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In 1929 Memphis, eleven-year-old Berl performs a comedy talking act with special appearances by Willie the washwoman; Luther, Willie's man; Kate Etta, "that no-good heifer"; and in the wings, Jerry, the dog.
Anna Olswanger's Berl's Blues is a
limited edition miniature book published by Anna Olswanger Books in an edition of 495. Hand bound by David Barry of Griffin Bookbinding, the book has 32 pages, measures 2 1/2 x 3 inches, and is case bound with imitation leather on
the spine and a gold-embossed title. Berl's Blues includes four color images and original music by Berl Olswanger.
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Excerpt from Berl's Blues:
"Willie," I said to my mama's wash woman, "you look worse than a plate of sauerkraut this morning. You got the mange popping out on you? Jerry's got the mange, and he's moping, too."
"It's that no-good heifer Kate Etta. She up and stole my man Luther. Oh, if I could lay hold o' that gal, I'd go upside her head!"
Thanks to Kate Etta, Willie was sitting in her house near the coal yard every night with nobody, Luther in particular, to take her to the Negro vaudeville houses on Beale Street. That left me out in the cold, too. How was I supposed to pick out the latest blues numbers on the piano if I didn't have Willie singing along? See, a blues man like myself has to expand his stockpile of tunes, or else he goes stale.
I'll tell you how I got to be crackerjack at playing the blues. According to Willie, the Jews sang the blues when they were slaves under Pharaoh in Egypt. They got good at wailing, same as black folks. Being Jewish myself, I got in on the ground floor when it came to wailing on the piano, nevermind I wasn't personally acquainted with ol' Pharaoh.
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Source Note
for Berl's Blues
Berl Olswanger was born in 1917 in Memphis. He won a Tennessee Federation of Music Clubs contest when he was eleven years old, but couldn't accept the prize, a scholarship, because the winner was supposed to be a high school senior. When he was twelve, he made his professional debut as a piano player at Dreamland Gardens, a Memphis dance hall.
Berl's Blues is based in part on two 1929 Memphis newspaper articles about Berl Olswanger entitled "Still 'Almost' Found by Boys" and "'Still' Found by Kid Sleuths Is Water Tank."
To purchase a copy
of Berl's Blues, send $20.00 (which includes
postage and handling) to:
Anna Olswanger
16-60 Chandler Drive
Fair Lawn, NJ 07410-2715
You can also purchase Berl's Blues online with a secure payment through PayPal.
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Other Miniature Books by Anna Olswanger
Chicken Bone Man
Greenhorn
Shlemiel Crooks
Berl's Blues copyright © 1999, 2009 Anna Olswanger
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