THE COLLEGIANS - I CRIED FOR YOU

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The intent of this video is for non profit Historic Preservation, Education and social comment.

Roy Johnston, trumpet
Spiegle Willcox, trombone
Stub Washburn, alto sax
Freddie Ballinger, tenor sax
Red Ewald, violin
Jimmy Lynch, piano
Charlie Dean, banjo
unknown brass bass
Bob Causer, drums
New York, 1923


In the summer of 1921, Spiegle played near Jamestown, New York, on Lake Chautauqua in Tige Jewett's band. Jewett was a Cornell graduate and apparently lent a certain Ivy League flare to the band's character. Jewett's contacts with fraternities and sororities on the Cornell campus proved advantageous for bookings. After the stint with Tige Jewett in 1922, Spiegle joined Bob Causer's Big Four (actually an octet) later that same year. He stayed with this group when it became Paul Whiteman's Collegians in 1924. Under its new management, the group gigged mostly in New York City and made recordings. Vaudeville headliners and silent film stars like Will Rogers and William S. Hart attended Collegians' dances and performances. Gilda Grey, the Ziegfeld Follies' shimmy queen, dated the owner of the Rendezvous nightclub where the octet held forth and occasionally brightened the backstage with a few girls from her Broadway revue.
"People didn't come to listen to the music in those days. They came to dance." Spiegle enjoyed the flamboyant fashions of the twenties, while eschewing its infamous excesses. Unlike some of his band colleagues, Spiegle rarely drank. "It just never hooked me," he said. He was earning one hundred dollars a week and purchased a Stutz Bearcat. He also made a present of a raccoon coat, which matched his own, to his fiancé, Binghamton-native Helen Gunsaules ("Pigeon"). Helen was a stabilizing element in Willcox's life. Their courtship and marriage in 1925 provided Spiegle with a healthy distraction that other musicians didn't have. He told me, "The other guys just came back to an empty hotel room and a bottle after the gig. I had Pigeon." They remained happily married until her death in 1986, shortly after their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

Willcox remained with the Whiteman organization for nearly three years, before quitting the band early in 1925. After a few months of helping his father with the family business in Cortland, Spiegle worked with the Lakeside Park Band in Auburn, New York, during the summer of 1925.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• I CRIED FOR YOU
• Arthur freed
• gus arnheim
• abe lyman
• harry a. powell
• 1923
• jazz
• Bix
• Tram
• Bix Beiderbecke
• Roy Johnston
• fox-trot
• dance
• NEw York
• Victor records
• Shellac record

[waitfornod1924]

Nice tune, has some bounce to it. A well crafted video and a thoughtful tribute to Spiegle. The notes are great. Thank you, Mr. Hoppers!

[lindyhoppers]

@waitfornod1924

Thank You very much Shelley.

Spiegle is in my heart and it's been a Great honour to have known him...

[iainr222]

Superb clarity for an acoustic recording !

[lindyhoppers]

@iainr222

Thank you, and this was transferred more than 10 years ago when computers were 486DX type...

[foxtrotgin]

Great tune, and images of the band. Interesting facts about Willcox too, Thanks for sharing!

[lindyhoppers]

@foxtrotgin

My pleasure to share my material with you guys!

[EdisonSquirrel]

I never tire of this record!

[scx493x]

Great upload and a fascinating story.