#TuesdayTrivia: What Local Bandleader Played with the Great John Philip Sousa?

You’ve all heard of America’s grand bandmaster John Philip Sousa, composer of the stirring patriotic march, “The Star and Stripes Forever.”

But you may not know that Middletown, Ohio, has a personal connection to the renowned man of music.

His name is Frank Simon.

Simon was a Cincinnati native born on “November 26, 1889, but was raised in Middletown,” according to an entry in the MidPointe Library Digital Archives. (1)

At age eleven “he started studying cornet...When he was 14 he became conductor of Buckles’ Band, which became known as Simon’s Band…”(1)

As Simon grew, so did his reputation as a superb musician.

In the early 1920s Simon was “approached by a senior executive at Armco Steel [in Middletown] to begin a company band. Simon reluctantly agreed and by 1929 the Armco Band was a household name...NBC and WLW broadcast performances every Sunday afternoon across the nation.” (2)

During his long and storied career Simon was a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Weber’s Prize Band of America. He was also a faculty member of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the University of Arizona and was one of the first men elected to the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and later served as its president. (2)

A biography of Simon titled “Music Man : The Story of Frank Simon” includes a foreword by Simon’s son, David L. Simon, MD.: (3)

“Many people knew him in many ways -- performer, cornet soloist, conductor, composer, teacher, friend, fellow-citizen and neighbor...I hope this biography reflects not only his many accomplishments as well as a good part of the history of American band music, but, more importantly, Father’s essential humanity and his love of freedom and his fellow-men which stands as a model to all.” (3)

Like Sousa’s “Star and Stripes,” Frank Simon’s contributions to music -- in Middletown and the nation -- will live “forever.”

Sources:

(1)“Young Band Conductor, Frank Simon, 1903” from MidPointe Library Digital

http://www.midpointedigitalarchives.org/digital/collection/Crout/id/1031/rec/2

(2)”Great Soloists of the John Philip Sousa Band”    contributed by Jack Kopstein, September 18, 2013,

“Altissimo! Recordings” available at:

https://militarymusic.com/blogs/military-music/13516361-great-soloists-of-the-john-philip-sousa-band

(3) “Music Man -- The Story of Frank Simon” by Michael Freedland, published in 1994 by Vallentine Mitchell of Portland, Oregon, available for reading in the Ohio Room of MidPointe Library-Middletown. The photo of Simon and the Armco Band appears in this book.

*The majority of photos for this blog appear in the MidPointe Library Digital Archives.

http://www.midpointedigitalarchives.org/digital/collection/Crout/id/1332/

http://www.midpointedigitalarchives.org/digital/collection/Crout/id/1031/rec/2

http://www.midpointedigitalarchives.org/digital/collection/Crout/id/1032/rec/4

http://www.midpointedigitalarchives.org/digital/collection/Crout/id/2953/rec/5