Oh a band’ll do it, my friends, oh yes, I said a boys’ band, do ya hear mе?
I said River City’s gotta have a boys’ band, and I mean she needs it today
While Professor Harold Hill’s on hand
River City’s gonna have her boys’ band

As sure as the Lord made little green apples
And that band’s gonna be in uniform
Johnny, Willy, Teddy, Fred
And you’ll see the glitter of crashing cymbols
And you’ll hear the thunder of rolling drums and the shimmer of trumpets
Tum ta-da
And you’ll feel something akin to the electric thrill I once enjoyed
When Gilmore, Liberati, Pat Conway, The Great Creatore, W.C. Handy, and John Phillip Sousa
All came to town on the very same historic day

Gilmore? Liberati? Pat Conway? The Great Creatore? W.C. Handy? John Phillip Sousa? Well, everybody knows him, right?

Who were these people that all came to town on that historic day?

Gilmore was Patrick Gilmore (1829 – 1892), who according to Wikipedia “was an Irish-born American composer and military bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmore wrote the lyrics to the song ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’.” 

Gilmore was the musical director for the 1876 Centennial celebrations in Philadelphia and for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. It was Gilmore who began ringing in the New Year at Times Square in New York City. He was the first band leader to feature a saxophone, and the first arranger to set brass against the reeds, a sound which big bands continue using to this day.

Allessandro Liberati (1847–1927) was a cornet player and virtuoso. “Active mainly in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, he was also known for being a respectable bandleader for (among others) his World Renowned Liberati Band, as well as for the composition of Felice, and the Kansas City Star March.”

Patrick Conway (1865 – 1929) “was a prominent American bandleader during the golden era of professional bands. He often was referred to as Pat Conway or Patsy Conway.”

In 1895 Conway created the Ithaca Band which soon became famous nationally as Conway’s Band or Patrick Conway and His Famous Band. They went on tours around the country including the St. Louis World’s Fair, Willow Grove Park, and the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.

[Sorry, but I can’t find a pic of Pat Conway, only of an actor with the same name.]

Giuseppe Creatore (1871 – 1952), called the Great Creatore, was an Italian bandmaster in Italy and the United States. Creatore “was known for performances that were engaging for both their showmanship and musicianship. The music critic of the Kansas City Journal provides a colorful description of Creatore’s stage presence: ‘Creatore starts the band in a mild, entreating way. A simple uplifting of the arms. Then suddenly, with a wild shake of his shaggy head, he springs across the stage with the ferocity of a wounded lion. Crash! Bang! And a grand volume of sound chocks the hall from pit to dome.’”

In 1887, at the young age of 17, he became director of the Naples Military Band. He came to the United States in 1899 when he was 29 and joined Ellery’s Royal Italian Band as a trombonist. Given a chance to conduct when the regular conductor became ill, his flamboyant gestures made him a hit with the audience (sounds like someone else whose name eludes me).

It’s possible you’ve heard of W.C. Handy or at least know of his music. William Christopher Handy (1873 – 1958) “was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. He was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musicians who played the distinctively American blues music, Handy did not create the blues genre but was one of the first to publish music in the blues form, thereby taking the blues from a regional music style (Delta blues) with a limited audience to a new level of popularity.”

Louis Armstrong performed many of Handy’s songs such as “St. Louis Blues”, “Beale Street Blues”, and “Loveless Love” among others. 

I presume John Phillip Sousa (1854 – 1932) needs no introduction. I know he’s famous here in the states, but I’ve heard his marches featured prominently in British films and TV shows, so I figure “The March King” has to have some international recognition. 

He was the composer of “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, “The Washington Post”, and “El Capitan” among many others, and even if you do not know them by name I can promise that you will know them when you hear them.

Now the sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that Patrick Gilmore died in 1892 and that Giuseppe Creatore did not arrive in America until 1899. Furthermore, some of the others did not achieve renown until well after 1892. Thus, it would seem that “Professor” Harold Hill’s claim that all these worthy gentlemen all came to town on the very same historic day is dubious at best.

But remember, Harold Hill was a con artist, and he came to River City to fleece the good people there of their hard earned cash by duping them into believing he was going to form a boys’ band, when in reality he planned to take the money and run. So his claim of having seen those six brilliant musicians all at the same time was just part of his con.

That he did not, in fact, run, was due to his having met his soul mate. We, the audience, realize that Marian the Librarian is Harold’s soul mate early on because her song, “Goodnight, My Someone”, uses the same tune as his song, “76 Trombones”. 

So here by request is “Marian the Librarian”:

Satisfied, Mar?