Ladies with Brass - A to Z

 

Musical fads come and go, depending on the public's fickle penchant for new things. This postcard of the Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Ariosta“, directed by Herr E. Behncken, was once a type of musical ensemble that everyone recognized because they had heard one at their local music hall, beer garden, or city park bandstand. The six women and four men who played in this brass band were professional musicians who promoted their group with photo postcards of the band. Unlike a traditional band of just men, these Damen ensembles went out of their way to market how women were the principle performers. As proof of their popularity, I must have several hundred postcards just like this group in my collection. Today I'd like to present a small sample of these very brassy women A to Z. Sort of.

  

In the last decade of the 19th century and first decades of the 20th, women's bands and orchestras were very widespread thorughout central Europe, mainly in the German speaking regions, which in the time before the First World War was a much larger region than Europe in our 21st century. There were Damen Streich Orchester~Women's string orchestras, Damen Blasorchester~Women's wind bands; and Damen Trompeter Corps~Women's trumpet ensembles. The last one is my focus today. The Ariosta Trompeterinnen played several different valved brass instruments like tubas and trumpets, but the Trompeter-Corps in their name refers to the three natural trumpets seen standing on their bells at the front of the band. These instruments were a type of bugle without valves that was little different from the baroque trumpets that were played in miliary bands and royal fanfares.

The Ariosta band's postcard was never posted but we know it is an official postcard based on its printed description from multiple languages. (Extra points if you can name them all!)   A rubber stamp imprint for Karl Mohr's Conzerthaus  Werth in Duisburg indicates the venue where they performed. Duisburg is on the Rhine River in western Germany, north of Düsseldorf and not far from the border with the Netherlands.

* * *

This next group has a similar makeup of six young women and four men. They are the Österreichisches Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Bohème“ directed by Herr A. Lohmann. Their name indicates that they are from Austria, which at the time was part of an immense Austria-Hungary empire that encompassed dozens of ethnic peoples. Unlike the ladies in the Ariosta band who wore folksy white dresses with dark bodices and no hats, the women of the Bohème ensemble wear matching dresses with contrasting aprons and huge sombrero hats fitted with large pompons. Not surprisingly the men are not on display and are dressed in ordinary business suits. One of them must be the leader Lohmann but I'm not sure which one he is. Maybe the tallest man, second from right.

Notice that the women hold various brass instruments but there are four natural trumpets propped up in front. Typically these trumpets came as a quartet though they were all in the same key, usually E-flat. This postcard was sent on 7 March 1912 from Hamburg, Germany, about 550 miles from Austria's capital, Wien.   

* * *

This group is an octet of seven young ladies and one man. They are the Damen-Blas-Orchester „Erato“, Kapellmeister~conductor H. Schröder. The women wear matching dresses in a dark color with folk-type vests. Herr Schröder sits in the center at a table that has two rotary valve trumpets on it. The Blas-Orchester name suggests they played woodwind instruments too, but there are none shown here. Instead their brass instruments are clumped together in front with two pairs of natural trumpets leaning on chairs on either side. Notice the banners attached to the trumpets which were often embroidered with heraldic symbols like the eagle seen here. 

This card was sent on 13 November 1911 from Oberehn, a city now known as Obernai, a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. But in 1911 it was in the German territory of Reichsland Elsaß–Lothringen acquired by the German Empire during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

* * *

This brass band proudly promoted its heritage by choosing the name, Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Germania“, directed by A. Hardemann. This nine member ensemble had five women and four men. Herr Hartmann is likely the fellow with the biggest mustache seated in the center. The women are in identical dresses that have a navy collar. Their flat caps are maybe like a sailor but their sashes are not very nautical unless they are emergency flotation devices, too.  Their instruments are scattered on the floor with one young lady lying down and holding a natural trumpet. Two more are just left of her. 

As is the case with most of these groups, there are no names for any musicians except the leader. The women's string orchestras often had postcards of individual female soloists on flute, violin, or cello and brass groups would do the same for a female trumpeter. In most cases this was because the soloist was the daughter of the leader. It's quite likely that some of Herr Hartmann's children or even his wife are in this group, but those are details that history has forgot.

This postcard has a postmark of 14 November 191o from Waltershausen, a town in the south-western part of the district of Gotha in the state of Thuringia, Germany, about halfway between Frankfurt and Leipzig.

* * *

This is a larger ensemble of 12 musicans, seven women and five men. They are the Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Humoresk“, directed by H. M. Brunk, who surely is the man with the valve trumpet seated right. The women's outfits are another variation on a nautical style with cadet jackets and skirts with contrasting stripes. Everyone holds a brass instrument but standing front and center are three natural trumpets. 

This card was sent from Dresden on 4 June 1908. 

* * *

My next group is the Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Rhenania“, directed by F. P. Hartwig who sits center, I think. Like the leader of the Germania band, Herr Hartwig holds rolled-up paper, a symbol of a pianist or sometimes conductor. He leads seven young ladies and two other men. The women are dressed alike with a kind of decorative apron and no hats. Except for the leader and the woman playing drums, everyone else has a brass instrument. On the bass drum is a banner embroidered with the group's name and on the right are four natural trumpets, without banners but each wound with fancy tasseled rope.  

This card was sent on 9 August 1911 from Sudenburg, a district located in southwest Magdeburg, a city about 90 miles west of Berlin.

* * *

This group is another octet of five women and three men. They called themselves Fr. Weiher's Elite Damen-Blasorchester. The honorific Fr. stands for Frau~Mrs. The man standing center with a trumpet looks like he could be Herr Weiher, but is the tuba player seated next to him Frau Weiher? I can't say. Maybe she's the flugelhorn player to his right. The women are wearing white dresses with broad contrasting trim. Their little caps are fastened to their hair with dangerously long hatpins.  

This group adds pairs of mandolins and kettledrums to the ensemble as well as a folk xylophone called a Strohfiedel on the left under the smaller tuba. In the center is another quartet of natural trumpets complete with fringed banners.    

This postcard was mailed on 10 February 1913 from Strassburg, a major city in Alsace that, like Oberehn in the Erato band's postcard, was part of the German Empire in 1913. It is now known by its proper French name as Strasbourg.

* * *

My final band is the Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Zufriedenheit“, directed by Karl Hofert. It's another ten-piece ensemble with six women and four men. The word "Zufriedenheit" translates as "satisfaction", as in "I can't get no Zufriedenheit".  Despite the Trompeter Corps label there is actually one man with a clarinet standing third from left. I can't be certain he is the leader Herr Hofert, but he does have the best mustache. The women are wearing folksy German outfits but without caps or hats. The instruments shown are heavy on the low brass. but again front and center there are four natural trumpets arranged into a pyramid.  

This postcard was posted from Essen, Germany on 2 October 1909.

If anyone has read to this point they should recognize that I've gone A to Z in ladies with brass but have left out a few letters in the alphabet. Eighteen to be precise. I think I could have met that goal but that would be cruel to my readers. 

In the examples I've featured today, these musical groups were each ostensibly called a women's ensemble, but, as we can see, were actually a mixture of women and men, all professional musicians. That kind of integration of the sexes in the working world was not common in Germany, or really anywhere in the world in this era, as women had not yet attained equal rights under the laws for property, employment, or suffrage. But it was the way these German ladies were presented as talented entertainers that first caught my attention years ago when I began collecting these postcards. As I found more and more of them there was enough to see that a Damen Trompeter Corps was once a musical fad.  

I don't know exactly what music they played, but I believe their repertoire was mainly lighter music, popular songs and dances taken from many folk traditions within the larger Germanic culture. I use the word Germanic because it includes the many complicated regions of central Europe beyond Germany and Austria's borders where German was the principal language. 

But wait, there's more! In my collection there are an equally large number of postcards from non-German music groups, too. Hungarians, Czechs, Croatians, and more. And like the ones I've presented today these groups are often mostly women with a few men.  That's an A to Z challenge for another time.     

 

For anyone who can't get enough
of this unique type of brass ensemble

Here are my previous stories on Germanic ladies:
Ladies with Brass
Ladies of Brass with Hats
More Ladies of Brass
Even More Ladies with Brass
Still More Ladies with Brass

It's difficult to know how these groups sounded,

mainly because their concert repertoire was rarely recorded.

But we can get a little idea from a modern brass ensemble.

Here is the University of Kentucky Baroque Trumpet Ensemble
performing a piece of 17th century Italian music
entitled Sonata Tedesche da Tromba.

If it sounds familiar it's because the fanfare was arranged 
for the title track in many of Sylvester Stallone's  "Rocky" movies.

  

   Postcard Trivia   

Fourteen languages were used to label my first postcard of the Ariosta band as an official postcard approved by the Unione postale universelle. 

            1.    “Brefkort” = Norwegian 
            2.    “Carta postale” = Latin
            3.    “Post card” = English
            4.    “Carte postale” = French
            5.    “Postkarte” = German
            6.    “Cartolina postale” = Italian
            7.    “Dopisnice” = Czech/Slovak
            8.    “Открытое письмо” = Russian
            9.    “Levelező-lap” = Hungarian
            10.    “Briefkaart” = Dutch 
            11.    “Tarjetas Postale” = Spanish 
            12.    “Bilhete Postal” = Portuguese 
            13.    “Brevkort” = Danish
            14.    “Korespondenčni listek” = Slovene 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where every day is Mother's day.

Victorian Photographers - Gentlemen in Chairs

It was a question that required some thought.
How would you like to be remembered?

Once upon a time, having a portrait photograph made
was an important milestone in one's life.
It was a record of a moment
but it was also a memento of achievement. 

In preparing for the camera,
besides one's favorite suit
and a proper shave by your barber,
what else could you do to look your best?

Perhaps use some props
to convey distinction and gentility.
A few books at hand always added
a serious enlightened quality to a portrait.

For some men a book was considered unnecessary.
It was their distinguished visage
and earnest expression that said it all.
Even while seated relaxed at a desk
their face could not conceal
an upstanding self-confidence. 

For others, posing for a photograph was easy
if you understood how a camera worked.
It was as simple as looking at a mirror
and liking what you saw.

Yet a few men felt

it was important for posterity
to include symbols of their life
in this new medium of a photograph. 

As the great bard would say,

                                                        All the world’s a stage,

                                                        And all the men and women merely players;

                                                        They have their exits and their entrances;

                                                        And one man in his time plays many parts...

'As You Like It' (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 139

Today I present five Victorian gentlemen
who once posed for a photographer
and left behind a small carte de visite photo
of the occasion for me to find
and for others to admire.

My first gentleman is a man about age 50-60 seated in a carved wooden armchair which has a seat and back upholstered in fine fabric. He looks direct into the camera lens as he rests one hand on some small books placed on an ornately carved/turned pedestal side table. The books are about the same size as a modern paperback and I believe they are likely works of fiction rather than scholarly or theological tomes.

The photograph was produced by the Theweneti brothers' studio of Bath, a historic city in Somerset, England, that is famous for and named after its Roman-built baths which were built around its natural hot springs. Beginning in the Stuart period and later Georgian era it became a popular destination for people seeking a restorative health treatment from its waters. In the 1860s many photographers set up studios in Bath to cater to its many visitors. This cdv has no name or date, but the simple small type of the photographer and the square corners dates it to the 1860s.

The carte de visite, 'visiting card' or cdv, was first developed in 1854 by French photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri. A cdv image was an albumen print made from a collodion negative on thin paper that was glued onto thicker paper cardstock the same size as a formal visiting card, about 4½ x 2½ inches (11.4 x 6.3 cm). Because the photographic process was reproducible, a photographer could easily print any number of copies for a very inexpensive price. These two factors led to the cdv becoming a very popular portrait medium in the 1860s-70s.  

* * *

My second gentleman also sits, but this time at a desk. He is also in his late 50s or 60s and wears a long frock coat that, I think, gives him the air of a businessman. He has a thoughtful gaze away from the camera as he holds an open book, maybe with pen in hand. The desk is an ingenious compact writing desk called a davenport or sea captain's desk that, supposedly, originates from a design first made in the 1790s for a Captain Davenport by Gillows of Lancaster. A davenport features a sloped, leather-lined top, that lifts to reveal a compartment for stationary. One side has a set of drawers and there are often hidden secret drawers, or a brass or wood gallery for storing letters. 

The photographer was J. W. Clarke of 1 Wool Hall Street, opposite West door of Corn Exchange, in Bury St. Edmunds, a cathedral and market town in the county of Suffolk, England. This cdv is signed and dated by its subject, but the handwriting style is challenging to decipher. I think it reads:

Julian Hale Sawyer

1870 

* * *

My third gentleman also sits at a davenport but without extra props. His silver grey hair definitely put him in his late 60s or 70s. Like all of the examples I present here, I have no knowledge of his background other than the photographer's name and location. But as this cdv was made by Rae Photo of Dumfries, Scotland I presume he is Scottish. 

The back of the cdv has an imprint of a stag over Rae, Photographer, Dumfries, (duplicates may be had). The more detailed style of imprint dates the photo to the late 1860s or early 1870s. Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh situated in the western part of Scotland's Southern Uplands, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth. The celebrated Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (1758–1796) lived in Dumfries during the last years of his life. 

* * *

My next gentleman sits cross-legged in a relaxed manner like the man from Dumfries but he has a most engaging face looking straight into the camera lens, almost with a smile. He looks to be in his 30s though his pate is bare, but he sports a neatly trimmed beard strap without mustache or chin whiskers. I've seen this hairstyle on photos of clerics, but this man is dressed in a regular suit with an ordinary collar and black bowtie. Yet I think his choice of a neck-beard is an indication of some special career, perhaps in medicine or academia. To one side is another davenport desk, a fashionable studio furnishing seen in many cdv photographs from this era.

The photographer was John Bull of Melcombe Villa in Weymouth, a seaside town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It is situated on a sheltered bay by the English Channel at the mouth of the River Wey. During the Georgian era, Weymouth was a popular place for Britain's upper class to take summer holidays, but after a railway line was built in 1857 connecting it to London it boosted trade and tourism attracting many more visitors. I suspect this photograph was taken in the late 1860s. 

* * *

My final gentleman is seated at an ornate pedestal table while holding some letters or papers. On the table is a large bust of William Shakespeare. His gaze is just slightly to the left of the camera. He appears a mature man of age 50+ with grey hair and a kind of hybrid mustache, side chops, and chin beard. Unlike the other photographers' studio sets which had mostly empty backwalls for good light contrast, this studio has a wall painted with a dramatic mountainous landscape that includes a castle. It's a more rugged scene than anywhere in British Isles, I think.  

After a search of the internet, I think the bust of Shakespeare is a bronze casting made by the F. Barbedienne Foundry in Paris following a design by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828). It is described as dating from the 1870s which I think fits with this cdv's qualities. The studio was that of the Southwell brothers, Photographers Royal, at 16 & 22 Baker Street in London. The word "Royal" meant that the Southwell brothers' studio held an official Royal Warrant, indicating they were authorized to photograph Queen Victoria or members of the Royal Household.    

This is the first story of what will be a series exploring carte de visite photos. Unlike my usual stories about photos of musicians and musical groups, the subjects of this series are ordinary people without any obvious connections to music. Instead I'd like to present examples of photo portraits taken in the first decades of the photographic age.  

A few months ago I acquired several carte de visite photos of celebrated European musicians and composers which I hope to feature in some future stories. But in the process I came across one British dealer who offered thousands of portrait photos, all cdvs, roughly from the 1860s to the 1880s. Most of these photos had superb clarity and included men, women, children, and couples from Britain and France. The photos were also listed at amazingly cheap prices. So with a few clicks of the mouse button I bought them and in the process created a new album for my collection. 

The subjects are mostly unknown, but the photographers' names place them in a large variety of locations that shows how quickly the cdv medium spread. I've come to think about this collection as like a crowded Victorian railway station filled with anonymous people going every which way. We see an interesting face and wonder. What does that person do? How old are they? Where are they from? Why are they dressed that way?

As the great bard said,

                                                    All the world’s a stage,

                                                    And all the men and women merely players...

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where a television once had only three channels

and the evening news was really news.

 

AL. F. Wheeler's Circus Band

 

Coatesville, Pennsylvania

Record
11 March 1916 

 When The Circus Arrives 

How Wheeler Bros. Shows Operate

From Day to Day.

    When Wheeler Brothers’ Circus, which will open the season in Coatesville on April 22, arrives, the cook tent is the first to reach the show grounds.  It is the first one put up, and the circus man knows better than any other type how to enjoy substantial and plentiful food fresh from the kitchen.  From the moment of arrival everyone is continuously busy.  A few are eating, many working.  Canvas is laid out, the boss canvas man directing the laborers, the boss hostler hurrying the grooms and horses.  There are 26 bosses with this show, for all the many departments.  Men with mauls form quartettes and sextettes about points, and begin a rhythmic hammering of stakes into the ground.  A foreman with a keen eye superintends the jacking up of the huge center poles and hauling the canvas to the top.  Sidewalls are whipped in over the quarter poles as fast as the poles can be set, and even before one can marvel at the rapidity of it, the job is done.

    

    Then comes the parade, for no circus is a circus without a "grand street display." Schools are out, business suspended, sidewalks lined. When the parade has passed there is a rush to the circus grounds, the side show manager begins his leather lunged announcement while introducing his platform ballyhoo; the big outside, open air free act is over, the band plays until the cheeks of every musician seems inflated.  On with a grand opening tournamental pageant, and the big circus program is in full swing, and the three rings filled with so many wonderfully thrilling scenes and stunts that one would become cross-eyed to even try to absorb it all at one sitting.  One convincing explanation of this is the passing forever of the old-style one-ring show, because of the enormously increased railroad expense. The high cost of living and the increased salaries of union bill posters, musicians, agents; and the continuous fight for high-grade ring talent makes it absolutely necessary in protecting the financial investment to have a large enough seating capacity to clear the show, and more, because of weather conditions: all days are not sunshine.

    Matinee and night, and before the night is fully ended the menagerie tent is down and the brilliant cages, now all canvas covered, are on their way to “the runs."  Silently the big circus top swings itself back into the folds, and is loaded.  Before the sun has even started to rub its eyes for a new day the long show trains are away down the tracks, headed for the next town, where the scene of activity is repeated.  But it is worse than useless to attempt a full description of how a circus is handled.  Every detail is a story in itself.  

    It is the daily tearing down and building up of a white city that knows no home until it goes back again to Oxford, and settles down to the business of making ready for the next season.  Wheeler Brothers’ Circus, famous as the “Pennsylvania Show,” is well and favorably known throughout the East and South, and this season will make its first tour to the great Western country.

    

***

Twelve bandsmen pose outdoors next to a horse-drawn freight wagon. The men are are of various ages, most in their late 20s or 30s with a few aged 40+. With two clarinets and two drummers this brass band can barely pass as a concert band. Their uniforms are embellished with fancy embroidery but in a generic style that suggests they are off-the-rack mail ordered. The leader, standing third from left, holds both a baton and a cornet, but his garb is no different from his musicians. In the background we can see a few faces of onlookers, some canvas tents, and rope rigging. They are clearly a circus band, but the only clue to their identity is in a painted notice on the boxy wagon behind them.

Al. F. Wheeler's
New Model
SHOWS
   

Yet the best clues are in the message on the back of this postcard photo. It was never posted but sent in a letter as a gift. 

Harry "Doc" Richards
                                         Newark, NJ
With best wishes to my old
Pal " James"    this is our
band   I run double drums
inside & concert
yours   Sincerely
H Richards
Season 1915                                                           

Next to the postcard's stamp box is another clue, an imprint of the photographer made with an embossing seal which left reversed letters. Flipping the image reveals that the photo was produced by Westphal of Vineland, N. J.  That's a bit over 50 miles east, as a crow flies, from Oxford,  Pennsylvania, the home of circus impresario Alson (F.) Wheeler (1873–1957) and winter quarters for his circus, the so-called "Pennsylvania Show" described in the newspaper clipping above.  

Wheeler was born in Poestenkill, New York, a few miles east of Albany and the Hudson River. He was the youngest of a family of eight and saw his first circus, a wild animal menagerie, at age seven. Evidently this show inspired him to pursue a career in the world of circuses. After working in a few traveling shows he formed his own circus company in the fall of 1893. But this small one ring show did not last beyond its first season. 

In 1903 Wheeler, now 30 and with more business experience after working as secretary/treasurer in his family's ice business, started a second company. He called it "Al. F. Wheeler's Circus", adding an invented middle initial (his parents never gave him one) for a bit of genteel respectability, I suppose. Acts in this show performed in a single ring and there was an animal menagerie, too. In its first season the small company traveled by four wagon through New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and New Jersey. In 1906 the company became "Al. F. Wheeler's New Model Shows" and set up its winter quarters in a fairground at Oxford, PA where Wheeler would later move his family in 1908.

The Billboard
13 August 1910

Over the next few years, Wheeler expanded his circus by forming partnerships with other circus owners. In this era shows were constantly changing artists and often desperate to fill vacancies. Companies bought want-ads offering their employment needs in the entertainment trade weekly, The Billboard. In August 1910 Al. F. Wheeler's shows wanted an experienced "boss canvasman" to handle its tent equipment. They also wanted a "strong cornet and slide trombone", as well as a "good 'Cooch' dancer with A1 wardrobe and appearance", along with "sober workingmen in all departments." 

The larger show moved into two rings with more acts which necessitated traveling by train. By 1913 it had three rings and needed 30 train cars to carry the full show. The route now included North and South Carolina and Virginia. 

The following season Wheeler formed a combined circus called "Wheeler Bros. Greater Shows & Stampede Wild West". Beginning in Oxford on 18 April 1914, for six a days a week the company performed 157 dates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, New York, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, and South Carolina and even 4 towns in New Brunswick, Canada.    

Bernardsville NJ News
24 June 1915

In season 1915 when Harry "Doc" Richards sent his band's photo to his friend, Wheeler's circus was, possibly because of the new war in Europe, even though the United States was still a neutral bystander then, or more likely for financial economy, very much reduced. The company had returned to touring by wagon which, course, meant travel was slower and covered less distance. The circus spent hardly anything on advance publicity in the many small town newspapers on their route. 

The show opened first in Oxford. on Saturday 24 April 1915, with two performances at 2:00 and 8:00 for the circus's hometown folk. The acts included "Wheeler's dancing horses; Capt. Snider's wonderful trained wild animals; the peerless European wonders, the Cowden Troupe; Flossie La Blanch, the world's champion strong woman in her great feats of strength; Wheeler's troupe of highly educated trained ponies; and a host of funny clowns."  An outbreak of Foot-and-mouth disease in Pennsylvania had caused some concern after the state authorities restricted movement of livestock across state boundaries. But as it only afflicted cloven-hoofed animals like cattle, swine, and sheep, it didn't cause problems for the Wheeler show.

Vineland NJ Evening Journal
6 August 1915

By the end of July, Wheeler's circus show was in New Jersey but had changed from "Wheeler Bros. Greater Shows" back to "Al. F. Wheeler's New Model Shows." What this indicates about the business and relationships in the Wheeler family is unknown. Hyperbole and extravagant statements were a standard of show biz publicity then, just as it is now. Their 1915 tour didn't go as far as in 1914, but by mid-November somehow Wheeler's show made it to Littleton, North Carolina just below the Virginia state line. The local newspaper reported:   "Though the Wheeler Brothers Show was a small affair as to tents and external paraphernalia the entertainment was good. Big shows can boast of no better actors."

The next season of the Wheeler shows was pushed as bigger than ever before. It added more extravagant acts including one with seven polar bears. They toured by train covering many states but by October 1916 things didn't look good. A want-ad in The Billboard says a lot in between the lines.  

The Billboard
7 October 1916

Wheeler Bros.' New Model Shows

WANT Trap Drummer, Tuba and Slide for White Band. Assistant Boss Canvasman, Seat Man, two hustling Billposters.   FOR SALE—Best Five Elephant Act in America, all large animals; anybody can handle them. Also Troupe of Trained Ponies, Bucking Donk, Untamable Lion and other property now with Tompkins Wild West.   WANT TO BUY—small Trained Elephant, suitable for two-car show: Llama, Camels.       Address- Al. F. Wheeler 

Also (F.) Wheeler
(18 September — 14 May 1957)
Source: circusesandsideshows.com

Alson (F.) Wheeler would go on to manage several more circus shows around the country, earning a reputation as a "healer of sick circuses" after turning poor productions into successful touring shows. But no doubt he could see that sound films and radio were a growing force of entertainment in the country and the future of circus shows was in decline. Alson Wheeler retired in 1937 and went into a real estate business in Oxford, PA. where he died in 1957.

Could Alson F. Wheeler be the man in the straw hat
standing left behind the band?

 

What really intrigued me about this photo was the message on the back. Who in that group was Harry "Doc" Richards? Obviously he was a drummer but which one? After a lot of searching through the archives of Ancestry.com and several historic newspaper websites, I finally tracked him down. It came from his extra note next to his name at the top: "Newark, N. J." 

Harry was the son of Henry and Jane Richards of 815 Ridge St. in Newark, New Jersey. According to the very useful 1900 US Census, Henry Richards. age 48, was a "silversmith", born in England in 1852, who immigrated to America in 1866. His wife Jane, age 40, was born in Wales. Together they had three children: Florence, age 4; Grace, age 18; and Harry, age 22, whose occupation was "grocer". This meant Harry would be 37 years old in 1915 which matched the younger bass drummer, not the older snare drummer in the photo. 

Richards, Harry - trap drummer 
1922 Newark, NJ city directory

 

Furthermore Harry left enough bread crumbs in his personal history for me to find him again in Newark's 1922 city directory. He was living with his parents again on Ridge St. along with his sister Grace who worked as a "music teacher". Harry's occupation was a "trap drummer" (the standard drum kit played by a percussionist in jazz or pop bands is sometimes called a "trap set".) Also helpful was to see that a second Harry, Harry E. Richards, did not play drums.

Most helpful was Harry's 1918 draft card which confirmed his address in Newark, his father's name, and his occupation: "Musician (Show), Shannon Stock Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, Road Show en-route." 

Further research connected Harry 'Doc' Richards to several circus and minstrel show bands, of which two are in my photo collection, so Harry may make a return in future stories. Harry was still working as a drummer in the 1930 census but by the 1940s seems to have retired. He kept up correspondence with reporters for The Billboard providing them with news or remembrance of old circus performers. I've been unable to find any end to his life but I think it fair to say Harry 'Doc' Richards was a true genuine trouper of the sawdust circuits. 

From its inception The Billboard provided a central hub for people involved in every kind of show business ranging from big city theatres to small town opera houses. It followed the vaudeville circuits and circus routes, reported on comics to dramatic artists, promoted acrobats to animal acts, and advertised suppliers of giant tents to band uniforms. 

In June 1915, as it did every month, The Billboard provided a list of the current routes and venues for every kind of entertainment group. There were 30 different professional bands on the road that month, from John Philip Sousa's Band playing in San Francisco to the Fadette Ladies Orchestra of Boston performing in Milwaukee. There were 11 minstrel show bands; 17 circuses & wild west shows; and 60 traveling carnivals. I'll skip the equally long lists of dramatic & musical variety shows, and repertoire and stock troupes that were also  on the road touring the continent. With few exceptions, every group used musicians in either a band or orchestra ensemble. The little band of Al. F. Wheeler's New Model Shows was just one of thousands of groups making America come alive with music. This is what Show Biz used to be like.    

One of America's lesser known great band composers was Charles E. Duble (1884–1960). He started as a trombonist in circus bands playing for the Gentry Brothers Dog and Pony Show, H. W. Campbell's United Shows, John Robinson's Big Ten Shows, Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, Sells-Floto Circus, Sparks, Robbins Brothers, the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show, Russell Bros. Circus, Downie Bros. Circus, and finally under the baton of Merle Evans, with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He went on to compose numerous works for band, many written specifically for professional circus bands that became known as "circus screamers." 

Charles Duble also once played in Wheeler's New Model Show Band. I can't confirm this yet, but from the few images I found online, he looks very like the trombonist standing behind Harry in my photo. 

Here is the Rancho Bernardo High School Royal Regiment of 90 pieces performing their competition march entitled Bravura by Charles E. Duble  at the 59th Annual Arcadia Festival of Bands Band Review in San Diego, CA on Saturday, November 17th 2012. They won the 1st place prize that year.

Duble composed this march in 1918
but I bet Harry Richards played it
many times during his career.
Even elephants would keep step to this march.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where some people would drive a long way

just to try out a new old pub.