Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)

Subject: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Nov 19 - 02:24 PM

In another thread, Art Rosenbaum mentioned that Ed Cray had passed away recently. I knew only of Ed's significant work as a folklorist, especially his Erotic Muse collection of bawdy songs and his biography of Woody Guthrie. He did post a very few times at Mudcat, including this message (click). It's fascinating to see all the other things he did in his life. May he rest in peace.

Here's the obituary from yesterday's New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/books/ed-cray-dead.html

Ed Cray, Biographer of Woody Guthrie and Earl Warren, Dies at 86
A folklorist and journalism professor at U.S.C., he also profiled George C. Marshall, Levi Strauss and the serial killer Juan Corona.

By Sam Roberts
Oct. 30, 2019

Ed Cray, a journalist and educator who explored a broad spectrum of Americana with well-regarded biographies of Woody Guthrie, Chief Justice Earl Warren, the California serial killer Juan Corona, George C. Marshall and the bluejeans maker Levi Strauss, died on Oct. 8 in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 86.

The cause was congestive heart failure and complications of Alzheimer’s disease, his daughter, Jennifer Cray, said.

Trained in college as an anthropologist, Mr. Cray invited readers along as he quenched his curiosity about American life and American figures in 18 book-length odysseys.

He delved into broad subjects, including police misconduct and medical care (“The Big Blue Line” in 1967 and “In Failing Health,” in 1970) and entrepreneurship (“Levi’s: The Story of Levi Strauss & Co.” in 1978 and “Chrome Colossus: General Motors and Its Times” in 1981).

And he mined folklore, assembling “The Erotic Muse: A Completely Uncensored Collection of the Songs Everyone Knows and No One Has Written Down Before” and “Bawdy Ballads” (both in 1969) and several sequels.

His “Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie” (2004), the music critic Robert Christgau wrote in The New York Times Book Review, “vividly conveys how difficult Guthrie’s life was and how heroic his achievement.”

The author Douglas Brinkley, a Rice University professor and Guthrie fan, told The Times in 2012 that the “two great biographies” of Guthrie were by Mr. Cray and the political columnist Joe Klein (“Woody Guthrie: A Life,” 1980).

“Ed was a meticulous craftsman of American biography with a penchant for deep research,” Professor Brinkley said in an email. “What mattered most to Ed was being a judicious judge of the past. There are no false notes in his body of work.”

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Nov 19 - 02:28 PM

There's a more detailed obituary in the Los Angeles Times:

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2019-10-18/ed-cray-author-journalist-usc-dead

Ed Cray, prolific author and L.A. journalist, dies at 86

By JANET KINOSIAN
OCT. 18, 2019 4:49 PM

Ed Cray, a longtime L.A. journalist and prolific author who wrote about famous Americans as far-flung as Chief Justice Earl Warren and California serial killer Juan Corona, has died. He was 86.

Cray was battling congestive heart failure and Alzheimer’s disease when he died Oct. 8 in Palo Alto, his daughter Jennifer said.

“We were cantankerous, opinionated journalists often at odds over some journalism course or curriculum idea or some administrative issue,” said fellow USC journalism professor Joe Saltzman in an online forum. “He was a wonderful colleague who really cared about journalism, about students, about what was right and what was wrong.”

Over the course of a decades-long teaching career at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Cray inspired a generation of future journalists, helping many land jobs at newspapers and television and radio stations.

During print journalism’s golden era over four decades starting in the 1960s, Cray wrote 500 freelance articles and reviews for the country’s leading newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post and the New York Times. He was a longtime contributor to the Los Angeles Times.

He wrote 18 books including biographies about the Depression-era folk singer Woody Guthrie and Warren. His Guthrie biography, “Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie,” served as the source material for the 2006 PBS “American Masters” documentary on the singer. In “Chief Justice,” Cray interviewed 45 of Warren’s former law clerks and won the American Bar Assn. award for best law book.

The Times praised Cray for his remarkable “dexterity” in handling the complexities and contradictions of Guthrie’s life. The New York Times said the book “vividly conveys how difficult Guthrie’s life was and how heroic his achievement.”

Cray’s book topics were diverse: He wrote a biography of World War II Gen. George Marshall, investigated General Motors’ early history in “Chrome Colossus” and delved into the psyche of Corona, who murdered 25 migrant farmworkers and buried their bodies in the peach groves along the Feather River. In “Levi’s,” he detailed the San Francisco clothing company’s history and mid-20th century challenges.

His 1990 book, “American Datelines” — a co-written analysis and collection of news stories about famous historical events — is still used as a textbook in many journalism schools.

In 2010, Cray received a Grammy nomination for the liner notes he wrote for “My Dusty Road,” Rounder Records’ four-CD compilation of 60 long-lost Guthrie songs.

Cray, considered a folklore expert, in 2011 edited two volumes of “Bawdy Songbooks of the Romantic Period,” a four-volume set of songbooks with extensive margin notes on mid-19th century folklore.

Born July 3, 1933, in Cleveland, Cray arrived as a young child in Los Angeles and grew up mostly in the Fairfax District. At 13, he inspected walnut crates in the San Fernando Valley as one of his first jobs. At 11, he sold the Los Angeles Mirror on city streets, remembering mobster Mickey Cohen as a frequent customer.

He joined the Los Angeles Daily News in 1948 as a copy boy and later worked as a wire reporter for City News Service in Los Angeles. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea, he graduated from UCLA in 1957 with an anthropology degree.

Cray worked and freelanced for numerous Southern California newspapers, including The Times and the Hollywood Reporter, and wrote books examining social issues of the period, such as “In Failing Health,” a look at the healthcare industry, and “The Big Blue Line” about police malfeasance and corruption.

From 1965 to 1970, Cray was director of publications for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. He also worked in the early 1970s as the publicist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Geoffrey Cowan, the former USC Annenberg dean, remembered the many friendships Cray nurtured as a mentor for the school’s faculty, staff and students. Cray retired from the school in 2014, as professor emeritus.

“He cared deeply about his students and about the fate of his craft and his school,” Cowan said. “Ed was a fine journalist and a first-rate biographer.”

In 2017, Cray moved from Santa Monica to Palo Alto, where he lived until his death.

Besides his daughter, Cray is survived by two granddaughters, Emily and Tessa.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 01 Nov 19 - 03:24 PM

Thanks, Joe
Very sad news. Another one of my heroes bites the dust. With a vast ocean between us I never met Ed. Corresponded with him a few times. But his work has always been at the heart of my studies and research.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 03 Nov 19 - 07:33 AM

Until you posted Joe, I hadn't heard of Ed. Should have done, so I will have to do some research! I have added his name to the "In Memoriam" thread. My condolences to all who know and love him.

Peter

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Lighter
Date: 03 Nov 19 - 10:16 AM

This personal for me. I corresponded with Ed on several occasions. He was always knowledgeable and helpful. I regret that we never met.

Back in 1969, his inspired, pioneering collection of bawdy songs was an act of courage as well as scholarship.

Condolences to all his family.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Nov 19 - 09:32 PM

Did Ed sing? I know he was a respected member of the Ballad-L list and a contributor to the Traditional Ballad index. His research work was impeccable, but I never heard anybody say they sang with him.
But he was very helpful with research questions.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 03 Nov 19 - 10:30 PM

condolences to family and friends.

Anyone know if Ed Cray was among the contributors to the LP
Unexpurgated Folk Songs of Men (Raglan/Arhoolie 1960) ???

Thomas.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Nov 19 - 10:51 PM

Hi, Thomas - there's a page for Unexpurgated Folk Songs of Men at Smithsonian/Folkways, but the album notes are not available (yet). The album is not on Spotify.
I found the album notes, but they make no mention of Ed Cray:

https://sundayblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Unexpurgated.pdf

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Obit: Ed Cray (1933-2019)
From: GUEST,John Moulden
Date: 04 Nov 19 - 11:01 AM

I'm sorry to hear this. Like others, I never met Ed but corresponded. I have the greatest regard for any of his work that camen within my ambit and it is clear there is more of it I should seek. I wish his family every sympathy.