In the summer of 1924, Lloyd Loar’s title at Gibson, Inc., in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was “Factory Manager.” Concurrently, he supplied lengthy articles each month for a Boston, Massachusetts magazine. For almost four years he had resided in Kalamazoo and created the legend for which he is remembered today. But now, had he turned his focus on his future in Boston?

Pitcairn Allegro Mandolin Sextet was one of the first to embrace Lloyd Loar’s designs, which included F-5 mandolin, H-5 mandola, K-5 mandocello and L-5 guitar. They broadcast the sounds of these instruments internationally on July 23, 1923. **Percy Lichtenfels, standing second from left, led the ensemble with Gibson F-5 #73679.**

Even though the temperature never got above 74 degrees in Kalamazoo during the summer of 1924, we suspect something was about to boil over at Gibson: by January of 1925, Loar had left Kalamazoo for Boston.

Linn County Daily Budget, Brookfield, Missouri. Saturday, Dec 27, 1924 · Page 4

Loar had a myriad of duties at Gibson, but it is unclear how many of his tasks he was able to delegate to the remarkable team of skilled workers employed there. To the best of our knowledge and research, no Master Model labels were signed between March 31 and September 18, 1924. In fact, we have found no documents to prove exactly where Loar was and what he was doing that summer. However, he was clearly present in the pages of the new “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza” magazine. While his official job was still in Kalamazoo, Michigan, it seems his mind, or at least his pen, was focused on Boston and the publishing enterprises of Walter Jacobs.

Beginning with its inaugural issue, “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza” featured headline articles by Lloyd Loar.

Back in the first three months of 1924, there was a tremendous production of Loar’s Master Model instruments. In May, he and his Gibsonians left for a concert tour. We have no record of a visit to Boston during that tour, but Loar would most likely have had an opportunity to meet with Walter Jacobs at the American Guild Convention in Pittsburgh (May 11-13) and The National Music Convention in New York City (June 2-7). The 1924 tour ended on June 13, much earlier than previous summer tours.

“Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza,” Boston, Massachusetts, May, 1924, p. 71.

Upon returning to Kalamazoo, the members of the Gibsonian Orchestra went their separate ways. Mandolinist Dorothy Crane came home to her summer solstice wedding: on June 21st, she became Mrs. Herbert Bippes. After her honeymoon, she joined the two other young members of the 1924 Gibsonians, Lucille Campbell and Nell VerCies, back at work in the Gibson offices. They also began preparing for yet another performance tour with The Gibson Melody Maids. James H. Johnstone resumed his duties as foreman of the stringing department and his musical adventures with his jazzy tenor banjo. Fisher Shipp-Loar returned to Lynn, Missouri to spend the summer with her mother. Her visits to Kalamazoo “to visit Mr. Loar” may give insight as to his whereabouts. By scouring the local newspapers in the area of Brookfield, Missouri, we have been able to document Fisher Shipp’s schedule. She visited Kalamazoo from July 19th to the 23rd; again, on August 7th until the 14th; and she returned once again on September 25th and was back in Missouri by October 7.

It seems logical to conclude that Loar was in Kalamazoo working at Gibson during the times that he received visits from his wife. Despite the lack of output in the Master Model program that summer, Loar did have many other duties at Gibson, which included supervision of construction, managing Gibson agents and dealers, head of the “Department of Repair,” and the role he was essentially hired for, research and development. Some have theorized that he must have been designing the Gibson Tenor Lute (which debuted in October), but the factory order numbers on the few models we have seen indicate they had begun production in 1923. Whatever his actual output for Gibson was that summer, it is certain that he spent a great deal of his time and energy creating articles for publication in Walter Jacobs’ new magazine in Boston. Did he also manage a trip to Boston that summer to make plans for his future?

The last issue of “The Cadenza” magazine in its original format was mailed out in February of 1924. Boston publisher Walter Jacobs had decided to merge two of his publications into one: “The “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza” appeared in April of 1924, and with the inaugural issue, the 80-page magazine began monthly feature articles “by Lloyd Loar, Master of Music.” In that first issue, Loar contributed a 2500 word essay presenting a strong case for music education. In the article, entitled “The Advance Guard of a New Epoch,” he wrote:

“Those spiritual activities, usually referred to as the ‘arts,’ develop amazingly; world literature is enriched, paintings, and statuary of inspired beauty and meaning are given us, and music of nothing less than divine loveliness is born, while music of the past period, equally inspired, renews its freshness and re-creates for us the happiness that comes with the knowledge and comprehension of beauty and goodness… It does seem to me as though music is more general in its appeal and in the opportunity everyone has to share its enjoyment; … it uplifts both listener and performer more than any other of the arts.”

Young musicians from the elementary schools of Los Angeles gather in the stadium there. Part of a two page photo accompanying Lloyd Loar’s article “Advance Guard of a New Epoch.” “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly and The Cadenza.” April 1924, p. 3.

Other part of a two page photo accompanying Lloyd Loar’s article “Advance Guard of a New Epoch.” “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly,” April 1924, p4.

In the May issue, Loar tackled what was then a controversial subject: “‘Jazz:’ Is It Constructive Or Destructive.” Many older musicians argued vehemently that Jazz was an awful noise created by unschooled musicians, and that its infiltration into popular music was an abomination. Indeed, many people of the general population believed that jazz music was responsible for a decline in morality, and even debauchery among younger people. Always the innovator and modernist, Loar offered an alternative and optimistic view of the future of music in America:

“While Jazz is a rather indefinite term, we might say it is a more highly seasoned dish than the one we were fed a few years ago. The extra seasoning may consist of more intricate or insistent rhythms, dashes of more brilliant tone color, or greater variety of harmonic material. The constructive effect jazz has had on popular music is decidedly noticeable. The improvement will continue; good taste and a liking for beauty will keep on working their constructive changes and the first thing we know we will have a national music liked and understood by all of us!”

Paul Ash and His Granada Orchestra of San Francisco used Gibson Instruments, including Lloyd Loar signed F-5s, to play popular music infused with Jazz improvisations and rhythms. “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly, and The Cadenza August 1924, p13.

From the beginning, in addition to articles authored by Loar, “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza” devoted pages to Lloyd Loar’s musical adventures. We understand that it was the first to publish the now relatively famous photograph of the 1924 Gibsonians (it also appeared in The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, later that month).

The earliest appearance of this photo was in “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly and The Cadenza” May, 1924, p. 71. We first saw it in the February, 1975, issue of Rolling Stone magazine. 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.. Loar scholar Roger Siminoff, who has reproduced this photo in “The Life and Work of Lloyd Allayre Loar,” has identified the photographer as Ward C. Morgan, who did many photos for Gibson during his career.

The August, 1924 issue offered a report on where Mss. Crane, Campbell and VerCies would be in the autumn of 1924. Based on this photo of the Gibson Melody Maids, it appears that Dorothy Crane Bippes (standing behind the pianist) has returned from her honeymoon. Why is this young woman smiling? Is it because she is holding a new Loar-signed Master Model F-5?! Was it the same one she played on the tour? Was it a wedding present?

While a rival magazine “The Crescendo” also published a full convention report of the 1924 meeting of the American Guild of Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar in Pittsburgh, “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza” gave inside details that readers of “The Crescendo” would have missed. One interesting item concerns the “Effete Orchestra,” an event organized by Loar wherein each musical instrument manufacturer played one of their competitor’s instruments. General Manager of Gibson, Harry L. Ferris—Loar’s boss—, who was not a gifted musician, was invited to join the orchestra. He was presented with a ukulele banjo…only it was missing the bridge! It also seems Loar and Johnstone absconded with at least the Gibson instruments before the “Effete Orchestra” got very far at all. They scurried away to catch a train to the next stop on their tour.

“Jacobs Orchestra Monthly and Cadenza,” May, 1924. pp. 64 & 65.

Both magazines also covered Loar’s concert at the National Music Convention in New York City; compare the report from “The Crescendo” to the one in “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly.” Both versions describe a reunion between Loar and Johnstone with their bandmates of 1922, Walter K. Bauer and Arthur Crookes. Bauer and Crookes continued to represent Gibson in Hartford, Connecticut, until at least 1928.

“Jacobs Orchestra Monthly and Cadenza,” July, 1924.

“Jacobs Orchestra Monthly and The Cadenza,” May, 1924. It appears that Bauer-Crookes Banjo Orchestra made a big splash at the National Music Convention playing Gibson banjos.

From the beginning of the “Breaking News” series, we have consistently referenced the two early twentieth century journals dedicated to fretted instruments: Walter Jacobs’ “The Cadenza” and Herbert F. Odell’s “The Crescendo.” Both were published in Boston, Massachusetts, and both were owned by enigmatic banjo and mandolin enthusiasts who were fixtures at the Guild Conventions. Both Odell and Jacobs were musicians who began their careers selling sheet music and song folios; the magazines that they published always included selections of music and arrangements. Both Lloyd Loar and Walter K. Bauer were familiar with the two publishers. We find it interesting to note that in the convention photos, Bauer and Crookes were pictured next to Jacobs; while Loar and his partner at Gibson, Clifford V. Buttelman, were beside Odell. As it turned out, both Loar and Buttelman left Gibson to work for Jacobs, and Bauer left Gibson for Vega and inherited editorship of Odell’s “Crescendo.”

From L to R, Arthur Crookes, Walter K. Bauer, Walter Jacobs; Lloyd Loar, Clifford V. Buttelman and Herbert F. Odell. Details from group photos of the American Guild of Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar, 1922 (left) and 1923 (right).

Now, we find it useful to take a closer look at the backgrounds of Jacobs and Odell, these two musicians turned publishers. We are also curious about what attracted Loar to Jacobs’ enterprises, and consider what may have awaited him once he moved to Boston.

Herbert Forest Odell was born in 1872 in New England; as a young man he studied violin, piano and voice. In 1895 he went to Paris to study mandolin with virtuoso and composer Jean Pietrapertosa. When he arrived back in American, his enthusiasm for mandolin ignited a career of teaching and writing music for that instrument. Around the same time, he started what later became the Odell Mandolin Orchestra. In 1905 the H. F. Odell Company of Boston not only began publishing music, but was the Boston agency for the sale of Gibson instruments. Also in 1905, Odell began publishing “The Crescendo” as a newsletter/magazine to promote his enterprises. It was soon dubbed “The Official Organ of the American Guild of Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar,” and an important aspect of each issue was to offer interesting arrangements of classical and popular music arranged and/or composed for mandolin and banjo family instruments.

“The Crescendo” July, 1908, Boston, Mass. Compare the same month of “The Cadenza,” below.

“The Cadenza,” July 1908, Boston, Mass. USA. One of Jacobs’ first issues: with the identical photo as “The Crescendo” of that month.

Robert Walter Jacobs could not have been more different from Herbert Foster Odell. Jacobs was born in 1868 to a dry goods merchant in Oberlin, Ohio. By the age of 10, he became mesmerized with a troupe of African American guitar and banjo players who busked on the streets of Oberlin. By spending his days with those street musicians, Jacobs was able to teach himself guitar and banjo. By all accounts, he became a highly skilled player. He also began to formulate his own teaching method. He left Oberlin around 1890 and by 1891 is listed in the Boston City Directory as a “teacher of plucked stringed instruments” giving lessons at “297 Tremont St., Suite One.”

In 1895, Jacobs issued a folio of his own compositions based on the music he had learned from the African American players in Ohio and transcribed into standard notation. Jacobs next publication was his teaching method, “Jacobs Banjo Studies for Beginners, 25 cents.” Successful sales attracted the attention of other composers, and Jacobs began acquiring rights to an ever-growing catalog of music. Much of his early focus was music in the minstrel style, and while the melodies were often lively and infectious, the lyrics of such pieces as “Pickaninny Pranks” and “Ole Sambo” relied on derogatory depictions of African American culture designed to amuse white audiences.

In 1906, Jacobs acquired rights to Thomas Allen’s “Goodbye Mr. Greenback.” To advertise this song, Jacobs circulated fake five dollar bills with the lyric “Goodbye Mr. Greenback, I hate to see you go” printed on them. The publicity stunt got Jacobs arrested for counterfeiting. By the time the case was heard in Boston Municipal Court, it had became a bit of a local sensation and the cause of some hilarity in the Boston pubs. In addition to a reprimand and an order to never try such a stunt again, the judge ordered Jacobs to pay a fine of “three authentic five dollar bills.” It seems Jacobs felt there was no such thing as bad publicity, which proved true for him, as “Goodbye Mr. Greenback” became a best seller.

As the new century progressed, Jacobs moved toward a more general audience and selections and instrumentation became more mainstream. Titles like Charles Dorn’s “Faded Flowers” and Albert J. Weidt’s “Autumn Days” and “A Trip To Coney” became popular parlor entertainment. In 1911, he acquired the publishing rights to Edwin Eugene Bagley’s “National Emblem” and published an arrangement for military band. This became his all-time best seller and helped legitimate his business.

Just as Jacobs’ path to publishing differed from Odell’s, the story of “The Cadenza” was different from “The Crescendo.” “The Cadenza” was the brainchild of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence L. Partee of Kansas City, Missouri. They put out their first issue of “A Magazine for Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Players” in 1894. It was a collection of amusing stories, letters, and advertisements for instrument makers such as Washburn, Fairbanks and Cole. Each issue included music arranged for fretted instruments, with titles like “Endearing Young Charms,” (for banjo) “Chickasaw Jig” (banjo duet), and Paganini’s “Le Carnival de Venice” (for mandolin and guitar). Actually, just the first page of each arrangement was offered, but with a note at the bottom: “price complete, 40cents…for sale at all Music Stores.” In 1900, the Partees moved their business from Kansas City to New York City, and in 1908, they sold the entire franchise to Walter Jacobs, who immediately moved “The Cadenza” to Boston.

By 1913, “The Cadenza” was “The Official Organ of the American Guild of Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar.” Somehow Jacobs had negotiated that honor away from Odell. And, like the earlier (and later) Odell publications, The Cadenza devoted a full page to Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company. In fact, in page 3 of the January 1913 issue, Lloyd Loar is included in a group of photos of “Men of Reputation” who played and endorsed Gibson mandolins.

In yet another pattern borrowed from “The Crescendo,” “The Cadenza” often profiled an ensemble from the mandolin, banjo and guitar community.

In April of 1924, Jacobs absorbed “The Cadenza” into his other publication, “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly.” In doing so, he also contemporized the subject matter and offered material of interest to the music community as a whole. For insight and copy, Jacobs often turned to Lloyd Loar. “Music Publishers and Radio Broadcasting,” for example, was the feature topic of an article by Loar in the August issue of that year. The question at hand was, should broadcasters be required to pay publishers for the compositions used on their shows? Back in 1909, U.S. Congress had enacted a law compelling music companies to pay royalties to publishers who represented the composers for each records sold. Enrico Caruso, for example, made $5,000,000 from the sale of his records. By 1922, the rise of radio had actually caused a decline in record sales, and artists felt they should be compensated for broadcast the same as for sale of recordings. The broadcasters put forth many arguments for not paying royalties, such as “starving artists create brilliant work;” Another was that the radio gave unknown artists exposure, and that alone should be payment enough... Tackling this complex subject by explaining the view of both sides, Lloyd Loar concluded in favor of composers. By the end of the decade, the payment of radio royalties began to help artists from Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong to Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family accumulate the kind of income that allowed them to flourish and create music genres that we cherish today. If only Mr. Loar were here to tell us what to do about Spotify…

Next month, be sure to look for the September episode of “Breaking News” when Lloyd Loar returns to the Master Model project, and “Jacobs Orchestra Monthly And The Cadenza” publishes the first installment of Loar’s groundbreaking treatise, “Acoustics For Musicians.”