Jan, Thanks, great to hear from you. Those who helped you out when you first start always remain special.
Steve > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 15:46:43 -0700 > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Gene Ballard > > Steve, thank you so much for sharing those emails. What a treat to add so > much humanity to what just a name to many. > Jan > > Jan Horne and Harold White > > CANADA > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Steven Medved > Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 4:33 PM > To: Phono-l; phonolist > Subject: [Phono-L] Gene Ballard > > > Steve Medved here. I wrote the list about Gene Ballard and evidently his > daughter > found the e-mail with Google. Below are the two e-mails I received from her > along > with my reply. > > Steve > > > > Hi. Gene Ballard of Gardena, California was my dad. It's good to see > his name in print. I hope that all of you had good experiences with > him. He was an honest man who loved what he did, repairing phonos. > Did any of you get a chance to visit his home museum? The Oliphant > Brothers learned a lot from him when they were teens and just > beginning to collect. Dad passed away in 1994 in Chico, CA. My > sister and I now have some of his rarer models of phonographs and > music boxes. > Thanks, > Eugenia (Gene) Ballard-Moretti > > Dear Steve, I can't begin to tell you how delighted I am to hear such > kind words about my father. And yes, you can send my letters to the > whole list. I would like that.My father was an exceptional man, a > "jack of all trades." He loved working with his hands. Back in the > 70's on a trip to Europe with The International Musical Box Society (of > which he was a member) he purchased two Ruege music box cylinders and > then built two beautiful boxes of rare woods to house them. They were > gifts to my sister and me. > He had quite a > workshop, complete with a metal lathe and one for woodworking and had > customers as far away as New Zealand, South Africa, and England where he > had a secret source for some of his diamond-point phono needles. If he > couldn't find a gear or whatever for a phonograph, music box, or a > Mills Violano, he made one.I once watched him tear apart a > Mills Violano Virtuoso (he had three of them in his collection) and > rebuild it from the ground up, including parts on the violin. An > interesting side story is the three matchbooks he found inside it: They > were from "Big Jim" Colosimo's nightclub in Chicago. (Colosimo ran > Chicago's underground, and was a pimp as well.) Al Capone's name was > listed as "Manager" on the matchbook covers. I still have them and they > will go to my sons, the youngest of whom is named Eugene for my dad. > His > collection included the Violanos, a Wurlizter Orchestra Piano LX, a > Wurlizter band wagon with 16 brass trumpets and two drums ( he > completely rebuilt that bandwagon and it was so loud that it woke up the > whole neighborhood when he played it), an automated banjo, several > automatic changer upright disk music boxes, a dozen or more Victor phono > models, including a Victor VI that my husband and I found in Mexico > City in 1975 (Dad already had a wooden horn for one, so we gave it to > him), the Berliner used as the Victor logo in front of which he had a > life-sized Nipper, (see my story about Nipper below), an opera, a couple > of concerts, and goodness only knows how many Edisons, cylinder > cabinets, and etc. There was a Wurlitzer 1015 that he purchased new for > his Juke Box route in Los Angeles (he put jukes into small cafes and > bars around the LA area during 1946-1948 and kept the 1015 when he sold > the business. I would wake up in the morning to the music of Glenn > Miller, the Harmonicats, and the Mills Brothers.) He also had an Ivers > and Pond player piano with a couple of hundred rolls and let each of his > 8 grandkids pump the pedals and sing along with him. There were > wonderful beer and Coca Cola trays, racks of 78 rpm records, needle > tins, etc. etc. etc. :-) In 1959, he purchased an 18" metal "Nipper" > with glass eyes. It was devoid of paint, and being a "budding artist" I > repainted it for him. I still have Nipper and the Victor VI. > As > a young man from Mississippi, dad worked the "swing" on carnivals and > met my mother in Arizona when she rode his ferris wheel. That night the > carnival packed up and moved on. They wrote each other and when the > carnival returned the next year to her town, they married. Dad was also > a magician and plied that trade in the early 1930s before I was born. > My mother was his assistant onstage and off. When I was little he > would put on magic acts for my birthday parties and halloween parties, > and continued to do so for his grandchildren and the kids in his Gardena > neighborhood. He was a member of the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, an > exclusive club for magicians. > But the trade > that fed his family for many years was refrigeration and > air-conditioning, from ice cream parlors in Texas to casinos in Las > Vegas and he carried a lunch box to work for many years. In 1942 we > moved to Long Beach, CA, and Dad went to work in the Wilmington, CA, or > San Pedro, CA, shipyards (I forget which), where he helped put the > refrigeration into the morgue of the "Comfort" hospital ship during > WWII. He was elected as Business Manager of the Air-Conditioning and > Refrigeration Union of Los Angeles in 1952. At that time it was the > largest union of its kind in the United States. It still may be. > Anyway, > to answer your question about my dad's fishing: From the time he was a > kid, Dad was always a fisherman, mostly flyrod, but he taught me how to > use a casting rod, and he, my mother, and I camped out in a tent on the > King's River in King Canyon's National Park many times. He was also a > great fisherman, and we had many a trout dinner on those campouts. In > 1978, my parents moved from Gardena, CA, to Paradise, CA. Their house > almost overlooked a part of the Feather River, so he got in plenty of > fishing during those years. When he was 83, he started showing signs of > Parkingsons Disease. When my mother died the same year, he came to > live with me and my husband in Chico, CA. > How I > loved that man! > Thanks to my parents interest > in phonographs and antiques, when my husband retired from the Air Force > in 1973, we became antique dealers, and although I am now 74 years old, > I'm still in the business! > All my best,Eugenia > P.S. > Thanks for letting me bend your ear. I've really rambled on, so if you > want, please feel free to edit this email. Age is a great excuse for > many things! :-) > > > On > Apr 21, 2010, at 8:24 PM, Steven Medved wrote: > Hello Eugenia, > > I > believe your e-mail only went to me, I can send it to the whole list if > you like. I am thrilled beyond words to get this e-mail from you. I > loved Gene, he was such a nice man, willing to explain things and do > work at very reasonable prices, not to mention he was very honest. I > started to collect phonographs back in 1982 and I found Gene around > 1986. This was before the internet so phonograph repair people were > hard to find and you had to write letters and wait for the replies. > > Back in 1986 I > contacted Gene and he wrote and answered my questions and did some work > for me. I purchased the last of his 2 and 4 minute stylus and still > have the small Ziplock bags with the red plastic labels that say H > stylus and C bars and C stylus on the other. In his June 23 89 hand > written letter to me he said "I 82 next month - "July" so I think its > about time I go fishing" > > I have kept the letters and the bags > because his help meant a great deal to me. I always wondered what > happened after he went fishing. I was very impressed with Gene and his > work. > > I have a > friend in Australia I met at a phonograph show who had a lady with the > last name of Ballard on his e-mail list and I thought it was Gene's > daughter so I sent an e-mail to her, when I found out it was not Gene's > daughter I wrote the letter to the list and no one knew what Gene did > after he retired at 82 from the phonograph business. > > So, if I may ask did > he get a chance to go fishing and relax? I will always treasure the > memories of Gene and his kindness, I never met him in person. I keep > his letters in the old cabinet where my valuable phonograph papers, > catalogs, and other rare items are. > > Best regards, > > Steven > Medved > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
