The 1924 edition of the Gibsonian concert Orchestra. L to R: Dorothy Crane, Fisher Shipp, Lloyd Loar, James H. Johnstone, Lucille Campbell and Nell VerCies. The Lima News and Times_Democrat. May, 28 1924

In May of 1924, Lloyd Loar left his acoustic laboratory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to embark on a multi-city performance tour, just as he had done every summer for almost 20 years. It would be his last.

Lloyd Loar and a few of the instruments he put to great use. L to R: 1878 August Diehl Viola Alta; circa 1915 Gibson F-4 (photos from Fisher Shipp Concert Company brochure); 1922 Gibson H-4 (1922 tour poster); 1923 Gibson F-5, and 1922 MV-5 held by Marguerite Lichti (1923 Gibson promotional photo).

Back in 1906, Lloyd Loar dropped out of Oberlin College to join Fisher Shipp, a star of the Chautauqua circuit, on a musical adventure that took their ensemble from the Atlantic Coast throughout the mid-west and into Canada. They entertained countless thousands in auditoriums, amphitheaters, tent shows, churches and schools during the next two decades. His wife since 1916, Mrs. Shipp-Loar’s style of performance had become dated by the mid-twenties. She struggled to remain relevant in the jazz age by adjusting her costume, but not her repertoire. There would be no more Chautauqua; instead, the 1924 tour was sponsored by Gibson, Inc. Lloyd Loar was now front and center, showcasing his skill on mandolin, mandola and mandolin-banjo. He once again collaborated with the founder of the Gibsonian Concert Orchestra, the indefatigable James H. “Jazz” Johnstone, who performed on mando-bass and tenor banjo. That year, to fill out the ensemble, they engaged three talented members borrowed from the popular Gibson Melody Maids, a musical group started by high school girls, many of whom later became Gibson employees. Dorothy Crane was featured on first mandolin and mandolin-banjo; Nellie VerCies on mandola and tenor banjo; and Lucille Campbell on mando-cello, cello-banjo and piano.

L to R: Lloyd Loar with F-5 mandolin; Dorothy Crane, F-5; Fisher Shipp, reader and vocalist; James H. Johnstone, mandobass; Nell VerCies, 10-string mando-viola and Lucille Campbell, K-4 mandocello. Photo from The Rolling Stone magazine, February 1975. Loar biographer Roger Siminoff has identified the photographer as Ward C. Morgan, who did many photos for Gibson during his career.

The itinerary for 1924 included two national conventions, several school and church programs, and an exhaustive schedule of concerts and demonstrations organized by Gibson agents, teachers and/or orchestra leaders.

Tour dates we have documented from newspaper articles, The Crescendo and Music Trade Report Magazines, May through July of 1924.

While the ensemble may have rehearsed as early as late January (based on Fisher Shipp’s well-documented visits to Kalamazoo), it is more likely that they delved deeply into the repertoire in April, after the major production schedule of February and March was completed (over 100 Master Models produced in the first months of 1924 bear Lloyd Loar’s signature). While the first stop was for Gibson day at “Don John’s Music Company” on May 7 in Lima, Ohio (more on this later in this episode), there was significant energy put toward the Gibson showcase for the convention of the American Guild of Banjos, Mandolins and Guitars to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 11-13. As fate would have it, Pittsburgh was hit by heavy rains as the banjoists and mandolinists arrived for that annual convention. Fortunately, upon arrival at the train station, they were able to avail themselves upon the automobiles of the modern taxi services of Pittsburgh. The convention was held at Hotel Schenley and the festival concert at Carnegie Music Hall.

The American Guild Convention Report in The Gazette Times, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1924, p. 7.

During the business meeting at the 1923 convention in Washington, D.C., Russell Truit and Percy V. Lichtenfels had offered to host the ’24 convention in their city. A remarkable photo appeared on the cover of the June 1924 Crescendo magazine that might give some indication as to the tenor of the program.

Of course, there was more to the convention than banjos. Lloyd Loar once again received accolades for his solos on the 10-string MV-5 mando-viola, although all reports, including those from Gibson, now simply call it a “mandola.” The Gibson display in the trade show was of special interest to many in the Pittsburgh area, based on sales in Western Pennsylvania. The “‘Mastertone’ mandolins with the Virzi Tone Producers and ‘Mastertone’ banjos with Tone Projectors” (Crescendo, June, 1924) were the centerpieces of that display. It is quite likely that the fabulous fern-inlaid F-5s from the March 31 batch were revealed to the public at this event. At the Gibson booth, General Manager Harry Ferris held court while Acoustic Engineer Lloyd Loar and James H. Johnstone demonstrated instruments, and sales manager Frank Campbell (older brother of Lucille Campbell) took orders and made contact with dealers. Of course the trade show also featured other instrument manufacturers including Vega and Bacon. During the finale of the banquet concert, Lloyd Loar led the “Trade Members Effete Ensemble,” demonstrating a unique affability among the musical instrument makers at the trade show.

After leaving Pittsburgh, Loar and Company made appearances at various Gibson outlets in Pennsylvania including Callahan’s Music in Newcastle and Roy Veiock’s Music in New Brighton. The next well documented event took place on May 28 in Lima, Ohio. There, they performed at Central High School in the afternoon and, in the evening, at Memorial Hall where they shared the bill with 145 singers of the Kiwanis Youth Orchestra.

The Lima News and Times-Democrat, Lima, Ohio, May, 25 1924, p. 2.

The next day, they most likely traveled on the New York Central Railway the 600 miles to the National Music Convention at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. Delegates from all over the United States gathered on June 1st to discuss the future of the retail music business and to showcase new products. Opening remarks were given by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt III (son of the 26th President), and Senator Royal S. Copeland. The evening progressed with brilliant performances by Lisa Roma, soprano, and Armand Tokatyan, tenor, stars of the Metropolitan Opera Company, after which Vincent Lopez’s Orchestra took the bandstand. Into the evening, there was dancing and some rather odd after-dinner “coffee” (it was still the era of Prohibition). The Gibsonians performed later in the event and the Gibson booth at the trade show brought the new Master Models and Mastertones to the Big Apple. (Information from various sources including the Music Trade Report, June, 1924, and The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, Wisconsin, May 31, 1924, P. 6)

New York, 1924! What a thrill for the three musicians barely out of their teens, Mss. Campbell, Crane and VerCies, who had travelled away from their homes in Kalamazoo for the first time!

On June 7, as the convention wrapped up, Loar and Company had only to travel as far as Queens for their next engagement at Forest Park Church in Woodhaven.

Leaving the City on June 8, the Gibsonians embarked on an exhausting schedule of in-store demonstrations. In New York State, they appeared at Dunlap Music Company in Peekskill and Clark Music in Syracuse; in New Jersey, at McPhail and Fino in Jersey City and with the Kola Mandolin Ensemble in Rutherford; and they managed a southern leg of the tour, to Cumberland Music Center in Cumberland, Maryland, and points in between. Finally, in New Hampton, Laconia and Bristol, New Hampshire, they provided three different demonstrations and concerts, all organized through the tireless efforts of Ina Bickford: teacher, Gibson agent, concert organizer and founding member of the New Hampshire Historical Society.

Heading west, the troupe were welcomed back to Ohio, where they made a splash at the Memorial Hall in Wauseon on June 13.

While the three veteran performers were used to exhaustive travel and twice-daily performance, we can only imagine the thrills and challenges for the younger members and what they may have shared with their band-mates—the Gibson Melody Maids—once they returned home.

The Gibson Melody Maids. Nell VerCies, standing on left; Lucille Campbell, standing on right with K-4 mandocello; Dorothy Crane, seated on front row, second from right. Eleanor Camp can be seen playing mando-bass in nearly all the Melody Maid Photos. Photo from Gibson Catalog “P,” 1927, p. 17, scanned courtesy Roger Siminoff. The same photo appeared in the Music Trade Report, May, 1925.

In 1920, The Kalamazoo Central High School Mandolin Club admitted boys only. A group of girls at that high school, many of whom had started piano lessons by the age of ten, were eager to prove that they were just as adept, if not even more proficient than the boys. As it turned out, by incorporating singing and dancing to what became excellent musical skills, they were able to create an entertainment that captured the imagination of the Gibson Company. Gibson began supplying instruments, and by 1921, “The Gibson Melody Maids” was born. With the power of Gibson advertising behind them, and with language that not only extolled their mandolin skills but their “fetching costumes…(and) maidenly charmes,” they became beloved of the press and in demand for concerts. They even gained national attention in October of 1922 with a broadcast and concert hosted by Grinnell’s Music in Detroit.

Nellie K VerCies was one of those Kalamazoo High School students that formed the “Maids.” She was born in Kalamazoo in 1904 to John VerCies and Grace Van Der Phoeg (her mother and paternal grandparents were Dutch immigrants). Lloyd Loar found the girls quite talented and took part in training and mentoring VerCies and the other Gibson Melody Maids. When VerCies graduated from High School, she was also offered a job as a stenographer at Gibson. In 1924, she showed so much promise as a musician, she was invited to play the tenor parts in the Gibsonian Concert Orchestra and was an essential member of the summer tour. She was even featured on Loar’s favorite creation, the MV-5. Toward the end of 1924 she married Cornelius J. Vandelaare. In 1925, she left Gibson in a factory-wide exodus that seemed to follow Lloyd Loar out the door. In 1926, after giving birth to her son, Nelson, she took a job as a stenographer with Doubleday-Hunt-Dolan Company in Kalamazoo and worked there for the rest of her career. We have found nothing to indicate she continued to perform music in public. She was widowed in 1932, but lived and worked in Kalamazoo until her death in 1977.

Dorothy Ann Crane was born August 29, 1902, to English immigrants Frank Byron Crane and Minnie Giles. Unlike Campbell and VerCies, she was homeschooled. Despite not being enrolled in the High School, her skill on mandolin landed her a spot with the Melody Maids. At 21, she was the oldest of the three Maids who joined the Gibsonians in 1924. Like VerCies and Campbell, she also became an employee in the Gibson office. On June 21, 1924, upon returning from the ’24 tour, she married Herbert Eichhorn Bippes. She continued to work at Gibson as Mrs. Bippes, and during World War II, she was in charge of the service department.

Battle Creek Enquirer, Battle Creek Michigan. April 3, 1922, p. 6.

Eva Lucille Campbell, born October 1903 to Scottish immigrant Robert Hamilton Campbell and Michigan-born Eva P. Briggs, grew up at 123 Parsons St. next to the site that would later host the Gibson factory. Her father, Robert Hamilton Campbell, was a molder at Kalamazoo Foundry which made metal parts (later, he was also an auto license collector for the city). Her family was shocked at the sudden death of her father on October 29, 1923, and for Lucille, her solace was the K-4 mandocello. In fact, her preference for the K-4 may have led to the use of that instrument in the 1924 Gibsonians. (The K-5 that had been so ably played by Arthur Crookes in the summer of 1922 and C. A. Templeman in 1923—which is now on display at the Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix—was repurposed, labeled February 18, 1924, and sold as a guitar). Lucille Campbell married Hezakiah Wilson Howard in 1927 and had two sons; she divorced Howard in 1937, but continued, as Mrs. Howard, to be a faithful Gibson employee for a long career and, like Mrs. Bippes, was another of the “Kalamazoo Gals” that carried Gibson through World War II. She died in Kalamazoo in 1989.

Lucille’s brother Frank Briggs Campbell, born 1896, also figured prominently at Gibson. In WW I, he was a gunner’s mate in the US Navy. In late 1918, he was mustered out of the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment at Camp Peekskill in New York State. He returned to Kalamazoo and began work as a clerk at Gibson Mandolin and Guitar Company in 1919. In 1922, Campbell was sent out to work in sales at stores that were prominent Gibson dealers. He became familiar with musical instrument sales in the retail market, thus learning the business from the ground up. While sales director at Grinnell’s Music in Detroit, Michigan, he helped organize the Gibsonians’ concert and broadcast of September 1, 1922, which was the first national showcase of the Master Model instruments. On April 28, 1924, he was appointed sales manager back at Gibson, just in time for the Guild Convention in Pittsburgh in May.

Before embarking on the ‘24 tour, Lloyd Loar announced the release of models UB-1, UB-2 and UB-3, the new line of Gibson Ukelele-Banjo. In all likelihood, this was intended to coincide with the 1924 tour and sales campaign, and was a nod to the lifestyle of the “Flapper” generation.

Now, we return to the first stop of the 1924 tour at Don John’s Music Store in Lima, Ohio, on May 7th, an event quite different from the rest. “Gibson Day” had been organized and orchestrated by James H. Johnstone.

Lima Republican, Lima, Ohio, Sunday, May 4, 1924, P. 10

“Johnstone’s Musical Entertainers,” a traveling circus of musical performance that could fill the entire day at Don John’s Music Company. The Crescendo, July 1924, p. 28.

Johnstone was clearly experimenting with ensembles other than the Gibsonians. Notice that in this program, the Gibsonians are renamed the “Gibson Plectral Sextet.” In addition to the “Johnstone Musical Entertainers,” there were other side projects for him. For example, Johnstone’s tenor banjo led a group that included a whistler, Clarence Crow; two 19-year old talents from Fredericktown, Missouri, Mss. Geraldine Bess, dramatic reader and saxophonist, and Lucille Hoskins, piano; and (possibly) Bess’s classmate, Mildred Marie, from Shipp’s hometown of Linn, Missouri. Geraldine Bess had graduated from Ward-Belmont Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, and was set to study dramatic arts at Chicago Music College later in 1924. We suspect Johnstone, in looking to the future, may have had a plan to replace Fisher Shipp with a young dramatic reader who could double on saxophone. This group performed for a broadcast on KSD in St. Louis, and the program was syndicated nationally during the last two weeks of May. Since Johnstone was on the road with the Gibsonians during that time, it must have been pre-recorded.