Robert Johnson Film - It's Not Him Says Latest Report
For almost three years, rumours have been flying about a silent film of Robert Johnson, which had been discovered. In fact, I had seen a blurry still from the film about two and one-half years ago and was persuaded that is could be Robert Johnson. The lazy eye was there, the spidery fingers were there, it was a Gibson guitar, he was playing a harmonica, and it was the Mississippi Delta in the background. It seemed plausible and even Dr. David Evans expressed an opinion in Living Blues that it might be Robert Johnson.
There was a cover story in Guitar One revealing a "moving capo" trick the guitarist is doing, articles in Living Blues, Blues & Rhythm and other magazines. The stories reported that the Rolling Stones and/or Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had offered $300,000 to $2,000,000 for the footage. Supposedly, the still had been shown to Robert Lockwood Jr., Robert Johnson's stepson who allegedly replied "Congratulations, you have a picture of Robert Johnson."
The story was that Tater Red Alfred, owner of the Black Diamond shop on Beale Street has discovered the film among his grandmother's possessions. His grandmother had worked at a theatre in Ruleville Mississippi in the late thirties and she and the owner, one B. F. Jackson had shot the films of mostly Black farm workers, all dressed up and in town on a Saturday afternoon. The fragile old film had been destroyed as it was converted to video; the only thing left was this short snippet of footage of this blues singer. Tater had made the video copy just so he could see his grandfather once more and had not paid attention to the singer/guitarist with the harmonica rack who appears briefly (about 6 seconds) on the film.
One night he was watching the video, he noticed the blues man and became convinced that it might be Robert Johnson. He has a still made of a frame of the footage and shows it to anyone who wants to see it in his Beale Street store. He even makes up T-shirts that read "Is it or isn't it?" or something of the kind. Tonight, in a private showing of the film at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for the press, archivists, academics, performers and speakers who were participating in the week-long celebration of the music of Robert Johnson, Robert Santelli, Education had the ideal forum of many of most knowledgeable and critical experts to evaluate the film. In the audience was Robert Lockwood Jr., Robert Johnson's step-son, and Henry Townsend, two bluesman who had known Robert Johnson in the thirties plus a jury of the most respected blues researchers and experts in the world; Peter Guralnick, Gayle Dean Wardlow, Ed Komara, Frank Driggs, Robert Santelli, Steve Levere, Bob Eagle and others. (If you know the blues, you know these people).
As the introduction progressed, Robert Santelli, the Hall's Education Director, announced to everyone's surprise that in addition to Tater Red Alfred's video, Steve Levere of the Robert Johnson Estate, and Tom Freedland, Oxford MS lawyer had just come forward with copies of the same film, indeed, clearer copies of the film. After it was shown still another attendee, archivist for Mississippi Delta State University in Cleveland OH added that, after viewing the film, she realised they had a copy in their archive, as well.
As each person presented their story it became immediately evident that the bluesman in the film was not Robert Johnson nor any bluesman anyone in the room could recognise. He certainly was not Elmore James, Joe Hill Louis, Robert Nighthawk or other specific bluesmen that were guessed. No one recognised the man who was seen in two separate scenes nor had a clue to his identity.
The story goes this way. Either R. L. Jackson, who owned the theatre or Tater Red's grandmother, who ran it for him, shot the 16mm film in 1942 as a promotional film for a theatre in Ruleville Mississippi. Copies of the film reside in one form or another in the Mississippi Delta State University archives, the Mississippi state archives and in the hands of the owners of the original film. Tater Red got his from his grandmother, Mississippi Delta State got their from Jackson's daughter-in-law and Levere and Freeland apparently got theirs from the Mississippi state archives. The film advertised at the theatre was "Blues In The Night" and was released in 1942 and ran at that theatre on an uncommonly (from the dress of the people) warm January 30, 1942 according to theatre records.
The stories of the "moving capo" theory in Guitar One are bunk once you see an enlarged and extra-lightened image on the screen. There is no capo, just a shadow. Finally, the big money offers for the film are just stories and no such offers have been made.
So there you have it. Tater Red was very open about his representation of the film's authenticity and has indeed been seeking to know more about the films and would show them to anyone who asked, Steve Levere protected the Robert Johnson estate from any misrepresentations about the film, Tom Freedland did some very nice field research and Mississippi Delta State will no doubt be looking more closely at the film. The irony is that the only sound footage found on the reel was that of a beauty contest and not the blues singer. That's the bad news.
The good news is that the alternate recording of "Travellin' Riverside Blues," discovered in the Allen Lomax archives by the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song, is included the latest, yet another edition of "King of The Delta Blues Singers." You can bet on a Reissue of 1990 box set "Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings" anytime now - after all it is incomplete without that take. Now if the long-rumoured "bawdy song" or some of the other alternates show up Columbia can do this dance yet again. Of course, it took 60 years for this take to show up; so don't stay up waiting.
As we left the room, the joking rumours of recent Robert Johnson sightings and a possible reincarnation in Ruleville in 1942 or in Cleveland this weekend began to spread. Don't get you hopes up. Robert Lockwood Jr. who knew Robert Johnson better than anyone in the room, made it said it even more simply, "That's not Robert Johnson." No matter what you want to believe, the spirit of Robert Johnson was alive and well in Cleveland Ohio this week. If, in the interest of getting this important story out quickly, I have misunderstood or misstated any fact, I ask you patience. I would hope that Tom Freedland or Steve Levere who were instrumental in bringing this matter to a conclusion will provide a much more detailed documentation of the facts of this case for the record.
'fessor Mojo
