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GUEST: I bought this in 
an auction of jazz-related 
memorabilia in New York 
City about 12 years

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ago. It belonged to the great 
jazz tenor player Dexter Gordon. 
He wore it for the Academy

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Awards ceremony. He was 
nominated for his role in "Round 
Midnight" as the best male

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actor. He didn't win, 
but I got the suit.

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APPRAISER: But he looked snazzy 
going to the awards show.

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GUEST: Oh, yes.

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APPRAISER: So that's kind of the 
obvious thing here. You, years 
later, found this photograph

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of him wearing it in 
French "Vogue" magazine. 
So he obviously liked 
this suit, and one of

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the most interesting 
things about this suit-- 
beyond the fact that it 
was Dexter Gordon's--

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for me is, who designed it for 
him and the fact that he had 
a custom suit designed. And

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the reason he had a custom suit 
designed, apart from wanting 
something fancy, is because...

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(laughs): ...he's quite tall.

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GUEST: My goodness, yeah.

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APPRAISER: I think it's 
difficult to find pants to fit 
someone who's 6'5". Yeah. And

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his nickname actually was 
Long Tall Dex, because 
he was known for his 
great height, which added

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to his larger-than-life 
persona. But even beyond that, 
Arthur McGee, the designer of

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the suit, is a really important 
figure that's not known as 
much as he should be because

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he was the first 
African-American fashion 
designer on Seventh 
Avenue in New York. So

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he essentially broke the color 
barrier of American fashion 
design, and did pave the

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way for a lot of other people 
who came up after him. He's 
also very well-known among

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a lot of African-American 
entertainers. He designed 
for Stevie Wonder,

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Cicely Tyson, Dexter Gordon. I 
think that's a really important 
factor here. What did you

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pay for it back 
when you bought it?

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GUEST: I paid $1,000 for it.

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APPRAISER: Okay. Today, if it 
were to come up for auction, 
I would expect it should sell

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for at least $5,000. We actually 
had the great fortune in 
Anaheim a few years ago to meet

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his daughter. She came to the 
Roadshow and she brought some 
beautiful signed photographs.

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GUEST: Oh!

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APPRAISER: He had Billie Holiday 
and a few other people he was 
friends with-Sarah Vaughan.

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She couldn't have been lovelier, 
she was such a wonderful spirit

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and personality.