[Harp-L] Cadillac Records - Pure Jive !

["Rob Paparozzi" <Chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had posted about seeing the movie... I think the screenwriters crossed the 
line by portraying Little Walter  as a 'Cold Blooded' killer...how do think 
his family feels when they see this?....be nice if they did some homework 
first and also had more respect for the Musicians they choose to make a film 
about...anyway, Scott Dirks saw my post and was kind enough to respond and I 
thought it's worth sharing to set the record straight...thank you Scott


> I did find one scene pretty disturbing and I¹m not sure it¹s
documented, but
> having shot a man in Cold Blood for taking his stage name!!!
> Was this in Walter¹s Bio I read a few yrs ago? I do not recall this
account? Rob P
>


Hi Rob,
I was browsing the harp-l archives online checking to see if anyone
in the harp-l community was commenting on Cadillac Records, and I
came across your note with the question above.  The answer is no, the
scene with Little Walter shooting an impersonator definitely was NOT
in the book.  As far as I can tell, it was completely fabricated for
this film, apparently for the purposes of establishing that Walter
was a "crazy M.F." in one quick scene.  I've spent 30 years around
the Chicago blues scene investigating the Little Walter story,
getting to know and playing music with the people who were part of
it, reading just about everything ever written about him, etc., etc.,
and I've never even heard a hint or a rumor that anything like that
ever happened.  Of course that doesn't prove that it didn't happen,
but I think it's unlikely it would have escaped my notice for all
this time, and then suddenly be discovered by a scriptwriter who as
far as I know has never done any research on LW here in Chicago.

By the way, the scriptwriter apparently did read the Little Walter
book, because there were a few details in the film that were
apparently based on elements in the book that came out of our
original research.  But anyway, it appears that that particular scene
has no basis in reality, and was made up specifically for this film.

Feel free to share this with the folks on the harp-l if you'd like.

Best regards,
Scott Dirks