A brief glimpse of Conrad marching!

John Philip Sousa, in case you didn't know, has his own Facebook page, and posted there today is a short clip of Sousa's Band at the Paris Exposition of 1900 - including footage of the band marching, which is something that rarely happened!

If you look close, all the way on the left, right after the band appears on the video, you'll see Herman Conrad marching with a modified version of Conn's first Sousaphone. It goes by quickly, but give it a look:

We are told elsewhere that the Sousaphone weighed 33 pounds, but just how long Conrad had to march with it in Paris is unknown. But it must have been a beast to carry - even with Conrad being a big guy, at 6 feet 6 inches tall (more or less - accounts vary by a few inches!).

While J. W. Pepper produced the first Sousaphone in 1895, and Conrad played it with Sousa in 1896 at least, Conn crafted his first Sousaphone in late 1897 and Conrad played it with Sousa starting in 1898.

But Conn continued to tinker with the valve cluster for a few years, going through a couple of versions before landing on the one that remained over the years. The version seen here, if my research is correct, is the second one, but not the third and final one, which is first seen in 1903.

Here's a still shot from that same parade in 1900, showing the Sousaphone on the far left again:

And here's the full photo of the band on parade, from a distance (this was one of the images I found when going through the Sousa Band Press Books at that U. S. Marine Band Library in Washington, D. C. a few years ago):

Sousa's Band as observed down under

The August 27, 1911 edition of The San Francisco Examiner featured this brief article, sharing how Sousa's Band was experienced in Australia, while on its world tour:

The comment that caught my attention, of course, is this one: "at the back were the basses, headed by an enormous tuba, which had literally to be hung around the player's neck."

That would be a reference to Arthur "Shorty" Griswold, wearing the one-and-only Sousaphone in the band. Here's a portion of a photo from earlier on that world tour, showing the basses at the back:

I am researching Griswold at present, but finding very little information about him. It appears that he was an active tuba player in New York City, and when Sousa's long-time Sousaphonist, Jack Richardson, opted not to go on the world tour (not sure why yet), it is Griswold that took his place.

Richardson was quite tall, and so was Griswold (both around 6 feet 4 inches), and that may have been an important qualification for wielding that horn, I don't know! Griswold was also single at that time, and Richardson was married, which may have played into the latter's decision to not go on that almost-year-long tour - and in the former's willingness to jump in to cover that spot.

But there is evidence, during the tour itself, that Griswold was a bit of a character, and not nearly the wholesome gentleman that Richardson was. It is not surprising then that Richardson returned to that post in the band shortly after the tour.

I wonder, though - was that Richardson's decision, or Sousa's?!

All together now - six tubas at once!

It's always fun to stumble upon something related to your research when you're not even looking for it - which is exactly what happened the other day, while I was mining for more information on Herman Conrad, who ended up being the world's first Sousaphonist.

Before Conrad was with Sousa, and playing the Sousaphone, he was with Gilmore's Band, playing a rather spectacular BBb helicon bass (the Sousaphone, by the way, was a modified helicon). But a few years before he immigrated from West Prussia to join Gilmore, the great bandmaster was having fun with his tuba section.

Here's what I stumbled upon, which is a listing of part of the program of a concert of Gilmore's Band in St. Louis on October 6, 1886. Notice the second feature:

"Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep" was a favorite solo for tuba, or trombone, back in those days, but this time Gilmore took it to the next level. Not only did he have all four of his tuba players in the band play it, but he added two more, to make it six!

Listman, Reiter (probably Reuter), Fahning, and Mirenda are likely the four seen in this photo of the band from Manhattan Beach in 1884:

While I can't be sure, I'm guessing that's Conrad Listeman directly behind Gilmore's fancy music stand, as he was his star bass player since at least 1874. And the guy behind him, to the right, looking off to the right, with his bushy mustache, is perhaps the Italian, Domenico Mirenda, who was recruited by Gilmore the year this photo was taken, 1884.

In fact, let me digress for just a moment on Mirenda, as I found an article on him from 1890, that clarifies that Gilmore had never before met a more talented bass player. He is another one of those "forgotten giants of the tuba," as I have dubbed Conrad. Check out his story, and esp. Gilmore's assessment of him as a musician:

The two guys on the left of both Listeman and Mirenda in the photo would probably be Anton Reuter, a German, just like Listeman, and J. Fahning, who, a year later, perhaps because he was tall (it seems), ended up playing the monster helicon that Herman Conrad, who was ridiculously tall himself, ended up playing when he joined the band (that horn is nowhere to be found in this photo of the band; it appears to have been added the following year, 1885).

Those four guys are definitely identified as members of Gilmore's Band at the time of the concert (although all but Mirenda left after 1886). I'm less sure about Hennesssey and Wernig. Were they pulled in just for this spectacle? Perhaps! But either way, it must have been fun to hear all six of them playing the solo in unison. I wonder if Gilmore brought them to the front of the stage for that?!

Gus Helleberg posing for the camera

In the course of my research on Arthur "Shorty" Griswold, the tall guy who played the Sousaphone on Sousa's world tour of 1910-11, taking Jack Richardson's spot, I stumbled upon this photograph of the legendary tuba player, August Helleberg (Sr.).

The shot appeared in a California newspaper in May 1911, while "Gus" was on tour with Conway's Band. But at that very time, one of his sons, August Helleberg, Jr., was playing tuba with Griswold, as well as Emil Mix and Arthur Storch, on the other side of the world, in Sousa's Band.

Gus Sr. had played tuba with Sousa in previous years (1898-1903), and another one of his sons, John Henry Helleberg, had played tuba with Sousa after his father had left that band (1904-1908).

Sadly, it appears that the three Hellebergs never played together with Sousa. But they all must have been top-notch players to get that gig over the years!

Pryor's Band debuts at the Majestic!

Available for viewing online at the Museum of the City of New York

As I shared in the previous post, on August 9, 1903, Sousa's star trombone player for the previous 11 years, Arthur Pryor, announced that he was leaving that band and forming his own travelling ensemble. A mere three months later, on November 15, this new band played its debut concert at New York's Majestic Theatre on Columbus Circle (Broadway and 59th Street, which is at the southwest corner of Central Park).

The Majestic was not yet a year old, being scheduled to open at the very end of 1902, as reported by the November 23, 1902 edition of The New York Times:

Interestingly, two of the headliners in the cast of  "The Wizard of Oz" were Dave Montgomery and his comedy partner, Fred Stone, playing the Tin Woodsman and Scarecrow respectively. According to newspaper reports, Montgomery was born near St. Joseph, MO, and was reared, along with his brother Harry (later known as "Scamp" in New York's theatrical life), in the family of Sam Pryor, the father of Arthur Pryor! Consequently, Arthur and Dave were boyhood friends, and are found to have collaborated a number of times in their artistic endeavors over the years. Could it be that Dave encouraged Arthur to debut his band at the Majestic?

Here is a photo from those early months of the Theatre in 1903, where you can see "The Wizard of Oz" being promoted on various parts of the building (right above the front doors, and up on the far right, in front of the water tower on the roof):

Available for viewing online at the Museum of the City of New York

The January 11, 1903 edition of The Times ran a detailed article all about this spectacular new building that was just about to open, which I'll include in full here, just in case those details are of interest to you! The Theatre was indeed "a spick and span little place of amusement":

On May 21, 1903, The Times shared that a new musical was in the works that would play at the Majestic: "Babes in Toyland," with the music written by Victor Herbert (who, from late-1894 to mid-1899, had been leading Gilmore's Band):

However, "The Wizard of Oz" continued to enjoy success throughout the summer and early fall, and "Babes" had to wait until mid-October for its opening night:

But somewhere in there, Pryor had made arrangements to debut his new band at the Majestic (again, perhaps his childhood friend, Dave Montgomery, encouraged him to use that venue), as reported in the November 8th edition of The Times:

[Notice that there were "fifty pieces in the band." I'll come back to that below.]

That same day, the New York Tribune ran the following advertisement for the Majestic, highlighting both "Babes" and Pryor's upcoming concert:

Here's a photo of the exterior of the building right around that time, showing the promotional signs for "Babes" on various parts of the building:

Available for viewing online at the Museum of the City of New York

And here's a photo of the actual show on stage:

Available for viewing online at the Museum of the City of New York

This brings us back to the image at the top of this post, which I'll include again here, so that you can compare the two photos of the stage:

The stage is clearly the same in both photos, as noted by the pit orchestra area, the bushy side walls, which must have been from the "Babes" set, and even the writing on the photos (it might be hard to make out, but both have white letters on the leading edge of the stage that identify the performance, and both photos were taken by the Byron Company of NY).

All of this confirms that this obscure photo . . . drumroll please . . . is the very first photograph of Arthur Pryor's Band, from its debut concert at the Majestic Theatre on November 15, 1903!

This photo (and all of the photos of the Majestic above) has been quietly residing in the archives of the Museum of the City of New York, where they have more than 300,000 images in their collection! And, as far as I can tell, they did not know that this particular photo of Pryor's Band is from its debut concert at the Majestic. The info that is provided with the photo on their website simply identifies the band, the photographer, and the year it was taken - 1903.

But now we know that it is a truly historic photo of this great band! How cool is that?!

Not surprisingly, the concert was a smashing success, with an audience that was "large and greedy, demanding encore after encore" (the account of the Musical Courier, November 18, 1903):

Pryor went on to enjoy a long career as a bandmaster. Here's another account of the band's beginning, with a portait of Pryor thrown in for free, from The Wilkes Barre Record, less than a month after the debut concert (December 9, 1903):

[From my research so far, it appears that Pryor didn't end up "touring the country," as it says above. Instead, it seems that he regrouped, landed a few recording contracts, and didn't reappear with a band again until Easter 1904, and then for the entire summer at Asbury Park, NJ.]

What remains is obtaining a hi-res version of the band photo from the museum (I've requested one), so that I can examine more clearly the faces of the men in the band (there are in fact 49, plus Pryor, just as the notice said there would be), and confirm whether Herman Conrad is among them.

Stay tuned!

[Many thanks to my good friend, Steve Dillon, of Dillon Music, who is the world's leading expert on Arthur Pryor. He was the one to share with me the link to this photo of Pryor's Band, and to tell me about Pryor's relationship to Dave Montgomery.]

Conrad leaves Sousa to be with Pryor

In late 1903, after 10 years on the road with Sousa's Band, the superstar of the Sousaphone, Herman Conrad, left that great organization to start working at the Victor Talking Machine Co. in Philadelphia, and, whether immediately or eventually, to play with the new band formed by fellow-departee, Arthur Pryor.

Rumors of Pryor's intention to leave had surfaced in the middle of the band's European tour that year, but his specific plan was announced immediately upon their return to New York on August 9th. Here's what the New York Times reported the following day:

The new band's opening concert was held on November 15th, and the following day's edition of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle had this to say about it:

The key sentence, as it relates to Conrad: "Mr. Pryor has gathered about him a number of well-known musicians who have at one time or another been connected with the organization that helped to make the compositions of the March King famous." Did that include the great Sousaphonist, at least at that time? I'm not quite sure yet.

The November 21st edition of The Music Trade Review affirmed that Pryor had "a very capable and well balanced body of artists, many of whose faces are familiar through long service with Sousa's band." The article also revealed that "The band is equipped entirely with instruments made by C. G. Conn." So was Conrad there, sporting a new Conn Sousaphone? Again, I'm trying to find that out!

That following summer, the July 9, 1904 edition of the Asbury Park Press stated that "There are 26  old Sousa men in the Pryor organization" [the number is hard to make out, but I think that's it], and, by that time, Conrad is accounted for, as two days later that same paper reported the following:

Here he is, listed on the program playing that very piece on August 6th:

A few days later, that paper revealed that Conrad was also a key part of the Pryor Band baseball team! It said, "Conrad, who plays the sousaphone, did great work for the "Brass" aggregation in centre field."

Conrad is also listed as a Sousaphone soloist with Pryor a number of times in the summer of 1905, where we learn that he was also featured playing "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep." Here's the July 25th evening concert program:

[Side note: That piece, "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," was a well-worn solo for low brass instruments. I found a reference to it as a tuba solo from way back in 1887. And Pryor played it as a trombone solo with Sousa's Band, as early as 1893.]

Just how long Conrad played with Pryor is not clear. Because of his work with the Victor Orchestra, I doubt he traveled at all with Pryor's Band. And I would gather that, at some point, he simply couldn't do both, as his work at Victor became very busy as the recording industry really began to take off.

But I'll save that story for another post!