Season's Greetings from Old Wien

 

For a holiday treat I present
best wishes of the winter season
from old Wien ~ Vienna
courtesy of my favorite Austrian postcard artist
Fritz Schönpflug (1873-1951).

 

  

May your favorite horse win every race next year!

fröhliche Weihnachten. 

postmarked 24 XII 1910 from Wien, Austria

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Hoping you stay sure footed throughout the year. 

Glückliches Neujahr
 

Postmarked 1 December 1915 from Wien.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

  Best wishes on those slippery slopes.

Glückliches Neujahr!

Postmarked 2 December 1910 (?) from Wien

 

 

 

* * * 

 

 

 

 

Wishing you festive fun and frolics to end the year!

Glückliches Neujahr

 

Never posted but stamped with the name
of a postcard dealer in Wien.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Let your dreams take flight in the new year!
 

Glückliches Neujahr!
 

postmarked 31 XII 1910 from Wien

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 Remember to count your blessings
because then you'll never have reason to complain.

 

Postmarked 10 XII 1909 from Teplitz-Schönau,
now known as Teplice in the Czech Republic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where cold is just a state of mind.
Let us hope 2023
brings our world
real peace, hope, and love.

Ringing in the Ears

There are some instruments
that are best appreciated
from a distance,
bagpipes for instance.
But I think bells also fall
into that category of faraway music.
Whether they are bicycle bells, hand bells, 
jingle bells, church bells, chime bells,
or fire bells
it is wise not to get too close.

 

 

However once upon a time there were percussionists whose ringing talent for tintinnabulation made them stars of the music hall stage. This man, Paul Nemson ~ Meister Instrumentalist, was one of those clangorous entertainers. He is pictured here on his promotional postcard with three small bells clutched in one hand and with the other is about to set off a wall of sleigh bells. In front of him is a xylophone and a table with more hand bells and behind him are racks of various kinds of tubular bells.

 

The caption implies that Paul Nemson is a solo metallophone artist but it's quite possible he led a vaudeville type group of other instrumentalists too. I have postcards of other German ensembles from earlier decades that feature these same instruments, especially racks of tuned jingle bells and wine bottles. Maybe German audiences developed a novelty fad for tinkling and jingling music that people enjoyed outdoors in a beer garden. Even with a full glass of beer I would have preferred to watch Paul perform from a very long distance.  

1934 Berlin city directory

I found Paul Nemson listed in several editions of the Berlin city directory with his address in 1934 at Kottbusser Damm 95. The word after each name in the directory describes a person's general line of work. For Paul Nemson's listing "Konzerthallen" translates as Concert Halls which I interpret as someone employed in music halls such as an entertainer. Of course I can't help feeling sorry for Paul's poor neighbors who had to listen to him practice his bells.

Paul's postcard was sent from Berlin, Germany on 14 September 1932, just four months before Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933.

 

 

The postmark includes a public service slogan: 

Werdet Rundfunkteilnehmer
~
Become a radio listener (subscriber/owner)

an interesting promotion of a new modern device
that would become very popular over the next few years
for more than just the ringing of bells.

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
which still broadcasts on a shortwave internet band.

 

 

 

 

 

The Girls of the Alcazar d'été

Fame is not reserved
just for royalty, politicians, and other luminaries.
Sometime even a pretty petite dancer
can become a celebrity
recognized for her acclaimed contributions
to the world of entertainment.

 

Meet Miss Williams,
 a star of the Alcazar d'été revue
in Paris, France.

 

Standing gracefully in the photography studio of Walery, Paris, Miss Williams gives a proud salute as she models her frilly costume which reveals just a hint of seductive skin. The photo print has a rich depth of sepia tones that give it an illusion of a color photo and a premium quality that surpasses most entertainers' souvenir postcards from this era.  

As was the custom in France, the stamp and postmark are affixed to the picture side of the card and it was posted from Vitry-le-Croisé, a commune in the Aube department about 125 miles southeast of Paris, on 5 Jan 1905 to Mademoiselle Liger of the same town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Williams posed with her dancing partners in another photo by Walery. In this postcard she is the shorter girl on the right neatly forming a ballet line with Miss Clara Davine, Miss Birks, and Miss Robinson. All wear the same dress style that has been colorized in shades of pink and blue with accent in gold.

 

The photographer was Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg, also known as Lucien Waléry, (1863–1929), who was a Polish photographer who was first active in London at his father's photography studio and then in Paris between 1890 and 1929. His studio was renowned for photographing many entertainers of Paris, especially beautiful women like the American dancer, Josephine Baker, published as a series in 1926.

 

 

 

* * *

Poster for Alcazar d'été, 1896
Source: Wikimedia

The Alcazar d'Été was a Parisian café-concert, also known as a café-chantant, described as a variation on an outdoor cafe/wine garden and a French music hall. The Alcazar d'été opened in 1869 at 8 Avenue Gabriel near the Place de la Concorde in Paris, and closed in 1914.  In addition to food and drinks it offered high-class musical performances which included many celebrated French singers, instrumentalists, and dancers of the Belle Époque. This so-called "beautiful time" of the Third French Republic lasted from the end of the Franco-Prussian War to the beginning of World War One and marked a peaceful era in French culture when all the arts and sciences florished.

This next Walery postcard is a 3/4 portrait of Miss Robinson, the tallest dancer of the quartet. I call her a dancer only because they wear dancing slippers. It's quite likely that they also sang and played parts in theatrical skits. Here Miss Robinson is wearing a very low cut dress or silk wrap around her bare shoulders as she gazes wistfully into the camera. A penciled note on the border gives a date of 8 March 1903 which is confirmed by the potmark on the back. It was sent to Mademoiselle Alice Berta of Corbeil-Essonnes, a suburb of Paris. 

* * *

 

Long time readers may remember a similar quartet of pretty dancers from the Alcazar d'été that I featured in my November 2018 story: Charming the Snook. Like that group, these young ladies all have English names. Whether they are actually English, or Scottish, Canadian or even American nationals I can not say as there is little history recorded on the internet about this kind of French entertainment.

 

 

 

This next Walery postcard has the four women posed in a cluster with Miss Robinson seated and the others standing close. Their costumes are detailed in color and look identical to the previous fashion. This card was sent 15 November 1902 from Beveren in Belgium, which is on the west bank of the River Schelde, opposite the port of Antwerp.

 

 

 

 

 * * *

 

 

 

Poster for Alcazar d'été, circa 1900
Source: ArtVee

 

One of the many celebrities associated with the Alcazar d'été was La Belle Otero who appeared on this poster for the café-concert in about 1900. She was a Spanish actress, dancer and courtesan whose full name was Agustina del Carmen Otero Iglesias (1868–1965). Her costume resembles the dresses worn by the English dancers and gives another perspective of what their revue might have looked like.

 

 

 

 

 

This last postcard of Mss. Robinson, Birks, Davine, and Williams has them bent over as if they are about to come onto the stage for one last bow. The postmark is February 8?, 1903. It's not surprising that these attractive postcards were used from 1902 to 1905, but because the girls are pictured in the same outfits, I believe all the photos were taken together in 1901 or 1902.

 

 

 

The Alcazar d'été presented a musical variety show or revue that offered Parisians and tourists a night of lighthearted French entertainment. It was not classical or operatic music but it was still more sophiosticated than the street ballads and folk music heard at cabarets. Like British music halls and American vaudeville theater, the French café-concert represents a branch of early popular music that connects directly to modern entertainment forms. It's not difficult to image these same dancers/singers performing on a contemporary stage of today.

 

This set of postcards is part of a larger collection that I have started acquiring on the entertainment at the Alcazar d'été, so stay tuned for more.  

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I couldn't find any historic films of  Parisian nightclub dancers 
that date from 1900 but here is a British Pathé newsreel entitled:
Famous Parisian Clubs And Cabarets No. 2 (1933)

 

 

 

This second short film is also from the late 1930s
but it does evoke a style of dance
that may have resembled the dancers at the Alcazar d'été.
Some of these girls are very limber indeed.
It's entitled simply:
Paris Dances (1939)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where even granny can put her best foot foward.

The Atkins Family Band

 One of the fun games to play
with family photographs
is comparing faces.
Who has father's chin
or mother's eyes?

 

 

 

 

 

The larger the family,
the more similarity or variety
there is to find.

 

But it's a rare photo that reveals
what musical instruments
everyone played.
Who played tuba?
Who was the second clarinet?

 

 

Today I introduce the seven members of the
Atkins Family Band and Orchestra.

 

 

A long time ago, Mr. and Mrs. Atkins and their five children, one girl and four boys, posed for the camera in the studio of Gibson Art Galleries in Chicago, Illinois. The photograph is a standard cabinet card size but turned to a landscape format in order to get all seven of the family and their twelve instruments. Each of the children, from left to right, holds an instrument—clarinet, cornet, piccolo, violin, and slide trombone. Father holds a cornet and mother a violin. On the floor in front of them are a tuba, clarinet, alto horn, tenor horn, and euphonium. The photographer has artfully illuminated them from the right with a side light that gives each face a warm glow. The only minor fault is that the youngest boy on piccolo twitched and his face is a bit blurred.

Conveniently on the back of the photo is a handwritten name and address: 

Professor F. P. Atkins & Family
5732 5th Ave  Chicago

 

 

Professor Atkins was not difficult to find
as he was listed in the 1892 Chicago city directory as:
Frank P. Adkins, music teacher, 5732 5th Ave.

 

1892 Chicago city directory

 

His full name was Franklin Pierce Atkins, born 1854 near Odell, Illinois, and as a young man Frank lived in Streator, IL where he played cornet in a regimental band of the Illinois National Guard and gave music lessons on various instruments. In 1880 he married Catharina (or sometimes Katherine/Catherine) E. Bursk and for a time worked as a flour dealer there. In 1888 the family moved to Chicago where Frank played in various bands, sometimes directing them, and kept a studio for private music students. Evidently his wife, Catherine was also an accomplished musician too.

Together they raised five children, neatly spaced two years apart. The children in order of age and with instrument were Harry W. Atkins, clarinet, born 1883: Emma F. Atkins, cornet, 1885; Willard E. Atkins, violin, 1887; Alfred 'Fred' B. Atkins, trombone, 1889; and Franklin 'Frank' E. Atkins, piccolo, 1891. All this information comes from obituaries, census records, and family trees found on Ancestry.com.

 

I was impressed that Frank and Catherine Atkins gave their children a musical education which was, and is, often the case with children of a professional musician. I've featured several stories on family bands from this era, most recently Master Tommy Purcell, The Little Vernon Brothers, and The Noss Family Band - Practice Makes Perfect. The Atkins family photo resembles the style of these professional entertainers but I couldn't be certain until I found another clue.

 

Catherine Bursk Atkins died in September 1951. In her brief funeral notice was a statement that "she was the widow of Frank P. Atkins, Englewood (Chicago suburb) music teacher and band leader, and toured the Chautauqua circuit with him and five children until 1907 as the Atkins Family Band and Orchestra."

 

Using this clue I was able to find them in newspaper reports of several summer Chautauquas in Illinois and surrounding states like this one from Springfield, IL.

 

 

Springfield Illinois State Register
14 August 1900

The earliest Chautauqua event that I could find which included the Atkins family band was in July 1899 at Spirit Lake, Iowa. This small town is the county seat of Dickinson County which encloses the Iowa Great Lakes, the largest group of natural lakes in the state. Located near the border of Minnesota, it is abut 440 miles west of Chicago. In 1900 Spirit Lake's population was only 1,219 but the surrounding community had over 8,000 people, so it's not surprising that the town would organize a "Chautauqua". These small-town cultural fairs were named after the Chautauqua movement which started in Ohio in 1873. They typically engaged traveling educational speakers and family-oriented entertainers combined with local talent to present a continuous series of lectures and performances which proved to be very popular in the Midwest. Often a small musical ensemble like the Atkins family would be hired to perform concerts during the event which might last a weekend or sometimes as long as a week or more.

Professor Atkins probably found this summertime work through his connections in military and town bands around the region, or maybe through his church as many Chautauqua fairs were associated with Methodist or other Christian denominations. Usually a Chautauqua was set up in large tents in a rural setting like a farm field. A Chautauqua "assembly" might present talks from distinguished naturalists, famous preachers, noted educators, or world travelers along with performances by magicians, storytellers, jugglers, vocal groups, chamber music ensembles, or professional concert bands. The Atkins family called itself an orchestra in order to demonstrate a musical versatility suitable for both indoor and outdoor venues. They may never have received top billing but their music received praise in simple reviews like the one above.

 

Judging from the number of references I found in newspaper archives, from 1899 to 1907 the Atkins Family Band seemed to get engagements each summer at two or four Chautauqua fairs and then returned home to Chicago in September. Their programs were never listed so I can only guess that it consisted of arrangements of traditional hymns, popular songs, and classical pieces arranged by Frank Atkins. In later years, Miss Emma Atkins was listed as a "reader" to add a spoken element to their program. 

 

Their show was never a sophisticated theatrical act so I don't believe the professor and his wife ever held any ambition for their family band to join the vaudeville theater circuit. However the Atkin's family portrait was surely designed to promote their prospects on the Chautauqua circuit. It's quite possible that Frank Atkins used it in a printed brochure that described his family's talented children. Since Franklin (Frank) E. Atkins, the blurry piccoloist, was born in 1891and looks no more than age 6-7 in this photo, I believe it was taken in 1898 at the start of the family's Chautauqua career.

 

 

One of the unfortunate shortcomings about investigating the history of the bygone musicians in my photo collection is that I rarely find any program or review of music that they played. Even more sad is that because my research is confined to census records and old newspaper reports I have no access to letters or interviews that would add a personal character to the subjects in my photos. Despite my efforts to give a context to the Frank and Catherine Atkins' family photo, it still seems too dry and dull. I wish there was some way to give them a voice.

 

And then I discovered a report in the 18 October 1962 edition of the Spokane, Washington Chronicle. The reporter is unknown but they interviewed four of the children in my photo 60+ years after it was taken. It's very brief but we get to hear Emma Atkins Jacobs tell her story herself.

 

Spokane WA Chronicle
18 October 1962

 

 

 

Reunion Here Recalls Midwestern Family Band

 

   The lilting "Merry  Widow Waltz" and the rollicking "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" that the Atkins Family Band brought to midwestern turn-of-the-century Chautauquas were recalled here over the weekend at the family's  reunion.

   Ironically, the marriages that led to dissolution of the family band 55 years ago prompted the recent reunion at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Jacobs, W3617 Alice. The former Emma Atkins, Mrs. Jacobs relinquished her position as pianist and second cornetist in the family band to marry 55 years ago.

   Sharing in the weekend celebration were Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Atkins of Davenport, Iowa. For many years national secretary of the American Poultry Association, he also retired from the Atkins Family Band to marry 55 years ago.

   Joining the two couples here were Fred Atkins, now retired from the Pullman Co. and living in Covina, Calif., and his wife, and Willard E. Atkins, professor emeritus and former dean of the Department of Economics at the University of New York, and his wife.
   The three brothers and their sister on Sunday counted 207 years of married life since the Atkins family bowed out of the Chautauqua circuit in 1907.

   "The marriages did it," Mrs. Jacobs explained with a laugh. "It was a family venture right from the start and when two of us left, that was it."

   Along with their mother and father, the five Atkins children, one of whom died seven years ago, were billed throughout the Midwest in the 1890s and early 1900s. With the youngest brother making his "debut" on the triangle instrument at the age of four, the family performed at lodge programs, torch-light political rallies and receptions in their hometown of Chicago and appeared in Chautauqua tent shows throughout Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and South Dakota.

   Each of the children and their parents played at least two instruments so they could provide either a brass band or a string orchestra, depending upon the occasion. Wit youngsters doubling on the tuba and clarinet and the flute and alto horn, they presented popular tunes and semiclassical works with equal aplomb.

   The Atkins' children's talent stemmed from a rich musical heritage. Music was the life of their father, Franklin Pierce Atkins. A music teacher and brilliant solo cornetist, he established bands in small farming towns throughout Illinois. He was selected to organize and direct a band that played at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

   But it was his wife, Catherine, who engineered the Atkins Family Band with herself as violinist, pianist, and flutist, Mrs. Jacob said.

   "Mother was the organizer because she knew that father was essentially the artist and the dreamer," she said.

   Now a grandmother and the author of seven children's books, Mrs. Jacobs looks back on her family's role in the era of Chautauqua meetings and band concerts in the park with the observation that "Our way of life was an education in itself."

 

 

 

CODA

Bandleader and cornetist, Franklin 'Frank' Pierce Atkins died on 17 June 1935 at age 81. His wife and violinist, Catherine E. Bursk Atkins, died 12 September 1951 at age 88. Their eldest child and clarinetist, Harry William Atkins, died in 1967, age 84. Their only daughter and cornetist, Emma F. Atkins Jacobs, died in 1983, age 87. The serious violinist, Alfred 'Fred' B. Atkins died in 1964, age 77. The trombonist, Willard E. Atkins died in 1971, age 82. And the youngest child and piccolo player, Franklin 'Frank' E. Atkins died in 1952 at age 61.

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where every family has a smile to share.

The Darling Saxophone Four

 

 It's attention to details that makes a great photographer.
To begin, your subjects always need to fit
into a camera's view frame
that's neither too close nor too faraway.
Sometimes shoes are just as important as hairstyles.

 

 

 

 If a photo shoot is indoors then good lighting is crucial.
Making subtle adjustment to lamps and screens
will balance shadows and highlights for best effect.
Too much glare will make whites too bright.

 

 

 

 

 But a true artist of photography
knows how to use a personal touch
to invite subjects to show off their finest features.

Smile for the camera, please.

 

 

 Today I present five superb portraits of
the Darling Saxophone Four.

They played the Palace Theatre on Sept 20th
in a dainty musical novelty.

 

 

 

 

The four young women pictured in the previous three photos were surely very pleased with their photographer's work. Even without their instruments the 8" x 10" photos could still be considered good examples of studio photography. But these young women were not bridesmaids or debutantes seeking a memento of a gala event. They were professional entertainers who needed a specialized business card, a publicity photo that showed off their act—a saxophone quartet. In a time not so long ago, before the invention of magical electronic devices that instantly record audio and video, any entertainer with ambition to make it big on America's vaudeville theater circuits had to have a good publicity photo. The Darling ladies knew a great picture wouldn't need a thousand words to describe their talent and what stands out on these three photos is classy saxophones.

The saxophone was a relatively new band instrument that was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in the early 1840s. He combined features from both woodwind and brass instruments and designed it in 9 different sizes, though only 5 are now commonly played. The four women in these photos are holding B♭ soprano, E♭ alto, B♭ tenor, and B♭ bass saxophones. Today the E♭ baritone sax, which is shorter and more agile than the B♭ bass, is the more common bass instrument in a modern sax section.

 

The first two photos are unmarked except for the photographer's signature logo, Celebrity, Chicago which was called Celebrity Photo Shop, located on the 7th floor of 25 W Madison St. in downtown Chicago. The third photo was taken by a different photographer, Hartsook of Tacoma, Washington, a studio located at 901 Commerce St., at or near the Pantages theatre. Fortunately the back of this one is marked with the name of the group—the Darling Saxaphone(sic) Four and a faded rubber stamp imprint: The pro[perty?] of Darling Saxophone Quartet. Also added was "Palace Sept. 20" and "In a dainty novelty."

That was just enough to give me something to search for and I quickly found them. On 3 September 1916 the Tulsa World printed a picture of the Charming Melody Maids, Darling Saxophone Girls in a musical interlude appearing at the Empress Theatre. It's a different publicity photo that shows four younger girls, possibly not all the same musicians as in my photos.

 

 

Tulsa OK World
3 September 1916

 

The word saxophone was frequently misspelled in newspapers as saxaphone since the instrument was still relatively unfamiliar to the public. The group also chose to call their group a saxophone four more often than as a quartet (or even  quartette). This made research challenging to track down all the variations but I found them again in an August 1915 theater review from the Seattle, Washington Daily Times. "Too Many Burglars,: a jolly little farce, has caused much merriment and the four Tacoma girls, calling themselves the "Darling Saxophone Quartette," have made a decided hit.

 

Seattle Daily Times
20 August 1915

Using this clue to their origin I was able to find a very brief report from the 19 June 1914 Tacoma News-Tribune that said "the Tacoma Girls Saxophone quartet played at the Sunday evening service of Trinity Methodist church." From these few, seemingly trivial, single-sentence newspaper references I conclude that in the summer of 1915, four ambitious Tacoma girls set off to take their saxophones onto the vaudeville stage. They (or their agent) changed the group's name to the Darling Saxophone Four probably to give themselves a more cosmopolitan style more like a refined Chautauqua ensemble. 

None of the advertisements or notices of the Darling Saxophone Four ever listed a program. America wouldn't discover jazz music until 1918 so the few adjectives applied to the music that they played was just "classical", "ragtime, and "popular".  They probably adapted the wide range of saxophone voicing to vocal arrangements of popular songs.

The four young women certainly offered a sophisticated fashion that was unlike any group of chorus girls in a burlesque act. But high class vaudeville entertainers needed more than fancy costumes, they had to have talent to sell tickets. Beginning in August 1915, the Darling Saxophone Four played in theaters around the Pacific Northwest like Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver. In the following year they appeared on playbills in Denver, Tulsa, Chicago, Duluth, and St. Paul.

Their act rarely got more than a short notice in newspapers, and never any critical review. One comment from the 29 September 1916 La Crosse WI Tribune was typical, saying, "Four happy young ladies in pretty costumes and with pretty faces, calling themselves "The Darling Saxophone Four," gave fifteen minutes or so of entertainment that seems to strike La Crosse theater audiences just right." Since their act was just one of a string of variety artists that a theater would book for a week's run, they regularly shared the stage with other entertainers like Japanese acrobats, Italian jugglers, Irish comedians, mysterious magicians, champion Australian whip crackers, and countless vocalists, dancers, and trained animal acts. Shows twice a day, matinees and evenings, and often interspersed with the latest silent film. 

Muncie IN Star-Press
10 December 1916

By December 1916 the Darling Saxophone Four were in Muncie, Indiana appearing at the Star Theater in the "last half", i.e. the second half, of a vaudeville show. The local newspaper ran their picture to promote the show that looks similar to my first photo. A photographer's mark is barely visible and I think it is also by Celebrity of Chicago. The saxophones and long white gowns are all there, but I'm unsure if all the players are the same as the tenor sax player looks different.

The big feature of the group was obviously the gigantic bass saxophone, an ungainly but imposing instrument that is rarely played in modern bands. It's pitched an octave below the B♭ tenor and its lowest note is a rumbling A♭1. Due to its size and complexity to make, Adolphe Sax made very few of them in the 1840s and by the 1850s bands and orchestras had better and louder bass instruments like the tuba and helicon. But in the 1890s the American band instrument manufacturers, like the C. G. Conn company, began turning out thousands of saxophones in response to a new enthusiasm for the instrument. Many of the first saxophone ensembles included the bass sax just because of its impressive size. So it was only natural that the Darling all-girl saxophone quartet would want to feature a bass sax and get a portrait of its player too.

This photo, also by the Celebrity photo shop of Chicago, shows the bass saxophonist with her instrument resting upright on the floor. The bass stands about 4½ feet tall but is actually closer to 9 feet long if  it was straightened out. The young woman wears a different satin gown which matches the style of the two women in the first duo photo.

In February 1920 she appeared in another newspaper picture promoting the Darling Saxophone Quartette show at the Gem Theatre in Twin Falls, Idaho. The advert adds, "One of the Best in the West if you are Critical. Don't Hesitate, It's a Musical Treat." The alto and tenor sax players in the center are the same women as in my second duo photo, and in the lower right corner is a faint signature that matches the same Hartsook photography studio of Tacoma, Washington.

Twin Falls ID News
27 February 1920

On the back of the bass saxophonist's photo is a penciled note:
4 Harmony Maids.

 

 

Tacoma WA Daily Ledger
20 January 1920

 

The early vaudeville career of the Darling Saxophone Four seems to be have been cut short, as the group's name only came up in newspapers for two seasons from August 1915 to November 1917. However after time off they returned to touring in the winter of 1920 and in January a Tacoma newspaper reported that, "Residents at the Masonic Home were delightfully surprised with two concerts Sunday afternoon by the Saxophone quartet of Tacoma composed of the Darling sisters, Seze, Lois, Medora, and Phyllis Darling."

This is the only reference I could find that identifies the four women as the Darling sisters and gives their individual names. But what is peculiar is that despite my best efforts I can not find any of those names in the usual official records of Tacoma, and not even in the state of Washington either. Though they look like they could be sisters, their unusual combination of names does not show up in any 1910 or 1900 census. It's a puzzle that will need more investigation to solve. 

The Darling Saxophone Four left Washington and were in Idaho in February/March; Buffalo, New York in May; Topeka, Kansas in July; Omaha, Nebraska in August; and finally Des Moines, Iowa on 4 December 1920 playing at the Empress Theatre, 2:00, 3:30, 6:30, 8:00 and 9:30. After that date the Darlings changed their name to the Four Harmony Maids.

Bemidji MN Pioneer
20 December 1920

This name change still retained "The Saxaphone (or Saxophone) Four" in their subtitle, but the number sometimes changed. Some theaters listed "Three Harmony Maids" or even "Five Harmony Maids" in their notices. Besides playing saxophones the group also sang, though programs were not given. In March/April 1921 the Four Harmony Maids were now in California. A short notice in the San Luis Obispo newspaper identified them as the "four Darling girls, and they are darling girls, are known to the theatrical profession as the Four Harmony Maids and they play saxaphones (sic) with a master hand and some lip. If you doubt it , drop into the Elmo Theater tomorrow and note their attractive appearance and worthy offering."

San Luis Obispo CA Daily Telegram
23 April 1921

By the summer of 1921, both the Four Harmony Maids and the Darling Saxophone Four disappear from theater notices.

 

This last portrait of one of the Darling saxophonists was also taken at the Celebrity studio in Chicago. Seated on a wide claw-foot settee, a woman holds in her lap a small soprano saxophone. She's the same woman second from right in the quartet photo. Here she is dressed in a slightly shorter satin gown and her hair curls have a different twist with maybe a different color too, though her shoes are the same. It's unusual to see a small soprano sax with sinuous curves like the larger saxophones as in its modern form it is usually straight like a clarinet.

 

Her stage costume matches that of her colleagues in the first duo photo and the bass saxophonist portrait. Her smile and dimples gives her an engaging, even elegant, poise that surely appealed to anyone who saw her perform.

 

However the back of this portrait adds a new layer of confusion to the group.

 

 

Two printed stamps read:

Property of
Mel-O-Dee
Saxaphone Four
Eva Darling, Manager

FROM
Bert LEVEY CIRCUIT
Publicity Department

The Bert Levey Circuit was connected to an association called the Independent Vaudeville Theatres, and Bert Levey (1885-1972) was one of the theater owners and promoters who ran an agency for vaudeville artists from the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco. 

 

The Mel-O-Dee Saxaphone (sic) Four was a group that first appeared in a Moscow, Idaho theater notice in November 1923. They were part of a set of acts that toured together in western states that winter. One newspaper described them as "a  quartette of talented and expert musicians, two males and two females. They are accomplished artists who present an offering under the title of "Music De Luxe," a musical program that unquestionably pleases every patron. Their act is presented in a most interesting manner and is charmingly costumed. This quartette of musicians furnishes its entertanment via the saxophone and piano route on which instruments they are experts. Their repertoire is composed of classical, popular, and jazz numbers."

 

The Mel-O-Dee Saxophone Four played shows in Oregon in December 1923 and then from January to March 1924 were in southern California. They appeared at the Hippodrome Theater in Los Angeles in February and the newspaper listing came with a map of the LA theater district showing the location of 23 theaters in the city's center. The last notice I could find of the Mel-O-Dee saxophone quartet was from 10 March 1924 in Bakersfield, California. After that all is silent.

 

Los Angeles Evening Post-Record
2 February 1924

The iconic Hollywood sign, originally Hollywoodland, had been erected just the previous year. For anyone visiting Los Angeles is must have been obvious that the great age of motion pictures, first silent and soon talking, was about to take over America as the principal medium of entertainment. The age of vaudeville was closing. 

 

 

 

I suspect, but can't really prove, that this last portrait of the soprano saxophonist of the Darling/Harmony Maids/Mel-O-Dee Saxophone Four is its manager, Eva Darling. But whether it is her maiden name, her married name, or just a stage name I can not say. It's a puzzle piece that does not fit into the expected picture. And the names of the other women are still not confirmed. I don't know which one is Seze, Medora, Lois, or Phyllis, much less Eva.

 

Like the previous names of the Darling sisters, Eva Darling is not found in Tacoma directories. In the 1910 US census there was a Mary E. Darling, age 18, single, living with her mother, Addie L. Darling, age 45, widow, with an older sister Addie Crane, age 27, divorced. Mary listed her occupation as musician, Music Hall, and I discovered in other reports that she  played the organ and piano at a Tacoma cinema. It may be a close connection but there's no mention of saxophones or of other sisters. It's odd that in a city like Tacoma there is no record of a family of musical sisters who became a successful saxophone quartet.

 

Based on the few clues I could confirm the first photo the quartet was likely taken in Chicago in 1916. The three photos of the first duo, the bass,and soprano sax portraits were taken soon after, maybe 1917 or 1918. Since the women in the second duo photo look very like the women in the picture run in the February 1920 Twin Falls newspaper, also taken by the same Tacoma photographer, I think the dates from 1920 or late 1919. But it's an old show business rule that publicity photos never reveal an artist's true age.  

 

Their photos resemble those of The Three Weston Sisters, a story of another female musical ensemble that I wrote about in January 2019. The Weston sisters also used a Chicago photographer and their career spanned over 20 years. They made good use of the sibling ticket to promote their trio.

 

Another similar group was The Verdi Sextette, whose set of publicity photos from a Chicago studio I presented in February 2012. This mixed ensemble of men and women likely followed the the same theater circuits that the Darling Saxophone Four traveled.

 

Finally there is the photo of the Cadet Sextette, the "Monarchs of the Saxophone," who were featured in my story from July 2016, Sax Appeal. They had six saxophones of all sizes, including a huge contra-bass saxophone,  and were engaged by the Pantages theater circuit in the 1920s. 

 

It's frustrating that I can't add much more background to the beautiful portraits of the Darling Saxophone Four. Unfortunately this is a puzzle that will have to stay unfinished. But these four women were remarkable to be working as professional musicians at a time when American society placed too many restrictions on women. Vaudeville theaters in the pre-Hollywood cinema age employed thousands of entertainers and it was one vocation open to anyone with drive and talent. I think the four Darling saxophonists had that kind of moxie and we can see it in their photographs.

 

 

Sadly, we can only imagine the music that the Darling Saxophone Four played.
Fortunately however, YouTube offers a modern female saxophone quartet
that can demonstrate what their music might have sounded like.
Here is the Sistergold saxophone quartet from Germany
playing Gershwin's "I got rhythm"
at a concert at the Vöhl, Germany synagogue in 2013.

 

 

 

 

They are so good that I can't resist adding another of their videos.
Here are the Sistergold Saxophone Quartet from April 2018
playing "Carlos Ferdinand"
an original composition by Elisabeth Flämig.

 

 

 

 

Brava!
Encore!
"Ain´t she sweet" 

 

 The Darling Saxophone Four would have been impressed!

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where every photo brings out the best in people.