Opera House Rag
BY
"RAGTIME"
BOB DARCH
IN MEMORIUM:
March 31, 1920
October 18, 2002
St. Louis, Missouri:
©October 31, 1980
by George C. Willick
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One of Ragtime's best showmen, a fabulous character, and great world traveler and entertainer.
Bob stands alone as the grass roots promoter of Ragtime. Since WW II and discharge as a Captain,
Darch has been living a Ragtime Life. There was a decade in America when original Ragtime was kept
alive by only three men...Max Morath, Johnny Maddox, and Ragtime Bob Darch...with honorable mention
to Joe "Fingers" Carr (Lou Busch). And it was somewhere in that period and out there in the thin, thin
ethers when a well meaning soul asked Bob, "When did Ragtime die?" and the great man answered,
"Ragtime? Dead? Hell, it ain't even sick!" ... damn right.
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Ian Whitcomb's article from the Rag Times here.