Music and Musicians

W. H. Shoemaker, sheet music, pianos, organs, music books, No. 11 South Third Street, Harrisburg, Pa.

"Joseph Brown's Singing Class! Admit the bearer." I bought this well-worn singing class ticket in Clarion, Pennsylvania, and I suspect that it originated in Pennsylvania or another state sometime in the nineteenth century. Even so, it's interesting to note that a Joseph Brown was conducting a singing class in New Zealand in 1875 as indicated by this brief note, which appeared in Auckland's New Zealand Herald on page 3 of the November 19 issue: "The members of Mr. Joseph Brown's part-singing class announce their intention of giving a complimentary benefit to that gentleman at the Lorne-street Hall, on Monday evening next week." No mention of any green tickets used for admittance to the class, though.

"Pomeroy's Juvenile Hour. WEEU. Bernie, program director. Photo by Pomeroy's." Pomeroy's was a department store that had locations in Reading, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, and other Pennsylvania cities. This real photo postcard, which shows the Reading store in the upper left-hand corner, was used to advertise Pomeroy's Juvenile Hour radio show, which debuted sometime in the 1930s. Various local radio stations carried the show, including WEEU in Reading and WHP in Harrisburg. Pomeroy's ran ads for the Juvenile Hour in newspapers, too, as this excerpt from the Harrisburg Telegraph , Sept. 29, 1932, p. 8, demonstrates: "Pomeroy's, 'Harrisburg's Greatest Department Store,' Saturday, 9:30 a.m. You are invited to attend our first 'Juvenile Hour' radio broadcast direct from our broadcasting studio on the third floor. See and hear Harrisburg's future radio stars as they broadcast over radio station WHP. These performers are all between the ages of 2 and 12, and you'll marvel at their exhibition. If you are unable to attend the broadcast in person, tune in at 9:30 Saturday morning on station WHP and you'll get an hour of radio sunshine and happiness that will thrill you for a long time to come. Pomeroy's 'Juvenile Hour' will be on the air every Saturday morning, 9:30 to 10:30."

"61. House of David - Benton Harbor, Mich." The House of David was a religious commune in Benton Harbor , Michigan, whose members performed in touring bands (like the one above), played on baseball teams, and ran an amusement park that featured miniature trains (like the ones below). Benjamin Purnell (see below) and his wife Mary formed the group in 1903.

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park demonstrating the quality of being vice versa .* A real photo postcard of a couple amusingly posed on a piano bench with the woman wearing men's clothes and vice versa. I was able to identify the sheet music on the left side of the piano as " Flower Song (Blumenlied) ," Beaux Arts Edition, by Gusatv Lange, ca. 1907. An issue of The Etude , a music magazine, is barely visible on the piano between the woman and man (I couldn't determine the date, but it may be one of the issues from 1907 or 1908 judging by the typeface used for the title and its position at the top of the cover). The framed print hanging on the wall at upper right appears to be a copy of a lithograph entitled "2 Spirited Horses," one version of which was published by Jos. Hoover & Sons, Philadelphia, in 1908 (it's also similar to a Currier & Ives lithograph "Horses in a Thunderstorm," but the the horses in that print are facing to the right instead of the left). *The full description of the theme: "Vice versa"--"A lady and a gentleman dressing in clothes of the opposite sex are vice versa." This definition comes from a letter in a 1923 newspaper regarding a fancy dress/costume competition, and as the judge ruled in 1923, “the dress of each is complete without the aid of the other." Your photo can be of an individual or a couple.

"When other lips and other hearts / Their tales of love would tell, / Remember, oh! remember, pray, / That l___s go to h__l. Needle-Points." Printed on the back of this postcard: "B.B. London & New York. Series N.P. 1. Printed in America." The first two lines of this quatrain ("When other lips and other hearts / Their tales of love would tell") come from the beginning of a song, "You'll Remember Me," from the opera The Bohemian Girl . The last two lines ("Remember, oh! remember, pray, / That liars go to hell"), however, are unique to this postcard, which probably dates to the 1910s. For the original song, see the full lyrics to Then You'll Remember Me on the Aria Database, or listen to John McCormack sings, "Then You'll Remember Me," from Balfe's The Bohemian Girl, 1916, on YouTube.

"'100 and 23 for yours,' said the saucy little bird on Nellie's hat. Love's Young Dream ." The illustration on this postcard is based on a song, "The Bird on Nellie's Hat," that was popular when the card appeared in 1908, and the title of the book that Nellie is reading– Love's Young Dream –is a phrase that comes from the lyrics to the song. The bird's snide utterance–"100 and 23 for yours"–to the guy who's lurking behind Nellie is a reference to the "23 skidoo" fad that started around 1906 or 1907. Telling someone "23 skidoo" or "23 for you" was a shorthand way of saying "scram," "beat it," or "get lost" (I'm not sure whether the addition of "100 and" to the more typical "23 for yours" phrase had any extra meaning). For more "23 skidoo" postcards, see my Skidoos and Lemons album. Check out the sheet music for The Bird on Nellie's Hat (1906), which is part of the Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music at Johns Hopkins University, or go to YouTube to see the lyrics and hear an Edison wax cylinder recording of Ada Jones singing "The Bird On Nellie's Hat" (1913).

"Recording of your favorite Christmas carols as sung by your L&M T.V. Quartet. 33½. rpm, 200 plays." A cardboard picture disc. Whoever cut it out didn't follow the circle precisely. Even though the disc is a bit misshapen, it looks like it might still play. I'm not sure what television show the L&M T.V. Quartet appeared on, but they look like an enthusiastic group of fellows.

"Monkees. Colgems, full fidelity, 33⅓ rpm. 1. The Monkees (Theme), 2. Teardrop City, 3. Papa Gene's Blues, 4. (The) Day We Fell in Love. This is record no. 1." A Monkees cardboard picture disc, circa 1970 or 1971, that someone unevenly cut out from the back of a box of Post's now-defunct Frosted Rice Krinkles cereal. Notice that Mike Nesmith's head is missing--he had already departed the group by the time this appeared. As I was searching for information about this disc, I learned that Rhino recently re-released--on cardboard, nonetheless!--some of the Monkees songs that originally appeared on cereal boxes. And I was also surprised to discover that a brand new Monkees album is due out at the end of this month (on May 27). For another cardboard picture disc, see Christmas Carols as Sung by Your L&M T.V. Quartet :

Printed on the back of this postcard: "Th. E., L. Theochrom-Serie No. 1210|6. Printed in Germany." Postmarked Baltimore, Md., Apr. 7, 1910, and addressed to Miss Ella Killinger, Mongul, Franklin Co., Pa. Handwritten message: "How is your five o'clock beau. Just the same I guess. With love to all and from the girls. Our address is 2334 E. Monument St., Balto., Md. From Ellen Truer." Anyone know what a "five o'clock beau" might refer to? A boyfriend that you only see after work perhaps?

Otto Funk was 59 years old on June 28, 1928, when he left New York City to fiddle and walk his way across the United States. He reached San Fransico on July 25, 1929, after a journey of 4,165 miles. He presumably handed out this business card as he traveled across the country. "The world's champion cross-country Fiddler, Otto Funk, of Hillsboro, Illinois, walking from New York to San Francisco, f-i-d-d-l-i-n-g every step of the way. Started from City Hall, New York, 10 a.m., Thursday, June 29, 1928. Contracting celebrations, clubs, theatres, lodges, cafes, etc. Composer of the song, 'The Savior and the Rose,' words and music by Otto Funk. Price 30 cents per copy, postpaid, from A. L. Grundy Music Pub. Co., Morrisonville, Ill."

Drumhead: "Singer, Mechanicsburg, Pa." Caption at the bottom of the photo: "Grangers Picnic, 1915." The Singer Band of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, posed for this photo in 1915 at the Grangers' Picnic, which was an annual event held each summer at the Williams Grove Amusement Park . Prior to the picnic, the Harrisburg Telegraph newspaper, August 28, 1915, p. 4, announced the Singer Band's participation: "Concerts at the Granger's Picnic at Williams' Grove next week will be given by the Singer Band of Mechanicsburg." The Singer Band--named for David Singer, an early leader of the group--is still in existence today. Additional photos of the band are available on the Singer Band's Web site .

"Souvenir of Ed Shudy's Rainbow Park, Drumore, Pa. Ernest Tubb on stage. Roy Acuff on stage. View of park & stage. View of parking lot & park." Printed on the back of this linen postcard: "Complete line of amusement and entertainment by nation's popular string and hillbilly bands. Concessions and novelties. Favorite fisherman's stop on the way to [the Chesapeake] Bay. Complete line of fishing tackle. Owned and operated by Ed Shudy. Address: Drumore, Pennsylvania, Lancaster County. Mellinger Studios, Lancaster, Penna."

"You are invited to attend a Hallowe'en party to be given by the employees of the Lancaster Stanley-Warner Theatres at the Capitol, Saturday nite, November 1, 11:30 p.m. This invitation admits one. Fifty cents." For other vintage Halloween party invitations, see Witches Watch Halloween Party Invitation, October 31, 1914 , Halloween Party Invitation with Bat and Witch , Come to a Hallowe'en Party , and Yooooo Are Invited to a Halloween Party (below),

A church Harvest Home display with jars containing recently harvested and canned fruits and vegetables. For similar photos, see my Harvest Home album.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of extraordinary (anything) . A few years ago I posted the following image of a real photo postcard featuring an unknown man playing an extraordinarily complicated One-Man Music Machine : The photo was a mystery—I wasn't able to determine who the man was or what kind of contraption he was playing. Later I bought what I thought was a duplicate of the card and filed it away without inspecting it too closely. More recently I was looking through a copy of Real Photo Postcards: Unbelievable Images from the Collection of Harvey Tulcensky (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005). To my surprise, there on page 97 of the book was the same man and machine, and the caption indicated that there was writing on the other side of the card that provided a description: "Handwritten: Nelson's 32 piece one man band, took 35 years to build, has 6,000 ft. of rubber tubing, 50,000 parts, weighing 2,800 lbs. Albert Nelson, Buffalo, NY." When I pulled out my two copies of the card to compare them with the one in the book, I realized that I had two similar but different photos. Both showed the man seated at the machine, but in the second one I purchased the man is looking to his right so that his face is visible in profile. The machine is configured differently, too. For one thing, in this photo the fan-shaped shield at the lower right has one belt coming out of it while the image I previously posted has two belts. With the information from the book, I was able to identify the man as Albert Nelson (1884-1964), who was originally from Buffalo, Minnesota ( not Buffalo, New York). He spent many years working on different versions of his machine—called The Nelsonian —and became famous when he was hired to play it at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium during the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. A history of the man and his machine was published in 2006. Gary Albert Hukriede, Nelson's grand nephew, authored the book, The Mighty Nelsonian: The Story of Albert Nelson, Inventor of "The Nelsonian One-Man-Band," 32 Musical Instruments Played by One Man (Minneapolis, Minn.: LifePath Histories). Although Albert Nelson, who passed away in 1964, was the only person who could play and maintain the Nelsonian, his remarkable music machine is on display today at the Wright County Historical Society Heritage Center in Buffalo, Minnesota.

An at the piano photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten note on the back of this real photo postcard: "3/24-12. Taken March 10, 1912, about 1:40 p.m. Parlor and sitting room. First sitting. M. B. Wittle, Elizabethtown, Penna." A man sits at—or at least near—a piano in this wonderfully detailed glimpse into a parlor and sitting room in Elizabethtown , Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1912. Judging from the note, Milton B Wittle (1877-1963) was the subject and/or the photographer. Mouse over the image above for closer looks at the lamp and fern , the top of the piano (with a stuffed squirrel and cornet!), the Hasbrouck Cabinet Grand Piano and stool , the mustachioed man and the fish bowl , and the man in his chair .

For more information, see the original photo :