The Novelty Dance Band

 Let's talk pompoms.

Are they really a good look for men's fashion?

 

 

 

 

 

And what about frilly collars?
Didn't that fad disappear in the 18th century?

 

 

  Shiny satin may have a place
in dressing gowns and pajamas,
but it's a bit over-the-top
for a business suit.

 

 

 

 

 

These are the kind of apparel decisions
everyone in show business has to consider.
Sometimes an entertainer has to set aside
personal objections and dress for the part,
because the more flamboyant a costume
the more attention they'll get from an audience.

At least that's the idea.

 

Today I present two photos
of a novelty dance band that may have made
a poor choice in their concert wardrobe.

 

 

 

Dressed in pillbox hats and satin pajamas festooned with pompoms, five young men sit with their instruments in a large empty room as if waiting for an audition or dental appointment. The ensemble consists of a pianist, an alto saxophonist doubling on clarinet, a cornet player, a trombonist, and a drummer. Painted in large letters on the trap set's bass drumhead is the group's name:

 

 Ohio 5

Conveniently it's also written again on the back of the large 8"x 10" photo, along with the musician's  names, the place, and a date. It's a trifecta of useful information to find on any antique photograph, and in this case it happens to be on a photo from exactly a century ago.

" Ohio Five"
    Reading from left to right:    Forest Ulery,
Troy, Herbert Ginn, Georgia, Lloyd Smith, Covington,
Charles Patty, Troy, Arthus Wesler, Tippicanoe City

Roseburg, Oregon
Feb. 1st, 1922
"Ohio Five"

Ren to Mrs. Weieman
Troy, O

Roseburg OR News-Review
31 January 1922

 

 

The phrase "Ohio Five" was surprisingly common in newspapers in the 1920s as a shorthand for team sports like basketball and bowling. But fortunately it was not used much in Oregon, so it was easy to spot an advertisement in the Roseburg News-Review for a "Big Dance given by Ohio Five Novelty Orchestra" to be held at the Elks' Hall in Roseburg on February 1st, 1922. It was "A real dance with real music from the East. gorgeously costumed. Admission $1.10, inc. tax, Ladies free."

 

 

It's not very often that I can find such a perfect confirmation of the notes on a photo, so it's very likely that the photo of the Ohio Five was taken at the Elks' Hall in Roseburg.

 

_ _

In the previous week the group had played 100 miles  south of Roseburg in the communities around Medford, Oregon. The newspaper there reported that the Ohio Five had been on the road for seven months and were on the return leg to their native state by way of the northern route after having visited Honolulu and the southern states. However in mid-December 1921 they were still in Ohio playing at a Moose Lodge in Coshocton, Ohio. Tickets there were $1.10 a couple, 40¢ for an extra lady.

Roseburg is a small town in the heart of Oregon's Umpqua River valley. In 1920 its population was about 4,300 and its main industry was lumber production. There were only a very few notices to be found in the newspaper archives for the Ohio Five, and those were only in similar small towns in Oregon and Ohio. While it's possible they played a long concert tour traveling south and west from Ohio, even to Hawaii, in 1921-22, evidently they didn't attract much publicity.

The second photo shows the five musicians of the Ohio Five in a very different pose, a rare musical action shot on a small indoor bandstand. Each player strikes an animated posture with their instrument as if the band was really wailing away. It's easy to imagine the pompoms shaking to the beat. Above them the ceiling is decorated with hanging oriental fabrics and ribbon streamers. It's a cut-down photo, probably originally 8"x10" like the first photo, and there is nothing written on the back, but I presume it was taken by the same photographer in Roseburg or possibly somewhere in southern Oregon. 

The names of the Ohio Five were written in pencil with a wide cursive style that made figuring out their surnames into a kind of genealogist's Wordle puzzle. But the addition of each musician's hometown added an important clue that let me find all of them in the archives of Ancestry.com. Surprisingly all five men had their family tree information recorded by a descendant on the website so that I could quickly check the full history of each one. Following the photo's annotation here is the Ohio Five left to right.

1. The drummer was Forest (Stahl) Ulery. Born in September 1901 in Ohio, he would have been age 20 in the band's photo. In the 1920 census for Troy, Ohio he worked as a clerk in a factory. In the photos there is a large xylophone next to or behind the drum set, which is an instrument typically played only by a versatile percussionist. Ulery died in 1972.
2. The trombone player was Herbert (Clark) Ginn. A native of Georgia, he was born in April 1897 and was the oldest of the group at age 24. In the 1920 census for Atlanta, Herbert listed his occupation as "Musician/Theater". A few years later in 1928 he lived in Memphis, Tennessee working as a musician at the Lowes Theater. Ginn died in 1972
3. The cornet player was Lloyd (William) Smith. He was born in Ohio in August 1900 so in the photo is still 21 years old. In the 1920 census for Covington, Ohio, ten mile northwest of Troy,  Lloyd's occupation was "Musician/Band". Twenty-two years later on his 1942 draft card the line for employer's address read "unemployed musician". Smith died in 1944 in New York. 
4. The reed player was Charles (George) Patty. Also born in Ohio, his birthday was 3 February 1903 so he was the youngest musician and would celebrate his 19th birthday only a couple days after the band's photo was taken. In the 1920 census for Monroe, Ohio, 45 miles south of Troy, Charles was only sixteen and had no occupation, but in the 1930 census for West Milton, Ohio where he lived ten miles east of Troy, his occupation was "Musician/Band Orchestra" and again for the 1940 census too. On his draft card his employer was the Colonial Theater in Dayton. Patty died in 1977.
5. The pianist was Arthur (Woodson) Wesler, who was born in Ohio in May 1898 and was still age 23 when the photos were made. Like Charles Patty, he lived in Monroe, Ohio in 1920 and was employed in the sales department of the Electric Co. His sister, Hazel Patty, worked as a ticket seller for a movie theater, so it's possible he might have worked as an accompanist for silent films, but he seems to have chosen more traditional, and probably more reliable, employment for his life. Wesler died in 1985.
   

All the men were single when the Ohio Five went on tour in 1922, but with the exception of Lloyd Smith who remained a bachelor until his death in 1944, all soon took wives and started families in the following years. It's interesting to learn that three members of the group made their livelihood in music, though we don't know if it was in the same kind of ensemble. As best as I can determine, the Ohio Five Novelty Orchestra did not remain together beyond 1922. And whether any of the group continued in another similar band is unknown. 

 

These two photos may be all that remains of the Ohio Five's showbiz history, but I like to imagine that somewhere, hidden in an old trunk at the back of an attic or closet is a satin tunic and pillbox hat with fuzzy pompoms.

 

 

Elks Lodge, Roseburg, OR
Source: Google Maps, 2018

A century later the Elks Hall in Roseburg, Oregon where the photo of the Ohio Five was taken still stands. It appears in the street view on Google Maps and shows the Elks sign hanging on a gray-painted building. The plywood covered windows give a closed appearance but on the side-street they advertise bingo games every Tuesday, and the hall is available for banquets and receptions with the "Largest Dance Floor in Town". 

Elks Lodge, Roseburg, OR
Source: Google Maps, 2018

I've written two other stories about similar photos of small dance bands. The Bell Hop Orchestra wore equally nutty costumes and hats. And All That Jazz is my fictionalized short story about how a studio photo was made of a similar quintet of young "wild and crazy" guys. Like most of the photos in my collection the biggest mystery is what kind of music did they play? What kind of dance tunes did the Ohio Five Novelty Orchestra perform at the Elks Hall in Roseburg?  With those pompom costumes, not, I think, waltzes and polkas.

 

The answer may be hidden in subtle clues from the exuberant photo posed on the bandstand and also in the band's instrumentation. Discarding their satin pajamas, the group looks very like another quintet that was then shaking the whole world of music. 

They were called the Original Dixieland "Jass" Band.

 

The Original Dixie "Jass" Band
Source: The Internet

The history of American music is filled with many monarchs, from the March King, John Philip Sousa, to the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley.  But many consider the first royalty of jazz to be the five men who played in the Original Dixieland "Jass" Band. This group from New Orleans made the first commercial recording of jazz music in 1917 and helped establish jazz, or "jass" as it was first spelled, as a new American musical idiom.

 

The original members were Nick LaRocca, cornet and band leader; Eddie Edwards, trombone; Larry Shields, clarinet; Henry Ragas, piano; and Tony Sbarbaro, drums. Unlike other vaudeville bands, the ODJB played for dances, and their early recordings introduced America to syncopated rhythms and catchy tunes that got everyone moving their feet. They didn't necessarily invent "Jazz" but they took it beyond its roots in minstrel and ragtime music, and made it a popular and commercial success. It's a story that deserves wider telling, but what interests me is their photos and instruments.

The Original Dixie "Jazz" Band
Source: The Internet

Like any group of entertainers, the Original Dixie Jass Band made numerous promotional photographs and postcards. These images look very like the photos of the Ohio Five. The quintet instrumentation is also nearly the same too. But it is this next photo of the ODJB with their instruments in kooky action that makes me believe that the Ohio Five were imitating them and playing dixieland jazz tunes too. 

The Original Dixieland "Jass" Band
Source: The Internet

In the post-WW1 era of the 1920s, dance music was a new craze sweeping the country and it was fueled in part by jazz music. The American public wanted fresh upbeat music that was lively and fun. Just like the Original Dixie Jass Band, I think the Ohio Five were offering the people of rural Oregon their interpretation of that same kind of novelty sound.

Here is the Dixie Jass Band One Step
recorded in 1917 by the Original Dixieland "Jass" Band.
 

As you listen to this go look at the photos of the Ohio Five
and imagine the flash of satin and pompoms.
But was it the best costume decision?

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Coda: 

The photo of the Ohio Five
had one other name written to one side,
Mrs. Weisman of Troy, Ohio.

She was Willie May (Billie) Weisman,
a newspaper reporter
and editor of the Troy Record.
Maybe the Ohio Five got their picture in the paper too.

Obituary for Willie May (Billie) Weisman
16 April 1952

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone is under the boardwalk
dancing on the beach!