Althouse: The harmonica, in 1944.

March 24, 2010

The harmonica, in 1944.

That's Larry Adler, dead now, at 91.

13 comments:

rhhardin said...: The next movement.; 3/24/10, 9:10 AM
Anonymous said...: Free reed
Finally went to seed.; 3/24/10, 9:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Larry Adler died in 2001. The obit is about his brother, Jerry.; 3/24/10, 9:18 AM
Unknown said...: Jerry Adler is the person who died the other day. Larry Adler was his brother. Larry Adler died in 2001.; 3/24/10, 9:18 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Jerry Adler, a harmonica virtuoso whose pure, open sound can be heard on the soundtracks to “Shane,” “High Noon,” “Mary Poppins” and other films, but who labored in the shadow of his more famous harmonica-playing older brother, Larry, died on March 13 in Ellenton, Fla. He was 91 and lived in Sarasota.; 3/24/10, 9:21 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/24/10, 9:28 AM
Anonymous said...: The quintessential Jerry Adler can be heard here.

Stunning.; 3/24/10, 9:29 AM
David said...: Great clip.

Great music.

Emotion without cynicism. (And without sappy dialog.)

Women even more beautiful than today's.

June Alison--charter member of the MILF society.; 3/24/10, 9:34 AM
former law student said...: One way to tell the difference: Larry Adler was the one whose career was ruined by Red-baiters.; 3/24/10, 10:08 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/24/10, 11:10 AM
bagoh20 said...: Even with a harmonica, a musician can swoon beautiful women, and those were beautiful.; 3/24/10, 11:54 AM
Penny said...: "His autobiography, “Living From Hand to Mouth,” was published in 2005."

Perfect name for his book.; 3/24/10, 1:16 PM
From Inwood said...: Prof A

You know it was not Larry Adler when the NYT couldn't make its robotic reference to "McCarthyism".

Though I'm surprised that The Gray lady didn't make a sidebar about how McCarthyism ruined his brother’s life. (You know: “His brother suffered more.” A takeoff on the old Jewish joke about the Rabbi at the eulogy!)

Strangely, Larry never denounced Communism though he did denounce anti-Communists. And Larry (or the NYT, for that matter) never defended those who suffered after denouncing Communism like James T. Farrell.

In any event, the NYT never misses a chance to mention all this good stuff in its Obits. I guess the Obit writers are all too young to remember & the Obits of those deceased apologists or members of groups spewing Communist propaganda in the 1930s were all written in the 1950s & kept on file & somehow Jerry was never "named". Or never needed to be named.; 3/24/10, 9:07 PM