The Olzen Accordion School, Brooklyn, N.Y.

"The Olzen Accordion School, 75 6th Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Phone Nevins 8-1431."

According to Victor Greene, A Passion for Polka: Old-Time Ethnic Music in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), pp. 184-85, Eric Olzen (born 1895) was a popular Swedish accordionist and composer who came to the United States and opened a music school in Brooklyn in 1926. In the 1930s, he hosted a radio show that was popular among Scandinavians in New York, published sheet music compositions such as "Koster Waltz" and "Sunbeam Polka," and played on many records.

I take it that Eric Olzen is the one standing without an accordion in the middle of the third row. He's surrounded by 51 male students and 4 female students. I wish I could have attended one of the Olzen Accordion School's concerts!