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MICHAEL MESSER :: MICHAEL MESSER FORUM :: NATIONAL AVENUE ask Michael a question, or just leave a message :: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLAYERS
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AuthorTopic: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLAYERS (Read 23,556 times)
Michael Messer
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INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLAYERS
« Thread Started on Sept 23, 2004, 4:27pm »

THIS THREAD'S HIT COUNTER REACHED 1800 AND RETURNED TO ZERO! >>>SO WE ARE COUNTING AGAIN....

I have a pretty large collection of rare old photos of folks playing National & Dobro guitars. I would be very interested to see what is out there. I have put a few up to get this thread going. Please don't put pictures that we have all seen in the books, we want to see rare pics that we have not seen before.

[image]
CAP ANDY & FLIP >promo photograph.

[image]
UNKNOWN TRIOLIAN MAN
(No longer the unknown Triolian man!)
Hello Michael - Your unknown Triolian man is Williard Trostle, and the photo is a promotion picture for fairs and theaters from about 1938. My grandmother has several photographs of him, including this one and others showing people he played with. One shows him with two other people, a man with a guitar and a boy with a ukelele, and on the back it has his name, another name that cant be read, and then "Sammy Conrad". He is dressed this way but they all have Hawaiian wreaths. A second photo shows him dressed in the same way (no wreath), but older, with two musicians, a young white man in a sailor uniform and a black man with a guitar just very plain. On the back it says "Williard" and then "Ikes boy back from the War" and "Eddie House". So this is after 1945 so I suppose he was around for a while. My grandmother says that Williard has a great-grandson Greg who plays in a country band, but I have never met him. You didnt ask for information but maybe all this is interesting to your forum.

FURTHER TO THIS MESSAGE FROM ELLA, I HAVE JUST RECEIVED THIS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WHICH I AM SURE THE COMMUNITY WILL FIND INTERESTING. THANK YOU ELLA >Michael

Hello again Michael,
No I am not a guitar player, just a mother of four with a son who is a huge fan of yours. There was a big rumpus from his corner of the house over a Mickey Mouse cartoon on your site and there was Williard's photo above it. So really just a coincidence, although I must say your collection of photographs is very interesting even for someone who is not a player at all.

I looked into this again and must correct an error. The surname was Johns not Trostle; I got the wrong side of the family. His band was called the "Royal Hawaiians" and consisted of him on metal guitar, which he played on his lap with a bar, Lefty Schimmel on acoustic guitar played "Spanish" (?), Sammy Conrad on tenor guitar and ukelele, and a fourth man whose name my grandmother does not remember, he played guitar and fiddle but often was not with the other three. They were not really a Hawaiian band, but played many different things because people would always ask for whatever they liked from the radio. In the late 30s they were well-known and very popular in Pennsylvania and did well in music competitions, which were a big affair in those days, like "battle of the bands" contests I suppose. They won local and regional competitions, and came in second at the state finals in Pittsburgh in 1936. Travel was a problem, however, because Sammy was in school (he was 11 when they went to the finals) and Lefty had a regular job to worry about. So they never went any further and then when the war came they broke up.

This sounds so quaint! But perhaps your readers will be interested.


[image]
THE RICHARDS TRIO >promo photograph

[image]
EDNA MAE COOPER & FRIEND FLEW THE ATLANTIC WITH THEIR DOBRO GUITARS

Thanks to Ella for providing information about our unknown Triolian man. If anyone has any information about photographs on this page, we'd love to hear from you.

Shine On,
Michael
« Last Edit: Nov 3, 2004, 12:44am by Michael Messer »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
Alan
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #1 on Sept 29, 2004, 6:16pm »
This is a nice page with a few record covers on.

http://www.wirz.de/music/resofrm.htm

Whats the meaning of this?
[image]
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Richard
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #2 on Sept 29, 2004, 6:21pm »
Nice tricepts, that's a Replicon guitar.
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(That's enough, Ed.)
Mr Williams
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #3 on Sept 29, 2004, 8:06pm »
It's a "TRUCKLOAD OF REPLICONS"
;D
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MM
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #4 on Sept 29, 2004, 8:23pm »
[image]

Shine On,
« Last Edit: Oct 1, 2004, 12:32am by Michael Messer »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
MM
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #5 on Sept 30, 2004, 12:14am »
Hedgehog playing a Supro Folk Star.
(Photographed backstage at Dobrofest)
[image]
« Last Edit: Oct 1, 2004, 12:35am by Michael Messer »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
MM
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #6 on Sept 30, 2004, 12:20am »
And this is a great picture. I found it in a New York magazine about 15 years ago & have never been able to trace these people, or the hand-built early National Tricone. They are very rare and pretty well always sound amazing. They have wood sound-wells (pans), rather than the mass-produced Tricones that have metal sound-wells (pans).
[image]

These pictures have been seen recently on the London Resonator Centres website, they were loaned by me and are now no longer on their site.

Shine On,
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Alan
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #7 on Sept 30, 2004, 12:30am »
I just thought that the Bob B one was so strange.

This is my fave though, remember seeing it around as a kid, strangely enough also looks a bit like my Grandad did.

[image]

Just looking at the album covers, who is that guy Black Ace?
« Last Edit: Sept 30, 2004, 12:33am by Alan »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
Larry Conrad
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #8 on Sept 30, 2004, 6:44pm »
1) There is a fantastic pic from an old Mickey Mouse cartoon strip - Mickey playing lap-style and Minney dancing :) . Michael's vibrato is better, but hey....!
I may have seen the pic on the LRC site, but I'm not sure.

2) Class act: A pick-up truck full of old Nationals 8-) . But where's the gun rack? And why is BB sober enough to sit up straight like that? Guess the pic wasn't set up in Texas.

Larry
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MM
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #9 on Sept 30, 2004, 7:24pm »
You mean this one!
[image]
It's on the MM website, concerts page.
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Ella Thompson
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #10 on Oct 1, 2004, 12:06am »
Hello Michael - Your unknown Triolian man is Williard Trostle, and the photo is a promotion picture for fairs and theaters from about 1938. My grandmother has several photographs of him, including this one and others showing people he played with. One shows him with two other people, a man with a guitar and a boy with a ukelele, and on the back it has his name, another name that cant be read, and then "Sammy Conrad". He is dressed this way but they all have Hawaiian wreaths. A second photo shows him dressed in the same way (no wreath), but older, with two musicians, a young white man in a sailor uniform and a black man with a guitar just very plain. On the back it says "Williard" and then "Ikes boy back from the War" and "Eddie House". So this is after 1945 so I suppose he was around for a while. My grandmother says that Williard has a great-grandson Greg who plays in a country band, but I have never met him. You didnt ask for information but maybe all this is interesting to your forum.
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Michael Messer
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLA
« Reply #11 on Oct 1, 2004, 12:27am »
MESSAGE FOR ELLA:

Hello Ella,

Thank you for getting in touch with me. That is fantastic news!!! I have known this photograph of Williard Trostle for a few years and never thought I would find out about him. How did you find my website and how did you know I had a photograph of a friend of your Grandmother. Is this a coincidence, are you a guitar player....how did you find your way here? However you did, your message is very much appreciated.

Best wishes,
Shine On,
Michael.
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rickS
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLAYER
« Reply #12 on Oct 1, 2004, 10:56am »
re Ella's post; she mentions an 'unknown black man' & then on the back of the photo the name 'Eddie House' - wasn't ' Eddie House Jnr' Son House's given name? Could it be?..
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Mr C
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLAYER
« Reply #13 on Oct 1, 2004, 11:18am »
Greg plays in a band Called the Pirates of the Mississippi.
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MM
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Re: INTERESTING RARE OLD PHOTOS >RESOPHONIC PLAYER
« Reply #14 on Oct 1, 2004, 11:25am »
MESSAGE FOR Mr C

Thanks for the information about Greg. We now not only know about Williard Trostle, but we know what band his grandson plays in! (Amazing) And we have also found out that Greg Trostle plays steel guitar. Perhaps Greg could communicate with us, does he own his grandfather's National guitar? I would also be interested to find out about the Eddie House talked about by Ella.

Thanks Mr C,
Shine On,
Michael.
« Last Edit: Oct 1, 2004, 11:36am by Michael Messer »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
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