Mission

In 1931, an evening of moonlit ice-skating on a pond in upstate New York inspired a then 17-year-old, Edward W. Roman, the son of Polish immigrants, to compose one of the most iconic of the American standards.

This website makes critical information regarding his involvement with the song, “Blue Moon,” publicly available, much of it for the first time.

Upon Ed Roman’s death in 1992, letters, contracts, photographs, songs, poems, and press clippings found in his attic have lent considerable support for his authorship, as has exhaustive additional research.

The material provides invaluable insights into the history, culture, economics, and personalities of the 1930s, a decade during which radio, talking motion pictures, and the Big Bands forged the mass audience for entertainment that we know today. It offers a window into the era’s musically vibrant Hudson River Valley, whose nightclubs and hotels, church basements and fraternal lodges, roadhouses and dance halls, nurtured some of the most talented performers of the mid-20th century.

It’s vital that this information be accessible to everyone who values Ed Roman’s gift to the world, and to scholars advancing knowledge about the world in which he lived.

People

This website grew out of research into the authorship of “Blue Moon” undertaken by Ed Roman’s daughter, Liz Roman Gallese, a journalist and film producer. The inquiry is ongoing, and counts among its supporters professionals working in documentary and music scholarship and performance.

Liz Roman Gallese
Journalist, and documentary film producer

John Cork
American author, screenwriter, and documentary film director and producer

Dr. Sandra J. Graham
Ethnomusicologist. Professor and researcher at Babson College in Babson Park, MA

Jackson Williams
Baritone, performs throughout the Mid-Atlantic region as both a soloist and ensemble singer

Edward W. Roman's Legacy

A sense of the enormity of Ed Roman’s legacy can be found in the work of the following artists, some of the most celebrated of the past century, and among an untold number who’ve recorded “Blue Moon” in the nine decades since its creation.