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!

1916 J. W. York & Sons Sousaphone

Advertised in the May 1916 edition of The Musical Messenger

Jacob Collier, jazz, and a Sousaphone

I've recently been introduced to the music of Jacob Collier, and have been blown away by his talent and creativity. Here's a piece he did with Snarky Puppy that features a well-worn Sousaphone in the mix. Enjoy!

Part 2 appears in the ITEA Journal!

Sousa's newest Sousaphone recruits

As I posted earlier, I have been able to identify 35 men who played the Sousaphone in Sousa's Band between the time that instrument was invented (1895) and the time that great band came to an end (1931). Here are the newspaper notices for 12 of those men, announcing when they had been recruited to play with Sousa:

The Daily New Era (Lancaster, PA) - April 15, 1904

The Buffalo Courier, September 26, 1909

The Courier Journal (Louisville, KY), April 20, 1919
(NOTE: Kuhn had joined in 1915, but Webster at this time)

The Central News (Perkasie, PA), April 20, 1921

The Des Moines Register, May 8, 1921

Palladium-Item (Richmond, IN), December 17, 1921

December 19, 1921 (unknown paper, SBPB)

Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, WI), June 6, 1923

The Wilkes Barre Record (PA), June 29, 1923

The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), September 9, 1924

The Journal News (Hamilton, OH), September 12, 1925

The Battle Creek Enquirer (MI), December 2, 1928

The Interlochen horn over the years

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!