As I shared at the very
beginning of this blog, the Interlochen Center for the Arts possesses a very early Conn four-valve Sousaphone. At first thought to be the "
Original Sousaphone," the serial number (88983) suggests that it was
built in 1905, whereas Conn's first version of a Sousaphone appeared much earlier,
in 1898 (and the true original was built by
J. W. Pepper in 1895).
But it is also claimed that this vintage Conn Sousaphone was active in Sousa's Band from the horn's birth to the end of that remarkable ensemble, and that may very well be true. Below is some of the visual evidence, revealing a Sousaphone that is the very same model as the one at Interlochen.
For comparison purposes, here I am with the historic instrument in 2012:
And here is Sousa's Band at Willow Grove Park in 1905, showing what might be the same horn the very year it was built (played by Jack Richardson, who took over from Herman Conrad in 1903):
We get another view of this Sousaphone with Richardson a few years later, in 1907, at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD:
For Sousa's world tour of 1911, that Sousaphone was played by Arthur "Shorty" Griswold, shown here on the left, in early 1912, having some fun with the piccolo player:
By 1915, a second Sousaphone was added to Sousa's bass section, but the same large, four-valve model remained (on the left), alongside a newer three-valve Conn horn (on the right), as seen here in 1916:
That same large Sousaphone is shown here with John Kuhn, in 1920 . . .
. . . and Ed Burant in 1921 (the year that Sousa decided to go with all Sousaphones for his bass section, which is how it remained until his death) . . .
. . . and even Sousa himself, along with young actor Jackie Coogan, in 1922:
That same year, 1922, we see the horn played by Don Gardner, . . .
. . . and the year after that, 1923, by the great Bill Bell:
It also shows up in a photo of the entire Sousaphone section in 1923, showing it held by Bell again (far right, and notice the much larger-belled four-valve horn that Richardson is holding next to him; the other three horns are three-valve models):
Fast forward to 1927, and we find Richardson with that smaller-belled four-valve horn again (with Gabe Russ next to him, on the left):
Here is the whole section from that year (1927), with Richardson on the far right, and Russ holding the larger-belled four-valve Sousaphone right next to him:
And here are three of those five, from that same year (1927), with Richardson holding what appears to be the Interlochen horn right above Sousa (notice, again, the much larger-belled four-valve Sousaphone on the other side of the harp):
Finally, we see Richardson with that same horn on the far right in 1929. He presumably played that Sousaphone through the 1931 season, after which Sousa passed away:
And here are a few photos of what appears to be that same horn from the years after Sousa died. In 1952, it was part of the promotion for the movie,
Stars and Stripes Forever:
It appeared in a
1955 documentary film about the U. S. Marine Band (the Sousaphone shows up at 16:50 in the video; and in the commentary, it is said that the horn was, at that time, on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago):
In 1957, it made an appearance on Capt. Kangaroo, with the bell pitched back and the Captain opting for the non-painful way to play it!
It was even featured in the December 1959 edition of
Popular Mechanics:
Then, in 1970, the Sousaphone, along with the entire Greenleaf collection, was donated to Interlochen. Here is Rex Conner, with whom I studied in 1979, playing the historic horn the summer after it arrived:
And here is John Beery, in the late 90s, with that Sousaphone (on the left). John was the one who allowed me to examine and play the horn in 2012:
So, is this in fact the same Sousaphone in all of the photos above? We can't be absolutely sure. Conn did make that same model commercially, and I have seen examples of it elsewhere, such as this one, built in 1922, shown here when it was on display at Taylor Music in Aberdeen, SD (it is now in a private collection):
And the Sousa Archives at the University of Illinois has this Sousaphone, built in 1924:
But there is a reason that Conn kept that 1905 Sousaphone in its collection all of those years and then passed it along to Interlochen for posterity. Perhaps it was because it had such a rich history with Sousa's Band - who knows! Regardless, it is an amazing piece of Sousaphone history!
