[78-L] What Happens to Old-Timers? A 1935 article

[Taylor Bowie]

Great article,  Harold...thanks for posting it.

In my book collection I have a copy of the anniversary album for the 
Valencia Ballroom in York,  PA.  Published in 1939,  it lists all the bands 
who had ever played the place and when.  Interesting to see such "old time" 
names as Dan Gregory,  Ace Brigode,  Emerson Gill,  Tommy Christian,  Ted 
Brownagle,  Al Katz,  Husk O'Hare etc. doing one-nighters well into the 30s 
and long after they had pretty well stopped making any records.

BTW,  if you were at the Valencia on October 17,  1931,  you could have 
enjoyed an evening with music by the orchestras of Blanche Calloway,  Benny 
Moten,  Chick Webb,  Johnson's Happy Pals,  and Zack Whyte!


Taylor



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harold Aherne" <leotolstoy_75 at yahoo.com>
To: <78-L at 78online.com>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 2:44 PM
Subject: [78-L] What Happens to Old-Timers? A 1935 article


Found this in the 27 Aug. 1935 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
****************************************************************************
WHAT HAPPENS TO OLDTIMERS

Their Day of Glory May Be Gone, But They'll Ne'er Be Forgotten

By Darrell V. Martin, Post-Gazette Radio Editor

WHAT HAPPENS TO big name orchestra leaders when they cease to lead an 
orchestra?

Whither goest such familiar names of a decade ago--Whitey Kaufman, Lew 
Conrad, Art
Landry, Tal Henry, Ross Gorman, Dan Gregory?

You remember Whitey Kaufman. How he used to "bowl them over" at the Nixon. 
And
always a good radio band. Well, Whitey is now a booking agent at Lebanon, 
PA. No more
orchestra.

Ross Gorman at one time was among the first five highest paid orchestra 
leaders in this
country. Now on the musical staff at NBC.

"Among the Missing"
Jelly Roll Morton, writer of scores of hot tunes and the Cab Calloway of his 
day, is "among
the missing" on the music horizon. Ditto Art Landry (Sit right down, boys).

Zez Confrey is now Rudy Vallee's piano player and Lew Conrad is vocalist 
with Abe
Lyman's Band.

Earl Fuller, who was the Paul Whiteman of his time (around 15 years ago), is 
the owner
now of a famous night club, the Swiss Gardens in Cincinnati.

King Not King Anymore
Phil Napoleon, leader of the Memphis Five, and Harry Hoffman, once very 
popular in
Pittsburgh, both on musical staff at NBC.

King Oliver, who made over 1,000 phonograph records [sic!], wrote dozens of 
songs and
once was the king of colored orchestras, is reported the ticket taker in a 
Chicago dance
hall, where once he played to thousands.

Tal Henry is manager of the Valley Dale Ballroom in Columbus, Ohio.

Many leaders have taken to arranging music for other orchestras. Among them 
Dell
Lampe, Roy Ingraham, Dewey Bergman, Graham Prince (who gave Marty Gregor his 
start
in the Palais D'Or in New York). Marty Gregor still leading his own 
orchestra and part
owner of Gay Paree on Babcock boulevard [sic].

Dan Gregory, Charlie Boulanger, Jean Goldkette (WOR), Max Fisher--among 
those trying
a comeback. George Williams playing lake resorts.

Katz Has Tough Luck
Al Katz (remember Al Katz and His Kittens?), loser of his carefully saved 
money in the
stock market, is quite ill.

Dave Bernie, brother of Ben but famous in his own right, is arranging dance 
routines and
producing floor shows in night clubs.

Don Bigelow has definitely given up the music business and is associated now 
with his
father in the contracting game.

Dave Harmon a Booker
Opie Gates--a sensation when he came out of California five years 
ago--player of Junior
Proms at both Pitt and Tech, is a sax player now with Ben Pollock.

Eddie Edwards, writer of "Clarinet Marmalade" [sic] and other blue hits, has 
a small night
club in New York. Earl Carpenter has a five piece band in a Chinese 
restaurant in New
York.

Dave Harmon, when last heard from, was a booker in Dallas, Tex.

Freddy Mack, recently at the Hotel William Penn, has turned master of 
ceremonies in
New York theaters.

And so it goes--as Major Bowes says: "We turn the wheel of chance and around 
she
goes, where she stops nobody knows."
************************************************************

Anyone know about the later histories of Al Katz or Dave Harmon/Harman?

-HA
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