The Griffith School of Music, ca. 1925. Margie Keelin Griffith, on left with harp; her husband William Butt Griffith with F-5 72615, standing to her left. Unidentified musician standing in center with Gibson F-5 74311, the “house F5.” Photograph courtesy Charley Rappaport.

Lakewood Park in Atlanta, Georgia, was illuminated fabulously on the nights of June 2 and 3rd, 1922, for The Venetian Water Festival. “Expert swimmers” from the Atlanta Athletic Club rowed forty brightly lit gondolas across the lake. In the gondolas, the one hundred and two members of the Griffith Mandolin Orchestra, dressed in Venetian costumes custom ordered from New York City, played Italian love songs on mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, banjos and, yes, even a mandobass. As they made their way across the lake, “O Solo Mio” and “Come Back To Sorrento” echoed resplendently. This astonishing mandolin escort led a magnificent float which carried The Queen of the Water and her maids, “the most beautiful young ladies of Atlanta,” all in sumptuous gowns. The procession approached “‘The Isle of Neptune,’ in the center of the lake, where Father Neptune awaited their arrival.” The Queen was escorted to her throne as the mandolin serenade continued from the water. Members of the Atlanta Harp Orchestra, led by Margie, L’Ella and Mary Griffith, put aside their mandolins and somehow made it from their watery perches onto the platform where harps awaited. A dozen harpists surrounded the Queen with heavenly harp music! Lighted boats hovered around the island! What a spectacle for the audience crowded around the lake! “Fancy diving from hidden spring-boards followed,” with the “Atlanta Girls’ Diving Team” flying into the lake, while fireworks erupted from the hillside. Mrs. Margie Keelin Griffith, who performed in a boat on her Gibson A4 mandolin and later led the harp ensemble on the island, may have even upstaged her sisters-in-law, as she “was beautifully gowned in jade green tulle, elaborately embroidered in sequins of the same shade.” (Atlanta Journal, articles from May 29 to June 15, 1922).

Top row, Misses Theodosia Beckham, Alice Eubanks, Ruth Noris, Margaret Buford, Mrs. Mary Griffith Dobbs, Miss Myrtle Craft. Middle row, Mrs. Isabel Hunter, Lorene Green, Lillian LaConte, Margaret Wade, and Mrs. M. B. Griffith. Sitting, Suzanne Springer and Walter Dodd Jr. Margie Griffith, sitting on left in gondola. Photo of rehearsal, published in The Atlanta Constitution, June 7, 1922

The Queens of the Venetian Water: Miss Marion Smith (on left, June 2) and Miss Ernestine Campbell (June 3). Photo from the rehearsal, published after the event in The Atlanta Journal, June 9, 1922

The Griffith Harp Club members. The Atlanta Journal, May 28, 1922

Margie Belle Keelin Griffith, wife of William Griffith, excelled as harpist, was a soloist at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and taught harp and piano. In all the years we have been tracking the Griffith family of Atlanta, the only photo in which she appears with a mandolin, she is in a gondola!

The Griffith School, ca. 1920, with Margie Griffith, on left, seated at the harp.

We have tracked down Margie Griffith because of her mandolin. For years, mandolin journals have only identified her as Mrs. Griffith, but we were determined to learn more about this woman for whom this unique mandolin was created. It was the most perfectly original instrument recovered from the Griffith School, probably because it rarely left her teaching studio during the time she owned it. Most of the other Griffith instruments showed wear or even repair and refinish. This one-of-a kind Gibson was custom ordered for her and was the only instrument signed by Lloyd Loar on September 20, 1923: Now one hundred years old, the legendary 1923 Gibson A-5 #74003 !

The Gibson A-5 74003, signed by Lloyd Loar on September 20, 1923, ordered by Gibson artist/agent William Griffith for his wife, Margie. Photo by Patrick Sauber, courtesy Darryl Wolfe and the Mandolin Archive.

Since Lloyd Loar and the Gibsonians had ended their summer tour on August 22, 1923, Loar would have been back at Gibson in Kalamazoo during the month before the signature date of this much discussed instrument. It was one of the only two Master Model mandolins that did not feature the scroll and points, the other being the 10-string MV-5 created for Loar himself a year earlier. This was not the first instrument ordered by William Griffith for his wife. A little over a year earlier, he wrote to Gibson giving gratitude for the timely delivery of Margie’s A4, which would most likely have been the mandolin she played at the Venetian Festival.

There is every evidence that William B. Griffith was acquainted with Lloyd Loar, if not a close friend. Even after Loar’s departure from Gibson, Griffith, as President of the American Guild, and one of the largest dealers of Gibson instruments in the world, was able to welcome Loar back to the Guild as a soloist and even have his photo included in Gibson’s “Mastertone” booklet of May, 1927.

Gibson’s “Mastertone” booklet, prepared for the Guild convention of 1927. Booklet courtesy Jeff Foxall.

Who were these Griffiths? To understand, we go back in time to the founder of the musical dynasty, Mary Burke Butt Griffith.

The Times, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1895.

Of all the mandolin communities, none was larger, more successful, more grandiose, or more matriarchal than the Griffith School of Music. It all started with Mary Burke Butt Griffith, who opened the school in 1898. An article in the Philadelphia Times Herald wrote “Victor Hugo said ‘the twentieth century is woman's century’ and as a proof that there is nothing that the brain of woman cannot grasp, or her skill manage. Mrs. M. B. Griffith of Atlanta is a living witness."

Mary Burke Butt, born in 1857, was a fireball of energy and showed musical acumen at an early age. She was already a concert pianist and music teacher by 1879 when she married Benjamin Howard Griffith, an employee of Chamberlin & Johnson department stores. Perhaps she was best known for organizing the building of the Atlanta bell tower and raising the money to order a custom bell from a foundry in Cincinnati. She set up a keyboard system, and played the bells herself. On Sundays and holidays, she rang old familiar songs across the city. She was quite a persuasive organizer. For example, she convinced the City of Atlanta to issue a “Colored Person’s Day.” Former slaves and children and grandchildren of slaves were given a festival, and in the city square the bells would ring songs Mrs. Griffith had learned from the African American Church. In addition to philanthropic work in Georgia, she was a member of the American Guild of Mandolin, Banjo and Guitar and the American Guild of Harpists. In 1898, she enlisted a staff of teachers and formed the Griffith School of Music at 455 Peachtree Street, and later expanded to 488.

Ad in the Atlanta Constitution, June 2, 1915.

Benjamin and Mary Griffith had four remarkable children: William Butt (born 1880), L’Ella Ruby (1883), Beverly Howard (1887) and Mary Butt (1890). The youngest boy, Beverly, was by far the most famous in his own time. Silent film star, race car driver and war hero, he is deserving of a full biography. But it is the oldest son, William Butt Griffith, that created such a mandolin legacy. By the 1920s, he was the head of the Griffith School of Music. Leading mandolinist, teacher, organizer, he held various official positions at the American Guild including Secretary-Treasurer and Field Secretary, 1923-1926, and President in 1927-28; he was also President of the Atlanta Federation of Musicians. He was one of the first to embrace Lloyd Loar-signed Master Model instruments, and his F-5, # 72615, signed March 27, 1923, has a legend of its own.

William Butt Griffith with F5 72615. This photograph appeared in many Gibson publications.

F5 72615 as it appears today. Photograph courtesy Steve Gilchrist.

When we acquired Gibson F5 72615 in October, 2015, it had been refinished; assessing the type of finish and the change in hardware, we estimated that the work was most likely performed by Gibson in the early 1930s. We contacted the greatest Loar-restoration expert in the world, luthier Steve Gilchrist in Australia. He was excited about the prospect of returning this amazing instrument to its original state. The results surpassed our greatest expectations in both sound and appearance. A complete report is available at Gilchrist Mandolins:

http://www.gilchristmandolins.com/loar-72615

L’Ella Griffith could play any instrument, and taught mandolin, banjo and guitar in the school. She was Director of the American Guild for many years and was instrumental in bringing the Guild convention to Atlanta in 1920. She married the mandocello player in the orchestra, Walter Bedard, who easily took his place as performer, teacher and business manager at the School.

Mary Butt Griffith Dobbs. The Atlanta Journal, December 13, 1925

The youngest child, Mary Butt Griffith excelled even among the talented performers and teachers in the family, earning respect on a variety of instruments. She married Dave Dobbs, a clerk at the Express Company. As Mrs. Dobbs, she continued with her teaching work, organizing a youth orchestra, and even outdid her talented sister-in-law in the Atlanta Harp Orchestra when she had the opportunity to perform as a soloist at Carnegie Hall in the late 1930s.

Hundreds of articles like these detailing Griffith concerts appear in Atlanta newspapers from the ‘teens all the way through the 1950s. There is interesting insight into repertoire. (Left: Atlanta Journal, February 26, 1926; Right, Atlanta Journal, January 23, 1927)

William Griffith married Margie Belle Keelin in Raleigh, North Carolina, on April 22, 1915. Margie had been born near Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1891; moved with her family to Nashville and finally to Raleigh. She had taken to piano as a child, and fitted perfectly into the Griffith family when her husband took her to Atlanta. She appeared in concert as often, if not more often, than any of her in-laws.

The Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia) February, 19, 1926

Left: The Griffith faculty in the parlor of the house on Bonaventure Ave NE. L to R: William, L’Ella, Margie, Walter Bedard and Mary.
Right: Along with Mr. Griffith, members of the orchestra form a sextet with the “house instruments.”

The Griffith School featured an incredible collection of Gibson Family instruments which were available for students. Mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, banjos and mandobasses were on hand for daily use. Gibson F5 75311, signed by Lloyd Loar on February 18, 1924, was a permanent resident and can often be seen in the hands of the more gifted students.

The Griffith Youth Orchestra. The young man seated second from right is holding Gibson F5 75311, the “house Loar.” The Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia) January 19, 1930. Mr. Griffith looks on, standing, top right.

The year 1923 was a landmark year for the Griffith family. Mr. Griffith got his F-5 in the early part of the year. While Margie’s A-5 was being signed in Kalamazoo, she and William and Margie were on tour in Europe! According to the passport and visa, they left on “July 14, 1923 and travelled in France, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Holland.”

Mr. and Mrs. Griffith in a Gibson promotional photo. In the summer of 1923, Europeans got their first chance to hear an F-5 mandolin, and Gibson took the opportunity to advertise the fact in the Music Trade Journal, December 1, 1923.

They returned to New York City harbor on the ship Orbita on September 29, 1923, and made it to Atlanta sometime after the 30th. We like to think she found her new A-5 mandolin awaiting her at the large house on 650 Bonaventure Avenue NE in Atlanta, where the family had just taken up residence!

Photographs of the Griffith House by Dr. Susan Muller.

The house of The Griffith School of Music, now on the National Register of Historic Places, is a large two-story beige-brick house with an additional attic apartment and a separate cottage behind the house. The house, porch and porte-cochere are supported by huge granite blocks. There are two large interior stone chimneys. The house was built in 1910 by Dr. George F. Payne. When Dr. Payne passed away in April of 1923, his widow sold the house to the Griffiths. In April of 1995, the house was acquired by its current owner who later received the city’s award for excellence in restoration. Before the restoration began, Rick Taylor of the Atlanta Mandolin Orchestra, his young son Jordan and Tony Williamson, who was in town as a soloist at their concert, had the extraordinary honor of touring the house with Manuel “Mike” Chaknis, who had been a student of William Griffith and performed with the Griffith ensembles. Mike Chaknis, at 75 years of age, still played the mandolin he had bought from Mr. Griffith, a 1933 F-5 #88831 (3681). As we toured the house, Rick Taylor recorded our conversation. We now invite our readers to take that tour along with us via the following transcription: The Griffith House with Mike Chaknis.

Rick: Mike, when you came here to take lessons, you said maybe early 30s, it was in the house out back?

Mike: Yes, Mr. Griffith had that for his studio. His teaching was all done in that little house in the back. His wife and his two sisters, they did their teaching in the house. Mrs. Griffith taught harp and piano and Mrs. Dobbs and Mrs. Bedard taught the stringed instruments. In those days, I would get off the street car and come up the driveway and go to the house out back. I would walk up the driveway and Mr. Griffith would be waiting for me and we would walk out back. So, I didn’t get to come into the house as often as some [students did].

Rick: Did you come once a week?

Mike: Yes, once a week… and I was very unhappy to pay a dollar and a half an hour. My former teacher only charged a buck! And I had a 50% increase and I had to ride clear across Atlanta…this was the end of nowhere back then…a long way from where I lived. I thought that was an outrageous fee. My Dad said, “boy, that man’s expensive…a buck and a half an hour!’

Owner: Is there any truth to the rumor that they only accepted cash?

Mike: That was the only way I ever paid.

Owner: Did you pay them every time?

Mike. Every time. Yes.

Owner: I have heard stories that every evening they would go to the room upstairs and have tea and split the take.

Mike: Yes, split the take! (laughter). Could well have been. But I know that was a lot of money. And that mandolin he played was $250 bucks!

Rick: Is that what you paid for yours?

Mike: I think it was. I bought that in the thirties. I bought it through Mr. Griffith. I pleaded with my Dad to buy it. It was a lot of money. But that was the going price for an F-5 back then. I think they are a little bit more now.

(laughter)

Tony: Did Mrs. Griffith have a special mandolin that was built like an F-5 with f-holes but didn’t have the scroll and points? Did you ever see that mandolin?

Mike: I don’t remember ever seeing that. I would have remembered a special mandolin. Something like that would have stood out in my mind.

Tony. This school was a rare situation here in the South. There were teachers all over the Northeast who were Gibson dealers, but a mandolin community of this scope in this part of the country was really quite remarkable.

Rick; I think Mr. Griffith was one of the leading Gibson dealers.

Mike: Mr. Griffith had a beautiful F-5 mandolin himself. Such tone. It had a wonderful tone.

We walk into the parlor.

Rick: This wood work in here is so beautiful. Oh look, here in the parlor. There’s a sign that says “Griffith School”

Mike: We did recitals here in the house. This is where the performers would perform, in this room. The musicians would set up in here in front of the fireplace and mantle.

Rick: You played in one of his groups?

Mike: Oh yeah. We played in one of his groups, used to play in here, and we had a radio program. At one of the radio stations. We had a theme song… [Hums a tune]

Tony: When you played in here, how many instruments…musicians were playing?

Mike: Oh you know, solos, duets, quartets, sometimes even more would play. As many as fifteen or twenty. As many as we could squeeze in. This was not the stage for the full orchestra, of course.

Tony: Do you remember where that would have been?

Mike: No. I have no idea.

Owner: I think there was also a school downtown.

Mike: There may have been a location on Peach Street, but this is the only location I was familiar with.

Owner: I found this photo and some music.

Mike: (points to the photo): That’s me.

Owner: That’s you?

Mike. Yes, I had hair then. I’m taking chemotherapy and lost my hair…I used to have hair… (pause)

Mike: …and there’s “My Old Kentucky Home.” We used to play that.

The group walks upstairs.

Mike: I only came up here rarely, but I know this is where Mrs. Dobbs taught. And this next room, Mr. Bedard taught mandocello and his wife L’Ella was over here. She could play everything.

Owner: Look how thick these walls are. And every room has a magnificent fireplace.

Mike: This was a fine old home in its day.

We walk over to the window and see the cottage out back.

Owner: I had been told that the Doctor that built this house lived there while the house was being built.

Mike: I always thought that those might have been the servants’ quarters in the old days.

Owner: Evidently not. That’s one part of the history I am vague on.

Rick: Mike, were you a teenager when you took from Mr. Griffith?

Mike. Yes, I was 16 or 17.

Owner: There is a pull down ladder to the attic and there is some sort of container in there. Something was up there for a long time. Yeah, we can go up there.

Mike: I don’t think I can go up there.

Tony climbs the ladder. “Maybe there’s another Lloyd Loar up here.” There is a large rectangular container made of a dense hardwood that may have been walnut. Inside were partitions that would have perfectly fitted cases for various size Gibson instruments. On the top right front edge was embossed “Gibson Co. / Kalamazoo, Michigan.” It was empty.

We go back downstairs and then to the outside. We are joined by another mandolin playing friend, Hal Jeanes.

Owner: There was a deck here. It’s pretty much gone now, we would like to rebuild it.

Mike: Do you have a key to Mr. Griffith’s studio? I’d like to take one look in there, to remember how it looked. I spent a lot more time in there than I did the house.

Rick: She found the key, she’s got it open!

We go inside.

Mike: This is where we sat for our lessons. There was another door over here.

Tony: Mr. Griffith’s studio. Amazing feeling here. Was there a room here where he kept his music, photos … Look, here’s some trunks.

(The trunks were empty)

Rick: No Loars in there. (laughter)

Tony: When Mr. Griffith gave you your lessons, did he use his F-5?

Mike: Oh yeah. We’d play, he’d play with me, show me. I saw it every week.

Tony: Did that make you want to have an F-5?

Mike: You bet! and I finally got one. And we would play them together.

Owner: If we were real quiet, I wonder if we could still hear it reverberating.

Mike: You’d have to be awful quiet. Awful quiet. I don’t think we can get that quiet.

Note: I am deeply indebted to Rick Taylor for his support of this project and for preserving this conversation; to Allen McCanless for help restoring photos; Steve Gilchrist for his support of the project and especially his amazing work on Mr. Griffith’s F-5; and Charlie Rappaport, who, as I recall, helped set up the tour but could not come due to his work schedule.