George Melly

[frenchman96]

Hi There

Can anyone tell me if there is a site where I can find out if a George Melly letter can be sold.

I thought maybe that some jazz followers may be interested in buying it.

I met George many times in the 50's and 60's as he appeared in my brothers club in Manchest, UK.

George wrote to me in 2000 from his London address and he signed it of course.

[Christiern]

George was a wonderful character and intellect, but I think the letter would have to contain something noteworthy, perhaps shocking, for it to bring in any money. Why don't you just keep it as a memento of someone who obviously impressed you. I, too, received letters from George, but they ain't going anywhere but to my blog.

[cih]

George was a wonderful character and intellect, but I think the letter would have to contain something noteworthy, perhaps shocking, for it to bring in any money. Why don't you just keep it as a memento of someone who obviously impressed you. I, too, received letters from George, but they ain't going anywhere but to my blog.

I was going to ask you (a long time ago - back on the Devil's Music Forum probably!) about George Melly... I wondered if you'd met. He was always doing radio half-hours at that time (2003-4ish) on Bessie, as well as on homosexuality in jazz, boogie-woogie, and sundry other things*. His shows were always entertaining and I miss them, but he had this particular delivery which belied his sophistication (probably to do with his illness I suppose).

Very interesting about that party, and the 'surrealistic' dancing! - I suppose this was when George was a surrealist... maybe some of the British surrealist group were there?

There was a documentary on TV recently about his death, and the period leading up to it. He was meeting with a succession of his 'mistresses', who were brought to his room to say hello (or goodbye, can't remember really), while his wife carried on as usual - then he was being a pain with his carers, and at the end did his last performance singing blues in a wheelchair - he was very emaciated. But you got the impression that his type are extremely rare indeed.

*He also did a show on the British rock band The Stranglers, he had done a b-side with them called 'Old Codger' which was based on Shave Em Dry - with harmonica backing by pub-rocker Lew Lewis, who later robbed a post-office and got caught when he went back in to buy stamps, and got seven years...

Anyway, frenchman96, I agree with Christiern - keep the letter, even if it doesn't compliment your legs!!

Edited August 3, 2010 by cih

[Tony Pusey]

George was a member of the London Surrealist group at the end of WW2, which did not survive beyond the end of 1946. He worked at Mesens London gallery. Surrealisms next organised presence in London was in 1980. George was not a participant in that group, tho his larger than life persona was often invoked by those surrealists close to the anarchist review Freedom. George did star in a recreation of a cafe meeting of the old group filmed to accompany the large Hayward exhibition of Surrealism in 1978, where he recites a poem and then throws cutlery in the air which rains down on the old timers.

During his final illness he remarked that as a surrealist he quite enjoyed having alzheimers!

Anybody reading this is encouraged to read his hilarious autobiography Owning up, and its sequel Rum,bum and concertina.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Tony Pusey

[cih]

Interesting - thanks. Yes I need to read those books... do you know anything about the attitude of the Chicago Surrealist group towards George Melly? At the end of Paul Garon's 'Blues & The Poetic Spirit' he attempts to highlight the few points where blues/jazz and surrealism have converged in the history of the movement, but neglects to mention the London group and Melly, surely the most obvious example (this presumably due to Garon's/Rosemont's ideas about whites singing blues), or is it simply a matter of chronology...

erm... I've got other questions in my head but I'll read Melly's books first...

Edited August 3, 2010 by cih

[Tony Pusey]

No, I am sorry, no information about the Chicago groups attitude to Melly. In truth, the London group at the end of the war had an ephemeral existance.You must also be aware that the surrealist movement has had its fair share of splits and expulsions, and this group was no exception, Mesens and Toni del Renzio mutual distaste for each other ensured that the London group never acheived the cohesion which would have warrented its participation at an organised level in the International surrealist movement. methinks that Melly remained a surrealist in attitude, but being an anarchist, he steered clear of getting involved in later attempts at renewed organised activity.

Paul Garons books publication precedes the formation of the 1980s London group around the reveiw Melmoth,and I dont even know if he knew about George at the time. It might be however that the Chicago group did have a problem with blue men singing the whites?

During the 80s and 90s there was an explosion of information about the history of the movement in different countries largely as a result of the work of Edouard Jaguer in Paris.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Tony Pusey

[cih]

methinks that Melly remained a surrealist in attitude, but being an anarchist, he steered clear of getting involved in later attempts at renewed organised activity.

I guess that answers it really.

I haven't seen Melmoth... I picked up a few of these things from Compendium bookshop in Camden ages ago - Arsenal, and the Leeds group's Manticore (and I was attempting some experiments with a particular kind of automatic painting/drawing)