This is the picture I want to use on the cover of the biography I have written about my father.  This is the only picture that I own. Norma, my mother, gave me this picture in 1980, I think, as a birthday present.  It was the only picture she had. Eddie died in 1950 and over the years, the other pictures that she had were lost. Some in a house fire in the 70s. I saw the pictures, when I was a little girl.  There was a picture of Eddie and Frank Sinatra on a stage, there was a picture of me in my bassinet with Eddie and Mom standing over me, and there was a picture of Norma’s mother, Sinclaire, with her hair piled up on top of her head and staring stone faced at the camera.  Sinclaire had on a floor length, white dress with buttons all the way up to her chin. An old photo from the 1920s or 1930s. I was shocked when mom gave me this picture of Eddie. She loved this picture.

In the past almost six years that I have been doing the research on the book, I have discovered other pictures of Eddie. Eddie as a customer in a 1929 Vitaphone fifteen-minute movie, Eddie as Ko-ko, the High Executioner in the Hot Mikado on Broadway in 1939, Eddie as a boxer in his own movie One Round Jones, Eddie with Louis Armstrong preparing for their radio program in 1937, Eddie chatting with George Burns, Eddie on an advertisement for the Community Chest during the war years, Eddie and Mom with Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. at my christening.

None of these pictures belong to me. In order to use them in my book, I need to get permission from the copyright holders and pay a fee based on how many books I hope to sell, unless the pictures are in the public domain. Or a family member objects. It’s been so awesome discovering these pictures that I want to put them all in the book.  I am in the process of scanning the ones I can use, however, so that is a good thing.  The publisher may have a say-so on the book cover, but I think they will like Eddie’s “entrepreneurial, star quality” headshot.

Speaking of the publisher.  I have been in communication with a publisher.  Yes!  Soon I will have the pleasure of discussing the publishing side of this venture.  I haven’t exactly started jumping up and down yet, but I am so glad I started this journey. And I am not finished.  I am in the midst of what has become a serious learning process, that of going over my proofreader’s suggestions.

I think that there are many of us who have family members they would like to write about, be they movie stars or stay at home moms, or Uncle Jim, you know, the one who always makes you laugh.  I know there are people out here who are looking for good, uplifting stories. Share yours.

Thank you so much, for stopping by.