The Largest Tuba Ever Built? (1867)

 About a year and a half ago, I created a rather lengthy post about giant tubas because, well, why not?! Tubas are already the largest brass horns used in a band or orchestra, but over the years some instrument makers have enjoyed creating massive one-offs, probably more as a spectacle than for actual use in an ensemble.

And that begs the question, which horn owns the title of "the largest tuba ever built"? There are, of course, clarifications to this accolade, such as "Is it fully functional?" (some are essentially giant bugles with phony valves) and "Does it still exist?" (many have been lost to the ravages of time).

In my search for the winner over the past couple of years, I came across the following lithograph in the August 10, 1867 edition of Le Monde Illustre:

The caption at the bottom of the image says, "International Exposition - Musical instruments exhibited by Mr. Adolphe Sax," and that seems to suggest that these ridiculously oversized saxhorns could actually be seen in Paris that year. But the accompanying article says nothing about these giants, and I wasn't convinced that horns that big really existed.

I mean, come on, the shoulder-borne one on the left (referred to as a saxtuba in some sources) - wouldn't that essentially crush the player with its weight?! Sax did make horns with that exact design, where it rests on the right shoulder (unlike the helicon bass, which rested on the left shoulder, as would Sousaphones years later). But this monstrous version would surely be unwieldly after a few seconds!

And the one on the right, looking like a standard tuba, just seems way too big to be anything but a funny cartoon. Besides, I was not able to find any photo confirming that either of these enormous saxhorns actually existed, nor did I find anything in writing from that year that talked about these spectacles.

That is, until now.

As happens from time to time, those who know of my research interests sometimes send me relevant tips or items, and that happened yesterday. A reader of this blog (good to know I actually have those - I wasn't sure!) from Oslo, Norway, sent me the following photo:

Granted, it's only the giant saxhorn on the right in the lithograph, but dang! There it is, the real thing, right in the middle of Sax's workshop on Dunkerque Street in Paris! And go figure - the inventor of the Saxophone also built the world's largest tuba!

Here is a side-by-side comparison, showing that it is most definitely that cartoonish monster in the lithograph:

Given the size of the man standing next to it (as well as those above), and knowing what I do about giant tubas, this is now far-and-away the largest tuba ever built. Of course, I'm not sure yet whether it was fully-functional (and we may never know). But I assume it is lost, as there is no visual record of it, to my knowledge, beyond 1867 (assuming the photo shown here is from that year).

However, if you look close, you'll notice that it is fitted with something like a standard tuba mouthpiece, so it appears one could at least blow into the instrument. But those three valves (Berliner valves?) - we're they operational? Again, we simply don't know.

Here's a larger version of the photo for you to get the best look at this beast:

With this new revelation, and knowing that the horn is referred to as a "Saxhorn bourdon en si b," I did a fresh search for newspaper accounts of this giant. Here's what I found, tucked away in the February 9, 1878 edition of The Sydney Morning Herald, which reprinted a report from Paris dated November 30, 1877 - just over ten years after that Paris Exposition that featured these ridiculously large instruments:

According to this report, Sax, who had just turned 63, was selling his collection of over 500 musical instruments for reasons that are not stated. But one of the horns on the auction block was what sounds like this very instrument. After all, here we learn that:

• It had somewhere around 75 total feet of tubing!
• It could hold four men in its bell (did they try that?!)
• And it sounded awesome - like a cathedral bell!

So, where did this massive "Sax-horn bourdon" end up? Who bought it at the auction? How much did it go for? And where is it today? Often old relics are found in dark corners of attics, but I don't think you could even get a monster like this up in an attic - or even haul it through a typical door! Anyway, lots more to explore regarding this amazing instrument, so stay tuned!

But now, about that funky shoulder-borne version: Keep your eye out for a photo of that one!

UPDATE: Click here for additional information about this historic instrument.

[Special thanks to Timothee Reyrolle for letting me know about this historically significant photo.]

Evolution of Conn's first Sousaphone

About two years after J. W. Pepper created the first Sousaphone and delivered it to Sousa, C. G. Conn produced his own Sousaphone - at which time he supplied the entire band with beautiful new Conn instruments. Here's the notice about this, in the January 22, 1898 edition of The Music Trade Review:

The announcement makes it sound like Conn both created and named this new instrument, which suggests that either the reporter wasn't aware that Pepper had already done that, or that the journal just printed what Conn had supplied, which was perhaps a tad misleading! (Both Pepper and Conn were known to stretch the truth in some of their advertising back in those days.)

But Pepper's Sousaphone did indeed exist, and even went on tour with Sousa's Band in 1896. But then it seems to disappear. The next time we see a Sousaphone in that great band, it's Conn's first one, which was most likely built in late 1897.

From the notice above, we can safely assume that Conn's new horn was silver-plated. But what did it look like? Below is a visual history of this important instrument, which reveals that it evolved through at least three slightly different versions.

1898 - Conn's first version

Once his Sousaphone was built, and Herman Conrad, the "Primo Basso" of Sousa's Band, was available for a photo session, this wonderful image was created:

The instrument has four valves (Pepper's Sousaphone only has three), although the tubing is rather odd, going in different angles, and with a good bit of it buried where we can't see it. Further, notice that the lead pipe extends over from the top of the second branch of the main coil of the body. And it looks like the neck is custom-fitted for Conrad, as no tuning bits are evident.

The engraving at the bass of the bell shows the capital letters "S O U S," with an "A" almost certainly around the curve. And then there is a more elaborate engraving above that, the details of which are virtually impossible to make out. But it must have looked spectacular!

Here's the earliest known photo of this instrument in the context of the band, which was taken in St. Louis in September of 1898:

While the angle of the horn in this photo, in comparison with the studio photo, might explain this, the loop of the upper part of the tubing that leads down to the main tuning slide seems more pronounced in the photo above (looking much like all later Conn Sousaphones). Was that possibly a tweak before the Sousaphone went on the road? Who knows. But we know that one major tweak was eventually made.

1899 - Conn's second version

Almost exactly a year after the above photo was taken, an illustration of Conn's Sousaphone appeared in The Pittsburgh Post (Sept. 17, 1899), and the valve cluster is significantly different:

Now the fourth valve tubing is in the open, extending out with a larger loop, and laying over the middle of the second branch. And the lead pipe emerges not from the top of the second branch, as in version one, but from within what I assume is the top loop of the main tuning slide.

Here's an undated photo of Conrad with this version of the Sousaphone (and those straps are curious; had Conn just replaced the valve cluster with the newer version?). The bell appears to be identical to the one seen in version one:

And here is that same version of Conn's Sousaphone in Hamburg, Germany, in late May or early June 1900, when the Sousa Band was touring Europe for the first time:

And just to be clear on the differences between the valve clusters in version one and version two, here is a side-by-side comparison:

Version two of Conn's Sousaphone returned to Europe in 1901 (just England and Scotland this time), as evidenced by this photo in London's Illustrated Mail, dated October 2 of that year:

1903 - Conn's third version

But Conn still wasn't done tinkering with his Sousaphone. For while we don't know exactly when version three was created, our first glimpse of it comes in this photograph when Sousa's Band was performing in London in early 1903:

Before examining the new layout of the valve cluster, it's worth noting the bell engravings - to the extent we can make anything out! Is it the same bell as in versions one and two? I'm not sure, although it seems possible to detect, however faintly, where the "S O U S A" might be on the lower part of the bell. But perhaps I'm imaging things!

Regardless, the third valve tubing now runs the length of the valve cluster, with the longest part positioned below the fourth valve - something we hadn't seen before. And the lead pipe appears a bit lower, more in line with the valves, and, based on later photos, apparently curls up and around the upper part of the main tuning slide tube, rather than right through the middle of that upper loop, as it did in version two.

This is the version that we see Jack Richardson playing with Sousa, after he replaced Conrad, who left the band in August 1903. Here's the earliest known image of Richardson with Sousa, at Willow Grove Park in 1905:

Again, just to be clear, here are all three versions of the valve clusters side-by-side. They are clearly different:

And here's a better look at version three from the Conn Sousaphone that is in the Greenleaf Collection at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, whose serial number (88983) suggests that it was built in 1905 - just a few years after Conn's third and final version appeared (and yes, that's me!):

The layout of the valve cluster in this horn appears identical to the one in 1903. Conn seems to have landed on a configuration that needed no further tweaking for his monster four-valve Sousaphone. For even as late as 1924, C. G. Conn Ltd. was still producing this exact model, as seen in this Sousaphone which resides in the Sousa Archives at the University of Illinois (serial number 208098):

Where did Conn's first Sousaphone(s) go?

Thankfully, the original Sousaphone, built by Pepper, has survived the ravages of time. But what about any of the three versions of Conn's first Sousaphone? We simply don't know if one of them still exists.

However, version two appeared in an artistic rendering of a photo of Jack Richardson that I found in a 1913 edition of Conn's Musical Truth:

Whether the photo was taken that year, or it was from years earlier, we simply don't know. But if it is from 1913, that means it didn't perish in the Conn factory fire of 1910, which means it's entirely possible that this version is still out there somewhere.

And version one? Well, if only the valve cluster was changed out, the rest of it would exist in version two. And version three? Perhaps the same issue. Although if it was an altogether new Sousaphone, which seems more likely, given the photo of Richardson with version two, it might possibly still be out there somewhere. But it's almost certainly not the Interlochen Sousaphone, as has been claimed for years, as the serial number seems to date it a bit too late for that.

So, keep your eyes open! That's what I'm doing!

Feast your eyes on this great photo!

As I shared in the previous post, one of my favorite things to have happen when I engage in research is to stumble upon something I wasn't even looking for, and that happened again the other day!

While researching Warren G. Harding, and his history as a helicon player, I found the original photo of Herman Conrad posing with the very first Conn Sousaphone back in 1898 (or perhaps late 1897). The source of the photo had no idea who was in it, or when it was taken (and why it showed up in a search for Harding is a mystery to me!).

Conn used this photo in his publications for a few years, but the newsprint version, which is all I had up to this point, is pretty grainy. Now we can see Conrad, and this first version of Conn's Sousaphone, in glorious detail. Take particular note of the valve cluster, as that is what Conn replaced pretty quickly with version two, a year or so later.

Enjoy!

The helicon - presidential, war hero!

I love stumbling upon things in my research. Here's a wonderful little article I came across today, from the April 7, 1927 edition of the Lincoln Journal Star, that talks about Warren G. Harding's history with the helicon bass (the forerunner to the Sousaphone), and an episode where a helicon took on shrapnel in the Great War, but kept on tootin'! As the writer put it in the last line, "All hell can't stop a helicon." Enjoy!

The Most Wonderful Endorsement?

 Sousa regularly enjoyed a good cigar, but in 1912 a friend introduced him to Tuxedo Tobacco, and he added the pipe to his smoking repertoire. He also began showing up in advertisements for that brand in newspapers around the country. Here, for example, is what appeared in the September 6, 1912 edition of the St. Joseph News Press Gazette:

Magazines were in on this as well, as seen here, a few weeks later:

As the ad put it, "The live, virile men who make this country what it is, recognize the relaxation from nervous and mental strain, the restfulness - that comes from smoking Tuxedo Tobacco." 

For the next year, that brand was being endorsed by such "live, virile men" as athletes, trapshooters, authors, explorers, millionaires, and even opera singers! Check this out, from the January 29, 1914 edition of The Evening Journal, out of Wilmington, Delaware:

Wow. Who knew that smoking a pipe could help you in your singing career?!

Not surprisingly, by early 1914, newspapers featured such headlines as this one, from the February 16, 1914 edition of The Evening Mail, out of Stockton, California:

A year later, Tuxedo Tobacco went back to featuring Sousa on his own to sell their product, as seen here in the January 14, 1915 edition of The Kenosha [Wisconsin] Evening News (and, once again, the touted benefits of smoking a pipe are truly amazing!):

But then Tuxedo Tobacco, or Sousa, or both, pulled off something almost unbelievable, leading to "The Most Wonderful Endorsement Ever Given Any Product." This headline began appearing on the back covers of popular magazines in late 1915, and eventually made it into newspapers as well, as seen here in the December 29, 1915 edition of The North Adams [MA] Transcript:

The key paragraph says this: "Mr. Sousa has been a smoker of Tuxedo Tobacco for years. Recently, at the Panama-Pacific Exposition [in San Francisco, where his band played from May 22 through July 23, 1915], a newspaper representative made the discovery that every member of Sousa's Band is also a Tuxedo smoker!"

Now, what are the chances of that?! Or is the truth being stretched a bit here? Well, the ad goes on to say, "Whereupon, the following endorsement of Tuxedo was gladly given and signed by Mr. Sousa and the sixty-six members of his Band. Read it - as sure-fire and convincing as a Sousa March. . . . No other product has ever received such a remarkable endorsement as this."

And here are those sixty-six signatures - a real rarity, identifying every member of the band on that cross-country tour, which started on April 5 and ended on September 26, as well as the instrument they were playing (the list varies in how it is edited on each version of the ad, but here are the four columns put together) :

Of course, of greatest interest to me are the six bass players, who appear in the list as follows:

1. "John M. Kuhn, Sousaphone" (third from the top)
2. "Arthur Storch, Tubaist" (ninth from the top)
3. "J. W. Richardson, Sousa Phone" (twelfth from the top)
4. "O. R. Cott, Tuba" (eighteenth from the top)
5. "Oscar S. Peterson, Tuba" (twenty-first from the top)
6. "Emil M. Weber, Tuba" (thirteenth from the bottom)

There are a number of things worth noting here:

• To my knowledge, the bass section had never been that large before, featuring six players. And given the players, the section must have sounded awesome!
• Kuhn, according to one report, was discovered by Sousa at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and added to the band at that time. I'm still trying to confirm that, but at the very least, we know he hadn't played with Sousa prior to the 1915 cross-country tour.
• This is also the first time we see two Sousaphones in the band instead of just one. By late 1921, Sousa went with all Sousaphones for his bass section.
• Note that Kuhn calls his instrument a "Sousaphone," and Richardson, a "Sousa Phone." Either way, the "S" is capitalized, which makes sense, given that the name is based on a person, "Sousa."
• Note also that Storch refers to himself as a "Tubaist." I've found this term used of a tuba player as early as 1871, although it is no longer used today, as we've gone with "Tubist."
• Emil M. Weber was the father of both Herbert Weber, who played Sousaphone with Sousa in 1924 and 1926, and Albert Weber, who played Sousaphone with Sousa in 1926.

Okay, put all of that in your pipe and smoke it! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

[Special thanks to Doug Yeo who shared the band ad with me earlier today, which really intrigued me, resulting in the post above!]

Earliest known mention in the press

Over four years ago I found what was, at that time, the earliest known reference to the Sousaphone in the press. But I just stumbled upon another reference that is over a month earlier, from that same 1896 Sousa Band tour. It's from a detailed article on page 8 in the February 11, 1896 edition of The Helena [MT] Independent:

Here are the title and subtitles of the article:

And here's the relevant section of the article itself:

That "double B flat helicon trooper who was six feet five inches tall" was none other than Herman Conrad, who was indeed "a former member of Gilmore's band," from 1888, shortly after he immigrated to America from Germany, until early 1893, when he joined Sousa's Band a handful of months after Gilmore's death.

The article claims that the new instrument, "known to the profession now as a sousaphone," was created based on "a model furnished by Mr. Sousa himself." This is not quite accurate, from what we know, as Sousa himself recounted years later that he had simply suggested the idea for the modified helicon to J. W. Pepper back in 1895, and Pepper finally produced the new horn for the great bandmaster in 1895.

One curiosity that remains (for me, anyway!) is why I have only been able to find two references to the new instrument in newspapers that reported on that three month cross-country tour of Sousa's peerless band. Granted, it was merely a modified helicon bass, and helicon's were pretty common in those days (including in Sousa's Band for the first few years), but sporting the name "Sousaphone," you would think, would have sparked more interest than it seems to have received on that tour. Hmm.

UPDATE - July 22, 2024: Click here for another reference to Pepper's Sousaphone in 1896.

The first female helicon bass player?

In the course of my research, I often stumble upon some really significant things that I wasn't even looking for, and such was the case this morning.

While trying to find the earliest reference to John Philip Sousa expressing his displeasure with the helicon bass, which is what led to his idea of creating a new instrument that was dubbed a "Sousaphone," I discovered what might be the very first woman to play a helicon professionally.

Her name is Emma Louise Adams, and she was part of the Chelsea Woman's Brass Band, based in the Boston area, which was featured in the February 15, 1903 edition of The Boston Globe:

The band was led by gifted trombonist Lenna Claire Howe, who had been inspired to take up that instrument as a young lady after hearing the great Frederick Innes. Not surprisingly, given the times, her decision did not meet with much support, as she shared in the article that accompanied the photos shown here: "Everyone laughed at me, and I rather fancy I made life miserable for the neighbors. However, I mastered it."

Howe was playing trombone professionally by 1889, and four years later "she was a member of the Boston ladies' symphony which played with Sousa's band at the time of the Columbian festival" and, "After that, she organized one of her own [a ladies' orchestra]."

While I haven't been able to confirm this yet, Howe may have been part of the Boston Ladies' Military Band, which toured the country in 1897-98, and appears to have had at least one woman playing a small tuba (or is that a euphonium, or even, perhaps, that same small helicon shown with Adams above - middle row, on the right, next to the bass drum?):

Regardless, around 1901 (according to the Globe article), Howe formed the Chelsea Woman's Brass Band, which apparently toured the west and northwest shortly after being launched.

Recruiting ladies for her band was said to have been a challenge, especially for certain instruments, like the bass. In the article, it was reported that "the lady who plays the helicon [vowed] that she'd 'play it or bust it,' and she did - played it, of course." And it goes on to say that "the helicon player, Miss Emma Adams, whose home is in Huntington av. is believed to be the only woman in the United States who plays the instrument."

In October of 1903, when the band was touring the northeast and called Howe's Ladies Band and Orchestra, the press made a big deal about Adams, declaring her to be "the only woman helicon soloist in the world" (Oct. 7, 1903 edition of the Montpelier Evening Argus):

But we have to keep in mind that we're talking, what, 117 years ago, when women were still 17 years away from gaining the right to vote, and the idea of women playing professionally, especially in a brass band, was viewed as a novelty at best. The Globe article made that clear, revealing the sexism that was ubiquitous but largely undetected at that time:

Miss Howe has an infixed belief that women are capable of as excellent work with band instruments as ever was credited to the best performers among men. They practice carefully, conscientiously, and are so sensitive to disapproval that they will exert themselves more than men to become proficient. Some of them might achieve fame, but there invariably comes a time of wedding presents, the flinging of rice and old shoes [turns out that was a thing back then!], and then - well, it's all off then. Household cares and tooting a tuba don't jibe.

From Wonderphone Helicon (1908) to Sousaphone Grand (1914)

 In 1908, C. G. Conn created a family of instruments that he called "Wonderphone," where the basses and baritones now featured his newly patented bell-forward design (and, interestingly, nothing was said at that time about the benefit of this design for recording purposes, as per this post):

Conn's Sousaphone, with its upright bell, was by that time a fixture in many bands, having been introduced ten years earlier (1898, with J. W. Pepper having created the very first Sousaphone in 1895), and featured as the centerpiece of Sousa's bass section for that entire time (shown here in 1907, played by Jack Richardson):

Bringing the bell forward on that classic shoulder-borne bass would prove to be revolutionary, with that configuration ultimately overtaking the original Sousaphone design in less than twenty years, with Conn ceasing production on the original bell-up version in 1926.

But the new bass horn wasn't called a "Sousaphone" at first, as that name was already taken. Instead, it was introduced as "The Helicon BBb Bass Wonderphone":

That name, or a variation of it ("Wonderphone Helicon"), seems to have stuck until 1914, when Conn began referring to the instrument as a "Sousaphone Grand" model. Here are the relevant pages from Conn's Band and Instrument catalogs in 1913 and 1914, where the change in name is observed (images are courtesy of Mark Overton's fabulous collection, posted at saxophone.org):

The name "Sousaphone Grand" appears to have been used at least through the 1940s, in reference to the popular 38K and (eventually) 20K models. But around 1930, there appeared in Conn's catalog a new "Lightweight Sousaphone," with the model number 32K, that did not include the "Grand" designation (this horn appears to have been the predecessor to the 14K, but I haven't checked that out yet).

At some point - apparently around the early 1950s - "Grand" was quietly dropped, and Conn Sousaphones were simply referred to as "Sousaphones."

Earl and Hazel - a Sousaphone story

For a while now, I've been researching the men who played Sousaphone in John Philip Sousa's Band, of which there are at least thirty-seven! But one of them became of particular interest to me because of a Sousaphone that he had custom engraved by C. G. Conn in 1924 (special thanks to Robb Stewart for the following two photos):

Here's a close-up of the engraving of the young woman, and what it says below her portrait:

Who exactly was Earl W. Field? And who was this mysterious lady that he had emblazoned on the bell of his brand-new Conn Jumbo Sousaphone Grand? Here's what I've learned - so far!

To begin with, this gorgeous monster of a horn is currently owned by Bryant Duffy, shown here with the instrument in 2009:

The horn is listed in Conn's General Catalog "C" in 1924 as the Jumbo Sousaphone Grand Bass in BBb, model number 46K (three valves), with a bell diameter of 28 inches and a weight of a whopping 40 pounds (Bryant weighed it for me to double-check, and he actually got 43 pounds!).

It has a custom gold finish (which perhaps added to the weight), with special engraving not only on the back of the bell, as shown above, but also around the front rim of the bell (special thanks to Bryant for these great photos!):

And Earl went all out with this special order instrument, having a custom mouthpiece made as well. If you look closely, you'll see additional engraving below the name plate:

So, my goodness, what did it cost Earl to have this horn made for him?! And, again, who was that lady who was so special to him that he essentially "tatooed" her likeness on his expensive new Sousaphone?

Well, what I have begun to piece together is a bit of a shocker, because right around the time this Sousaphone was built, or perhaps shortly thereafter, that lady, whose name was Hazel, became Field's ex-wife - which must have been a huge blow to the Sousaphone star!

Here is a bit of the story of their relationship, and their respective careers, before their marriage ended.

Earl Willard Field was born on December 28, 1882, in Forestville, Iowa. His first known job was as a "barber," at the age of seventeen, but he must have been learning music as well, for by the time he was nineteen, and living in Spokane, Washington, his occupation was listed as "musician."

He lived for a time in Everett (WA) and eventually settled in Seattle, and by 1912 he was married to a woman that we only know as "Hazel." Here's the log from a trip they made from Seattle to Calgary that year:

He is listed as a "Musician," and she his "Wife." By 1915, they had moved to Sacramento, California, where they were both listed as "musicians" - and where we learn that Hazel's middle initial was "V":

In the fall of 1918, Earl had to register for the draft related to the Great War (WWI), and he did so while he and Hazel V. were living in a hotel in San Diego - perhaps both performing with a band or orchestra at that time (his employer is listed as "Melbruhn Tavern"):

By 1920, they had returned to Seattle, where Earl was now playing in the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, apparently using a four-valve Sousaphone that Conn had built for him in 1917. Here's what was revealed about him, and that horn, in the August 1920 edition of C. G. Conn's Musical Truth:

From this brief report, we learn that Earl studied tuba with the great Gus Helleberg, and at some point, before joining the symphony in Seattle, he traveled with Kryl's Band, as well as at least one other band on the East Coast. And here's the accompanying photo, showing him with that four-valve Sousaphone, built for him by Conn in 1917:

What Hazel was doing during these years is currently unknown, but on December 17, 1921, Sousa snatched Earl away from the Seattle Symphony to join his touring concert band. It was big news in the following day's edition of The Seattle Daily Times:

Sousa, if you didn't know, was partial to the original Sousaphone design, with its upright bell, but Earl only had his bell-front Conn shown above, so that horn had to be tolerated for that entire tour, as seen in the following photos - first, in San Francisco later that month (Dec.), with Earl in the middle (he was 6' 4" tall, by the way, which shows here!):

And here he is again, in the back row of the left side of this photo, taken on March 5, 1922, at the New York Hippodrome, where you can see his front-facing bell as he rests the horn on the ground:

Earl must have enjoyed the 1921-22 tour, for he returned for the 1922 tour, which started less than four months later (July 19). And when that tour ended (Nov. 18), the next we hear of Earl is that he is living with his wife, Hazel, in Santa Monica, California. What she was doing, we still don't know, but Earl joined the Los Angeles-based Burtnett-Miller Orchestra at that time, which played in San Francisco the following May (1923):

Here we learn that Earl was gifted as a jazz musician as well as a classical tuba player - and even contributed to the comedy act of this orchestra! The article about it states that the ten men in the group "were selected from the best jazz orchestras of the East," but that doesn't seem to apply to Earl. But he was able to hang with them - at least for a while:

However, by July, Sousa came calling again, and Earl jumped back in for the 1923-24 tour. Here he is toward the beginning of that tour, finally, with a proper upright bell Sousaphone:

Now, here's where that 1924 Conn Jumbo Sousaphone Grand finally enters the story - the horn that got this long blog post started! According to the 1923-24 Conn Bass catalog, Earl had recently placed the order for that special three-valve instrument (not sure why, as I assume he still had that fantastic four-valve Conn Sousaphone). By mid 1924, after the Sousa tour had finished, Conn reported this in their Musical Truth journal:

Okay, so he now had this beautifully engraved, probably rather expensive, Conn Sousaphone, and he took it home to show Hazel - but wait, what had Hazel been doing while Earl was on tour with Sousa?

Finally, after finding absolutely nothing about her up to this point, other than that she was also a "musician," like her husband, we discover that she was a very gifted artist. Here's what was reported in the November 26, 1923 edition of The San Francisco Examiner, while Earl was busy traveling the country with Sousa:

And here she is, featured in various papers around the country in early 1924:

And here is yet another feature, in the December 5, 1924 edition of The San Francisco Examiner, months after Earl would have been home from touring with Sousa (he did not go on the 1924 tour):

"Harmonious Hazel." But wait, are we sure this is the same Hazel that was Earl's wife? It is curious that she went by "Miss Hazel Field," rather than "Mrs." And the last we heard, they were living in Santa Monica, not San Francisco (although the band Earl had played with in May of 1923 did perform in San Francisco). So is it possible that this is a different Hazel Field?

Well, this brings us back to that engraving on the bell of Earl's brand-new Sousaphone. Check this out:

This confirms that this Hazel is indeed Earl's wife of at least the last twelve years. The dead giveaway are the bangs, which thin out, with the hair spread apart a bit, directly above her right eye (the eye on the left to us). It matches almost hair-for-hair! This has to be the photo that was used for the engraving.

So, was she excited to see the Sousaphone, with her image engraved on it? We simply don't know. 

What we do know is that in 1924, Hazel was living in San Francisco, and the address book only lists her, and not her husband. And in 1925, Earl is listed as living in Santa Monica, and his wife is listed not as Hazel, but "Virginia":

Of course, it could be a typo, but perhaps not. For while Earl was performing in Santa Monica, Hazel remained busy up north, leading a band in the Sacramento area in 1925:

It would appear that their respective careers, and probably the traveling with Sousa on Earl's part, led to an increasingly distant relationship. But I have not yet found any official record of divorce.

However, for his part, by 1927, Earl had joined the orchestra playing at the brand-new beach resort in Santa Monica called Club Casa Del Mar - and this time, his wife is listed as "Maud," although I have been unable to confirm anything about Earl marrying either a Virginia or a Maud:

And, by the way, here's what that beach resort looked like. It must have been a pretty cool gig for Earl, performing just steps from the ocean!

We don't know much about either Earl or Hazel from this point on. The 1930 census lists Earl as married and living in Los Angeles. But there is no name recorded for his wife on the document. Meanwhile, Hazel remained active as a musician up north.

On February 15, 1936, Earl married Rose Ellen Lacour, a widow, so he was clearly divorced by that point. Earl was still active as a musician when they married, although a few years later, it appears he became a business owner as well (possibly running a cafe, according to one source).

There seems to be nothing left to tell, except that Earl died on June 28, 1952. Here's his obituary in The Los Angeles Times a few days later:

For her part, Hazel remains a bit of a mystery, as I have been unable to learn much of anything about her other than what I shared above. In particular, I don't know anything about her birth family (other than one document that says she was born in Nebraska), nor do I know her maiden name, or whether she married again, or anything related to her death.

But this wonderfully gifted mystery woman lives on, anonymously, on the bell of one of the most stunning Sousaphones in existence!