Ragtime Reminder - Goldenrod Showboat Centennial

Keith, Jon, David et al: I got in the mail, today, a copy of STEAMBOAT CALLIOPES by Leslie C. Swanson, ISBN No. 0-911466-25-1 Copyright 1981. Do you know anything about the author and or his book? Cap'n Walnut

He was an Iowan who I believe played on the WASHINGTON and several other boats. Hopefully Dad will chime in with more on Mr. Swanson.

Les Swanson

I'm not Jon's dad, but maybe an honorary aunt????? but: Les Swanson lived in Moline Illinois. He played calliope on many boats, most of which were just guest appearances so he could say he played that boat's calliope, but I do think he played on the WASHINGTON. It would make sense, since Clarence 'Heavy' Elder from Moline worked on there in the band, as Purser, and later as Captain. Swanson was the piano player in the WJ QUINLAN's band (the RI-Davenport ferry 1924-45). He also played with Bix Beiderbecke on occasion and was the last living band member to have that distinction. Les died a couple of years ago in his 90s, and he continued to play golf and calliopes until a short time before his death. Pat Welsh was a dear friend of his. I will get more accurate info from Pat, who is unfortunately not able to be near a computer this week.
That's Les Swanson on the bottom of the stairs, with the rest of the QUINLAN's band.

Jon: Since posting, I have read the tract and he did, indeed, play on the WASHINGTON. HE started playing after college and after a few false starts as reporter, sports reporting and organist in a silent movie house. He then took a job on the WASHINGTON in March of 1920 for $30/week plus $5 more for calliope playing in addition to playing in the band. The stint was 15 min at noon; 15 more at 6 PM and and a one-hour-long stint from 7-8 PM on "moonlights" and then revert to playing piano in the 8-piece dance-band...all night if they got socked-in with fog! They'd put four of the musicians to bed at 2 AM for two hours, then relieve the others for two hours until it was over. He played both the MISS Q and DELTA Q calliopes too. He lists Homer Denny as best on slow stuff; Fate Marable best at jazz style; Vick Tooker as best showman/fast tune man. I calculate that if Swanson signed on after college in 1928, he'd be over 100 years old today.

GOLDENROD memories

I never saw a drama performed on the showboat, but in the 1970s and 80s, it was the home for the St. Louis Ragtimers. They performed in the second deck bar on the bow. Don Franz is the tuba player, whom I had met on the DQ in 1976. He gave us the grand tour of the showboat during an intermission, and I only wish a performance had been in progress as we threaded our way into the nooks and crannies.
A note about Don Franz on the DQ: he often subbed for one of Vic's Riverboat Ramblers when they went on vacation. He was on board in July of '76, along with Vic, Mom, Dan Forman, another regular, and the brand new banjo player Fred Dodd. During the course of our trip from New Orleans to St. Louis, Betty Blake ordered first Vic, then later the rest of the regulars to the MQ for one of her multiple 'maiden voyages'. This left us on the DQ with a banjo and tuba player for several days, not exactly a full band. This had to be one of Betty's worst PR moves - she should have started us off with a substitute band and no one would have been the wiser (other than repeaters), or at least had a full band ready to replace the Ramblers. But we had great fun and I got to know both Don and Fred on that trip, and we often reminisced about that situation.

Les Swanson

Tom, Les would have been around 100, but as I said in my posting which you probably haven't seen yet, he died a couple of years ago in his high 90s. That DQ/MQ calliope playing he credits himself with was not as a crew member, but as a passenger. He rode both boats several times and they would let him play at some locks.

Judy,

Your mention of Leslie Swanson reminds me of one time when he and his wife were making a DQ cruise on the UMR in the fall -- this sometime in the 70s. Although I was back teaching school during this particular trip, the boat was up here in the Dubuque area during a weekend and I found myself aboard (as unbelievable as that seems!) Leslie and perhaps one or two other passengers had been given permission to play the calliope leaving a lock or passing a city, and when they finished, they had left the keyboard cover open and the electric toggle switch under the console on. Whoever had given them the okay to play apparently didn't follow up after they'd finished. At any rate, later that day we had a drenching downpour, which thoroughly soaked the keys. The next time we tried to play the thing, they had swollen so badly that in depressing one key, you activated about three or four adjacent ones as well. You couldn't coax anything recognizable out of it. We tried inserting fingernail files and screw drivers between the keys to loosen them, all to no avail. Finally, a passenger came up with a solution. Someone volunteered the use of their hair dryer to dry out the keys, and after about 10-15 minutes of drying time, the calliope was back in operating condition just as the boat approached Dubuque. I think it may have been on that same trip that I was asked by a frantic Texas Bar steward if I could call someone in Dubuque to have a bottle or two of Bailey's Irish Creme delivered to the boat to restock their supply when we locked through at Lock 11 that morning. One of the many, many deliveries my father made to the boat over decades up here were those bottles of Bailey's for the passenger's Irish Coffee. It was quite a trip: the Bailey's had dried up and the calliope got soaked!

Don Franz told me recently that he has been assembling a "show" of historical GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT photos and memorabilia for this Sunday's centennial celebration program. Don, who was a computer engineer at Washington University (his alma mater) was also a business partner with Frank Pierson in the ownership of the GOLDENROD, which was purchased from Capt. Bill Menke after the 1962 fire. Frank kindly allowed Capt. Bill, his brother, Capt. Charley and longtime actress/musician/office manager/cook Blanche Forbes (who joined the boat in 1937) to continue living on the boat for many years. The Ragtimers were the "resident band" on the second deck and often performed in The Boiler Room Bar aboard the Str. BECKY THATCHER, as well as at THE OLD ST. LOUIS LEVEE HOUSE, which had been the building occupied by the EAGLE BOAT STORE on Wharf Street, just above the Eads Bridge. Will Pierson, the son of Frank, who owned both boats, tells me that he and his wife plan to be in attendance for the birthday program. Undoubtedly, there will be other river folk there who recall the days when the GOLDENROD was a great attraction at the St. Louis levee. Wish I could be on deck for this extravaganza, but duty calls elsewhere.

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT!

Image: 1909 Advertising card of the GOLDENROD when brand new, owned by Capt. W.R. Markle. She was the largest showboat ever built, seating 1400 persons in her auditorium. The GOLDENROD had a number of towboats throughout her traveling career (1909-1937) including the ECLIPSE, CROWN HILL, LIBERTY and WENONAH.

David: Swanson tells it this way in his book:"...a Friday afternoon in early October...some passenger had opened the calliope cover to examine the instrument and had forgotten to close the lid. Rain water had soaked everything including the wooden shafts of the keys which had swollen shut. The writer tried pushing down one key and four or five became depressed immediately. ...Two young men from Bellevue had different ideas...One of them was a mechanic. ...Next they called for some more odd equipment-women's hair dryers, nail files and emery boards....Several passengers including the writer, aided in this work. In two hours the calliope was back in action. At the farewell cruise dinner the two Bellevue men were presented with certificates for "performing work above and beyond the call of duty."" Cap'n Walnut

Les Swanson

I see Les forgot to mention that HE was the passenger...you must take what he writes as some hyperbole too. He claimed to have played the calliope on 12 different boats, which he did - but not as a crew member, rather on a one-time chance to play it. That's still impressive though. Les died in 2002 at age 99. He had just called Pat Welsh a few weeks earlier to play a round of golf at Credit Island before it got flooded by the spring rains.

Cap'n Walnut,

Thanks for sharing Leslie's recollection of that incident with me. Yes, that was quite a day! Although those old brass keys on an old-timey Nichol tracker instrument were hard to depress and they conducted some of the heat from the manifold and the steam, I bet they never ever stuck together! The only technical problem with trackers is that sometimes the wires connecting the keys and whistle valves would break, sometimes in the middle of a song. Doc tells a good story of his early days on the AVALON when he noticed how much slack there was in those wires, and so he got this bright idea to take up all the slack. After making adjustments on all 32 whistles, he turned on the steam, pressed down hard to play a chord, and nearly broke his wrists when none of the keys would move! That slack provided the needed whip to open those poppet valves. True calliope players suffer many physical hardships to coax out that steamy music!

Speaking of using a hair dryer to dry out the soaked calliope keyboard reminds me of a late October departure of the DELTA QUEEN from Wabasha, Minnesota, our last trip down the Upper Mississippi for the season. It turned bitterly COLD and snowflakes were flying as the DQ departed the landing. I went back there, wearing a parka, to play the cally-ope and my hands were so cold and stiff I could hardly move my fingers. One of the lady passengers braving the wintry blast -- and my horrible playing -- disappeared around the corner of the sun deck and was back in a few moments quickly coming toward me wielding her hair dryer! For a scary moment I thought it was a big gun and she was going to "shoot the calliope player", but she plugged it into the outlet near the console and kindly held it above my hands - providing nice toasty air that warmed my fingers and made for somewhat improved calliope music, although the frigid temps made for some very OUT of TUNE tunes!

Us girls have known for a long time that hairdryers have many uses, aside from drying hair.

Lester C Swanson
I can't resist a genealogy challenge. So I when look for Les. He was born 21 Aug 1905 and died 6 April 2003. He might be called a "renaissance" man one with many talents and interests. He is known for his music both on shore on on the boats. His most popular publications were on the racing of homing pigeons. still being reprinted as it is a prime resource in the sport. He also wrote "Covered Bridges in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin" "Old Mills in the Mid-west" "Rural one room Schools" "Steamboat Calliopes" (I did an index for that one) and "Steamboat Gambling" all self published .
They may be available at from his estate at $5.00 each. His last gig was to play two piano solos at the anniversary of Bis Beiderbecks 100th birthday celebration in March 2003. He was married twice and has two daughters. most of you remember his second wife Mildred (Hyler) who he married in 1972.
utriverrat