"Setting the Record Straight"

NEW PREFACE
This is a reprint of my shorter article from 2005 on the birthdate of Jazz Great William "Chick" Webb! I noticed that I have been credited with the discovery of Webb's correct birthdate. Although I did look up census records and feel that I did discover his true birthdate, the credit really belongs to my father jazz writer George A. Borgman who made me aware of the issue and at whose behest I did the searching. My father, who was working on a Chick Webb book at the time, always felt that there was something remiss about Webb's birthdate, mainly because there were so many discrepancies, but also in his feeling that he was just a little too young to be running his own band when he started out in New York.

Being a drummer myself, I really wanted to know which year was the correct year of jazz drummer Chick Webb’s birth. It has been variously recorded as being 1896, 1902, 1907 and 1909. The birthdate of February 10, 1909 is the most often used today since it is on his 1939 death certificate. However, “1909” appears to have been written over “1907” so that date seemed uncertain too.

Using information on his parents William and Marie (Johnson) Webb and his place of birth and possible birth years I searched the 1910 and 1920 U. S. census records.



In the 1910 Maryland census for Baltimore the only people who fit the information were William H. Webb [38] and his wife Marie (25) and a young William aged 5. (Supervisor's District No. 3, Enumeration District No. 53, Sheet No. 4 B.)



In 1920, only Marie and her son William Webb were listed in the Baltimore census. However, this time it was taken in January so William had not yet had his 15th birthday on February 10th and is listed as being 14. (Supervisor's District No. 3, Enumeration District No. 80, Sheet No. 14 A census.)

I believe that this settles the discrepancies in Webb’s birth year and proves that the 100th anniversary of his birth was February 10, 2005 which sadly went by without any notice.

END NOTE: When my father laid aside his Chick Webb project, I decided to release the discovery of Webb's actual birthdate. Here is a link to my original September 18, 2005 article SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Since to my knowledge no one has been able to disprove it, I assume, that it still stands. One correction, after looking at the whole census pages again, the Webbs didn't live on Jefferson Street but another street. EB

The George A. Borgman Archives

Since much of my writings here are complaining about something I wanted to write a bit about my work concerning my father's jazz and espionage collections otherwise known as The George A. Borgman Archives.

Since my father died in October of 2009, I have been going through my father's papers, writings, recordings, magazines and book collection. I've been organizing his extensive collection of papers, writings and recordings, backing up his computer files and indexing what his current collection contains. I hope to add to and extend the collection too and transcribe his recorded interviews with musicians so that one day these transcriptions might be available to researchers.

He has a massive collection of photographs that he took over the years of jazz musicians and performers and I hope to be able to make some of those available for purchase.

I'm a little behind in all this work and have not gone forward with our plans to publish some of my father's writings. One book that is planned to be published is his great Cold War spy novel, There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a SHU, which was heavily based on a real case that he worked on while working as a counter-intelligence agent in Berlin in the 60s.

The other book about the Casa Loma Orchestra is the culmination of many years of devoted research into that band. He had done an extensive article on Glenn Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra in the last issue of the print version of the Mississippi Rag back in 2006. The book has much more information on that legendary band.

There is just so much potential in my father's life's work that we are very excited about the Archives. Currently, The George A. Borgman Archives has a blog up and running called Yankee Jazz Beat after my father's column of that name.

The Deserter - Trailer

The Girl of His Dreams - Official Trailer

Here is the latest trailer from EBB Entertainment for the comedy short The Girl of His Dreams.

The Girl of His Dreams

I can't believe that it's been two years since I last wrote something here. 2009 hasn't been a very good year in that my father the jazz writer, George A. Borgman died very suddenly and unexpectedly in October.

The only thing good to have happened this year for me is the making of my short comedy The Girl of His Dreams. My father, who was the executive producer of this enterprise, gave me so much support and encouragement for this project. I'd often times play the dailies for him and he'd roar with laughter.

The Girl of His Dreams all started with an idea that came about early one morning while I was waking and sleeping. That state where you're not really asleep and not really awake. Well, I was working on this idea in that state for a time and when I finally got up I jotted down notes of the idea and things I had developed. This was in November of 2007. I thought it'd make a good film comedy.

I happened to mention my idea on one of my acting jobs on an industrial in November of 2008 and one of my fellow actors and filmmakers later called me and asked if he could make it into a short film. Being my baby, I said sure, as long as I wrote it and could play the "guy." I suggested that my friend could play Rick's sidekick. Well, things kind of fell apart when my friend didn't like the script and suggested it was way too long. It was 18 pages. So we parted company and I continued to develop the project.

With the script completed I needed to cast the film. The hardest part was finding a supermodel looking talented actress to play the lead and her real-life alter-ego. I was on the set of a television pilot down in Rhode Island and saw the woman who had the right look. I asked her if she were union and then I asked the unpardonable question, "Can you act?
I did it this way partly because I wanted to see her reaction, if she hemmed and hawed and bumbled about chances are she couldn't but she just gave me a succinct accounting of her training and resume. She seemed interested in my project and gave me her name Andria Blackman.

Andria Blackman I found out was the New England actress my dentist was telling me about whose picture he had on his office wall. Andria had gotten a nice role in the Dane Cook comedy My Best Friend's Girl playing Ms. Barber in scenes featuring Alec Baldwin and Dane Cook. I'd later see her reel after I already cast her after her excellent audition.

A friend of mine who had said she'd play the smaller role of Rick's real life girlfriend called me a week before filming and told me that she had thought she could do the film but that she couldn't so I had to find an actress fast to replace her. The first person who came to my mind was a talented and very funny union actress that I had met on set a few times. The role was so small, however, that I felt it was rather an insult to ask someone of her caliber to play it which is why I hadn't previously. But now being desperate I asked her. Her name is Casey McDougal. She nicely agreed to play the role. Her agreeing inspired me and I expanded the role some and added a scene which was expressly written to suit her. Casey has had a lot of film experience and has starred in countless independent films including Willows Way and After Last Season. I was really lucky to get her because she's so good at what she does and just so fun to work with. Our joking on set led some of my crew to role their eyes more than once!

It was while filming at a beautiful park that Casey was seriously injured in a fall during a take. Her ankle was shattered and her foot broken. It was totally my fault and I was devastated! In fact, I didn't want to continue filming, but she told me to, "Man up," so the next day I filmed some of the office scenes. My heart wasn't really in it and I flubbed my lines repeatedly. Casey eventually required surgery on her ankle and foot. Never have I seen someone with such a serious injury be so good humored! She's honestly a very very special person. Fortunately, she's now recovered and literally back on both feet!

The last role I needed to fill was that of Chuck Rick's comic sidekick. Chuck had some of the best lines in the script and I needed someone who could play this character with conviction. I asked the original actor who hated the script if he'd like to play the part and he agreed, but he was just so busy, being a popular actor, that in the end I had to frantically find someone else to play the role.

The actor I found was Greg Seymore. We had worked together on Shutter Island and I remembered how funny he was and when I ran into him on another set I said to myself, I've found Chuck! Greg has been featured in several films including the Hollywood feature 21 and After Last Season. Greg was hysterical in his portrayal of the lovable loser Chuck. He'd improvise a lot of his actions and bits and I was assured by crew members that I had made the right choice of actor which I wholeheartedly agreed with. I can't imagine anyone else as Chuck after the great work that Greg did in the role.

I play Rick by the way, but if it weren't for the marvelous cast the film could never have been made. I can't over state how lucky I was getting Andria because she was just so good as Stephanie and Fanny. She played two different roles with distinction. The film is truly an Andria Blackman tour-de-force.

Third Anniversary of Easter Vigil & Confirmation

In June 1911, sometime between the night of the 23rd and the early morning of 24th, a four-year-old girl, the daughter of Italian immigrants, slept on a sofa against the wall with a window towards the foot of her bed. She awoke to a beam of light coming through the window which crossed to the center of the room and stopped at the crib in which her baby brother Victor was laying suffering from endocarditis. As the girl watched a figure began moving down the beam. It was that of a woman with a hood and a blue shawl. She too stopped at the crib and prayed over Victor.

Knowing what a good baby Victor was Josephine realized that an angel was visiting her brother because he was so good. She fell back to sleep only to awake several hours later to the sight of her parents bending over Victor’s crib fanning him. Josephine told her mother that she had seen an angel visit Victor during the night. Cesarina, asked her to describe the apparition and once she had she told Josephine that it wasn’t an angel that it was the Madonna. Later that morning Victor died.

The little girl grew up to be my grandmother and I would listen with rapt attention when she told me this story and many others about how she felt she was protected by angels during her life. Even my brother Paul had seen a cherub-like smiling face when he five just after his older sister had died. It appeared to him over his bed a friendly, kindly, smiling face. I wasn’t yet born, but these stories enthralled me. As I grew older I wondered if I would ever have a religious experience or see any holy apparitions.

I never did, and in fact, I wasn’t a very good churchgoer when I was a child, I could not pay attention and I would easily get bored. I had my first communion but after that there was a snafu about having to retake some CCD classes which interfered with one of my activities and I never got confirmed.

I had a mild interest in religion, I had a biography on St. Peter and a book on the Turin Shroud which I was fascinated with, and I read the section on Jesus in the Will Durant history book Caesar and Christ. I also tried to follow the Catholic principals and beliefs, but I never attended Mass.

In late 1997, my grandmother became ill, I began praying regularly for her welfare and decided I wanted to finally get confirmed. I visited with a priest and we discussed it. But then my grandmother got very ill and eventually died after a month in the hospital. Her death knocked me for such a loop, I was so depressed because we were so close and I forgot all about getting confirmed.

It wasn’t until 2003 after I had started attending Mass daily and had taken up the practice of praying the Rosary that the idea of getting confirmed came up again. I began visiting with Deacon Joseph Messina of St. Margaret Mary’s Parish in preparation for my confirmation which would take place during the holiest time of the year, the Easter Vigil. Back in 1997 I had chosen Joseph for my confirmation name, after St. Joseph and also in honor of my grandmother Josephine.

My godparents had passed away and I asked a very religious and old family friend Richard Zopatti if he’d sponsor me for my confirmation. He readily agreed and on Saturday, April 10, 2004 I sat with Richard and my mother in the first pew on the right waiting. Shortly before my time to step forward for the sacrament I saw, where the alter was, the Virgin Mary sitting in her robes and St. Joseph standing slightly behind her on the right. They looked somewhat like a Reinnisance painting. Then a child, a little boy ran over to Mary and as in a dream I knew who the boy was, it was me.

Directly after this and directly straight ahead, I saw Jesus standing further back. He was in a robe and looked rather serious. This vision culminated with two angels with flowing garments appearing on either side of Jesus’ larger than life face radiating from the sky. It was amazing. Nothing remotely like this had ever happened to me before. These were vibrant and clear images and I had no expectations or even imaginations of seeing anything. The deacon had made it clear not to expect any notice of the Holy Spirit when I was confirmed.

I then went forward for my confirmation and Father Moynihan placed his hand over my head and I felt pins and needles on the top of my head. All the visiting priests and deacons on the right raised their hands out stretched towards me and I felt pins and needles all down my right side.
My experience was not over however. Shortly after sitting back down, I began to see images again, as if watching a movie. Now I saw myself, from the back, dressed in my first communion robe which was cream colored with a golden band running lengthwise down it. My grandmother took my hand and we walked away.

Then I saw my grandfather, from the side, standing on the left, he had a big smile on his face and I seemed younger and I ran over to him and he mussed up my hair with his hand. I saw a quick, still, almost black and white image of my great grandmother, Cesarina. Her face moved toward me, ever increasing in size until it just vanished. Then very clearly, there was a young woman with brown hair, standing on the right. She was beckoning happily to me as a boy. I knew who she was even though I didn't immediately recognize her, it was my sister Andrea. On the left I saw another young woman who looked to be in her early twenties; she had blond hair. I realized that she was my sister Carole when suddenly the vision ended.

One thing that was consistent about the vision after I was confirmed is that all the family members I saw had died years before. My grandmother and I had been very close, she died in 1998 and I had never met my grandfather, he died almost two years before I was born. Cesarina had only seen me briefly as a baby. My sister Andrea had died four years before at the age of forty-eight, but the strangest of all was Carole, who appeared to be about twenty, had died three years before I was born when she was just eight. This led my mother to wonder whether the blond woman was actually her.

The next day I told both Father Moynihan and Deacon Messina what I had experienced and asked what could explain Carole’s appearance as a young woman when she had died as a child. Father Moynihan seemed to be familiar with this notion and mentioned a Church belief that in Heaven people will appear at their optimal age. He then gave the example that his optimal age would probably be about forty. The Deacon mentioned that it was a gift and that I should write the experience down so as to remember it.

I even told my experience to a monk, Brother Ignatius Mary, who runs an online website and answers spiritual questions. When I said, regarding my relatives, that I knew I, "wasn't seeing their actual spirits but just images of them." He responded by saying, "I think the visions you had were wonderful gifts from God. The relatives I do not think were mere images conjured in your mind, but what you saw was actually your relatives rejoicing that you were confirmed. All of heaven rejoices when someone is baptized or confirmed. You had the wonderful privilege that God allowed you to experience that rejoicing on the part of our Blessed Mother and your relatives."

He further went on to explain about my sister Carole’s appearance; "As far as your sister who died young but appeared as a woman, we need to remember that there is no "age" in heaven. Age is function biology. Our spirits do not age. We will be whole and mature in heaven. That is the probable reason why your sister appeared as an adult."

My confirmation was certainly a glorious experience and one that I will never, ever forget. Now, like my grandmother, I have a religious experience to tell to the next generation!

Saint Columbia of Cordova and Sister Leonella Sgorbati

Lets take a look at the Roman Catholic saint; Saint Columbia of Cordova, Spain. She was born in Cordova, Spain in the 800's. Her brother was an abbot and both her sister and her husband founded a double monastery at Tabanos, Spain. Inspired by the faith and charity of her family members Columbia became a nun at the Tabanos convent despite her mother's objections. In 852 A.D. the nuns of Tabanos were forced to flee for their lives from the misunderstood members of the "religion of peace," the Moors, who were persecuting the Christians at this time. Most of the nuns fled but Columbia proclaimed her Christian faith to the Moorish magistrate and he had her head lopped off for it. The Catholic Church celebrated her death on the feast day of September 17th. Almost twelve hundred years later and not much has changed for members of the eternally misunderstood "religion of peace," just killed another Catholic nun Leonella Sgorbati and her bodyguard in Somalia on September 17, 2006. Sister Leonella was 65 years old and gave most of her life, forty years, to missionary work in Africa. She was shot in the back outside of a hospital.