"Doolittle" myth or mistake goes back to when picture was first published
Posted Nov 8, 2009 12:04 PM
Tim wondered if anyone here besides him knew when the picture was first published or had seen it anyplace other than the Evans book. I hadn't recognized the picture being in Evans and Evans because the picture was cropped when it was published in Evans book. The top, bottom and sides are cut off in the picture on page 79 in Evans and Evans. Apparently the mistaken "Doolittle" identification goes back to 1971 when the picture was first published. Tim xeroxed the picture from its source back then and sent copies to collectors who hadn't seen the picture before. Tim still doesn't know how the "Doolittle" misidentification got attached to the picture. Plus the original publication of the picture only had "Doolittle and Bix" and a date of 1922 as identification for the picture. In Evans and Evans when the picture was published on page 79 "John" was added to Doolittle. Where did the name John come from for this non existent Dolittle person in the picture with Bix? I mention non existent Doolittle person because Jamaica identified him as Sid Stewart. Kudos to Jamaica for noticing this because when Phil Evans published the picture in Evans and Evans he still identified the person in the picture with Bix as Doolittle.
Also the original publication of the picture had the date of 1922 while in Evans and Evans the date is given as 1921. How did Phil Evans find out that the picture was from 1921 and not 1922 as it was originally published? Also notice on page 79 of Evans and Evans the picture is credited to Phil Pospychala. Tim said Posoychala was not one of the people he sent a xerox of the picture to in 1971. So maybe Tim sent a xerox of the picture to another collector in 1971 and that xerox was copied and sent to others until Phil Pospychala got ahold of a 3rd or 4th generation xerox. Tim said Phil Evans must have also known the original publication source of the picture so why did Phil use a 3rd or 4th generation xerox from Phil Pospychala which was cropped instead of a sharp copy of the entire picture from the 1st publication source?
Maybe Phil Pospychala was the original source for the publication of the picture when it was first published in 1971 and Evans did submit a good copy for publication in his book but the book company cropped the picture and did a poor publishing job so the picture is not clear. That explanation of the book company doing a lousy job with the pictures has been mentioned.
If no one here knows the the original publication source of the picture I will give that information.
But the original publication source of the picture in 1971 also caused a big mess over purported unissued alternate takes of I Didn't Know, Slow River, Clementine and Mary. Actually take 1 of each which were never issued and still aren't.