The anticipation had to have been enormous. Bob Graham had his clarinet at the ready, along with 5,999 other young instrumentalists and vocalists, as they awaited the nod from the world-famous conductor.
It was Saturday, May 3, 1941, and more than 30,000 people were inside the gigantic Convention Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. The legendary Leopold Stokowski took to the rostrum and began an evening of music with "The Star Spangled Banner."
This culminated in a three-day National School Music Festival, Region Four, where high school bands and musicians had gathered from the eastern U.S.
Bob Graham was there along with his school band from Delaware Academy in Delhi, directed by Robert Field. Also from our area was the Worcester Central School Orchestra, led by Carmen Caiazza.
The Delaware Academy Band hadn't gotten to Atlantic City on a whim "" they earned it. By size of the school, they were considered a Class C band, but a very good one in that class. In 1940, the band won a high rating at a national contest in Albany and were looking to repeat their success. In late April 1941 they fared well at a music contest in Poughkeepsie, which made them automatically eligible for the national contest in Atlantic City.
The band's next task was raising enough money to cover the expenses. From pledges by students' parents, a bake sale and tickets sold for a concert by the band, they raised more than the estimated $450 for this journey to the coast.
The band departed on May 1. The day before, there was a test loading of a brand-new, 55 passenger White Motor Co. bus to make sure the players, chaperones and instruments could get aboard, and they all fitted in nicely.
As far as the competition, Delhi did very well. The band returned home with a "2" rating, being bested by only one other band in the Class C group. However, William Currie captured a "1" rating in competition in a cornet solo.
For Worcester's orchestra, Robert Haggerty received a similar ranking in the clarinet solo group.
These were great achievements, considering that in the collective presentation at Convention Hall there were 42 bands, 15 orchestras and 45 choral groups, numbering 6,000 students from 11 states.
The experience was unforgettable to many, according to Graham, who submitted a column to "Reminisce" magazine in 1998, and received numerous responses from others who were also in Atlantic City in May 1941.
"Most of us had never been out of Delaware County," Graham said. "We'd never seen the ocean, so it was a really big deal."
While the responses came from many states, Graham heard from Dr. Frederick Truscott of Albany, who was also a member of the Delaware Academy Band at the time.
"That was ONE MEAN bus ride! Even in a brand new maroon and white Delaware Academy bus. No reclining seats "¦"
"It was the first time in my life that I ever stayed in a bona fide hotel. At the time I thought it was quite grand; retrospectively I now realize it was THE PITS'"¦There's not a high school student in New York state that would stay in that hotel today."
Truscott also recalled the band marching from their hotel two blocks off the Boardwalk to the auditorium playing the "Beer Barrel Polka."
Convention Hall is called Boardwalk Hall today. It first opened in 1929 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The auditorium underwent extensive renovations in the late 1990s. Today it seats about 17,000 for concerts.
Graham, who lives in West Davenport, has always wondered if that band in Convention Hall had the largest number of musicians and vocalists assembled in one setting.
A web search was inconclusive, but it appears the Atlantic City event ranks high. The 2000 Olympics Marching Band was listed at 2,500. Members of a 1980s funk and disco group called Skyy tried to assemble 3,000 for a kazoo band but ended up with only 2,000.
Probably in the memories of the Delaware Academy Band, it will always be the largest.
This weekend, Oneonta and the region in the early aftermath of the Stock Market Crash, 80 years ago.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
