New Jersey
concert (I regret deeply right now I can't recall his name) gave a
double-take when I showed him one of his Duo-Arts, which he autographed
with exactly the same name as on the leader, and dedicated as follows:
"To Lee Munsick -- who unearthed a ghost!"

There are numerous others whom I was fortunate to meet being in the
right place at the right time.  I got to know Marion and Eubie Blake
and Max Morath very well.  I went with a friend to see "Eubie" and was
pleasantly surprised to run into Marion and Eubie in the lobby.  I was
fortunate to visit their home and they mine.  They appeared twice at
Yesteryear Museum in New Jersey -- once for the opening, and once for
one of our annual springtime benefit shows (the only one that we
actually produced ourselves).

Max Morath's manager, Carl Seltzer, recorded the entire performance
(which to my surprise included the world premiere performance of
"Rhapsody In Ragtime") and an unfortunately foreshortened version
appeared on one of the Eubie Blake Music LPs, and I believe was
reissued again on LP, but sadly not on CD.  I was honored to write
the album notes.

A dear friend of mine since the 1960s has been Max Morath.  A sad but
wonderful tribute was the Eubie Blake Memorial program in the Shubert
Theatre, which I suspect was arranged to a large extent by Max.  I was
charmed and stunned to find myself seated within a stellar group:
Max, John Hammond, and Gregory Hines!

It was just a week before that we were all at the hours-long special
100th Anniversary Program which was piped to Eubie at home over a
Class A telephone line, according to Max Morath.  Artists and admirers
came from all over the world to perform and speak directly to Eubie,
who wasn't well enough to come out in person, but Carl assured me that
he heard much of the accolades.

I was seated about twelve rows back and off of stage right.  At one
point a lady of color appeared at a microphone 'way over at stage left,
and we were informed that she had flown in from her home in London just
for this occasion.  In front of me was a tall, distinguished looking
Negro gentleman (Eubie often told me, "Don't you ever call me black!").
He kept standing up, waving, and trying to catch the attention of the
lady onstage, not realizing that she couldn't possibly see that far out
into the darkened audience.

Not long after, there was an intermission.  The grizzled gent and I got
into a conversation.  He inquired if I liked Eubie's music, and I said
I loved his music and Eubie too!  He then asked me which of Eubie's
songs was my favorite.  I said he'd probably be disappointed, because
much as I loved "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Memories of You",
the song I most admired for its beauty and sentiment was "Love Will
Find A Way".

As they were readying the 1921 first all-black Broadway show, Eubie
and Noble Sissle were warned not to use this love ballad, because the
success of this ground-breaking, unique show was not at all a sure
thing and whites would never accept a love song between two blacks.
The going thought was wrong -- the song and many others in "Shuffle
Along" brought down the house and were encored.

So I told my new gentleman friend that "Love Will Find a Way" was my
admired favorite.  I thought he'd jump out of his skin, and said
"That's my favorite too!  You see, I introduced that song along with
the lady who just finished singing -- in 1921!"

This charming gent by me was Roger Matthews, and the lady on stage
was Lottie Gee -- the "Shuffle Along" lovers!  No wonder my latest
acquaintance was trying to attract her attention!  I urged him to go
backstage right then, before she left.  I hope they got together.

This all reminds me of when I was at a luncheon on the lawn of
Glenmont, the home of Thomas Edison, on the Centennial of the Talking
Machine in 1977.  I found myself seated next to fellow New Jerseyan
Les Paul, with whom I had future dealings at a couple of Friends of
Old Time Radio conventions.  I enjoyed most of the Les Paul Trio
Decca and Les Paul & Mary Ford Capitol hit records in my collection.
A conversation similar to the above took place.

Les P.: "What's your favorite?"

Lee M.: "Undoubtedly not what you might expect; it's 'Little Rock
Getaway'".

The same reaction happened!  Les jumped up and shook my hand as heads
turned all up and down the long table, and he said, "That's my very
favorite, too!"

Perhaps not surprising; it's an old jazz standby that had been given
many treatments over the years, as a jazz standard should, but the Les
Paul arrangement was just something else!

I know I sound like a puffed-up name-dropper.  It's not vanity --
I can't believe how fortunate I've been over the years to find myself
in the right place and time to bask, if you will, in the limelight and
warmth of so many true stars.  But not really basking, as in most cases
they were rather private meetings, even if amongst many others who had
no idea of my sheer good luck.  I eternally shall be thankful for such
good fortune, and most of these occasions were not particularly of my
own doing -- they just happened.

I mention this luminaries in no way to downgrade my memory and
recognition of Larry Givens.  In my travels I was able to visit Larry
several times in his digs when he was already rightly lionized for his
seminal book, "Rebuilding The Player Piano", which was published by
another great friend, Harvey Roehl, which started the incredible life
of the Vestal Press.  I remained in contact with Larry as well as
Marion and Harvey Roehl over the decades, and always found them
enormously informed, helpful, and humorous.

Harvey and I shared a laugh at one MBS meeting where he had a display
of LP records he offered for sale.  Pointing at one, I told Harvey,
"I see you also have a copy of "Nostaglia in Hi-Fi".

Harvey roared with laughter and told me, "You are only the second
person who ever recognized that [error]," and over the years we both
rekindled our amusement as I spoke about this rare "Italian calliope".
For you see, the intended title was "_Nostalgia_ in Hi-Fi", which
featured young Paul Jouard, whom I also got to know on the hustings.

Amazing what can happen when two letters are transposed in type-setting,
and nobody caught it!  So who wants to be "normal" -- that's no fun!

Years later Harvey recalled this when he took a picture of me seated
on my 1931 Ford AA truck, upon which we mounted a Wurlitzer band organ.
I'm a license plate freak and had requested a personalized license
plate which would read MODEL A.  I figured there was virtually no
chance to get MODEL A -- you figure out how many people own Model A's
and would want that license!

The tags were limited to 7 digits.  So on the application I listed a
secondary choice as MODELAA.  When the plate arrived it read MODELA,
with no space!  I immediately contacted the Courtesy Plate office
and they agreed it was an error.  They said they both are the same
according to their computer, and they would send me the corrected MODEL
A but in the meantime to continue using MODELA.

People at parades would ask me what that meant, and I told them "It's
a very rare Italian vehicle" and you'd be surprised how many were
satisfied with that answer.  So Harvey saw the license plate and hurled
my original line back at me, with that slight change: "A great Italian
vehicle!"

Some time later I applied for EDSEL and with the same logic, a second
choice as EDSELS.  To my amazement, EDSEL came through for me (I only
had one) and I offered to trade it to a friend in the Edsel Owners
Club, who had several Edsels, but he demurred.

I keep diverting as memories flood over me.  The greatest part of being
a collector is and should be the people that one meets, not how much
one spent or saved on a specific item, or how much it cost to put in a
burglar alarm.  I've seen this change spread through many hobby groups
over the years, at which point I feel it's no longer fun and I leave.

No, the most wondrous aspect is the wonderful friends one meets and
whose company one enjoys over the years.  All of the above observations
prove out that contention.  Larry Givens is one of the most recent to
pass on -- one of the kindest and most genuine and generous of a
wondrous lot.

Max Morath is still very much with us and still pounding away.  All of
the other folk I have named are with Larry, as I hope to be when I am
gone.  R.I.P. all!

Best to all, Most sincerely,
Lee Munsick