Re: [Phono-L] Gene Ballard
Jan, Thanks, great to hear from you. Those who helped you out when you first start always remain special. Steve From: dynawh...@shaw.ca To: phono-l@oldcrank.org 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: phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org] 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
Re: [Phono-L] Gene Ballard
I too have fond memories of Gene. I remember at the very first CAPS (California Antique Phonograph Society) show 25 years ago, Gene had an original Edison Class M for the unbelievable price of $2,200. I think that was good even 25 years ago. I remember him as very kind and he did great work at very reasonable prices. It was people like Gene, Ken Blazier, Del Hahn and others who really made the hobby attractive to me. Let's face it. It's all about the people who can make or break a hobby. -Scott Corbett -Original Message- From: phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org] On Behalf Of Jan and Harold Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 3:47 PM To: 'Antique Phonograph List' 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: phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org] 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
[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,
