"My Friends Call Me Jess— the Public Jessie"

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 8, 1 September 1933, Page 14

"My Friends Call Me Jess— the Public Jessie"

To the Editor. Sir,-The following extract from a Jetter received from Mr. Jesse Crawford may be of interest to S.H.P. (Gore) and Peter the Hermit (Auckland), whose let-

ters have recently appeared in your eulumns: "My friends call me ‘Jess,’ while the publie says ‘Jessie,’ but I answer to both." Incidentally, Jesse Crawford was born on 1December 2, 1894, at Woodland, Oalifornia. At the age of two he played a mouth organ and got a penuy to be quiet, He . still plays the organ, but it is a Wurlitzer, and he is paid i more to make a noise than any ‘other organist

in the world. He was brought up in an orphanage, where he was taught to play the piano. Eventually he became pianist in a cinema, and when opportunity presented itself he taught himself to play the organ. The genius of Crawford soon asserteditself, and in a few years he held the position of organist at the Paramount Theatre, New York City, at a salary greater than that received by President Roosevelt. Jesse Crawford, whose records have sold in millions, is at present in Manchester, Hngland, playing on a Wurlitzer, which was made to his specification end desion.-l am, ete.,

WURLITZER WIZARD

Wellington.