Music and Musicians

For more information, see the original photo :

For more information, see the original photo :

For more information, see the original photo :

"Thanksgiving Ball! At Town Hall, Lisbon, N.H., Thursday eve., Nov. 18, 1869. Your company is solicited. Floor managers, J. K. Atwood, J. W. Coburn. Music furnished by the orchestra of the Lisbon Cornet Band. Ticket for dancing, $1.00."

Written on the back: "12/29/67 - Bo." Bo on the floor and Tennessee Ernie Ford on the TV. I'm not sure whose legs those are on the couch. For another dogs-TV-legs combination, see Fuzzy Dog (below).

Handwritten note on the back of this real photo postcard: "Austin, Lomah, & Jonas, a musical blow-out."

This invitation is over 125 years late, but if you have a time machine you may still want to consider attending. You and all are invited to attend the fair of the Pioneer Steam Fire Engine Comp'y, at the large hall of the Ephrata Mountain Springs, Saturday evening, January 28, 1888, to continue 15 evenings. Fine attractions. Music by the Ephrata Cornet Band. Change of entertainments, marches, shooting gallery, poppets, refreshments, etc. etc. Admission, 10 cts.; children under 12 years, 5 cts; season tickets, 50 cts.; family tickets, $1.00. See all your friends and relatives. Come often. There will be lots of fun, and all for the cause of protecting our home and property.

A steam calliope in a snapshot dated March 1971. This calliope is known as Getz's Steam Calliope after the three brothers—Noah, William, and Robert Getz—who operated it for many years. Hauled around on a tractor trailer, the calliope still makes regular appearances at parades and other events in south central Pennsylvania. Head over to YouTube to see it in action at a Homecoming Parade in Millersville, Pa., on October 13, 2012, and at the July 4th Parade in Pottstown, Pa., in 2017.

"The Instrumental Aires, featured at the Sapphire Room, Hotel Floridan, Tampa, Florida." A real photo postcard showing the three suave fellows who performed as the Instrumental Aires at the Hotel Floridan (now the Floridan Palace Hotel ). An ad from 1955 identified the musicians as "Bill Horn, direct from 2 years in Las Vegas, Bill Byers, Tampa's favorite vocalist, [and] Rickey Powell, wizard of the strings" (I'm not sure who's who in the photo, however).

A real photo postcard showing the Tressler Orphans' Home Band. "Tressler" was part of its name beginning sometime in the nineteenth century, so I'm not sure why it's missing from the drum in this early twentieth-century photo. For a later incarnation of the band—with spiffier uniforms and a different drumhead—see Tressler Orphans' Home Band, Loysville, Pa.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of: And the band played on (people enjoying themselves while a band plays) . In this real photo postcard, musicians pretend to play an accordion, drum, and triangle in the midst of a group of young men, most of whom have flowers in their boutonnieres and mugs of beer in their hands. The German sign in the middle appears to say, "Jahrgang. 1895. Die Bassgeig kan̈ein jeder Kratzen selbst der Bär mit seinen Tatzen." But I haven't been able to determine what this means (something about a bass fiddle and a bear scratching himself with his paws?). In any case, I suspect that these guys enjoyed some more beer and music after they finished posing for the photo.

"Grand Concert. Altoona City Band with the assistance of local talent. Opera House, February 16th, 1888. Tickets, 50 cents. Quick Charity and Hospital Fund." A ticket for a charity concert held in 1888 by the Altoona City Band. Looks like the printer used a different typeface for each line on the ticket!

A ticket or invitation for a "Universal Ball" held in Keene, New Hampshire, on March 5, 1852. As listed on the ticket, musician S. K. Conant played both the violin and the "Kolquearougion," an instrument he invented. Although a newspaper article in 1859 called his invention the "Kolquearougion Bells," I haven't been able to uncover any additional information about it. Universal Ball Your company, with ladies, is respectfully solicited at the Town Hall, in Keene, on Friday evening, March 5, 1852. Music by Hall & Conant's Celebrated Lowell Brass Band. D. C. Hall, cornet and bugle; S. K. Conant, violin and Kolquearougion; B. Hall, clarionett and piccolo; G. P. Kittredge, violin and prompter; W. Bennett, bass. Tickets, $1.50, to be obtained of authorized agents, and at the door. Dancing to commence at seven o'clock.

A patriotic advertising card for the Galt House hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio. The text on the other side of the card-- Nothing Succeeds Like Success (see below)--appeared in various newspapers and magazines as early as 1881. The Cincinnati Galt House was apparently named after the original Galt House hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Galt House Cor. Sixth & Main, Cincinnati, O. Galt House, $1.50 per day for meals and room, Single meals, 35 cts. W. E. Marsh, Jr., prop’r. Established in 1836 by W. E. Marsh, Sr. Street cars for Zoological Garden and other places of interest pass the door. W. A. Adams, eng.

The reverse of a nineteenth-century advertising card for the Galt House hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio (see below). The "Nothing Succeeds Like Success" text appeared in newspapers and magazines as early as 1881, including the Madison Weekly Herald , Madison, Indiana, April 27, 1881. Nothing Succeeds Like Success It has heretofore been a mystery to us why STRANGERS are generally charged so extravagantly by HOTELS in large cities. Happening a short time since at the GALT HOUSE, corner Sixth and Main Streets, CINCINNATI, OHIO, managed by W. E. MARSH, Jr., son of the proprietor who established the Galt House FIFTY years ago, the mystery was solved. The accommodations at the GALT HOUSE ARE EQUAL in every respect to the best TWO-DOLLAR per day hotel, and yet the charges are only ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS per day for meals and room; single meals THIRTY-FIVE CENTS. The GALT is HEADQUARTERS for the most complete meals, which together with FREE use of the PARLOR, OFFICE, CHECK-ROOM, etc., constitute the greatest bargain obtainable in the city. The solution is easy when the facts are known. The GALT is run exclusively in the interest of STRANGERS, the same RATE being charged per day, all times to EVERY ONE. Whatever will produce a reasonable RENT for the property is the EXTENT of its charges, thus doing away with the usual LESSEE’s profits. Its management is constantly under the immediate and personal control of the OWNER W. E. MARSH, Jr. Its employees being paid according to the volume of business, are efficient and reasonable in cost. The above peculiarities, a low, UNIFORM price, a reasonable RENT-charge ONLY, a rigorous and practical supervision of its internal affairs, and CO-OPERATIVE salary payments, have secured the GALT a fair transient trade, and the experiment is a success, producing RENT for the real estate. To this benefactor, who has made it possible to stay TWO DAYS in the city at the usual expense of ONE, we heartily recommend our friends.

"Join the crowd at the Swing Club Dance, Friday, October 11, 1940. Jam to Sam Loss. Hostetter's Ball Room. 9 to 12, semi-formal. Donation, $1.00 per couple." Samuel W. Loss and his orchestra jammed for the Swing Club crowd at Hostetter's Play Barn (or Ball Room) in Bird-in-Hand, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 11, 1940.

"Yankee Doodle came to town. July 4."

"Graphophone Entertainment by Geo. L. Preston and Geo. Perkins. Admit one." The graphophone was an early type of phonograph, and a "graphophone entertainment" (or "graphophone concert") was simply a program featuring music played on a graphophone (there were also "phonograph entertainments" and "phonograph concerts"). I haven't uncovered any trace of George L. Preston and George Perkins, but it's likely that they were selling tickets like this in the late 1890s or early 1900s.