The Word "Jazz," 4 of 7: "Scoop" Gleeson's Limited Role

(For the previous essays in this series, see the Index.)

Edgar Thomas “Scoop” Gleeson plays a role in our story of the word “jazz.” But it might be less of a role than some have claimed for him. He was born on November 2, 1886 in S.F.; and he died June 29, 1973 of a heart attack at his longtime home in Mill Valley, north of S.F. He became well known for publishing the first report of the devastating 1906 earthquake in S.F., the only first day report. (I believe that was the “scoop” that gave him his nickname.) Later he spent some years in sports writing, and then he moved up to other roles including serving as the managing editor of what was then known as the S.F. Call-Bulletin. Here he is with his trademark pipe in 1937, about a year before he retired from newspaper work:

Around the time that he retired, Gleeson wrote an article called “I Remember the Birth of Jazz” (S.F. Call-Bulletin, September 3, 1938). (This issue is hard to find, so, like most researchers, I am relying on reproductions in other publications. You can see the full article below.) This article has repeatedly been cited as a source by researchers, but in my opinion it has been taken far too seriously. Self-serving articles by people claiming to have invented the word—or the music—“jazz” are very common, “a dime a dozen” as they say. (And as we’ve seen in the first essay, various people claimed to have coined the predecessor “jasm” as well.) In Gleeson’s article, he talks about the scene at Boyes Springs in 1913—in particular, the beginnings of the word “jazz,” and the contribution of bandleader Art Hickman. However, his accounting of Hickman’s carer is totally wrong, and his story about “jazz” changed several times over the years, as I’ll show. In any case, an article written 25 years after the fact is not a contemporary source, by definition.

Now, to details: Gleeson says that Hickman was in Boyes Springs in 1913 for a “pleasant and indolent” vacation, when he got the idea to create some entertainment:

If you compare this with what we already learned about Hickman in my previous essay, you’ll quickly observe that there is nothing true about Gleeson’s account. Hickman was a well-established arts producer in the S.F. area, and he was first hired by the managers of Boyes Springs in 1911, and probably re-hired in 1912. In 1913, it was announced in the papers that he would return as entertainment director before he even set foot for the Springs. No band was labeled “jazz” as early as 1913. And of course Hickman did not invent jazz music itself—the source was the Black musicians of New Orleans, as most people acknowledged by the late 1910s

The other topic discussed in this article is the word “jazz,” which Gleeson says “came into general usuage (sic) at this time.”

The meaning of “jazz” here is something like “Come on, give it that positive energy.” And the “gin-iker fizz” also has to do with energy—it sounds like a fizzy energy drink, or maybe the fizzy waters of Boyes Springs, as well as a play on “gin” or “ginger.” (As you may recall from the second essay in this series, he used “gin-i-ker,” with two hyphens, back in 1913.) This tale seems valid enough—as long as one uses it Only as an account of where Gleeson first heard the word. Clearly, Gleeson and Slattery were unaware that Ben Henderson had used the word in Los Angeles in April 1912—and it’s fair to assume that Henderson was not alone. But the fact that they knew nothing about that has no significance, as we’ve discussed in essay 2.

Besides, Gleeson’s fanciful story changed a bit over the years. There were numerous claims about who invented the word “jazz.” In 1922, one author wondered whether it was Slattery, or one of two college presidents— Dr. Vincent of Minnesota, whom I mentioned in the first essay, or, as another paper had recently claimed, Dr. Wheeler of the University of California (Berkeley). But this author hints, Wheeler may have learned it from Vincent. (S.F. Examiner March 15, 1922, p.17; column called “Assists” and signed “J.J.”) The same week, an article in the S.F. Call and Post was entitled “Who Was First to Say Jazz? Dr. Wheeler, Slattery, or Hickman?” The un-named author invited readers to send comments to the “Jazz Editor.” Of course, no paper had a jazz editor back then, and from the content of the article, especially concerning Boyes Springs, it’s clear that this is Gleeson speaking. He wrote a local news report that’s in the same issue of the newspaper, so he was on the staff.

He too mentions Wheeler, and then he reviews the claims of Slattery, Hickman, and a San Francisco café owner named Meyer Cohen. Here he says that Slattery was “one of the first,” and he “backdates” that to 1912, perhaps to be sure that he comes out first. But his story is different this time:

Of course it’s not true that “signs appeared mysteriously.” However, this fanciful description does catch something of the way “jazz” was used to mean many things. (Also, Sonoma was indeed known as the “Valley of the Moon,” and still is.)

Later, Gleeson was friends with Earle Wright (ca. 1896-1966). Wright was the San Francisco Press Club representative in the 1950s and a theater director in the ‘60s in Sonoma. After Gleeson died, Earle’s widow Virginia Wright shared with a local columnist, Peggy Ray, a letter in which Gleeson told the Slattery story once again to her husband. But this time, Gleeson wrote that the Boyes Hot Springs were trying to bottle and market their fizzy water, and that Slattery suggested calling it “jazz water.” He may indeed have suggested that, but if so, it never happened. There are even bottles of water from the Springs (shown here), but none with the word “jazz.” Then Gleeson goes on to say that when Hickman was asked what kind of music he was playing, he said “jazz,” “for the want of anything better to say.” This is even less true, because Hickman never claimed to be the first to call his music jazz, and as we learned last time, he somewhat resented that others called the music “jazz.”

Finally, Gleeson wrote to Dick Holbrook that he first heard Slattery use it around the dinner table, and that Slattery said he heard it used in dice games around the city. “Dice shakers would say ‘That’s the jazz, boy!’ Typifying ‘pep.’” So that’s similar to the story he told in 1938. (This is from Holbrook, “Our Word Jazz,” Storyville issue 50, December 1973/January 1974. Holbrook said he had been researching it for about ten years, so the communication could have been in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s.)

In short, Gleeson’s 1938 report is 25 years too late, gets Hickman’s story completely wrong, and presents one of several changing versions that he told of Slattery’s story. The only tidbit that we can trust in that article is that Gleeson learned the word “jazz” from Slattery. Period.

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. Here is the full Gleeson article from 1938, plus his 1913 article that “defines ‘jazz’,” both reproduced in Peter Tamony, “Jazz: The Word, and Its Extension to Music,” JEMF Quarterly, Spring 1981:

Gleeson From Tamony,jemfquarterlyspring1981

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