The Sutcliffe Family Pipe Band

The national costume of Scotland must be the most distinctive fashion ever made into a brand name for a country. Plaid says Scottish even in sepia tones, so this photo postcard of seven Scots almost sparkles in the color of their tartan kilts and cloaks as they line up in ascending height with their pipes and drums.

This set of postcards came with no identification but I have discovered that they are the Sutcliffe Family Pipe Band, a traveling vaudeville troupe that was popular in the early 20th century.

Their formal pose and polished smiles set them apart from ordinary tourist postcards or photos of town bands. They may be Scottish but they are not in Scotland because in the lower corner of the photos is a signature of Apeda, NY which was the Apeda Studio of New York City. This photography studio, which first opened in 1906, had several locations in the city and specialized in producing promotional postcards and  photographs for the entertainers of the Broadway theater world.

This third photo has the seven men holding bagpipes and centered between drums and crossed swords. When I acquired the cards I could tell they must be a professional musical group, but I had few clues for identification. Though they wear uniforms similar to military units like the Black Watch pipe bands , the clear focus on the individuals in the second photo was not typical of photos of Scottish regimental bands of this era.

So who were they? The letter S on the pipe banners was one clue, and another was found on the bass drum. The words SUT__FF_ FAMILY are painted on the drum shell but are partly obscured by the rope tensioners.

Several weeks later I found a fourth card that had the answer to their name. This photo card has a caption of   (SUTCLIFFE FAMILY) but unlike the other postcards, this postcard is printed in Britain. The two tallest pipers are easily recognized by their mustaches, but though the group still has seven performers in full Scottish garb, a woman has taken the place of one of the men. This photo includes bagpipes, drums, and swords along with a shield festooned with medals, and looking closely at the bass drum one can see the identical insignia of SUTCLIFFE FAMILY as in the other photo.

I found the name of the Sutcliffe Family first mentioned in a Boston Globe report of December 1893 as one of the groups scheduled for a Boston celebration of Scottish heritage. In the December 24, 1899 edition of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle there was a report of the acts appearing at the Cook Opera House in Rochester.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle DEC 24, 1899

A novelty in acrobatics will be offered by the Sutcliffe family of four performers. They are Scotch and appear on the stage in kilts, to the accompaniment of bagpipe music, to which they dance Highland flings. These performers are now making their first tour of this section of the country after five years spent in South America. Their act includes aerial somersaults from shoulder to shoulder and pyramid falls and leaps, the acrobatics interspersed with music and comedy in a manner that is said to make the act quite different from the average run of acrobatic exhibitions.

One can only imagine the Sutcliffe's version of the Highland Fling. Their dance styles must have been as much a novelty as the music of pipes and drums. I can say from experience that the sound of pipers playing indoors in a theater can be very intense, even deafening. With the many new immigrants to America at the turn of the 20th century, Italian, German, Hungarian, and other national themed bands were proving very popular in theaters.

The Lowell Mass Sun APR 16, 1912

Vaudeville was a very competitive business and weekly newspaper reports on local theaters might mention dozens of performing artists and groups. Photos were not common, so it was a great surprise to find this report from April 16, 1912 of the Sutcliffe Family when they played Keith's Theater in Lowell, Massachusetts. There at the top of the report is the same Apeda photo of the 7 smiling pipers.

The Sutcliffe Family were not the only Scottish band in vaudeville, but they certainly played more places than most groups. I would expect that their circuit included Canada and other parts of the British Empire.

A great resource for showbiz research is CircusHistory.org. They have made a transcription of the Billboard weekly magazine from this period and this snippet comes from the January 9, 1915 edition.

Letter from Alfred Sutcliffe, of the Sutcliffe Family, from Grimsby, England: "We spent seventeen years in America in the circus business, five years with Sells Brothers, and seven with the B. & B., LaPearl and other shows.
Now our country with others are at war. As we all cannot go to the front, we are doing our little bit a home. When not on the stage we are out with our bagpipe band recruiting. I don't know when we shall return to America again, as our King and country may need us."

During the war years, I found notices for the Sutcliffe Family playing in Shoreditch and other music halls in Britain. Did they have the same novelty appeal in England as they had in America? How many young men joined their parade to the recruiter's office?

Livonia NY Gazette AUG 3, 1923

After the war, the Sutcliffe family returned to the States and the vaudeville circuit, but by the times were changing and they were no longer the headline. That position was now taken over by a cinema title. The era of film would forever alter the world of music hall and vaudeville entertainers.

Scottish pipe bands are a natural for outdoor events and the Sutcliffe's turned to performing at county fairs. Their name shows up on advertisements and announcements like this 1923 ad for the Tri-County Fair in Caledonia, NY. The band continued playing until 1930 when their name disappears. After almost 40 years of marching around the world acting as ambassadors of Scottish culture, it was time to give the pipes and drums a rest.

Did they stay in America or return to Scotland? After so many years of touring the world could any one place be their home again?

UPDATE 1

Thanks to a comment from Piper Sean Folsom I looked up the Victor 78 record that he has with the Sutcliffe Troupe. It's available at the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library. The Sutcliffe pipe and drums made 4 recordings on July 5th, 1912 (not 1926 as printed on the later release label).

We can actually hear them courtesy of the Library of Congress. Here is the
Scotch medley march (B-12157)
Reels: The Glendarual highlanders ; The cock o' the north ;
Comin' through the rye ; Miss McLeod

It's a shame we still have to imagine their acrobatic Highland flings.

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UPDATE 2

Unfortunately the embedded player above
doesn't seem to work on Blogger anymore,
however we can still hear the Sutcliffe Troupe on YouTube
in "The 79th Highlanders Farewell To Gibraltar”,
a recording made on the same day, 5 July 1912,
for the Victor Recording Company.
 

UPDATE 3

A few years after I wrote this story, I acquired another postcard of the Famous Sutcliffe Family. In this photo the seven musicians are dressed in a different tartan and with white jackets. The youngest boy is standing precariously on the edge of the upturned bass drum. (Warning, Kids, don't try this at home!)

 

This card has a clear postmark of Edinburgh 10.30 AM, September 20, 1917. It was sent to miss G. Morris, of Pembrokeshire, South Wales. The message reads:

Dear G
Hoping you are A 1
as it leave me the same
will have a letter on
Saturday thanks
much for the box.
George

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where you can admire the fine art of turtle painting this weekend.