The Show Won’t Go On by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns

When it is said that a performer “died on stage,” it is usually a metaphor for a poor show or performance. However, there’s apparently real truth in that old phrase. British show folk even invented a term for it—corpsing. The new book The Show Won’t Go On written by Jeff Abraham, an entertainment historian and public relations executive, and Burt Kearns, a television producer-director-writer-journalism, details the deaths of performers who never completed their act because they were called to that big stage in the sky. The chapter on jazz musicians holds the most interest for readers of The Syncopated Times. In it, the authors recount the demise of Lil Hardin Armstrong, the ex-wife of Louis Armstrong, singer Sylvia Syms, and saxophonist Warne Marsh. It’s obviously the authors did their homework. For example, Ricky Riccardi, author and archivist at the Louis Armstrong House, provides quotes and background about Hardin’s rocky relationship with Satchmo and her death while playing the piano at age 68. The book also mentions, though does not detail, the deaths of jazz musicians such as Chet Baker, who died from a fall from a hotel window and Lee Morgan, murdered on his way to the stage by his common-law wife. They didn’t warrant further inclusion because their deaths didn’t fit in the strict category of dying on stage. [caption id="attachment_19462" align="alignri