Who Were They? - Known and Unknown Mandolin Ensemble Photos From The Past
{Editor's Note: Something I have wanted to do for a long time... post pictures of "unknown" mandolin groups
(or "known" ones... it's fun to recapture the local history of our favorite instrument.) We'll try to use the power of the Internet
to see if we can't collectively identify some of them.
If YOU have run across any similar pictures, please consider forwarding a scanned copy of them to me, including any information
you might have about the folks in the picture and I'll post them here. If you need help figuring out how to scan your picture, please
contact me by clicking on "Contact Us" at the top of the page.}
A Worker's Union Mandolin Orchestra
This photo is from a union newspaper in Chicago. I believe it was the ILGWU or Amalgamated Clothing Workers, but I’m not sure.
The woman sitting lower right is my aunt, Edith Katzman, and I still have that mandolin. I played for a short time but never got very
good.
The text above the English is not Hebrew or Yiddish: it is actually a transliteration of the English using Hebrew characters.
(The union had a very high percentage of Jewish immigrants).
Jay Shefsky
Chicago, IL
(received 5/2012)
Unknown Group
Editor: This photo is an eBay purchase. The seller called it a "vintage 1940's photograph - mandolin orchestra - mandola, mandocello,
mandolon"
(received 4/2012)
The Mandolin Variety Orchestra
I found your site while searching for information about the "Mandolin Variety Orchestra" (it's hard to read the sign, but, that's what it
says... my cousin now has the original and this is a copy). The attached picture is one of the few pictures I have of my grandfather,
Emrys Evans. He is seen in the front row holding a violin seated 2nd from the right side. The gentleman to his left at the end of the row
was his friend, Richie, who was at one time a studio engineer at WGN (*). I believe this photo is from somewhere in the mid to late 20's,
but, I can't be sure and there is no one alive to tell me... Do you have any info whatsoever about this group?
As a little background, my grandfather came to Chicago from Wales in 1908. He was 17 when his father gave him that violin with the intention
of him being a violinist (although he wanted to play piano!). At the same time his sister was being given piano lessons (which he observed
from a distance). He gleaned enough from the lessons to become very proficient at the piano, as well as the violin (he also dabbled with the
saxophone). He knew a lot of musicians in Chicago including most of the men who founded the music unions of the day. When I, a musician myself,
told Grandpa of my signing a record contract with MCA Records, he turned to my grandmother and said, "That was Julie's company, wasn't it?" I
just about pooped my pants when he explained he used to play a dual piano gig with none other than Jules Stein and that they were great friends
over the years. He said they split $20 a night and that it was great money. He had been playing sax in a quartet for $5 a night when Julie
asked him if he wanted the gig! He jumped at the chance and told me, "There's nothing worse than trying to catch a train carrying a sax in
the snow at 2am while freezing your b@lls off. Of course I took the gig." That's the first and only time I heard him speak like that. ;-)
* My grandpa's friend, Richie, had access to a record cutting lathe as he was an engineer at WGN. On Sunday nights, my grandparents friends
would all come to the house for dinner and everyone had to contribute to the music. They'd gather around the piano and take turns. On a couple
of occasions Richie brought the recording equipment to their house. I have discs that were recorded in 1939 and 1940 featuring their friends
as well as my 8 year old mother belting out "Deep Purple", among others. I wish someone were alive to name the various musicians that
participated.
Rex Castor
San Diego, CA
(received 1/2012)
Chicago Mandolin Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, Oct 1940
Erich O. Legner, far right)
Chicago Mandolin Club Picnic, Ilgair Park, IL, 1935
Erich O. Legner bottom row, 3rd from right)
Some players of the Chicago Mandolin Orchestra, 1936
Erich O. Legner, bottom row, 3rd from left)
Erich Fred Legner, Professor Emeritus, University of California
(received 12/2011)
A Clifford-Essex Bass Mandolin (Mandobass)
This is a rare Clifford-Essex Bass Mandolin (mandobass).
In 1965, I was playing upright bass with a folk group called "The County Set". I went to John Alvey Turner's shop with the banjo player
to buy some banjo strings. While we were there we started chatting and Max told me about a Bass Mandolin built by Clifford Essex. I was
immediately interested because I thought it would be great to use with the group. It wasn't at the shop so I arranged to meet him where
it was stored. If my memory serves me correctly it was stored in a small brick room underneath the Peabody buildings in Hammersmith. As
soon as I saw it I was hooked and bought it. It was and still is a beautiful instrument. It was in an old canvas case which had seen better
days, the leather straps were disintegrating but at least it had kept the dust off the instument.
It needed new strings and Max told me the place to get them was Goddard's Piano Ironmongers who I think were in Tottenham Court Road. Max
told me what gauge I would need (which now I can't remember), I ordered them and soon had a set of beautiful copper round wound strings. To
be honest I think they were actually piano strings. It wasn't the easiest of instruments to play as Max explained that normally a large
leather hand plectrum was used and I didn't have one. But I found my way round it and really loved the sound of it. Starting in November
1966 we had a three month gig on the Holland America Line cruise ship the "Rotterdam". I took the Bass Mandolin with me and we cruised the
Carribean and did a couple of gigs in New York. Shortly after our return to the U.K. I left the group and have played the instrument very
little since. There wasn't and still isn't a lot of call for a bass mandolin player!!! Consequently the copper strings are still on it.
Max told me that the instrument was the one used by "Troy and his Mandoliers" who played at the Savoy Hotel in London and also toured
England. At the time I purchased it there was a photo of "Troy and his Mandoliers" on the wall in the the shop. I asked Max if there was
a chance I could purchase that as well, but he wouldn't part with it.
Robert Hay-Smith
(received 9/2011)
Original Dayton Mandolin Orchestra
This is the original Dayton Mandolin Orchestra, circa 1910.
Charles B. Rauch, the first Dayton Mandolin Orchestra director, also owned and operated the Dayton Instrument Co. where he made Dayton
mandolins. His shop is gone now and we know very little about him after he moved west. (DMO member) Phil Case is as close as you can get
to an expert on Charlie and his instruments. Phil says Charles did not write the blurb at the bottom of the photo, rather it is typical of
the Gibson marketing department.
I have a 1906 A-3 just like the one the young woman second from the right in the first row appears to be holding. I recently have stopped
playing it as I've found my husband's 1914 F-2 easier to play. I favor the sound of the pre-20's Gibsons and Michael, lucky for me, does
too!
Kathryn Hitchcock
Dayton Mandolin Orchestra
(received 10/2009)
Carte de visite of an unknown boy holding a mandolin. Note the studio was in Milwaukee. Any of you
Milwaukee folks recognize him?
(received 7/2009)
St. Mary's Academy Mandolin Group
Guitars, mandolins and the occasional banjo were popular with music students at St. Mary's Academy (Portland, OR) in 1893. (Photo from the
online version of The Oregonian:
OregonLive
and a THANKS to Michael Tognetti for spotting it!)
(received 4/2009)
Unknown Group
This picture was given to me by Antonina Nigrelli as a Christmas present (2008). Do you know anyone in this picture?
(received 12/2008)
Ivers Mandolin Orchestra
This picture was take in 1921, probably in Adams, Massachusetts, and shows my great-grandfather Joseph Ivers (center), great-grandmother
Mary Ivers (center holding the Gibson F-4), and several other relatives including my grandfather, and several great-aunts. One of my
great-aunts says they called themselves "The Gibsonians," which I think many other groups at the time called themselves as well. I have
also heard reference over the years to the this group as the "Ivers Mandolin Orchestra." I'm told they performed at a variety of venues and
functions in Western Massachusetts. Some of these instruments are still owned and played by my father. For example I believe the F-4 in this
picture is the same mandolin my father Robert Ivers plays when he performs with a group called the Summer Strummers at the Chautauqua
Institute each summer.
James Ivers
North Miami, FL
(received 10/2008)
Toledo Mandolin Group
Photo taken on Vance Street in Toledo, OH, year 1907.
The mandolin player is Mr. Dobek, the uke player's identity is unknown (Editor: I believe it's actually a classical guitar.). Four of the
others are my uncles on my mom's side of the family. The rest are their buddies from the neighborhood. My mom's older siblings were not born
in Toledo but migrated here with my grandparents in 1905. They were born in Manistee, Michigan. It's quite possible that all the men on this
photo were born in Manistee, for many Polish people migrated to Toledo, Chicago, South Bend because these towns were coming into their
industrial heyday. The timber industry in Michigan was on the wane due to the lack of reforestation.
That oak spindle-back chair in the photo is still in the family. Our daughter and son-in-law have it who live in Wisconsin.
Daniel F. Drzewiecki
Toledo, OH
(received 7/2007)