MOUTH-ORGAN BAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 December 1934, Page 10

MOUTH-ORGAN BAND

OBSCURITY TO FAME Thirty-two years ago he was born. Twenty-two years ago he was a newsboy on the streets of Boston. Twelve years ago he was attending a New' York college, envying everybody who had a dollar. Today he is the Pied Piper of all boys w’ho play the harmonica. The name, Borrah Minevitch, has become a synonym for perfection in operating that fascinating instrument which almost all men and boys have tried to master at some time in their lives, states the “Literary Digest.” His last ten years typify the journey from rags to riches which pertains to all civilised countries. His genius, and his band of oddly-assorted boys, have won the hearts of listeners and beholders with such rapidity that the ordinary run of entertainers stands aghast. Minevitch placed his faith in the universal appeal of a simple instrument, which, somehow, had become the stepchild of music. No one ever had plumbed its possibilities. He has jammed theatres everywhere, receiving as high as 3200 dollars (about £640) a week, and is welcome “on the road.” To-day. his recently organised Harmonica Institute of America, with headquarters in Rockefeller Centre, has 125,000 members, and is growing fast. The institute teaches harmonica fundamentals, and the rudiments of band harmony, in four lessons. After that the boys go on their own. “Half of the world plays a harmonica.’ lie says, “and the other half wishes it could.” He long since has routed the scoffers who insisted that the harmonica | doesn’t belong in the music family. I There is no argument when his band , of boys play complicated orchestrations like “American in Paris,” “Rhapsody in Blue,” Gershwin classics; “Liebesstraum,” “Dee River,” “Peanut Vender,” and operatic arias. Yet the Musicians’ Union denies the boys membership, or recognition. They insist it’s a toy! Minevitch was born in Kief, Russia, in 1902., the last of seven children. He has taken out first papers repeatedly, but never a second. The Minevitches settled in Boston, but the father died soon afterwards. The family eked out the usual honest sxistence.

Borrah sold papers after school down at Scollay Square, and at the Beacon Building. He was known as the “harmonica-playing newsboy.” He :erved Major Curley, and the late Cal■’in Coolidge, then Lieutenant Governor, who, by the way, was an accomplished harmonica-player.

Minevitch followed his oldest broher. Joseph, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but he did not graduate. After six months, he followed Joe to New York, intent upon flushing at Columbia, where Joe worked n the laboratories as a research chemst analysing German dyes. But Borrah wound up at City Colege. lie worked at very odd jobs afer school. He played truant often, and hung out at the Clare Tree Major School for Dramatic Acting. There ■vas a little Broadway in him. He ran into an academic snag in the junior English course, and failed. Pro■:essor Otis took pity on him, and igreed to give him his credits if, dur!ng the summer, he wrote an intelligent thesis on an individual subject. Borrah turned to the harmonica, and wrote about it. He traced the instrument’s pedigree, cited its possibilities, and wound up with an instructive

“flash” finish. He got his credits. The thesis has been published by the harmonica magnates. More than 5,000,000 copies have been distributed to players.’

In his endless search for work after school in New York, he came across the newly-invented chromatic harmonica, upon which it was possible to play any song without faking sharps and flats. He tried it out so often at the store that the instrument broke down. Then Minevitch took it off the dealer’s hands as a “used” instrument at half-price! i SALES INCREASE He landed a clerking job at Wurlilzer’s on Forty-second Street, New York City. After the children’s concerts, he would stand at the head of the stairs, and electrify the crowd with solos. Then he would lead them over to his notion-counter. Sales jumped. His salary increased. Finally, Howard Wurlitzer rewarded him with a chance to play a harmonica solo at the Rivoli with Dr. Hugo Riesenfeld’s orchestra. Broadway! He selected Berlin’s “Homesick” for his debut, and rehearsed for hours with the orchestra. Eis mother came for the event. Glowing within. Minevitch went to the restaurant where the Broadway bigwigs of the day hung out. He celebrated with a big meal, the biggest meal a “celebrity” ever ordered. When he reached the stage-door of ; the Rivoli, the show was over! Disconsolate, he walked up Broad- i way, lecturing himself severely. How far he walked, he doesn’t remember, but when he returned, the second show j was over. i

Minevitch started for home, but he thought of his patient mother. He | took his last two dollars, and bribed I his way past the doorman. Waiting [behind the curtain for his cue, he forgot to step down into the orchestra. He entered by crashing headlong into the kettledrum. But he put the harmonica to his lips, and stopped the show. From then on he never worried about a career. Money came in steadily. He got his B.S. at City College in 1924. He spent a year promoting harmonicas for the manufacturers. Five years later, sales jumped to 30,000,000 harmonicas in a year. If his music is unique, his method of gaining the effects is more so. His system is to obtain four orchestrations of a piece. From the four he makes a composite, retaining the best effects of each. The boys learn the entire melody by heart. Were he only an entertaine” his genius might be discarded lightly. But he can lead boys to music, and that puts him above the mob. A healthy boy -will shun a violin or piano, then practise twice as hard on a harmonica, which leads to the same goal—music appreciation. Minevitch is in the leader’s chair.