Monday, August 16, 2010

Murray's music collection...and new career

I was reading the Los Angeles Times today on one of the legs of my multi-segment journey from Kansas City to Los Angeles to Irvine to Oakland to San Francisco. And, buried back in section AA was a story on one Murray Gershenz.

It seems Murray, who is 88, has a music collection which includes no less than 400,000 albums--from operatic performances on Edison cylinder tubes to Big Band music on 78-rpm discs to early rock hits on 45s to LPs to cassette tapes and CDs. His collection is housed in a two-story cinderblock building in Los Angeles complemented by space in two nearby warehouses. Gershenz is trying to sell the collection but, thus far, has not had any suitors willing to pony up for a collection he values at $3 million.

What caught my eye in the story, though, is not that Murray is trying to sell his valuable collection but that he's doing it in order to focus on a "budding career as a character actor." Mind you now, Murray is 88--not exactly an age where one's career, in anything, "buds."

But, if you watched Mad Men this past Sunday night you saw Gershenz in action--he had a part as the old gentleman, living with his wife in Don Draper's apartment building, who wants to know if his spouse brought home any pears.

So, let's make our personality-of-the-day Murray Gershenz--album collector and character actor--who has now appeared on television's hottest drams and will next be seen in a "big role" on House in mid-September. At this rate, Murray can afford to take his time and sell his collection for the right price--his newfound acting fame is paying the rent!

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