Tuesday Podcast "Seven Minutes"
Bob with Ideas and the story of "Going to the Movies in Amsterdam"
From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette
Playing tuba in the band
By Bob Cudmore
Born in Manchester, England, in 1879, Herbert S. Breen came to America at age six and his family settled in Amsterdam.
Breen’s first job in 1896 was at John E. Larrabee’s, the city’s popular hardware store. He later opened his own plumbing and tinsmith shop. He also worked for Chuctanunda Gas and Light before returning to Larrabee’s, where he remained for 45 years. He serviced refrigeration units.
His passion was music. According to a 1950 feature article in the Mohawk Carpet Mills publication Tomohawk, Breen started his musical journey playing an alto horn in the Rock City Silvertone Cornet Band in 1896, the same year he started working at Larrabee’s.
The musical group practiced in a grocery store at the corner of First Street and Forest Avenue in Amsterdam’s Rockton section. Breen said the band could have been more successful, “People used to blow their lamps out if they thought we were going to play in front of their house.”
When the Rock City band broke up, Breen sometimes played in the Hagaman Citizens Band, Fort Hunter Military Band, Minch’s Military Band, Hagaman Boys Band and the popular 13th Brigade of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal group.
“As the band grows older,” Breen told Tomohawk, “it seems to me the boys go into a kind of a slump and have to start over again.”
Breen said the major “start over” in his musical life came in 1927 when the Mohawk Mills Band was formed, subsidized by the mill owners, the Shuttleworth family. The band was led by a number of men but for many years one of the Musolff brothers—Edward, Harry or Frank---held the conductor’s baton.
Quite a few members worked for the mill but others, like Breen, did not. The band was in peak form in 1950 when Breen was interviewed for the company magazine article. He is pictured on the cover playing the tuba.
At age 70, Breen was the oldest member of the organization in 1950. The youngest was Amsterdam junior high school student George Guilbault, Jr., a percussionist. His father, George Guilbault, Sr., owned a supply business, was a snare drummer and persuaded his son to join.
Carpet weaver Al Pietro played clarinet. Finishing room worker John Carbonelli was a cornet player, as was weaver and charter member Arthur Cook.
Music store proprietor and former weaver Martin Dybas was a charter member and played clarinet, as did banker James McGibbon. Herm Bettine, who operated an auto repair garage, played bass drum.
Breen told Tomohawk that he didn’t consider himself “much of a musician” but said he had a “wonderful chance to do some clowning and have a few laughs.”
Breen was married twice. His first wife, Maude Mosher, died in 1927, the year the Mohawk Mills Band was formed. Two years later he married Carrie Wilbur.
Breen said he met both of his wives when he was playing in a band, “Must be that uniform that gets them.”
In 1961 American Legion Post 701 took over sponsorship of the band from the carpet mill. Carpet production was now moving south.
Herb Breen died at Amsterdam Memorial Hospital in 1962 after a month-long illness. He was 82
His wife, one son, one step-son, one grandson and two great-grandchildren survived him.
He was buried at Hagaman Cemetery after a service conducted by Reverend Albert Brockway of First Methodist Church.
Members of the newly named Post 701 Band called to pay their respects. Breen had been named an honorary member of the Amsterdam Musicians Local. He was a charter member of the Hagaman Volunteer Fire Department.
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, September 24, 2019 An upper level low pressure area will track across the region today. Occasional clouds and a few showers, most noticeable across the higher terrain, will cross the area. As the upper low tracks east, both the clouds and showers will dissipate as high pressure builds in for the middle of the week. The next front approaches Thursday with the next threat for showers.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019-From The Historians Podcast Archives-January 11, 2019-Episode 248, Jack Kelly is author of “The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America.” Kelly tells the story of the 1894 Pullman strike.
Thursday, September 26, 2019-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-The musical Dybas family 10-20-07
Episode 285
Friday, September 27, 2019-Episode 285-Eric Schnitzer, national historical park ranger, is author of “Don Troiani's Campaign to Saratoga-1777: The Turning Point of the Revolutionary War in Paintings, Artifacts, and Historical Narrative.” Don Troiani is an historical and military artist. https://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm
Eric Schnitzer will speak Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 6 pm at Fort Plain Museum.
Listen on the Radio or On Line Jason Subik Mid-Morning Show Amsterdam WCSS 106.9FM 1490AM 9am Monday-Thursday https://www.facebook.com/jason.subik
Comentarios