Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993 TAG: 9302180371
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN A. COYLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
STAID TIES ... NOT!
Marvin Randolph always thought sewing was a "sissy" job. But, when he lost his last job, he began creating, producing and selling neckties.Randolph, who had vowed that if he ever got laid off again he'd become self-employed, had begun buying remnants of fabric while still working at Chalaine Inc. in Vinton.
He'd come home from work and make ties while watching TV, sewing them by hand and giving them to family members.
After being laid off, Randolph dabbled briefly in a silk-screening business, but found he didn't have the volume to justify the expenses. He still sells hand-painted shirts, but the ties, which he now sews by machine, are his main line.
These are not your run-of-the-mill ties.
Some of them light up, play music or both. His personal Halloween tie, with a plastic bat clinging to it and a pumpkin whose eyes flash green, plays the theme song to the old Alfred Hitchcock TV show.
A Valentine tie plays "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."
Randolph creates neckties with musical and religious symbols, sports logos, school colors and birthstone inlays. If you have a favorite old shirt or dress, he'll make a tie out of that, too.
Unless you ask him to reproduce a tie of his that you like, no two are the same, Randolph said. "Anything I can imagine to do to a tie, I will do. That means anything a customer can imagine, I will do."
Ten bucks will buy any plain necktie in Randolph's inventory. For $11, he'll make a special order. Add $2 each for music or lights; $5 for silk. His price for a plain tie has doubled since he started the business in March. But if he has to raise prices again in a year or so, he swears they won't reach the $48 price tag he saw recently - not even by the year 2000.
On his bedroom-workshop's bulletin board hangs a letter from Gov. Douglas Wilder thanking him for the patriotic necktie he sent and photos from Randolph's music career.
Randolph, who has six brothers and five sisters, played professionally for many years. When he and his brothers formed the Randolph Brothers, he had to have a special license to play in nightclubs at the age of 12. Randolph played bass guitar and saxophone in the band that became Belva & the Randolph Brothers when a sister joined.
The last band Randolph played with regularly was Black & Blue, a show band based in Greensboro, N.C. Randolph's younger brother, Rodney, was the group's drummer.
When Randolph joined the group in 1985, he was promised a week of rehearsals before he had to do his first show. Instead, on his first day, the band's agent called with a last-minute job - as the band in the club scene of the movie "No Mercy," with Richard Gere and Kim Basinger.
Randolph said the scene and his part didn't get left on the cutting room floor, although he was seen only briefly in profile. But different music was dubbed in, which was the plan all along.
After his last gig with Black & Blue on New Year's Eve of 1988, Randolph gave up life on the road. It was too hard being away from home and his three children in Roanoke, he said.
Randolph's music career hasn't ended: It's just being supplemented by his tie business. He contracts with Ridenhour Music Center in Salem to give lessons on the clarinet, bass guitar and saxophone. He also enjoys composing music and lyrics.
Randolph said that just because he's self-employed doesn't mean he no longer needs a manager. "I chose God to be my manager," he said. "When I'm getting ready to screw up or I screw up, I got to talk to my manager."
Marvin Randolph can be reached at 344-1252 or 727 Loudon Ave. N.W., Roanoke, Va. 24016.