Music with Guitar

 

In the age before electric amplification the guitar was a relatively quiet instrument. It provided useful chords to accompany a melody sung by a vocalist or played on an agile treble instrument but guitarists were never the front man in an ensemble. They usually sat at the side strumming along to keep the music moving. The placement of a guitar in this trio is typical. The two lead musicians play a mandolin and a zither, a string instrument played flat on a table which helps amplify its sound. The group had other instruments to add color: a violin, likely played by the mandolinist as it has the same string tuning; a wooden folk xylophone called a Strohfiedel or Straw Fiddle; and a collection of wine glasses improbably standing on a near vertical tray. They were tuned by filling with water (or even spirits) so that they vibrated at different pitches when stroked by the player's fingertips. There is one more instrument if you look carefully. As a clue, it is from the percussion family.

This unknown trio were photographed seated outdoors, possibly at the wine garden where they performed,  by a photographer from Dresden, Germany. Their colorful bow ties and satin trimmed coat collars are typical of professional musicians in the 1900s. The postcard was sent from Dresden (Altstadt), on 18 April 1910 to someone in Breslau, Germany which is now known as Wrocław, Poland. The handwriting is a peculiarly neat penmanship with completely indecipherable cursive letters that run together. Take a look at the third line — mnmnmnnm.Who could translate that? I believe the writer was the guitar player as he is marked with a discrete X. His signature looks like M. (or W.) Lappitsch.

* * *

Sometimes a guitar defines a group's style even though it isn't the lead instrument. These four young ladies are the Original Damen Schrammel Quartett from the "Jankowski" Kozert Ensemble. The guitarist here plays a contraguitar called a Schrammel guitar which is an instrument associated with the light folk music of Wien or Vienna, Austria. In addition to the standard six strings the Schrammel guitar has a second, fretless neck supporting as many as nine bass strings that are tuned to a scale. This player accompanies two violinists and a button accordionist as they sit in a photographer's studio, but they very likely performed at a wine garden like the previous trio. 

The postcard has no postmark or date but is addressed to someone in Wilhelmsburg on the the Elbe river, a district of Hamburg. There is a faint imprint of a variety theater named Hohenziller(?). The card was printed in Leipzig, Germany probably in around 1910. 

* * *

My last guitar photo is unusual as the guitarist is seated front and center of the ensemble. In this case it is a brass quintet with rotary valve instruments in five different different sizes, left to right: baritone horn, alto horn, bass tuba, tenor trumpet, and soprano trumpet. Needless to say, a brass band really has  no use for a guitarist, especially one with a guitar that looks a bit smaller than a standard modern acoustic guitar. Another odd thing is a small fir tree behind the tall trumpet player on the right. Perhaps this group is playing for the Christmas season. 

The photographer left an imprint on the back of this unposted postcard, R. Fuchs of Kurort Wörishofen. This place was a Kurort or "cure resort" in Bad Wörishofen, a spa town in Bavaria, Germany that is known for a water-cure or hydrotherapy developed by Sebastian Kneipp (1821–1897), a Catholic priest who once lived there. Many of the town's hotels and boarding-houses still offer their guests treatment using Kneipp's methods. 

I wonder if the guitarist is a spa guest who has joined with the health resort's band for a souvenir photo. He is neatly dressed in a nice suit with a small corsage in the lapel and some of the musicians have one too. Maybe he is a bridegroom celebrating his wedding day. But what amuses me is that the man's shoes are polished while the brass players' shoes could use a good cleaning. Evidently this guitarist did not march in any parade.

Did you spot the triangle in the first trio?

Since I don't often feature photos
of musical wine glasses, i.e. a glass harp,

here is a demonstration of one  by Anna Szafraniec from GlassDuo.

She plays an arrangement of a well known guitar piece,
the Spanish Romance by an anonymous 19th century composer.

This piece is a standard of any guitarist's repertoire
so I looked for another version played on guitar for contrast.
There are thousands of renditions of it on YouTube
but I found one that is played on a harp guitar,
an instrument very similar to the Schrammel guitar.
Here is the same Romance de Espana
performed by Canadian harp guitarist Jamie Dupuis.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where some guitarists always attract a crowd.

The Boy Cornetist

 

It was the premier musical instrument of the era.
More popular than the violin or piano,
the cornet was the instrument that exemplified
America's vibrant musical culture in the late 19th century.

The cornet's brilliant sound
inspired thousands of men and boys
to master its musical challenges 
as every town of any size had a brass band
to perform at civic holidays and other occasions. 

 

Young boys learned the names
of celebrated cornet soloists
like Arban, Arbuckle, Bellstedt, Levy, and Liberati *
just like boys in later decades
would idolize baseball or football players.

Some youngsters had a natural gift for the cornet
and quickly achieved such a high level of musicianship
that they were awarded a solo place on America's concert stages.

 

Today I present a collection
of four young boys who played the cornet
and once posed for a formal portrait photograph.
No doubt it made their mothers proud
to display pictures of such talented sons.

My first youngster is standing next to a rustic fence and a faded pastoral backdrop. I think he is about age 6 or 8. He is dressed in a dark woolen suit with knee britches, pillbox cap, and fine leather shoes that have ten buttons and a scalloped topline. His cornet is a shiny piston valve instrument that I believe is pitched in B-flat. I can't say for sure that he was a professional solo entertainer but he could easily be a member of a family band. 

The cabinet card mount is a dark maroon cardstock with the imprint of the photographer F. W. Allderige of New Britain, Connecticut. He was the son of William Allderige an Englishman who came to America and set up a photography studio there. F. W. Allderige took over from his father in the mid-1880s and continued the business into the 1900s. I believe this photo dates from the late 1880s.

* * *

My second boy cornetist is older, perhaps age 12-14, and more fashionably dressed in a dark corduroy suit with wide bowtie, watch fob and chain, knee britches, and leather slippers, a mark of a professional entertainer. His instrument is another B-flat cornet with a hint of fancy engraving on the bell. Unfortunately his name is not noted on the back so he must remain anonymous until I discover more information.

The photographer is Worden of 48 Winter Street in Boston, Massachusetts. This cabinet photo is an unusual elongated mount with gold edges. I date it to the late 1880s or early 1890s. 

* * *

Boston Globe
10 July 1887

There is nothing unusual in any boy deciding to learn to play a brass instrument. Thousands of boys in this era did that. But only the most talented gave public concerts as professional artists, usually accompanied by a band of adult musicians. They were promoted as a "boy cornet soloist" which makes them easy to find in the newspaper archives. In Boston there were dozens of venues along the coast of Massachusetts that hired bands for the summer season. In Crescent Beach the Salem Brass Band gave free concerts, afternoon and evening, and in July 1887 had the "wonderful boy cornet soloist" Master Willie Cushing as a guest artist.  

My third boy cornet is wearing a nearly identical outfit as the boy from Boston except that here the material is velvet. Otherwise it is the same wide bowtie, watch fob chain, short britches, and fine leather slippers. His blonde hair is almost lost in the light of the photographer's studio. I think he is a similar age to the previous boy, perhaps around 12-14 years old.

This boy's instrument is of an unusual design called a "pocket cornet". It is essentially the same length of tubing as the other cornets but is twisted tighter to make it compact and thereby pocket-sized.   

Philadelphia Times
2 June 1888

Like Boston, Philadelphia had lots of restaurants that engaged bands to entertain and attract patrons. In June 1888 the Belmont Mansion had the Neapolitan Military Band under the direction of Professor Curci perform two concerts a day. Their special guest was Master F. E. Wagner, the "wonderful boy cornet soloist". The restaurant was "a la Carte". 

The photographer for this cabinet card was Harry A. Webb, an "art photographer" located at 112 & 114 N. 9th Street in Philadelphia. The back of the photo has a fancy illustration typical of photos from the 1890s. The handwritten number at the bottom is most likely the photographer's notation of the negative file.

* * *

The previous two boys, and possibly the first boy, too, were surely "professional" child entertainers just based on their wardrobe. Normal boys don't walk around in slippers or have watch fobs. Evidently they had sufficient musical talent that some adult, usually a parent, decided to get the boys to perform for the public who, of course, would pay money to hear them. This kind of child entertainment was quite common in showbiz, especially in music, but in the 1880s many people saw these child entertainers as a wanton exploitation bordering on child abuse. Progressive societies demanded that civic officials put an end to this mistreatment and protect the child stars. In April 1885 a controversy arose in Brooklyn, New York over Master E. Clarence Worrall, a local boy cornetist, who was set to play concerts at a private "Musee" or museum in French. The mayor of Brooklyn was asked to intervene.

Brooklyn Eagle
6 April 1885

CAN'T BLOW HIS LITTLE HORN.

Mayor Grace Prevents a Brooklyn Prodigy
from Playing at the Eden Musee. 

A few days ago Mr. Elbridge T. Gerry caused the parents of Master E. Clarence Worrall, a very juvenile Brooklyn cornetist, to withdraw him from the Eden Musee, where he has been serving as an attraction under the caption of an infant cornetist.  The father appealed to Mayor Grace through Rev. Father E. J. O'Reilly, of St. Stephen's Church, and backed up the latter's words with testimony from Dr. George R. Kuhu, of this city, and Mr. Patrick S. Gilmore, the one saying that the boy was in good health and the other that cornet playing was a delightful and harmless exercise for an infant.  The Mayer looked at the boy himself, and then decided in favor of Mr. Gerry and his Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, on the ground that the boy did not look healthy and was too little, anyway, to appear in public, even if he was a prodigy. 

One of young Worrall's advocates was Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (1829–1892), an Irish-American composer and musician who was one of the most esteemed bandleaders of his time.  In the end the boy, E. Clarence Worrall, found an acceptable workaround and went on to play shows in the New York metro area. He achieved some success as his career extended into the next decade when he was recognized as a popular soloist and band leader. 

My final boy cornetist follows the same fashion as the other boys, though his suit looks more like a worsted wool material. Again he has a broad bowtie and a watch fob, though his mother has opted for high button shoes. He looks about age 12-14 and stands next to a faux carved stone plinth in front of a painted floral backdrop. His cornet is better positioned to see the design of the instrument and a hint of engraving on the bell. The photograph was taken in Los Angeles. 

Unlike the other boys this young man has his name recorded on the back of the cabinet photo. He is "Frank Reed, son of Laura Reed, sister of Laura Harpoll".

The photographer was the Sunbeam Art Studio of 236-238 S. Main St. in Los Angeles, California. Despite these good clues the name Frank Reed was too common in record archives to make a proper identification. But I did determine that the Sunbeam Art Studio was first listed in the 1894 Los Angeles city directory. Its proprietors were C. Coules and F. C. Dando. By 1897 they dropped the name Sunbeam Art Studio, added a second location at 313½ Spring St, and used only the 236 S. Main St. address. In the 1899 city directory Coules and Dando were no longer partners. That puts the date of Master Frank Reed's portrait to around 1894 to 1896.

1897 Los Angeles city directory.

On the opposite page in the 1897 Los Angeles city directory was an photo engraving of another photographer, Mr. J. T. Pollock of the Garden City Foto Co. He stands on top a horse-drawn carriage which has a windowless passenger box for his darkroom. On top Mr. Pollock has mounted a camera on a tall ladder. His advertisement claims he is "the only photographers in Los Angeles that are equipped for making views from 25-foot elevation. Largest assortment of choice views to be found in Southern California, at wholesale and retail. Developing and printing for amateurs a specialty. We are here to stay; we have no rent to pay."

* * *

All of these boys resemble a photo featured in Master Eddie Derville - Cornet Soloist, a story from September 2016. In his portrait Master Eddie wears the same style boys suit with a fancy watch fob stylishly displayed. His photo was taken in around 1883 by Charles Eisenmann, one of the best photographers in New York City who specialized in producing promotional photos of theatrical and circus entertainers. In the late 19th century American show business rapidly expanded with entrepreneurs building countless new theaters and music halls in any town where there was a train station. Theater managers needed to sell a lot of tickets to make a profit so it stimulated an explosion of new acts of every  kind. Child performers were a guaranteed draw. At least if they had genuine talent. The most common way for a child to become a performer was as member of a family musical ensemble, often grandly called a family band or orchestra. 

Master Eddie Derville played cornet in his family band and it is quite likely that some of the four boys I have featured here also learned to play their instrument that way too. But I think some could easily have had talent that merited being promoted as a cornet soloist in their own right. The career of a child entertainer was obviously very brief as the novelty of a young soloist didn't attract much public attention once the kid grew up. Did these boys go on to become professional musicians as adults? It is difficult, if not impossible, to know, since all we can see in an anonymous photo is a  single moment of youthful delight and charm. But at that moment the camera shutter clicked surely mama smiled too. 

    * The names correspond to the French cornetist Jean-Baptiste Arban (1825–1889),
                    the Scottish cornetist Matthew Arbuckle (1828–1883), 
                    the German cornetist Herman Bellstedt (1858–1926),
                    the English cornetist Jules Levy (1838–1903),
                    and the Italian cornetist Alessandro Liberati (1847–1927).
                    Each was a virtuoso of the piston valve cornet and a respected teacher
                    of the instrument. Their solo and method books are still required study for music
                    students in the 21st century. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where charming portraits of boys
are on sale this weekend.

The Funny Men, part 1

 

He's the odd looking fellow
with a goofy face that only a mother could love.

Or that bloke at the pub
whose loud braying can almost shatter glass.

Maybe he's that daft store clerk
who never understands your questions
and can't stop talking.

Or that looney uncle
who wears mismatched outfits
and tells never ending stories.

Each one is a merry chap
we've all met or known.
Men full of mirth and jollity
that keep us laughing
at the follies of life.

The funny men.

Today I present a small collection
of five jokesters, all German entertainers from around 1910. 

Their jokes and comical skits expired long ago
yet even a century later 
their zany faces can still amuse us. 

My first funny man is called "Peterchen, der schönste Mann Deutschlands" ~ "Little Peter, the most handsome man in Germany".  I'll let German readers be the judge of that but if he was sitting next to the only free seat on a train, I'd keep moving down to the next carriage.

Peterchen's post card is printed on a woven green/cream paper stock by Nordische Kunstanstalt (Nordic Art Institute) Ernst Schmiat & Co. of Lübeck, a major German port city on the Baltic Sea, about 40 miles northeast of Hamburg. The card was sent by a soldier using free military post on 29 March 1916.

* * *

The postcard of my second jokester identifies him as Paul Becker als "Clarinetten-Carl", Carola-Sänger, Leipzig. I'm not sure what a Carola-Sänger is, but other German postcards from this era that use this phrase have pictures of male vocal groups, so I think Becker was probably a lead singer in that kind of ensemble. His "Clarinetist Carl" was surely a comical bumpkin-like character that he portrayed in his music hall act. His little E-flat clarinet is indeed a very laughable instrument which has a squawk that could wake up any audience and make them scream for it to stop. 

This card was printed by the publisher Dr. Trinkler of Leipzig. It was never mailed but has qualities similar to other postcards dating to the wartime years 1914-1918. Clarinetten Carl resembles the music hall clowns in my story Artists of Das Wandertheater from February 2017. I bet he was a popular with the troops.

* * *

The third comic's picture comes from a postcard captioned Harry Schoss, das rheinische Unikum ~ the Rhenish Unique. This promotional card shows Schoss in three small portraits, with his wacky character with a big nose pictured on the left. His other photos reveal he was a debonair gentleman whose real schnoz was more appealing. Another meaning for the German word Unikum might be "one-of-a-kind". My guess is that the humor came from his character's ridiculous simpleton features. Like Peterchen, Harry Schoss resembles the comedian and film star Jerry Lewis, the so called "The King of Comedy". 

This postcard's stamp was removed so the full postmark is missing and I can't place it in Germany other than it's in Ostfriesland which is the northwest region of East Frisia on the North Sea. The writer however dated his message as 26 March 1914, just four months before the start of war.

* * *

The looney uncle is Miklós Nagy, Komicker der Truppe „Csárdás”. His elaborate jacket, monocle, beany cap, and pig nose (realistic but surely fake) mark him as an ethnic comic character. His postcard is a montage with two more photos of Miklós showing him in another exotic folk costume wearing a fez hat and then in a standard men's suit. A Csárdás is a traditional Hungarian folk dance and in this era Hungarian music troupes were regular features of theaters in central Europe. The equivalent character in American theaters were often a Jewish, Irish, or Dutch comic character that mocked ethnic stereotypes of dialect and intelligence in ways that are now considered improper and not at all funny. 

This postcard was sent from Bochum, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia near Dortmund, on 9 October 1909.

* * *

My last funny man is Alfredo Kuppler, Salon & Charakter humorist. Alfredo is one of those comedians who have a very flexible face and mouth that seems to be made of rubber. His postcard is another montage of six small photos, with one showing him with a serious expression, another portraying an elderly man, and four closeups showing off his wildly expressive face. In some ways the preposterous twist of a jester's mug is a universal humor that needs no translation or explanation. I believe making a funny face might be the root of mankind's first joker, entertaining a family tribe by telling stories around the campfire. 

Alfredo Kuppler's postcard was sent by a soldier by military post, but not during the war. The postmark date is 15.2.08 or 15 February 1908. The recipient was another soldier, a Pionier, or pioneer, a specialist infantryman, serving as a combat engineer in an army telegraph department in Berlin. 

Humor is the most ephemeral of artforms. What makes someone laughable is difficult to explain and often impossible to describe. Sometimes you just had to be there in order to get the gag. In our 21st century we can't fully appreciate the hilarity of these men or understand what exactly made them funny men. Jokes and wit do not age well. But I've collected enough postcards of comedians from this era to recognize that they were once considered pretty amusing. This is the start of a series with more funny fellows to come.

And when the world is falling apart, when everything seems grim and dreadful, we depend on the silliness of comedians to bring us out of despair and make us all laugh at the absurdity of the human condition. Don't cry. Be happy. That's what real funny business is all about. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone is topsy-turvy this weekend.

 

Das Auto, part 4

Who were these strange people
dressed in outlandish costumes? 
Were they natives of some remote
northern region of the world?
Did their goggles protect them
from frigid arctic winds or
shield them from blinding blizzards?

Could they be aliens from another planet?
Were those weird metal horns some kind of
musical instrument or a weapon?
Even their little animal companions
look bizarre and a bit scary.  

No, they were not pictures of monsters or foreigners. They were crazy cartoons of ordinary German couples who were preparing to go for a ride in their new automobile. Evidently they drove very powerful cars as the postcards are captioned: 100 H. P. and 80 H. P.  

They were figments of the vivid imagination of Arthur Thiele (1860 – 1936), a prolific German postcard artist whose work I have featured many times on this blog. This is the fourth and final installment of a series I call Das Auto which presents Thiele's suite of six postcards on a theme of motorists  indulging in extravagant and plainly silly outfits for their motoring. It was a 1900s fashion trend shared throughout Europe and much of America too.  

My first story, Das Auto, part 1, started out-of-order from Thiele's progression with a card portraying 40 H. P.  This was followed by Das Auto, part 2, which presented 10 H. P. and 20 H. P.. And then in May 2024  Das Auto, part 3 showcased 60 H. P..  Even a casual reader could guess where this was going. Automobiles were still a novelty in the first decade of the 20th century but already motoring enthusiasts were demanding "more power" from their vehicles which made them a target of mockery from clever artists like Arthur Thiele.

In fact these motorists' wacky apparel was a practical answer to problems with the first automobile designs. The first motorized autos were patterned off horse-drawn carriages and had canvas coverings or just open tops. Since even 10 horsepower engines could propel a car faster than a team of horses, drivers and passengers were exposed to the elements and subject to extremes of heat and cold that had never been felt before. 

When Thiele published this series in 1908 automobiles typically had petrol and diesel engines that could produce a range of horsepower from around 10 to 60 hp depending on price. Horsepower was a new novelty term that few people understood. But to rich upper class society people more  horses had to be better, so Thiele makes a joke about how with more power, like 80 and 100 H. P., speed would increase enough to freeze toes, fingers, and noses too. It's an uncomfortable cooling phenomena that I learned about when I bought my first motorcycle. Since in the 1900s the automobile heater had not yet been invented, much less included as standard equipment on a car, other companies rushed in to manufacture suitable climate change accessories for motorists. 

Motor
1906 January

The Scandinavian Fur & Leather Co, of New York advertised in Motor, the monthly magazine for automobile aficionados, that its Scandinavian Motor Apparel for Winter Wear "is known throughout the world." Except maybe in Australia, India, and the Caribbean. Their fur coats look quite sturdy and warm, though maybe not as heavyweight as those worn by Thiele's motorists. 

The 100 H. P. postcard was sent from Dresden across town to someone staying at the Hotel du Nord in Dresden by G. S., A. S. and W. S. on 15 June 1908.

Motor 
1907 December

In 1907 Motor magazine devoted a whole page to a piece entitled "Rough Furs for Winter Motor Garb." The writer discusses the need for proper outer clothing when taking houseguests to the theater in the wintertime. These coats needed to be large enough with extra wide sleaves for a person to put on over their regular evening garments. Buttons were larger to make it easier to fasten when wearing gloves. Fur pelts like grey squirrel, opossum, muskrat, raccoons, and Russian pony were commonly used, while sealskin, leopard, sable, and broadtail, a wavy, moiré-like pelt of a young or stillborn Karakul lamb baby lamb, were available on special order for more discerning motorists.

Motor 
1906 February

Hats and veils suitable for riding in an open automobile were another important fashion accessory for every motoring woman. The sudden changes of wind direction when driving around a city street or country road made it very challenging to keep your hat on, even with traditional long hat pins. In 1905 the Boehm & Levine company of New York took out a patent for their Mon Bijou head attire that was "absolutely dust proof". The wind in an automobile also stirred up a lot of dust and dirt from road surfaces. No respectable lady wanted to see her bonnet trashed or her feathers in a twist when arriving at her destination. A full face veil was the most practical solution.

The 80 H. P. postcard was sent from Paris on 24 Août (August) 1908. There is no postmark so the card went with a letter or package. The handwriting is reasonably clear but the combination of letters in French, especially vowels that look like consonants, made it a difficult puzzle for me so I gave up. I do know that the writer's first line refers to arriving in Paris after traveling for 4 hours. Her name was Emma Leroy(?) and her flat at 47 Rue du Rocher is still there with decorative  ironwork so typical of Paris on the entrance to the five story building.  

Motor 
1906 January

For gentlemen there were special head and face gear too. The Scott Muffler Co. of Portsmouth, Ohio offered their "all in one piece" mufflers that protected the face, ears, neck, and chest. "Makes zero weather pleasant." 

 

Motor 
1906 January

In January 1906 the Ball-Fintze Co of Newark, Ohio advertised the Avalon Storm Apron which was a rubberized cloth that draped across an automobile's passenger compartment. It offered protection against storms and bad weather with holes for one to five people. They also offered Weed Chain Tire Grips to prevent skidding and assist in traction on muddy roads.

Motor Age
1907 December

The two men in Thiele's postcards hold strange horns. The 100 H. P. long instrument looks not unlike a brass alphorn and the 80 H. P. instrument is an unusual four valve four bell horn. Though they are exaggerated in size they were just another useful motoring accessory that filled a need not included by the automobile manufacturers. Soon after they were introduced to the world, automobiles and their drivers were recognized as being dangerous to pedestrians, horses, and other drivers. Many communities demanded that drivers announce themselves with a loud bugle horn when driving in certain situations like rounding a blind curve or entering an intersection. Some were pneumatic devices like the No. 19 La Bassoon oval horn and the Leavitt Siren Horn which were advertised in the December 1907 edition of Motor Age magazine. The sound was produced by a brass reed like on a harmonica or toy noisemaker which I think was the same method used in the horns depicted in Thiele's cartoons. 

Life
1909 April

The early motorists of the 1900s endured a lot of misadventures as they learned how to operate an automobile. Every driver was expected to understand the mechanics of their machine. Otherwise they were likely one day to find themselves stranded far from home like in this illustration from Life magazine. A broken part could force a man to get out and get under just in order to fix his car.

The travails of modern motoring, especially in winter, were a source of much amusement in America as in Germany.  

Life
1909 January 7

                                                                Getting Even

    Autoist (who has paid boy to bring assistance):   Did you give the farmer my message, boy?

    Boy:  Yep;  I told him ther'  wuz four automobeelers stuck in a driff'  an'  cuddent git out.

                                                             "What did he say?

                                                             "He said 'HOORAY,'  an'  gimme another quarter."

Life
1909 April

And when all else failed,
a motorist could still depend
on real horse power
to get their auto
back to its stable garage. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where no matter how old it is

a photo can still have that new-car scent.