Quite the collection
I am amazed that nobody is willing to pony up the $3Mil the guy wants. That is chump change for a collection like this.
From the
LA Times:
Collector doesn't want these tracks in the trash
For the record, "Music Man Murray" has tried his best to keep his rare 400,000-album collection intact.
Murray Gershenz has spent 72 years amassing his music trove, after all. He has century-old operatic performances captured on Edison cylinder tubes, 1930s-era Big Band crooners on fragile 78-rpm discs, early rockers on 45s, show tunes on LPs and pop artists on cassette tapes and CDs.
The collection is crammed into homemade shelves in a two-story cinderblock building on Exposition Boulevard, as well as two nearby warehouses.
Last summer Gershenz, 88, announced his intention to close his walk-in and mail-order record business so he could focus on a budding career as a character actor. He said he hoped to find a museum or college willing to acquire his $3-million trove.
That hasn't worked out, he said. So his next stop could be the dumpster.
"Selling individual records isn't paying the rent," Gershenz said. "I've found about five people with an interest in the collection. But they want me to give it to them. I really can't afford to do that. This is my life's work."
I know that the dot.com money is not there but I'm surprised that some geek hasn't stepped up to the plate -- could you imagine having this library digitized and on the web? Larry? Sergei?
Posted by DaveH at August 19, 2010 7:23 PM