By David "Chet" Williamson Sneade
A
trumpeting brass section enters with great fanfare. After four bars
they stop on count and an announcer's voice bellows: “SYNCOPATION
FOR THE NATION.” The orchestra then skates into its theme song. A
couple of bars into it, the disembodied voice returns confidently to
proclaim: “From deep in the heart of New England, that's Worcester,
Massachusetts, the National Broadcasting Company is happy to present
from coast to coast music by Dol Brissette and his Orchestra with
songs by Winnie Stone and Georgie Roy.”
With
that, the tune approaches its cadenza. At song's end, the
broadcasters returns to introduce the first piece of the show saying,
“Dol digs deep into the files for this first tune, a classic of the
jazz era you'll all remember as, 'That's My Weakness Now.”
The
four-bar intro is counted off by piano, bass, and accordion before the
full complement of the 12-piece ensemble joins in. The sound is
archaic and ghostly. It instantly evokes the aural grist of radio's
glory days.
The
tune is a happy-go-lucky little foxtrot reeking of sentiment. It
features a Bix-wannabe who takes a hot trumpet solo before handing it
off to the trombonist who takes it for a spin a la Tommy Dorsey. The
piano player also gets to shine and squeezes out a few nifty blues
licks before stepping back into the fold.
The
live session was recorded sometime around 1940 at WTAG AM 580, when
the studios were still on the fourth floor of the Telegram &
Gazette building on Franklin Street. Other syndicated shows heard on
NBC at the time featured such bandleaders as Fred Waring, Guy
Lombardo and Benny Goodman.
In
the October 19, 1940 edition of Worcester Telegram & Gazette
there is a photo of the band. The caption reads: “Dol Brissette and
his WTAG-NBC orchestra which will be an entertainment feature
evenings at the seventh annual Telegram and Gazette Progress
Exposition in the Auditorium next week. Left to right: George
Krikorian [piano]; soloist Helen Dennison; violins, Elmer Johnson and
Daniel Sylvester; saxophones, Frank Bicknell, Louis Alpert, Paul
Rhode and Bernard Cormier; drums Joseph Parks, trombone George
Robinson, trumpets. Lloyd Dinsdale and Frank O'Connor; director, Dol
Brissette; bass violin, George Cove.”
Although
it would certainly be a stretch to call him a jazz musician,
Brissette was a territory bandleader of the 1930s and '40s, who hired
such players for his orchestra. Therefore he is an important figure
in the development of the music locally. In his brilliant T&G
article titled, Worcester Jazz: This being a requiem for the way it
was when Al Hirt fell-in at the Saxtrum Club, Ev Skehan talked about
the lost early days saying, “The territory bands were working the
Worcester area then, playing ballroom and club dates, the Watson
Brothers, Dol Brissette, Gene Broadman, Bob Pooley, and Phil Scott
all had bands that featured a few good jazzmen like [Ockie] Menard,
[Emil] Haddad and [Paul] Kukonen.”
Adolphus
J. “Dol” Brissette is originally from Haverill. He came to
Worcester to study at Holy Cross. His intent was to become a lawyer, but
after picking up the banjo – as a kind of a lark -- and discovering
a natural inclination for the instrument, the birds of music took
over.
An
early bio written by a WTAG writer with no byline said: “He
became so good that he was able to take a part-time job playing banjo
with Hughie Connors and the Bancroft Hotel Orchestra. After
graduation, he found that the magic of music was greater than the lure
of the law. He stayed with Hughie Connors.”
Brissette
built a name for himself at the Bancroft, playing five years at the
hotel in the late 1920s and early '30s. By all accounts, he was a hum
and strum banjo player – like that of Arthur Godfrey on the ukulele.
In the early '30s, Brissette also played the Palace Theater where he
met such stars of the day as Ted Lewis, Gilda Grey, Trixie Friganza,
and Joe Penner. However, Brissette reported that the single most
important event was the opportunity to play duets with the king of
banjo, the great Eddie Peabody at the Theater.
Brissette
viewed himself as an “entertainer.” “Give them not only what
they want, but more than they expect. That's showmanship,” he was
quoted as saying. It was also reported that his favorite slogan was:
“Don't kick the doorman, he may be the manager tomorrow.”
The
banjo player formed his own band in 1933 and before the year was out,
The Dol Brissette Orchestra headlined the Holy Cross Fieldhouse. It
was a prestigious gig on the national circuit. Two years later Benny
Goodman performed there.
 |
| The Dol Brissette Orchestra live at the Worcester Memorial Auditorium |
The
Brissette bio states: “When WTAG decided to become that first
station in Worcester to have its own live studio orchestra on call
for daily performances and accompaniment, Dol Brissette and the
studio orchestra was first intoned into a microphone in 1937 and
repeated for the last time in 1945.”
Before
joining WTAG, Brissette estimated that he had played more than 2000
dates including such places as the Totem Pole in Auburndale,
Kimball's Starlight in Lynn, and the Bai-a-l'Air in Shrewsbury.
Another
T&G photo from Brissette's glory days has a caption that reads:
“Maestro Dol Brissette faces his orchestra, baton poised, ready to
serve up at the downbeat for the show's first chorde (sic). And look
at the glint in his eye, wouldja! Dol is liable to do anything from
sleep to handsprings while he's directing. That coat comes off and
his hair 'goes native' while working.”
Returning
to the recording, the singing “soloist” on is not the
aforementioned Dennison. The NBC announcer introduces her on the next
track. “Wini Stone uses a familiar satellite as a measure of
affection as she sings the romantic ballad from Two for the Show,
“How High the Moon.”
Written
by Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis, “How High” was also recorded
by Benny Goodman with Helen Forrest supplying vocals in 1940. Stone
no doubt heard the Forrest version, but gives her own competent,
though somewhat affected reading.
Another
T&G clipping from the period states: “Each day, on 'Noonday
Revue,' you hear Dol Brissette and his band serve out musical hits to
New England. But each Saturday the nation is audience to Worcester's
Musical Ambassador when the National Broadcasting Company network
carries this period of modern melody through the nation. This
aggregation of 12 musicians and their dainty vocalist Wini Stone, are
lined up particularly for our reception – usually, for correct
microphone balance on the broadcast, you will find the band in much
more separated positions.”
Singling
out the group in yet another photo from the era, there is a shot of
Wini Stone standing in front of a huge microphone with the WTAG call
letters mounted on top. The caption reads: “That position is no
pose for Wini Stone, “singcopator” on our NBC program “Noonday
Revue.” She always folds her arms while singing. So carried away is
she by her songs that at times she will completely forget the mike.
Another
little tidbit on Stone is an item that reads: “Wini is a native New
Englander who hates being called 'Toots,' and collects ashtrays as a
hobby. She plays piano, too and is unwed – to date.”
Track
number four is introduced by the announcer as “From the mighty
west, the stomping grounds of the Lone Ranger, Dol Brissette plays an
upcoming melody titled, 'Stagebrush Serenade.”
Brissette
was quoted as describing his music as having “simple good taste,”
the kind that “wears well.” The WTAG promotional bio material
also noted that the orchestra was accorded national recognition by
NBC when “it was selected for network programming originating in
Worcester.” It goes on to report that during 1939-40, Brissette was
also the musical director on Sunday shows in the Worcester
Auditorium, playing with such stars as Kay Kiser, Tommy Tucker, the
Andrew Sisters and Betty Hutton.
The
recording, which was transcribed from the original acetate recordings
features 12 tracks, that includes, “Romance from Another World,”
“Ain't She Sweet” (with George Roy on vocals), “In the Silence
of the Dawn,” “My, My,” “Tuxedo Junction,” “We Could Make
Such Beautiful Music,” and “The Woodpecker Song.”
At
the closing of the show the announcer says “From the radio theater
of WTAG at Worcester, Massachusetts the National Broadcasting Company
has presented from coast to coast music by one of America's great
young bands Dol Brissette and his orchestra with songs by Wini Stone
and Georgie Roy. This program was heard in Canada through the
facilities of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.”
Brissette
is not heard on banjo on these recordings. Chances are that he shed
the instrument for the baton. Documents of his playing may exist, but
as of this writing, none are known.
Being
a NBC affiliate, WTAG was a major promotional outlet for touring
groups at the time. Between 1941 and '42, the station interviewed
such jazz stars of the day as “jitterbug orchestra leader,” Ina
Ray Hutton; Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald (who was appearing at the
Plymouth Theater); Duke Ellington; Jimmy Lunceford and Charlie
Barnet. Others entertainers who stopped by the station for
conversation were Sigmond Romberg, the Mills Brothers, and Bill
“Bojangles Robinson.
Local
guitarist Peter Clemente, Sr., had a daily show where he was featured
on his “electric guitar” and future movie and television actor,
Tony Randall was a broadcaster at WTAG during those years.
Brissette
kept various versions of the band together until 1945. A photograph
of one of the last editions has the caption that reads: “A quintet
made up of members of WTAG's first own live studio orchestra
conducted by Dol Brissette with drummer Jack Morrissey, a clarinetist
Paul Rhode, saxophonist Joe Ferrezano, trumpeter George Ray, pianist
George Gregory and vocalist Mary Conlon.”
After
breaking up the group altogether, Brissette became the program
production manager at WTAG. It's been said that if his music was in
“simple good taste” the same has been said of his skill in his
new role at that station.
Richard
“Dick” Wright worked at WTAG for 37 years and was quite
familiar with Dol Brissette, the program director. “He hired me,”
Wright says. “I came from New York state. I applied for the job in
1952 and he hired me three years later. I’ll never forget the day
he called. I was out of radio at that point. I had lost my job in
Manchester. I had to earn a living so I had been doing private
investigation work in Brooklyn. I had applied at virtually every
radio station on the East Coast.”
Wright
was hired in 1955, 10 years after Brissette quit the band business.
“His band was long gone by that time,” Wright recalls. “That
all took place in the 1940s. He gave up the band business, like so
many of them did, at the period in history when big bands were going
out.”
Wright
doesn't know exactly when Brissette became the program director but
says he definitely knew how to manage a radio station. “Dol was
the one who hired and fired, scheduled and taught people,” he says.
“He knew what he was doing. Extremely intelligent. Very well-read.
He kept his finger on what was going on. We started in the morning
doing news at five o’clock. He had already read the three additions
of the Telegram to make sure you got it all. If you missed something
he’d just call up and say, 'Did you happen to notice there was
another story?'”
In
his tenure, Wright worked for Brissette as an announcer and
newscaster. “Jim Little was the news director at the time. He left
and they game me the job,” Wright recalls. “Then after Dol left
us, I became news and program director and eventually station manager
and eventually vice president and general manager.”
 |
| The cutline reads: "Brissette, WTAG program director, represented the radio station at the 12th annual Golden Rule-Red Cross Award Dinner on 11 January at Nick's Colonial Grille. Brissette accepted a citation for the station for 10 years of Fair Share Giving. Everett Webster, assistant chairman of the 1967 fund appeal, made the presentation." |
Brissette
died in 1970. In his radio tribute, Wright said, “As far as he was
concerned, the radio station, its programs, its success depended on
people who worked here and [Brissette's] first concern always was for
his people.”
Commenting
further about his former boss, friend, and mentor, Wright today adds,
“I
tell you he was one of the greatest men I have ever known. He taught
me a lot of things about people and the way to live your life. He was
always gracious. He always could see the other guy’s position. He
was firm and played it by the book. If you performed you were great.
If you didn’t you heard from him.”
Tony
Guida was a freshman at Holy Cross in 1959 when he first met
Brissette. Today he works for WCBS in New York City. His online bio
opens with this statement: “It began after the Great War but before
Woodstock at WTAG in Worcester, Mass. Mr. Guida prospered under the
wise tutelage of Adolph J. "Dol" Brissette who whispered
the secret to radio success: 'Always write down your ad-libs.' It is
advice that Mr. Guida has tattooed to his left forearm.”
When
contacted to comment further, Guida, speaking by phone from the NYC
studio says, “I looked at him and I didn’t know what it meant. I
thought this guy is losing it. I’m 20 years old, what the hell do I
know. When I think back on it, I didn’t know a microphone from a
fishing rod. It took me years to realize the wisdom, the Zen.
“He
had such a remarkable way of saying things. He was a very quiet man.
He was a minimalist. Very present in his role as program director. He
was always soft and gentle. He was like a cat. He was just a
remarkable man.”
Note: This is a work in progress. Comments, corrections, and suggestions are always welcome at: walnutharmonicas@gmail.com. Also see: www.worcestersongs.blogspot.com Thank you.
Resources
Note: This is a work in progress. Comments, corrections, and suggestions are always welcome at: walnutharmonicas@gmail.com. Also see: www.worcestersongs.blogspot.com Thank you.
Resources
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