Research

Hi there and welcome.

In 2010 I started research on my father, Eddie Green. I have now begun putting my research in book form. It has taken a lot longer than I expected because I was not truly aware of all the work Eddie had put into his chosen career. I found a lot of newspapers articles. The process of putting together this information has been roundabout, which was also unexpected, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey so far.

To give you an idea of how I was able to collect information, in 2014, I discovered a magazine article that had been stored in the back of a bottom drawer in a neighborhood museum, that was written by Eddie in 1949. The article is about how he got his big break in 1929. In this article there were about six lines that helped me corroborate ten years of previous information I had acquired.

In the article, Eddie wrote that prior to 1929 he had played Vaudeville, Burlesque and musical comedy and that he had done some writing. Well, I had a newspaper article from 1920 that I found in 2012, announcing Eddie playing at the Star and Garter Burlesque Theater in Chicago in 1920. He also played at theaters in Kansas City, Buffalo and Boston. Eddie was on the “Columbia Circuit” of theater, and was on this circuit for years. I also have copies of copyrighted material I found this year, documenting songs he wrote in 1920, 1923 and 1924.

In 2013 I found another newspaper article from 1925, that also talks about Eddie’s endeavors in the theater. It mentions his songwriting, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, which helps me know I am tracking the right Eddie Green, and it mentions a newer song, “Don’t Let No One Man Worry Your Mind”, which I know Eddie wrote, and it mentions his work in Burlesque. I found a 1927 article about the same time that touted Eddie as a well-known, song writer, electrician, motion picture operator, and famed comedian, and that he had played the Apollo, which he had, how do I know? Because I the newspaper article that mentions, Eddie Green, writer of “A Good Man…….”, is now working stock at the Apollo. By now Eddie had also written and copyrighted eight more songs. I have many other articles that help me to link Eddie’s progress through the years. Eddie was a busy man in the 1920’s. In the 1949 magazine article, Eddie wrote that he was so busy during those years, he did not notice his own advancement, nor did he notice the fact that his name appeared very frequently in the various trade papers.

When I started this research, somehow I lucked up and found one specific place I could peruse that had all the information I needed from these early years. This is how I found out about the various venues Eddie played and how I found out about the songs Eddie wrote, I also spent hours searching the Copyright Catalogues, because even though the information is in the newspaper, does not make it correct. The feeling I get from each discovery is marvelous. It is well worth the bus rides and sifting through paperwork. The process is time-consuming and involved, but I have become talented at backtracking. Eddie had talent and he put in the effort it took to progress. It was not an overnight happening. In Eddie’s own words, “If you’ve got the talent, you can’t miss in the long run, even if it’s mighty long!”

For four years now I have been researching my father’s life. Basically before I began my research, the only information I had about my father, was that he married my mom in 1945, he had a little money (mom said he was one of the few people who had a refrigerator as opposed to an icebox), he had written a song that had become a hit, that he was a fanatic about short wave radio and that he had been an old time radio star. I only had one (1) picture of Eddie, a head shot, that my mother gave me when I turned 40 years old. And I had seen my father in a movie once when I was eight, he played the waiter in the movie which was also the part he played in the radio program “Duffy’s Tavern”.

What I have discovered in the past four years is that the more information I find, the more information I find. For instance, this past month I read two articles that mentioned Eddie Green being in the Army around 1942. Well, even though I had not found any information on Eddie being in the Service, I really did not think these articles were talking about my father, since Eddie was a bit old to be in the Army during WWII. But I wrote myself a little note and a few days later, I got on the net and looked up my father’s name in the WWII draft registration cards and his name was there on the screen.

Eddie had at some point and time decided to change his birth year from 1891 to 1896. The good thing about this discovery is that the birth date of the draft registration card matched the date on Eddie’s Social Security Card Application which I had just received in the mail. And the signatures matched. So now I know his real age. What I don’t know is why he would be signing up for the draft at 50 years of age. Being curious, I went on-line and queried WWII and that is how I found out about the “old man’s draft”. The government decided to have a registration in April of 1942 and to sign up all men of a certain age, not to fight, but to be available, just in case.

There was one other thing the draft registration card gave me,the address of Eddie’s place of business, which was the same address listed in a 1942 Pittsburgh newspaper article which stated “Eddie Green Opens Musicians’ School”. I had found the article about a year ago, but I needed verification and now I had it.

My research is paying off big-time. There is nothing I would rather be doing. I am getting another chance to meet my father, a man I only remember as a vague somebody who would sit me on his lap. Who are you thinking about researching?