Photographs of Eddie “Saxman” Synigal’s US Navy Tour of Asia, Showing Equator Crossing Ceremonies, Musical Performances and Other Aspects of Naval Life Abroad.
Mainly Asia and Oceania: 1950s. Photo album measuring 10 ½ x 14 ½ inches containing approximately 160 photographs; photos are mainly 4 x 5 inches and smaller, with several 8 x 10 inch photos. Album covers completely detached, pages with damage to edges, fair; many photographs stapled in, some with damage, very good minus. Overall very good minus. Item #Cat309
A photo album likely belonging to Edgar “Saxman” Synigal, Jr. (1937–2017). Synigal’s draft registration lists his occupation as “delivery boy” for Weidies’ Drug Store in New Orleans; he would go on to lead B.B. King’s band,[1] and has recording credits with artists including Bobby Womack, Branford Marsalis, and Jimmy McCracklin. This photo album dates from the 1950s and its identified locations are Hong Kong, Kwajalein Atoll, Japan, Guam, Formosa (Taiwan), the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
Many photographs show the naval rituals surrounding the crossing of the equator. Naval equator-crossing ceremonies—often called “Crossing the Line” rites—date back centuries in European seafaring and mark a sailor’s first passage across the Equator, transforming them from a “pollywog” into a “shellback” under the theatrical authority of King Neptune and his court. This often includes rough initiations: being doused with seawater, crawling through messy or humiliating setups, mock “shaving” with crude tools, or being tossed into pools.
The local women comprise another recurring subject, especially in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Australia, where the women—and other local youths—are pictured hanging out on the docks and on the ship, with one shot of a concert aboard the ship (based on a captioned photograph, Synigal was likely aboard the USS Bremerton). The young women are pictured on city streets and in clubs with the Navy men, with some more formal portraits.
Several shots show Synigal playing saxophone with a Navy band; in one, he sits behind the nametag “Frank” and in another “Ron”, though a manuscript caption on the recto of the latter identifies him as “Saxman Synigal”. Other subjects include the “Centennial Celebration of the Opening of Japan”; “Hometown Friends”, which shows young African American people posing outside, presumably in New Orleans; “Boot Camp Buddies”; and several interesting shots of Singapore city streets, including one of a man in a songkok (fez) wrapping a snake around the shoulders of a man in Navy uniform.
Of interest to historians of the Navy during the Cold War, especially relations between Navy men and local women in Asia.
[1] Leonard Feather, “Show Affirms That B.B. King Reigns,” The Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1985.
Price: $850.00