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Essentials in
History
Where will we put the coffee table
Updated: 3/29/2004 5:42:00 PM
In the early days of the Society, before the medals and ribbons, before the Landino and Ingraham trophies, competing quartets received special prizes each year. Here's a look at the unusual, the unique, and the sometimes downright wacky spoils of competition.
Just the thing for those vocal chords . . .
The first year of Society competition offered some of the more unusual prizes. The Bartlesville Barflies were dubbed the "World's Champion Barbershop Quartet" and received a check for fifty dollars. The "World's Champion Barbershop Quartet Runner-Up", however, was promised adoption into the Pawnee Indian Nation and awarded a recording contract with Victor Records. (The Capitol City Four are thus thought to be the first Society quartet to record for a major label. Their album is called Barber Shop Harmony.) The third-place Shell Quartet received the "Consolation Title". The rest of the quartets were presented with boxes of throat lozenges. Here lies one of the mysteries of barbershop history what kind of throat lozenges were they?
The 1940 contest was held in conjunction with the New York World's Fair in late July. Each member of the champion quartet received a handsome Crosley floor model radio-phonograph with a home recording feature. Members of the next top three quartets received similar models, while members of the next five quartets took home smaller table-top versions.
The following year set the pattern for honoring the top five quartets. Trophies were awarded for first through fifth places, with a different style trophy for each rank. Each quartet received a set of four trophies, each one bearing a personalized plaque for each member.
And the coffee table goes to . . .
Gold, silver, and bronze made their appearance at the 1942 convention in Grand Rapids. The Detroit Chapter presented the top five quartets with the now-familiar O.C. Cash medallions, starting a tradition that continues to this day. Members of the top 15 quartets returned home to find wooden coffee tables emblazoned with the Society logo waiting for them. All competitors received wooden sandwich trays sporting the Society emblem.
Non-musical art forms debuted at the 1943 convention when Society artist Dick Sturges created a 20" x 24" oil portrait of the first place quartet. Medalists received small individual trophies, and the top fifteen quartets received a ceramic figurine entitled "Quartet Americanus Barbershopperensus". All competitors received a pitch pipe. This little souvenir played a crucial role in the finals contest. When the lead of the Four Harmonizers blew the pitch for their last song, his pitch pipe gave up the ghost. Thinking fast, he reached into his other pocket for the souvenir pipe. The note sounded loud and clear, the quartet clinched the title!
In 1944, it was the Harmony Halls' turn to bask in the championship glow while Dick Sturges rendered them in oils. The top fifteen finalists received lapel pins, and all participants were presented with embossed leather plaques as souvenirs.
Unique prizes and souvenirs began to fade away in the following years. In 1946, red-and-white striped canes were given to all contestants, and the champions of 1939, 1940, and 1941 received "retro-active" gold medals in a special presentation. In 1947 non-finalists received cigar lighters. The Landino trophy was introduced in 1949 (replaced by the Ingraham trophy in 1989), and the ASCAP cups in 1961.
Where are they now?
Where are these wonderful relics of achievements in barbershopping? Some are right here. The oil portrait of the Four Harmonizers in on exhibit in Heritage Hall Museum. We have a leather plaque from 1944; a certificate of participation from the 1940 World's Fair Contest; a copy of the Capitol City Four's album; and, of course, the Landino trophy.
But what of those candy-striped canes? The sandwich trays? Those throat lozenges?
The Museum is looking for examples of these early prizes and souvenirs for our new exhibits on conventions and quartets. Help us preserve our past so we can share it in the future. Call or write:
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