Calliope Commemoratives

Keith;;
You got something started here,,,:)
Not to "TOOT" my own whistle but,,
Here is a pic of yours truly taken Steamboat race day May 1988,,,
The proud builder standing with the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE'S new CaLLiope whistles, this was 20 years ago,, note im wearing a crew uniform,,
WHY ?

Just an update for all the river friends who assisted Jonathan with his calliope research project this summer. His summary report was presented on campus last Tuesday (see thumbnail below). The paper submitted to the University was sixteen pages (originally he was told it had to be ten pages or less), which does not include the appendices he has developed which document a list of Western Rivers steamboats and showboats carrying calliopes, names of Western Rivers calliope players, sample calliope repertoires, features of Nichol and Kratz instruments, detailed measurements (including whistle and manifold sizes, decibel and temperature readings) of seven existing calliopes which are in operable condition, and an extensive listing of reference materials. Next week he will present a more extensive audio-visual report to the music faculty on campus. He hopes to videotape that presentation for those who are interested in viewing it. Copies of Jonathan's summary report will be sent to those of you who have requested one, along with the museums and libraries which contributed to his research. Incidentally, Jonathan also hosts a weekly two-hour program on KUST (campus radio station at the University of St. Thomas) every Friday night, and last week's program was devoted entirely to "The Infernal Music Machine." I will let him post any additional comments he might want to add. Again, our sincerest thank you to each and every one of you who helped in any way with this project! As Jonathan comments in his paper, he's only scratched the surface, but a good start has been made in preserving this long-neglected unique American music tradition so closely associated with the rivers of America.

Keith,

This picture shows something which was only on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE one season. That is the calliope keyboard on a roller mechanism, which like a drawer rolled into the bulkhead and had a door with a small lock on it at the stern end of the Texas Cabin.

The season of 1988 represented a big change for the calliope of the BELLE. The previous year David Morecraft and myself did alot of politicing to get the new whistles installed aboard the BELLE. I also worked on a plan to bring the calliope to the passengers.

My original thought and drawing proposed to Captain Michael F. Fitzgearld was something akin to a roll top desk which was to be imediately under the manifold and whistles. It would sit in the middle of an area where tables and chairs for excursionists sit to this day.

It was determined it would alter the traffic flow on the Skylight Roof and could become a chair or small table when left unattended.

Later I countered with putting the keyboard on a tray (almost like a dresser drawer) at the stern of the Texas Cabin, which we installed the week before the new whistles were installed on the calliope (they were installed on the BELLE on Sunday 18, April, 1988).

Since the conduit for the keyboard (relocation from the roof) was installed over the winter, we had no choice but to play the calliope from downstairs come the 1st of April 1988 (the first charter for the year wishing the calliope to play). Since we had not installed the roller tray apparatus, I stored the calliope keyboard on the bed in the sick room (stern, port side of the Texas) and pulled it and its conduit out onto deck outside the room and put it on a chair (one of the red padded jobs we had for years on the boat). The roller tray and door you see in this picture were the brain child of Ernie Woertz (Carpenter for many years for the BELLE) and now Captain Mark Doty. They got together and made my dream come true!

Once installed, this unit would roll into the bulkhead and be over the feet of the person in the bed of the sick room. Many times when closed drinks were left on it and as I opened it, they fell off onto the bed. By mid-season, I came to check the keyboard in the sick room before I opened it for anything left on it inside the wall.

Admission of guilt......this lead to my referring to the sick room as my office and/or break room. It became my favourite place to hide from this time on. To my knowledge no one knew of this fact until this posting! My first steamboats and paddlewheelers | steamboats.org exclusive! He, he, he!

Over the winter of 1988-1989 the original Texas Cabin (The Texas Roof and all the gingerbread were also replaced over the same winter) was rebuilt into what you see today aboard the BELLE. The rounded stern with the french doors to the calliope keyboard were thought up in a think tank kind of an operation with Capt. Doty, Ernie, and myself contributing and Capt's Mike Fitzgearld and Kevin Mullen pooling ideas together. The one thing I asked for and never got was a back lit stained glass sign over the keyboard saying "Calliope". There is a beautiful etched glass sign proclaiming the calliope in place today over the doors which isn't backlit.

As I have said many times...be careful what you wish for, for you may get it! In the case of the calliope keyboard, this could not be more true. To this day there are people who are very upset with me for this, as it was mostly my idea. I can defend it with the fact, although it is not authentic, many people have had an up close experience with a calliope and a "Perfesor" in a way they would have not had if the keyboard been in an area they could not have been with in talking distance of them.

However, the many times I attempted to perform while explaining the location of the bathrooms, attempted to explain the volume of the calliope and its purpose, or wanted to be in proximity to the whistles for maintinance purposes have proven to me I may have bitten off more than I intended to chew.

Today there is a bar imediately behind the calliope keyboard. Perhaps it is time the keyboard go back upstairs and leave space for the profit to be made? I am thinking something like Homer Denney had on the ISLAND QUEEN...imediately behind the Pilot House so the Pilot could tap you on the shoulder if he needed you to stop playing. Or, if he were a good shot with a lump of coal from the coal stove.....

Summation: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

~Travis~

The attached photo shows the former BELLE OF LOUISVILLE Wilde Calliope whistles mounted to the Frisbee manifold in in summer of 1985.

Travis: Confession is good for the soul and you have given good and valid reasons for the move of the calliope console. Personally, I preferred it to be with the whistles, but remember that I am OLD and hold fast to tradition! And I do recall many times when I played that thing in the rain (unless there was lightning!) or in the blazing sun when the temperature up there on that tarpaper roof was well over 100 degrees! The move of the console down to the Texas deck does have its merits!

Herewith is a photo, of a commemorative envelope issued At Evansville, Indiana in 1980, made from the 1973 Courier-Journal photograph of yours truly playing in the rain, although they deleted the umbrella! Capt. Lexie Palmore did a piece of artwork, inspired by the newspaper photo, and it is a prized item in my collection! The attached photo, in which the art is visible, was taken by Perfessor Jonathan Tschiggfrie at my home this past summer. I am holding a whistle from the 1966 Ernest Wilde calliope.

Travis,

You continue to amaze me with the wealth of knowledge you have about this instrument! Thanks, once again, for sharing. One little "gem" that Jonathan and I unearthed this summer, courtesy of Keith's steering us in that direction, was a set of three reel-to-reel tapes recorded by John Knoepfle and which are now housed at the University of Illinois in Springfield. They were all recorded at Cincinnati in the summer of 1955 aboard the AVALON. Included are PH interviews with Capt. Wagner and Capt. Edgington, along with interviews with Capts. Bo Allen, Red Schletker, and Chief Courtney Ellis. Sounds of the sternwheel, engines, boiler room, and a narrated segment of the old engineroom "jingle bells" with Capt. Allen at the bell pulls in the PH and Chief Ellis in the engineroom explaining what each bell signal means. But the real treat for us was a tantalizing 3-minute segment of a calliope concert on June 30th prior to the AVALON's departure for an excursion up to Coney Island and return. There, a 19-year old boy named Clarke Hawley plays two numbers, "Circus Echoes" and "Mairzy Doats." Doc recalled this summer that "Mairzy Doats" was the very first number he ever played on the AVALON's calliope when he auditioned for Capt. Wagner that early June day in 1951 at Charleston. And the next one was Cap's usual request, "Down Yonder." One of the funny things we read at the Circus World Museum was a letter from Tom Parkinson, after whom the CWM Library and Research Center is named, writing to a friend about his visit to the AVALON to see and hear her calliope in the early 50s. In his letter, he writes about his surprise to find "that they've got some kid playing the thing!" I think copies of these tapes are also housed at Cincinnati's Inland Rivers Library, but Mr. Knoepfle is from Springfield, and donated them to their archives. They also have the Homer Denney recording which we played in part for you this summer, but unfortunately it is definitely not from the ISLAND QUEEN. Too bad!

Travis & Keith: purely from a boat-rider's perspective, I like the way it is on the Belle now. While I will never, alas, or perhaps many will say, fortunately, play a calliope of more than one whistle, the boat riders get to be up close and personal with the calliope player with it there on the rear of the Texas. That is if they choose to do so. I can relate to the perfessor wanting to be up close and personal with his instrument, and Keith, yes, that is the traditional way it was done but I for one do not shed tears over the change in venue! Cap'n Walnut.

To each his own, but, despite the pitfalls of being "on the roof", I loved having the clouds of steam swirling about me as I played! And, with the door to the Texas roof stairway locked, you didn't have to deal with pesky passengers, some of whom can be quite obnoxious! Capt. Roddy Hammett once said that it never failed to amuse him as to how so many people seem to think they couldn't HEAR the calliope unless they were right up next to it!

Although the console of the calliope on the DELTA QUEEN is down below the whistles, it is still close enough, but I have to admit that I've never liked the current arrangement on the BELLE. Because passengers, when standing out on the wharf, don't see the player, many assume it's played digitally.

It was truly a JOY to play the calliope on the Str. NATCHEZ for several days when she was here in 2005 on the hurricane relief trip and I served as their guest calliopist. The smell of that steam in my face once again was heavenly!!!

If I might add my own two cents to the keyboard-placement debate, the closer the better! As great as Dave M's instrument sounds on board the Belle, playing it from one deck down subjects the calliopist to more echo than initial tone. The time delay isn't all that noticeable, but the tone quality is much diminished.

As for my summer research findings, I would be ashamed to send out to my river friends the paper that I turned into the University. Rest assured, something better is coming!

Add one more vote for the keyboard placed next to the whistles. Like you, Keith, guess I'm just a traditionalist (spelled O-L-D). The thing that always made me nervous when playing the DQ's calliope was passengers coming up and trying to engage me in conversation while I was attempting to play. It's like the story of the politician who couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time: I could never play the thing and carry on a conversation at the same time! It always floored me whenever Doc would speak to someone, answer questions for a bystander etc., when he was playing, and never drop a beat or miss a note! How'd he do that? The other thing about the enclosed BOL console in the cabinet recessed in the texas cabin is that at first glance the newcomers to the boat aren't certain what they are looking at. But, to each his own, as they say. I do like the brass keys on the BELLE also. However, I've heard that one needs to be vigilant about keeping your fingers from sliding between them while they're being depressed.

[Incidentally, Jonathan also hosts a weekly two-hour program on KUST (campus radio station at the University of St. Thomas) every Friday night, and last week's program was devoted entirely to The Infernal Music Machine. QUOTE]

Just had a thought that Jonathan has the playlist for each of his programs on his website. If you'd like to access that Friday night program "The Infernal Music Machine" which aired from 10:00 to midnight on September 26, you can click on: http://kust.tomcawvel.com/audio/KUST_Afterhours_303.mp3

Lots of good calliope tunes on there as performed by some of the best popular music artists of the 30s, 40s and 50s, along with a couple of calliope clips from the DQ and AQ, and an on-air interview with old dad too.

I must agree with yall ,, as a player, I prefer the privacy of the texas roof

DAVE,,,....

Capt. Doc Hawley says that separating the console and whistles "loses the magic" of seeing the perfessor up there making the music amidst the billowing steam. And, on the BELLE, with that tiny closet and those long, narrow doors enclosing the console, the player, when seen and photographed from behind, has been likened to standing at a urinal! Because passengers, when out on the wharf when the calliope is played before boarding, don't see the player, many assume the instrument is played digitally. And some even think it's a recording!

And David, I certainly KNOW what you mean about having people attempt to engage you in conversation while playing. Not only the calliope, but I've also had it happen in church. One Sunday I was in the middle of the postlude when a parishioner came up into the choir loft and not only began talking to me, but suddenly held up a booklet, blocking my vision to the music on the rack. Although he could see that I was using BOTH hands and BOTH feet - and trying to concentrate on reading three staves of music -- he reasoned that church was "over" and thought it was an opportune time to chat. NO!!!! I considered putting a sign on the organ case which read, PLEASE DO NOT TALK TO THE ORGANIST WHILE THE ORGAN IS IN MOTION!

Indeed, it is great that the instrument on the BELLE retains the brass keyboard! And Dave Morecraft's instrument has a much better tone than the 1966 calliope that I played during my tenure as the Belle's perfessor! Thank you Dave!

All: sigh...looks like I'm outvoted by the perfessors. But the last time I looked, the steam machine was put there for the passengers and the hoped-to-be passengers...not the perfessors. Seems ta me that a sign near the perfessor on the Belle saying..."Danger, calliope player full of steam" might help things! Cap'n Walnut.

Dear Perfessor Keith,

I just want to go on record as saying...despite the assumption in which I was digital in an analog age, the floor under the keyboard remained bone dry during my tenure as Perfessor aboard the Excursion Queen DeLuxe, the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE.

Funniest thing that happened in my experience aboard the Pride of the City Of Louisville, the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE, (after we moved the keyboard downstairs) involved a child on a field trip cruise. I was finishing a rendition when the child came up to me and was amazed the boat had people doing the same job his mother did. I asked him if his mother played a keyboard and he said "No! She types on a thing that makes noise" just like I had. In later conversation it was revealed his mother was a court stenographer and operated the 25-keyapparatus they use in court! Seems a brass keyboard removed from a steam calliope makes a similar sound!

I love the pic of the Wilde Instrument from the stern up at Cox's Park! The few times I got to play up there were my favourites on the BELLE...for the hills in the background make for wonderful acoustics. Not as good as the old Port of Louisville Terminal did (There was no better place on the river to play Little Sir Echo other than just below Wheeling, WV in the hills above Belleville, OH.)...but, as close as you will get in this harbour!

Respectfully dry,

Professor Travis

There was, or still is, a recording (45rpm copy) that I used to listen to, at the Cinti Library, of the IQ calliope. I don't know if it was Homer Denney playing.

Somewhere, on here, I wrote of the time Mr. D. surprised us while the DQ was laid over at R-town sometime in '70 or '71. I laughed, at first, when the Watchman came to my room and said some old feller was on the bow and wanted to play the calliope, but something prompted me to ask if the old-timer gave his name, and when I realized that it was actually Homer Denny was aboard, I bounded out the door and down the steps. Somewhere I have 35mm photos of him playing the QUEEN's calliope for the last time, and Gabe made an audio tape of the Master's last DELTA QUEEN performance.

Also some slides of Gabriel playing the PRESIDENT's calliope while wearing a long raincoat are hiding. I'll dig through my dusty carboard boxes and post them of they, or Mr. D's pics, turn up.

Hey all,

Here are a bunch of pictures to get the conversation going. I bet some of these will be familliar to a few posters on this board!

Perfessor Travis

...and a few more

(can you all tell I have been scanning pictures all morning?)

And a few more....I think I will stop here!

Wow Travis! Looks like you're getting quite a steamy "facial" in that first view! Reminds me of the time Dave Tschiggfrie and I decided to do a bit of "tuning" on the DQ's calliope one evening while most of the passengers were down in the Orleans Room for dinner. I was at the console and Dave was up on the roof wielding the wrench. It so happened we were upbound on the Upper Mississippi, passing the prison at Chester, Illinois, and we could see some of the "residents" watching the boat glide past, replete with some unusual shrieks and squawks from the cally-ope!

HERES one for the History BOOKS,,,...

IN the fall of 1994, I was asked by American Classic Voyages/Delta Queen Steamboat Co. to give a demonstration of Steam CaLLiope whistles,,.
To prove to them I could REALLY build one...

THIS took place aboard the Str. MISSISSIPPI QUEEN at the Robin St. wharf NOLA,, amids a horde of ACV/DSCo. executives assembled at the CaLLiope bar and the Prof. was DAN FOREMAN,...

Here is the MQ with 32, Morecraft whistles on it , Thay are the ones with no Gold plating,,..

And thanks JON for your kind words ,and Keith ,,your Welcome,,,;)

Dave,,,....

Stoddard Patent

APPARATUS FOE - Google Patents

Here's the patent to Stoddard's calliope.

Dave,

When I see that picture I wonder, what will ever happen to the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN calliope. Will it ever play again?

The Morecraft whistles stand out for two reasons...first they are not gold-plated...second they are of a wider diameter than the Davis whistles around them. This gives them a fuller tonal quality.

What I would have given to have been on the Robin Street Wharf that day to hear Dan Forman hold forth with that instrument!

Remember the phone call and faxed drawings which resulted from your showing of your whistles?

For those of you who haven't heard the story a thousand times...read on....the rest of you forward to the next message in the thread....

Dave was called on the 11th of June 1994 (after this demonstration) and told he had to file with the Chicago Office of American Classic Voyages/Delta Queen Steamboat Company a formal conceptual drawing of the calliope for the BELLE OF AMERICA (as she wasn't called AMERICAN QUEEN yet) by the next morning. Dave called me and left a message on my answering machine, as I was out on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE doing Professor duties. When I got the message, I called him back and we discussed this in detail. He asked me to draw up and fax to him (so he could in turn fax to them) what this calliope could/would look like. As few of you may know, I doodle incessently and almost always it is a boat or calliope. Dave knew of this so I was pressed into duty.

All I knew of this proposed boat was a couple of drawings which had appeared in a Waterways Journal almost a year earlier.

Dave told me it was to be a 48-whistle calliope, largest in the world! So I set out and did the drawings to send to him. It was done on my dining room table on the night of the 12th of June 1994 (coincedentaly, 3 days before my 30th b-day). Since I knew of where the calliope was to be placed, drawing it in wasn't all that hard. I added a few small details for homage to the DELTA QUEEN and MISSISSIPPI QUEEN for fun. You will notice in the drawing I have placed a condensate drain/shelf over the Professor just like on the circus gingerbread on the DELTA QUEEN calliope. I also added a small bar around the console like on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN.

In reality the calliope gained a rather cumbersome set of awnings around it instead of the condensate drain I had planned. The Calliope Bar, as it is called, had a bar against an interior bulkhead as originally designed. When Delaware North was doing the 3 and 4 night cruises out of New Orleans this bar was not in too much favour as against a bulkhead there was no breeze and no one wanted to baste in their own juices to get a drink. So today the Calliope Bar is exactly where I put it in the picture!

The second drawing here shows the plumbing and electrical argmt of the manifold. Either I knew what I was doing, or it was sheer luck....for this is the exact lay out of the instrument today.

Dave and I have had some great adventures on the river and with calliopes for over 20 years now. This adventure which lead to the creation of the AQ calliope has alot of stories with in it neither of us will tell in mixed company! Suffice it to say, the product which came from Peru, IN to the AQ in May of 1995 was the finest quality and best instrument Dave ever laid hand to. At that time his name rightfully as it should be was proudly displayed on the console (the current person who attempts to maintain it in New Orleans has chosen to remove it and glue a laminated business card of their own in its place), the instrument was perfectly in tune with itself, and it operated exactly as it should. It was a testament to its builder, a credit to the tireless work he had done to learn the art form which was set forth by Thomas J. Nichol in the creation of his fine instruments.

Sadly, today because of extended periods of being idle, poor maintenance, and lack of funding to repair, it is a mere ghost of what it was at one time. As you can see and hear in Jon Tchiggfries video ( YouTube - American Queen steam calliope ) the whistles fire slow and errantly against the direction of the Professor. She no longer has the bright tone she originally had, instead she is tuned too high to meet the needs of a pipe organ tuners stroboscope.

As you might be able to tell, I too take pride in this instrument for my small involvement in its creation. The first time I laid hand to it, it was an immesurable pride...for I knew part of what it became was part of my own dream, too!

My hopes are next spring when the new owner (here I go hoping again) raises steam in her boiler and gets her ready for her new guests, they take a moment to call Dave and get him to come down and put her back in the shape she needs to be. Tune her properly, fix the electonic glitches, repair the valves and get the electronics back up to snuff.

Then she will be what she is supposed to be....a true and proud steam calliope!

My name is Travis C. Vasconcelos and I approve this ad!

That is my soap box discussion for today, students!

~Travis~

P.S. The Worlds Largest Steam Calliope title is still held by the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, as the AMERICAN QUEEN calliope which was designed, planned, and blueprinted to be the largest was actually shortened to 37-notes while under construction. The reasoning for this was the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN crew being upset the title was to be lost (as she had lost the title of the worlds largest steamboat) and the cost of the products to manufacture the larger whistles put the project over budget.

Thanks for the whole posting, but in particular about the reasoning for the fewer whistles on the AQ's calliope. I thought the MQ pride was the reason, but never knew for sure.

Travis, what an interesting story you told! Its so nice to have this board and get to hear the real story behind things. I have heard the AQ's calliope when I was working in New Orleans this past winter, and I agree that it should be tuned and operating properly again. May as well hear a good calliope traveling the rivers for next year than what it is now.