 Acoustical Persecutin' Four
|  Continentals
|
In 1946 Gordon Grant of Saginaw was in his second year as district president and Bob Walker of Grand Rapids was secretary. At the February 23 contest in Saginaw, 28 quartets participated, and the contest hit a new high in enthusiasm, hospitality and number of participating quartets. Everyone came home with high praise for the way the affair had been planned and carried out. Winners of the contest were the ACOUSTICAL PERSECUTIN' FOUR of Jackson (Francis Hodgeboom, tenor; Bob Breitmayer, lead; Forrest Comstock, bari; Fred Foster, bass) as the new district champions, the FOOD CITY FOUR of Battle Creek, second, the CONTINENTALS of Muskegon, third, the PROGRESSIVE FOUR of Detroit, fourth and the AMERICANAIRES of Flint in fifth place.
 Clef Dwellers
|
 Gardenaires
|
The international convention was held in Cleveland on June 13-17, 1946, and the Michigan quartets to reach the finals were the CLEF DWELLERS of Oakland County (Wiseheart, Hannah, Johnston and Bauer), the DETROITERS (Weber, Eason, Hallman and Wolff), and the GARDENAIRES (Danic, Rubert, Miller and Tubbs). Elected to the International Board from the Michigan District were Edwin S. Smith of the Wayne Chapter (elected earlier in the year to fill a vacancy), C.W. Coye of Muskegon, Roy Harvey of Muskegon, Bill Otto of Pontiac, and Luman Bliss of Midland. In the Achievement Award category, Charlevoix was awarded first place in Group 1 (1 to 10,000 population), Muskegon and Oakland County were given honorable mention in Groups 2 (10,001 to 50,000) and Group 3 (50,001 to 150,000) respectively. The chapter Achievement Awards were based on community service, extension of chapter and society activities, inter-chapter relations, and development of quartets and choruses.
Choruses began to appear on the sceneIn perusing the early Harmonizers from 1943–1947, one begins to see many hints of choruses developing among the chapters. For example, the Detroit Metropolitan area chapters banded together to form a Metropolitan Chorus as early as 1944. Other chapters throughout the United States were also adopting choruses, although quartetting was by far the most important at that time. Even O.C. Cash came out in favor of the development of choruses in a report to the International Board in 1946. He called it the best development since the Society came into existence in 1938. He urged that this phase of chapter activity be emphasized, especially with regard to chapters just being organized. In his report to the International Board at Cleveland, O.C. said: "I wish there were some way to prepare a folio with at least two or three medleys which have been successfully used in other chapters. This would be just a sample to start the chorus and then the director could build up his own arrangements."
Roscoe D. Bennett
|
In the August 1947 Harmonizer Roscoe Bennett reported, as follows:"The chorus movement has definitely taken over all Michigan and this commonwealth is singing energetically in harmony . . . There are more than 15 choruses now going full blast in this state. The latest to take form is that in Detroit. There are choruses functioning in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Adrian, Ludington, Holland, Hamtramck, Marcellus, Jackson, Royal Oak, Ionia and the Great Northern composed of Gaylord, Charlevoix, Boyne and others in that region . . . Maybe a chorus contest and championship is not too far in the future." (Maybe Roscoe was a seer as six years later his prognostication came true.)
| [index] | [1946] | [1947] | [1948] | [1949] | [1950] | [Contents] |
