Talk:Dean Collins
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His original name was Saul Cohen, according to the California Historical Jazz Dance Foundation. Is there a reference for the other name?
Here is a response from Kiku Loomis (more on her below) and message I recently sent her. Meanwhile, if anyone has access to The New Yorker magazine DVD which has a search feature, they could see if a Saul Cohen or a Solomon Ruddosky is listed as "Dancer of the Year" in 1935, as Dean is supposed to have been.
First, this from Kiku...
I am in contact with dean's niece who claims she has official records. I will search for information on Pete Loggins and would be interested in the results of your research. At this point I do not have time and they are taking down the article anyway in a general site redo.
Regards, Kiku
Original Message------
From: steve pastor To: kiku Sent: Aug 25, 2006 2:36 PM Subject: Dean Collins aka Saul Cohen aka Soloman Ruddosky?
Dear Kiku: I read your article on Dean In "Dance Spirit" (which I very much enjoyed - little did I know I would come back to it!), and I am hoping you can shed some light on the above. I became interested in this when I saw a poorly written, inaccurate article on West Coast Swing in Wikipedia. All WCS roads seem to lead back to Dean, but I have noted a new version of Dean's early life. A woman who identifies herself as Dean Collin's niece has convinced Sonny Watson that Dean was in fact born in Newark, not Columbus, and was named Soloman Ruddosky. Wikipedia has a record of this change being made on their site by the same woman, who is only identified as Dean's niece. Your account of Dean's early life agrees with that posted on the Savoy Ballroom web site, and most other sites. You mention Peter Loggins, who wrote the article in on the Savoy site. How can this be resolved? Does Dean's widow confirm the Saul Cohen version? Are there change of name forms, or studio supplied biographies? There is no way to contact Peter Loggins through the Savoy site. Could you put me in touch with him? I guess I'm just a get it right nerd for even caring about this. But I would appreciate any effort you make to get this straight. Thanks in advance. Steve Pastor
[edit] Dean's name
I must say I was surprised to return to this site and find the correction I made, regarding my uncle's birth name changed once again to Saul Cohen. I was even more surprised to read comments regarding my qualification (she "convinced" Sonny Watson...) to know the facts and edit the Wikipedia entry. Well here are the facts. Dean Collins was my uncle. He was part of our family gatherings; I spent time at his home in Glendale; he was the emcee at my wedding, and he held my children. I know his wife Mary and I was at his funeral. And by the way, my father, Dean's brother, is still alive. Kiku has my email address and Peter Loggins has spoken to me by phone. If you're a "nerd for the truth" search no farther.
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there is less then 5 people alive with any credibility to talk about Dean Collins in any historic context, yet anyone can come on here and update whatever they want to beleive. Thats why avoiding this site is the first thing when doing anything worthy research.
anyways, I pointed the url to the correct website of dean's Bio at www.caljazzdance.com , the savoyballroom server had an old article and still comes up on web searchs which someone linked to...you can also get in contact with me through there if you want other corrections from wikipedia....peter logginsAThotmail.com —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jassdancer (talk • contribs) 17:03, 8 December 2006 (UTC).
I just removed the "citation needed" from this article, also. Peter Loggins is the Director of The California Historical Jazz Dance Foundation which serves as home to the Dean Collins archive and collection. Posting only verifiable facts and Watching over something you care about is the only way to insure accuracy here. Steve Pastor 18:20, 8 December 2006 (UTC)