JAZZLIGHT
Late 40s or early 50s. Bill Russell visited here often. As a result, there are lots of photos of Charlie Thompson standing outside of his St. Louis barroom. Most in warm weather, one with Thompson wearing glasses, etc. The other Thompson photo in this gallery has been matched as to date to the photo in "They All Played Ragtime" as being taken on the same dates. This photo and the other one in the gallery have not been circulated much, if at all.
I have seen some criticism of Bunk Johnson that he was less than a reliable factual source. Charlie Thompson was the same way. It wasn't mean spirited or spiteful. Charlie was just gracious company (an experienced bartender) and he told people what they wanted to hear. If those people were 'Ragtime Experts', then they received the same treatment. Charlie was just a type of personality that existed in those days. Arthur Marshall, for example, was very careful to tell the exact truth.
Historians working at this date without knowing the subject's personally are working at a tremendous disadvantage and must often feast on their toenails. But Charlie was one hell of a piano player and a decent, if not prolific, composer. I stomped the ground over his grave in a St. Louis cemetery jungle trying to locate it exactly but could find no grave marker. GCW
