Music Hath Charms

 

It's a nice portrait of a musician,
made more interesting because this older gentleman
holds an unusual coiled brass instrument. 
It may look like a French horn, but it really isn't. 
Its shape has a superficial similarity
but it has a smaller bell, is only half the length of a horn,
and its three piston valves are played
with the right hand, not the left. 

 

 Though instruments like this
are often mistaken for a French horn,
and once were even marketed as a replacement for one,
it is not a horn.
It's called a Mellophone,
sometimes known as a Concert or Circular Alto.

In the early 20th century the mellophone was a popular brass instrument
that occupied a position in a band just above the voice of a trombone.
The way the bell twists sideways to the left
gave it a less strident sound than a euphonium or tenor horn,
and its wider mouthpiece and short cylindrical bore
made it easier to play than the horn.

 

 

1901 Lyon & Healy Band Instrument Catalog

The original mellophone design, illustrated here from two band instrument catalogs, followed the basic twist of a French horn but the orchestral horn has its valve keys arranged for the left hand while the bell rests on the knuckles of the right hand and send the sound behind the player giving the horn a characteristic veiled sound. A mellophone player didn't put their hand into the bell but instead held it by the tubing braces so the bell was pointed to the left. The horn is also over 12 feet long and in a lower key than the mellophone. Since brass band music of the late 19th century used a number of instruments pitched in different keys, the mellophone was fitted with extra plumbing bits so it could substitute for a variety of parts. Unfortunately this feature also made it terribly out-of-tune.

 

 

1927 Sears Roebuck Co. catalog

In the early 20th century this kind of mellophone was offered by hundreds of band instrument companies in a variety of finishes. Based on the pattern of plumbing in the photo, I believe this gentleman's engraved  silver-plated mellophone was sold by the Carl Fischer Music Co. of New York City. Today it would be considered an old fashioned instrument and is now obsolete in bands. However a modern mellophone design was developed in the 1950-60s that bent the bell forward like a trumpet so it could be used in a marching band. Many high school and collegiate horn students are forced to learn this instrument in order to play it just for outdoor football shows and parades. The new design gives the mellophone a small improvement in sound, but it is strictly a marching instrument that has found no place in concert bands or orchestras.

 

This concludes the esoteric musical section of my story. 

 

 

This rather unassuming photo postcard of a mellophone player might have been relegated to the catchall category in my collection of "unknown musician" except that the man took the time to sign his name to his portrait.

 

 

"Music hath charms—"
but—?                 
Otis Dockstader
Nov. 28-1917

 

 

 

There is nothing on the back of the postcard
and it seems very likely that this photo was a gift sent with a letter.
Fortunately the name is unique enough that it didn't take long
to find Mr. Dockstader living in Elmira, New York.
 

His three-piece suit and neatly trimmed beard fit his occupation–architect.

 

1890 Elmira NY city directory

 

Born in September 1851, Otis Aldebert Dockstader was the son of a farmer living in Charleston, Pennsylvania. Evidently his parents recognized his potential to have a future beyond farming as Otis was educated at nearby Wellsboro Academy and then Michigan University Academy, followed by post-graduate courses at Cook Academy where he studied civil engineering. (All this information comes from his obituary.)  As a young man after the Civil War, Otis worked for the U. S. Coast Survey, the official maritime and coastal chartmaker for the nation which in this era attracted a number of scientists and naturalists.

 

In 1877 Otis Dockstader secured a position as a draughtsman at an architect's office in Elmira, New York, about 40 miles northeast of Charleston, PA. Following a break of a few years when he was employed as a civil engineer on the Erie railroad, in 1883 Otis returned to Elmira and became a partner with architect Joseph H. Pierce. 

 

In 1890 their architect firm of Pierce & Dockstader produced a brochure of their work called Modern Building which is stored at the Internet Archive. This was also the same year that the partners split up and by a curious coincidence the copy of the brochure found at the Internet Archive is the one Otis Dockstader used to promote his own work. It has Dockstader's rubberstamp on each page and his editorial changes handwritten on the forward material. The brochure is illustrated with plans, drawings, and photos of 21 residential houses, 8 churches, and two schools that Otis Dockstader claimed full or part credit for designing during this period of his career. 

These were substantial structures that followed the new American arts & crafts style. Here are some examples of Otis Dockstader's early architectural work with descriptions taken from his brochure.

 

 

No. 21 Half-tone from Photo

Built in Elmira, N. Y. in 1886

Semi-detached or "double house."  Each side has vestibule, hall, parlor, sitting-room, dining-room, pantry, kitchen, and store-room on first floor; three chambers, balcony and bath-room on second floor; two finished rooms in attic, furnace room, laundry and vegetable room in basement. Finish, oak and pine on grain. Plumbing, very good. Furnace heat. Brick-veneer, first story; frame shingled and sided above. Slate roof. Can be built for $5,500; might cost $7,000.

* * *

 

No. 50
Frame house built at Troy, Pa. in 1886

Has port cochere, ample porches and balconies, vestibule, hall, parlor, sitting-room, library, bathroom, pantry, kitchen, six chambers and large attic. Finished in native woods on grain. $14,000. Reasonable limits of variation in cost, $10,000 to $14,000.

 * * *

 

 

No. 33  “Half-tone” from Photo
Frame house built at Corning, N. Y.. in 1888.

Has same number of rooms on each floor as No. 32, and same accommodations, with billiard-room in attic, and laundry in basement. Cost, same as No. 32, $5,000 to $7,000.

 

 

1889 Shingle Victorian – Corning, NY
Otis Dockstader, architect
Source: Oldhousedreams.com

 

* * *

 

No. 121

Congregational church built at Berkshire, N. Y., in 1889. Parlors part of old church. Brick veneer with Warsaw bluestone sills, buttress blocks, etc. Ventilation special and very good. Finished in pine painted. Best modern oak pews. Interior and decorations unusually fine. Furniture complete, except organ. Cost to date, including carpets, cushions, etc., $8,200. New, would cost, complete, $9,000 to $12,000.

First Congregational Church, Berkshire, New York

* * *

 

 

 

No. 124

Brick veneer church for Parkhurst memorial, Presbyterian church at Elkland, Pa., built in 1889-90. Auditorium seats 300. No gallery. Sunday-school rooms and library over parlors and kitchen, and open into auditorium same as parlors. Finish, native woods on grain. Furnace heat. Ventilation good. Cost not yet fully determined; between $10,000 and $14,000, including organ and all furnishings.

 

 

Parkhurst Memorial Presbyterian church, Elkland, Pennsylvania
Source: Google Maps 2018

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

No. 122.

Stone church now building for Baptist church at Batavia, N. Y., 1890. Auditorium without gallery seats 450; with gallery would seat 600. Has four vestibules, choir and organ loft and choir-room, over two robing rooms and baptistry. The parlor has six Sunday-school rooms opening off, three on each floor, with gallery on second floor. Library over side vestibule, and infant department over pantry and kitchen. Parlor is lighted by clear story windows over dining-room, and will be used for Sunday-school assembly-room. All doors separating Sunday-school rooms and parlors, slide up into pockets, allowing the classes to take seats in their own rooms and take part in general exercises without change. The baptistry is arranged so as to conceal candidates except during the act of baptism. Parlors open into auditorium. Heating and ventilation not yet determined. Will cost complete, including carpets, organ fixtures, etc., about $28,000. Limits of variation in cost, $27,000 to $40,000.

 

 

First Baptist Church, Batavia, New York
Source: Google Maps 2021

 

 * * *

The other houses and churches in Otis Dockstader's 1890 brochure are equally interesting and handsome designs. They demonstrate an imaginative and detailed approach to creating functional buildings that fit naturally into their urban or suburban locations. [I should also add that I live in a large antique house in the historic district of Asheville, North Carolina which was designed by Richard Sharp Smith (1853–1924). He was an English architect who came to Asheville to work on the famous Biltmore House of George Washington Vanderbilt II. Smith stayed in Asheville and introduced an English Arts & Crafts style architecture to Western North Carolina.]

 

When this collection was made in 1890, Otis Dockstader had already established himself as a successful architect. Over the next few decades he would go on to design many residential, commercial, and civic buildings throughout New York, Pennsylvania and other Northeastern states. 

 

In 1875 Otis married Olive Mary Kelley and together they had six children, two daughters and four sons. The third son, Ernest A. Dockstader, born in 1890, would join his father's firm as a partner sometime after 1914. Sadly Otis lost his wife Olive who died in 1902 and when he remarried in 1905, his second wife, Narcissa Eva Martinette , died just three years later in 1908. The following year in 1909 Otis married Helen M. Huntington who unfortunately died in 1924. All of this family information was taken from two family trees found on genealogy websites. 

 

On 25 February 1929, Otis A. Dockstader died at his daughter's home in Schenectady, New York. He was age 77.

 

 

One of the constant themes that runs through my stories on this blog is the nature of how an identification of a subject can change how we view a photograph. If Otis had sent his postcard portrait without his name, which would not really be required if it was sent to someone he knew well, then it would just be a picture of an old man with an odd musical instrument. But by signing his photo and adding a date we discover that Otis A. Dockstader, architect, was someone who earned the respect and admiration in his community and profession and clearly had a lasting impact on society.

Though I have been unable to find Otis's name directly connected to a musical group, I do know that in 1917 there were nine bands or orchestras performing in Elmira, NY, which then had a population of around 40,000. The Elmira theatre had a resident orchestra. There was also a women's orchestra; a so-called "colored brass band"; a band made up from Elmira's Polish immigrants; a band from the Elmira Masonic Lodge; and four professional ensembles named for their bandleaders. And of course not listed were numerous school and church music groups.

 

I don't believe that Otis would have posed for such a formal portrait with an instrument if it was not his own, and besides, a mellophone is not a typical photographer's studio prop. It's fascinating that this man wanted to be remembered for his music making, not for his knowledge of engineering and construction. 

 

Another bit of good luck for this story is that Elmira's newspapers are all digitized on Newspapers.com. Otis regularly saw his name appear in the papers in regards to his building contracts and advertising. But there were personal reports that seem worthy of including in this short biography.

 

 

 

Elmira NY Star Gazette
4 December 1908

On an afternoon in December 1908, Otis Dockstader was leaving a shop in Elmira when  he saw that a spirited team of horses driven by a farmer had run over his bicycle. Mr. Docksteader immediately jumped into the street and seized the horses' bridles. Even as they reared onto the sidewalk he maintained control. A woman who was just then about to get into the buggy was saved from injury, and another woman on the sidewalk with a baby carriage narrowly missed being trampled by the horses. Mr. Dockstader explained that the farmer was driving a half broken colt who became frightened by a passing street car. The rim on one of his bicycle wheels was cracked but there was no other damage.

 

It's not often that I find someone in a my photo collection who qualifies as a genuine hometown hero.  Even more rare is finding someone who shares my passion for getting the best fuel economy possible.

 

 

Portland OR Oregonian
25 September 1921

In September 1921 it was reported in newspapers around the country that on a recent trip, Otis Dockstader, an architect in Elmira, NY had driven a long trip in his Maxwell automobile. Keeping careful records he determined that he had used 40 gallons of gasoline for the 1,055 mile journey which came out to 26.4 miles per gallon. This nearly matched a Maxwell salesman in Modesto, California who recorded 27 miles to the gallon over a shorter trip. This compared favorably to the Maxwell company's advertised claim of only 22 miles per gallon. 

 

The Maxwell Motor Company was founded in 1904 in Tarrytown, NY and was one of the first car companies to market to women and promote women drivers. The company moved to Michigan in 1914 but was unable to meet expectations. By 1921 financial circumstances forced a sale to Walter P. Chrysler who stopped manufacturing Maxwell cars in 1925. 

 

Woman's Home Companion
October 1916

There is one last bit of context for this postcard photo that intrigues me. The short quotation Otis inscribes below his photo is part of a longer line written by the English playwright William Congreve (1670–1729) for his 1697 play "The Mourning Bride".

“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”

The line appears in the opening part and is often misquoted as "Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast." This is incorrect though the meaning is roughly the same giving music a power to charm even the roughest of people.   [Another famous misquoted line comes from the same play by Congreve. "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd." This is frequently shortened and misquoted as "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."]

 

We can't be sure which way Otis remembered this line, but the empty dash "— but—?" actually says much more when we consider the date, November 28, 1917. It was a Wednesday and the next day was Thanksgiving, a traditional time for family gatherings and community thankfulness. It was also a time of terrible turmoil in the world as of April 1917 America had just joined the great war in Europe.

 

The Elmira newspapers that week were filled with news about the war. There were announcements about war bond drives; notices of soldiers called up; reports of suspected German sabotage; and detailed analysis of battle plans. Two months earlier in September, a short report said F. J. Pope, who worked at the office of Otis Dockstader & Son for the past two years, had been called up for army duty and left for camp.

Elmira NY Star Gazette
26 September 1917

Otis signed his full name, which is something a person would not usually do for a family member like a cousin or son. His abbreviated quote implies a question about the future, a question about music's ability to soothe a savage breast/heart or a beast/despot. Given that the next day was Thanksgiving, this small photo was surely intended as a thoughtful remembrance of the blessings of life and peace. 

 

I've no reason to connect this photo to Mr. F. J. Pope, but Otis's photo and inscription would certainly make a fitting gift for a valued apprentice or close friend who was about to go off to war. Perhaps Otis sent it to a fellow musician who was joining a regimental band, or maybe a business client who enjoyed music. But I think there is purpose and meaning in his quote and date, either for Thanksgiving or for the impending war that so many American men would soon join. It's an expression for best wishes for an unknown tomorrow from a man who knew how to plan for the future.  

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where you can never judge a photo by its color.

Three Duos

A violinist stares directly into the camera lens,
his wide eyes framed by his wire spectacles.
There's hint of humor, as if he knows a joke
that hasn't reached the punchline yet.

His partner on valve trombone
keeps a straight face,
that gives him the appearance
of a young man not inclined
to make practical jokes.

They make an unlikely pair
as a trombonist and a violinist
would rarely sit near each other
given a choice. 

Their postcard is an example
of the many musician photos in my collection
that have no names and no location recorded.
Who and where is just a guess.
The best I can say is
that the photo's paper card
was made in the United States.

* * *

The guarded expression on this next violinist,
a serious older man,
is not so direct.

His companion is a young tuba player,
perhaps his son or brother.

At the feet of the seated violinist
is a slide trombone,
making this duo almost a trio.

As with the first photo postcard
these two have no name or place.
Judging by their best suits
we can only speculate
that their photo was taken some time
between 1905 and 1918

* * *

This somber fellow holds a mellophone,
an instrument which was once
the most common alto voice in American brass bands,
but has now become an obsolete design
bearing no resemblance to the modern marching mellophone.
 

On his lapel is a pin with the initials US
that suggests a date around 1917-18
when the United States joined the war in Europe.

His compatriot is a drummer
with drumsticks hovering over a snare drum
that is tilted on the seat
of a twisted wire cafe chair.

Both young men look about the right age
to have joined the war effort
as either volunteers or draftees.
As they wear broad brimmed hats
rather than boys' caps,
I can't help seeing two farm boys
trying to look more mature than they really are.

This is their second appearance on my blog.
The first was in May 2010
A Drum and Mellophone Duo

Though we may not know their names,
all three duos share a quality
of a kind of brotherhood, a close friendship
formed by making music together.
It's that timeless aspect that inspires my blog.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone is waiting for the train.

Music in Motion

Her identity was easy, as the young lady's name was printed on the corner of her postcard. Miss Ruby Corrick. Wearing an elegant gown she holds a piston valve cornet while on a table behind her is a mellophone. Clearly she is a professional musician, but from where? Not German or French. American? Maybe British? The postcard was never mailed but the printer left a company name: Dodgson & Muhling, Print. Perth.  That's Perth, Western Australia. She has traveled a great distance, practically halfway round the globe, to find a place in my collection here in the mountains of North Carolina.




Names are very useful things on the internet and within a week of acquiring her postcard, I found her on another one, posed with her father, mother, brother, and five sisters as the "Corrick Family" Entertainers. Miss Ruby again has a cornet, and a mellophone lies on a table in front of her. Her brother holds a clarinet, one sister has a flute and a piccolo in her lap, and three sisters have violins, as does her father. The men wear formal white ties and tailcoats, and the women are attired in a splendid array of long evening dresses, some adorned with corsages. This was not the image of a small town orchestra, but of a high class musical troupe.

What made it interesting was that this card was posted in 1909, but not from Western Australia. The printer was based in London, England. That's a very long span between two postcards of the same person. So was Ruby Corrick's family an English or Australian musical group?

Actually neither. They came from New Zealand.

***

In January 1909, the London theatrical weekly, The Era, ran an advert for the Corrick Family within its announcements page. The section title, Music Hall Artist's Wants, was a place for stage artists and musical groups to post their availability for bookings.

London The Era
January 16, 1909

Wanted Wanted Known
THE CORRICK FAMILY
of Entertainers

Nine Brilliant Instrumentalists,
Vocalists, Handbell Ringers,
National Dancers,
Humorists, and
Bio-experts

Just returned from a Phenomenally Successful
Tour of the Australian Colonies, New Zealand,
Ceylon, India, and the Far East.

Every member a Star Artist of remarkable
versatility.

Professor Corrick, Conductor, Pianist, Violinist, Bass.
Madame Corrick, Contralto, Double Bass, Artist.
Miss Corrick, Pianist and Accompanist.
Miss Amy Corrick, Flautist, Vocalist, Dancer.
Miss Ethel Corrick, Violinist, Soubrette, Dancer.
Miss Jessie Corrick, Vocalist and Violinist.
Miss Ruby Corrick, Champion Lady Cornet Soloist and
  Mellophone Soloist, Vocalist, and Dancer.
Mr. Leonard Corrick, Baritone, Clarionet Soloist, Dancer, and
   Bio-exert; and (Viola)
Miss Alice Corrick, the Brilliant Dramatic Soprano.

Nightly changes of Programme, each a perfect
galaxy of Musical and Pictorial Art, including
Orchestral Selections, Choruses, Glees, Duets, Instrumental Solos and Duets, Cornet, Mellophone, Flute, Piccolo, Clarionet, Expert Handbell Ringing, National Dances, Excerpts from Grand and Light Opera, Ballads, Folk Songs, Chorus Songs, and Humorous Sketches, Monologues, and Songs, concluding with a display of Leonard's Beautiful Pictures.

Eight horse-power electric engine and dynamo carried on all country tours, brilliantly illuminating Halls inside and outside where necessary.

Open for engagements singly or collectively.

For particulars apply to
Manager, Mr. Harold G. Coulter
Woodfield Lodge, Mount Ephraim lane
Streatham, S.W.

***

The Corrick Family Entertainers, circa 1905
Source: Wikipedia

The origin of the Corrick Family Entertainers started with its patriarch, Albert Corrick. Born in Somerset, England in 1848, Albert's family immigrated to New Zealand in 1862. They settled in Christchurch where he pursued an interest in music to become a church organist and music teacher. While leading his church choir he pursued another interest, Sarah Alice Calvert, a young singer, and married her in 1877. Like Albert, Sarah's family also came from England, and together she and Albert opened a music academy in Christchurch that offered music lessons and sold musical instruments and sheet music. In the course of time they produced 8 children –  seven daughters and one son.

Like the families of many music teachers, Albert and Sarah discovered their children were gifted with exceptional musical talent. Their second oldest daughter, Alice, had a particularly fine voice and in 1898 was invited to perform in Hobart, Tasmania. This required a journey by ship of over 1400 miles and about a week from Christchurch. Her success with the Australian audiences encouraged Albert to organize a concert tour of New Zealand for the entire family ensemble in 1899. These performances proved so popular that they continued for another two years. In 1902, the Corrick Family traveled again to Tasmania to begin a long series of concerts that would take them all around Australia over the next few years. The image from their Wikipedia entry shows a group of only eight, as the two youngest daughters were left behind in New Zealand under the care of family relations. 

In 1907, the Marvellous Corricks, as the musical troupe was advertised, embarked on a grand tour to the other Asian parts of the British Empire, performing concerts in Singapore, Malaysia, Ceylon, and India. Albert arranged for the trip to continue back to Britain, via France, so that the children, especially Alice, might benefit from study under music teachers in Paris and London. They arrived in England in January 1909 when evidently their advance agent, to judge by the advert in The Era, was still looking for concert opportunities.

Miss Ruby Corrick
Kalgoorlie Western Argus
April 16, 1907

By April, at Easter week, the Corricks were billed to play at the Victoria Rooms, Cheltenham. Headlining their advertisement was the Brilliant Dramatic Soprano, Miss Alice Corrick, and Miss Ruby Corrick, the wonderful Girl Cornet Soloist. 

Cheltenham Looker On
April 03, 1909

The reason this is interesting is that the postcard I acquired of the Corrick Family Entertainers was sent that same week, on April 14, 1909, to Miss May Hardwick of Landford Farm in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire by someone who had just attended one of those Corrick concerts.

 21 Tivoli Place
Cheltenham

Dear May - We all arrived home
safe + sound, but feeling a little tired
The train was half an hour late at
Ross. We all had a very enjoyable
time + thank you all very much.
Tuesday evening four of us went
to hear the Corrick Family. It
was very good. The next will
be the theather + skating then I
think it will finish for this week
Kind Love to you all
From Eva

The aptly named Cheltenham Looker On published a review in the following week.
The paper's critic used a few more words than Eva to say that the Corricks were very good.

Cheltenham Looker On
April 17, 1909

As a musical family they make up a combination admittedly the cleverest at present before the public. There is something about their performance which is altogether dissimilar from that of the majority of musical families. Each member of the party is so individually entertaining that it is difficult to distribute praise with equal fairness.  

The review continues, remarking on the delightful singing of Miss Alice and the excellent playing of Ruby on cornet and handbells. But it ends with a comment on the most remarkable thing about the Corrick Family's Entertainment. The programme was varied by a selection of Leonard's Pictures, and it is safe to add that for clearness and effect no pictures to surpass these have ever been shown in Cheltenham before.

Leonard's Pictures were moving pictures, short cinema films that Leonard Corrick introduced to supplement his family's variety shows. As a Bio-expert, Leonard's first pictures were short newsreels, trick films, dramas, travelogues and comedies that came from the leading cinema companies of the time - Pathé, Edison, Gaumont and Itala. By 1906 the Corricks traveled with an electric generator to power a film projector, fans, and stage lights. The family bought a cine camera in 1907 to make their own films. Often when they reached a new town, they advertised that they were going to use a camera during the day, to then entice an audience to come see themselves on film later that night at the Corrick's show. 

Some of Leonard's first pictures were just magic lantern slides projected as backdrops for music that the family performed. It seems likely that for these early silent movies the family also provided music. Here is an example of an early Pathés film from 1905 entitled, La Poule aux Oeufs d’Or – The Hen that Laid the Golden Egg. It uses color effects that were handpainted onto each frame of the film. Since the Corricks also featured dancing in their stage act, these films may have included dances as well as musical accompaniment.

***

La Poule aux Oeufs d’Or (1905)
***






This next short novelty film is entitled The Hand of the Artist by R. W. Paul.
It shows some very imaginative special effects that are impressive even today.

***

The Hand of the Artist (1906) The Corrick collection

***

Leonard's camera also recorded some of the first moving images of Australian people. This next short made in 1907 shows a clever view taken from the center of a busy street in Perth with all the hustle of big city life. At about 0:30 there is a curious altercation that is either typical of Australia or a set up by Leonard to add some drama. At about 1:00 a quartet of young ladies cross the street and they may be Leonard's sisters. 

***

Perth, Western Australia, Street Scenes, 1907 The Corrick Collection

***

Perth Western Australian
July 14, 1909

The Corricks returned to Australia shortly after the concerts in Cheltenham, and by July 1909 were advertising shows in the Perth newspapers. It would be the start of their longest concert tour of Australia. Their agent, Harold G. Coulter, a government officer in the state Land and Survey Dept. would win the heart of the fourth daughter, Ethel Corrick, and they were wed in 1912. Besides featuring Alice and Ruby, the Marvellous Corricks' program now included Mr. Ernest Leathley, the Marvellous Mimic and Comedian. Like many vaudeville acts, Albert Corrick was  constantly looking for new novelty bits to enliven the audiences. By 1912 the youngest daughter, Elsie Corrick, now age 18, could join the tour, making the Corrick Entertainers a complete musical family band for the first time since their New Zealand performances in 1901.

Leonard's Beautiful Pictures were not to be missed and included A Magnificent Series Just to Hand, and Shown in Perth for the First Time. He probably included some of the earliest moving images of London and Paris that the Corricks had picked up from film studios on their world tour.

In our multimedia century, it is hard to imagine the delight that audiences in the 1900s enjoyed at seeing moving images for the first time. It was the beginning of a new art form that, though primitive by our standards, had a magical quality that in a few decades would overtake live stage performances to become the dominant medium of storytelling. 

Miss Ruby Corrick
Kalgoorlie Western Argus
August 10, 1909

The Corrick children were now adults who wanted to expand their individual lives beyond the family. The constant touring placed a great stress on their father's health and in 1914 Albert Corrick died. The family put on a last farewell tour of New Zealand that lasted until July 1915, and then chose to make Launceston, Tasmania their new home. Alice, Amy, Ethel, and Leonard all continued to be active musicians. Ruby married in 1920 and raised two children in Queensland. 

For decades, the hundreds of the short films used in the Corrick Family shows were stored in a family shed in Launceston. In 2006 the remaining canisters of deteriorating nitrate prints were given to the
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia which recognized the valuable cinematic and social history they represent. A major restoration project aims to bring Leonard's Beautiful Pictures back to a new audience that can appreciate the extraordinary legacy of the Corrick Family Entertainers.

This last video is a trailer for the NFSA project that includes
many more images of the Marvellous Corricks.

***

***

The Marvellous Corricks - Trailer

It is over 9,534 nautical miles (10,971 miles or 17,656 km) by steamship from Perth to London, via the Suez Canal. The Corrick's luggage included a cornet, a clarinet, a flute and piccolo, violins, violas, a double bass, maybe a cello, numerous handbells, probably a pump organ and maybe even a small piano. Not to mention reams of sheet music, flyers, and postcards too. Their steamer trunks carried countless costume and formal apparel for stage performances as well as their ordinary travel clothes. This was not a simple wardrobe either, with seven women in the troupe. Leonard's projector, lights, camera, film canisters (an extremely flammable hazard)  and especially the eight horse-power electric dynamo added even more volume to the Corrick show.

Somehow Albert Corrick persuaded his wife Sarah that it was worth the family effort to travel so far away from home and make music for 16 years on the road. To say that show business is hard work seems a gross understatement, but it must have been fun too. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
Lights! Camera!... Action!

   UPDATE:   

As many of my readers know, I'm never satisfied until I've found the whole story, and on the encouragement of Jo Featherston comment of looking up the Corricks on the Australian Newspaper Archive - Trove, I went in search of more. Here is a 1968 remembrance piece of the Corrick Family Entertainers from the Australian Women's Weekly that has such great pictures and stories, it deserves to be a nice epilogue to this post.

Click to enlarge the images.

Australian Women's Weekly
September 11, 1968

The Ladies of Wien

The young ladies of Wien

are unlike girls of Berlin.

Their music has charms,

but their faces alarm.

They are so much better
when heard and not seen.

Die Wiener Damenkapelle

 
The Viennese Ladies Band

A postcard from Wien – Vienna, circa 1910
of a seven member "ladies" band/orchestra and their bandmaster.
All their individual first names are written over the band's name.
Notice that they all wear wristwatches too.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everything is not what it seems.