19 minute read
The Dal Richards Mentor & Life Coach Award
Dal Richards
“William Hoskins Sara was one of the leaders of the National Juvenile band. He came from Kneller Hall in England. The band was led by Hoskins Sara and Jack Parle. When boys heard that Arthur Delamont’s band was going to be a travelin band, they left the other bands.”
The list of old boys that I wanted to interview for this book from the 1930s and 1940s was impressive. If you listed them by occupation they would read a captain of industry, a billionaire, an RCMP band director, an engineer, a jazz musician, a real estate mogul, a trumpet player and a big band leader. The big band leaders name is Dal Richards. Dal has been prominent in west coast music circles since 1940, shortly after he left the Kitsilano Boys’ Band. Besides being a clarinetist and a saxophonist, he is also an arranger and a conductor. As well as wanting to hear Dal’s stories from his band days, I wanted to ask him about the other fellows who had been in the band with him, in the thirties.
Hello Mr. Richards, my name is Chris Best. I am writing a book on Arthur Delamont. I wanted to drop by and speak to you for a while about your days in the Kits Band. Beatty Street, four o’clock, I will be there!”
The walk over to Beatty Street took me up Davie and along Granville to Georgia Street. Once at Georgia and Granville, I headed south on Georgia, past the new Library, until I reached the Georgia Viaduct and Beatty Street. A short jaunt to the left and I was at Mr. Richards’ apartment block. The block was made up of several heritage buildings converted into loft apartments, with businesses at street level. A nice touch I thought, with the sky train station nearby and the modern high rises surrounding.
“Hello Mr. Richards,” I said, into the intercom.” This is Christopher Best.”
“Come on up Chris!”
As Dal opened the door, I saw a tall, well dressed, rather distinguished gentleman, in his late eighties, standing in the doorway.
“Come in,” he said. “Call me Dal.” We shook hands. I glanced around the room. Over on a wall, I noticed framed records and several show posters. Seeing my interest, he said,
“Things I’ve collected over the years and memorabilia from my days as the producer of the Lions half time shows.”
“How long were you their producer?”
“I was their producer from about 1954 to 1986.”
“That was quite awhile.”
“Yes, it was a good gig, as we musicians say. Delamont used to play for me in the Lion’s band you know. I do not know what he thought about being employed by one of his old boys?”
“It did not cause any problems?”
“Oh heavens no, Arthur was just one of the boys.
Besides he was a good trumpet player, so I was always glad to have him play.
“These records, are recordings of hits from the swing era that I recorded. This one is Swing Is In .... Let’s Dance (1982). And this one is Swing Is In.... Let’s Dance (1983). My recording of Opus One enjoyed sales comparable to those of LP’s, by many Canadian rock bands of the day.”
“That was pretty good. What year did you leave the Kits Band?”
“Let me see. That would have been about 1937. I had to make a decision whether to take a professional gig at the Winter Garden down at English Bay or go with the band to San Francisco in 1937. So, I opted to turn professional.”
“You were in the band from 1933 to 1937?”
“In 1938 and 1939, I played in Sandy de Santis’ band and then in Stan Paton’s Band. I started in the National Juvenile band under William Hoskins Sara and Jack Parle. I was led to that by my cousin, who was a pianist and a French horn player, played French horn in the National Juvenile band. Her mother and my mother had the idea. I had an accident when I was nine years old, with a sling shot. Dislodged my left eye, so I was confined to a darkened room for several weeks in the summertime. The doctor said to my mother,
“You have some musical talent. You play piano and sing. Maybe your son has some musical talent.”
Betty Hofeister was a French horn player. Her mother introduced me to William Hoskins Sara. That’s where I took my first clarinet lessons. The National Juvenile band was not all that active. Sara and Parle were both rather eccentric characters. Hoskins Sara was from Kneller Hall.”
“How did you get into the Kits band?”
“I think the National Juvenile band was running out of steam.
There were four of us clarinet players. One of us four, either Bernie Temoin or Jack Bensted or Harry Bigsby, knew someone in the Kits band and knew we would be welcome if we came down. That would be in the early part of 1933. Then we went to Chicago that summer.”
“What happened to all the fellows in the band?”
“Harry Bigsby ended up as the Superintendent of Music for the Victoria School Board. Bernie Temoin, went to Toronto. Jim Findlay became the Superintendent of schools in Burnaby. He played a little afterwards. Jack Allen and Clif Bryson joined the RCMP, when they were forming a band. They went to Regina. Herb Melton went to work for an auto parts firm in downtown Vancouver.
Jack Bensted, played with me in a dance band, here in Vancouver, so did Van Dunfee and Pete Watt. Van then went to San Francisco. He worked for a railway company. Pete Watt became a manufacturer’s representative for a women’s clothing company. Gordie Delamont was immensely successful. He played at the King Edward Hotel and the Royal York Hotel. He got in with the Romanelli family. There were three of them; Luigi, Don and Leo. They virtually controlled the music scene in Toronto.
Eventually, Gord got his own band at the Silver Slipper in Toronto. It was one of the first clubs to have liquor.
Then he started to get more into arranging and teaching. He was highly respected. Any arranger of recognition in Toronto would speak highly of Gordie Delamont. He had several pupils that became famous, Rob McConnell, Ron Collier, Moe Koffman, were a few.”
“What can you tell me about Ray Smith?”
“I got to know Ray through his father, Stan Smith. He was Chairman of the Empire Games. He was a good friend of Roll Holland, who was the Parks Board Chairman, for a lot of years. He was instrumental in getting the Parks Board‘s attention directed to me when they were looking for Sunday concerts at the Malkin Bowl in the summertime. I played those for several years. Ray was in the band back then. These concerts at the Malkin Bowl, were called “Concerts in Rhythm.” That would be the late forties, early fifties. I shared them with Harry Price and John Emerson, they each had a couple. Ray, when he was in the army and stationed back east, used to go down to New York to 52nd street, to see the musicians in the clubs. He sat in with trumpet player Wingy Manome and also Roy Eldridge.”
“And then he quit the trumpet all together?” I added.
“The story about that was, there were three trumpet players sitting around the Georgia beer parlor, downtown; Stu Barnett, Jack Townsend and Ray Smith. They were all out of work. Townsend said,
“Richards is looking for a trumpet player. I think I will go see him.” Stu said,
“Sandy de Santis at the Palomar, is looking for a trumpet player. I’ll go and see him.” And Ray said,
“I’ve got a chance to work in a box factory. I think I’ll go and pursue that.”
And that was the end of his playing career. Don Endicott played at the Palomar. He went professional, and played with Ole Olsen. Don played with Ray Smith at the Commodore too. That was before Ray came to me at the Roof.
Roy Johnston played in the Lion’s band for years, starting around 1954. He played for a lot of years. Ross Armstrong played in the Haskell band, before he became an Optometrist.
Bob Randall was part of the Randall family, who owned the Hastings Park Raceway.
Norie Pearson was a great cricket player. Phil Baldwin became a radio announcer, so did Dorwin Baird. He was with CJOR.
George Reifel, I think, started the vodka division of Alberta Distillers. Hector McKay was a copy writer at CJOR for a number of years, actually a lot of years! The studio was in the basement of the Grosvenor Hotel on Howe Street.
I remember the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. There was a booking agent that booked all the big bands into the hotels in Chicago. They thought they would do really well, with the Worlds Fair on.
Problem was, people were tired after being at the Fair all day. So, we would slip the Maitre de a five note and he would let us sit in the corner, with a coffee and listen to the band. I don’t ever remember being turned away. Jack Bensted and I did that a lot!”
“Remember any of the big name bands you saw?”
“Clyde McCoy.......Sugar Blues, Art Kassel and his “Kassels-in-the-Air,” Johnny Hamp, Cab Calloway, Coon/Sanders, two guys, Coon was the drummer and Joe Sanders was the piano player. Ben Birnie was playing at the Paps Blue Ribbon Casino. We couldn’t go there!”
“Do you remember any stories from the 1934 trip to England?”
“Yes, Chris Stockwell, our manager, who was not use to our rather stringent eating habits. He told a few of the boys on the train in England to go on up to the dining car and get something to eat. Well, when Mr. D heard, he lectured Stockie like you would not believe. They would have charged the band and the band did not have money for lavish meals on board a train. Stockie booked a lot of dance bands in those days, all over England. Really big time acts, we were a big time act. Jack Bensted and I again slipped the head waiter a little something, to allow us in to some high priced restaurants in London, so we could listen to the orchestra. We did that in Montreal at the Normandy Roof, at the Mont Royal Hotel. We did it at the Kit Kat Club in London. At the Kit Kat Club we listened to Joe Loss and his band. Joe was still going strong twenty years ago. He was doing cruises out of Southampton.”
“Is the Kit Kat Club still there?”
“No, it is gone. I have since done several series for CBC Arts National, on the History of the Big Bands. I did six hours on bands in World War II. I wrote the script. I narrated it and pulled all the materials together. The first hour was on Canadian bands.
The second hour was on British bands. Another hour was, “How the War Affected the Bands.” And then there was an hour on “Pearl Harbor,” an hour on “VE Day” and then an hour on “VJ Day.”
When I was researching the Big bands, I discovered that Jack Bensted and I were in the Kit Kat Club in London the evening Joe Loss made his first BBC broadcast. BBC.used to have one and a half hour remote broadcasts every night. They would go to a different place every night, the Dorchester, the Kit Kat Club, the Embassy, the Savoy.
I remember telling Stockie about this the next day and he said,
”You mean they did not charge you?” I told him,
“No, they just sat us at a table and said,”
“By the way boys, when the band starts playing, make lots of noise!”
It was because half the place was empty during midweek.
So then Stockie ask,
“Did you get to meet Joe Loss?” And we of course said,
“No,” to which Stockie replied,
“If I had known you were going there, I would have called ahead and got you an introduction because I book Joe Loss.” So he did handle some pretty big name bands. We also heard Jack Jackson at the Dorchester.”
“Did you ever see Ted Heath?”
“Here’s a story!
We were playing somewhere in the Midlands. The Ambrose band was playing in the afternoon, hottest band in England. Ted Heath played trombone for the band. So, some weeks later we were in the Selmer sales office in London and Ted Heath was there, trying a trombone. I went up to him and said,
“Mr. Heath, would you play something for us?” he said,
“Oh no, I’m not a solo man, I’m just a section man.” So, he kept trying his trombone. He was quite kind to us
but said,
“I’m just a section man!”
That was before he had his own band. He became very successful. He was a late starter!
Ardie Steeves was a kind of a jazz guy. Jack Habkirk became a teacher. Don Wright, I think, became a banker. Don Cromie worked for a glass manufacturing company. Gordie McCullough use to turn up at the ‘Panorama Roof.’ He was always with a different woman on his arm. He did quite well. He was a hot shot drummer for a while.
Stu Ross played in the Lions band. Jack Hamilton was my contractor for the Lion’s band. He tried to hire ex-Kits band members, if they were still playing. He played trombone. He went into the insurance business and was on the board of the musicians union.”
“What happened to you after 1939?”
“I had a band at the Palomar in 1938. Earlier, I had a band at the Alma Academy. It was a second floor ballroom. Then, I joined the Stan Patton Orchestra. I went on a road trip with them. We got as far as Edmonton where we opened at the Tivoli Ballroom in 1939. Our first night there it burned to the ground, all our instruments, music and uniforms, gone, so we searched around for new equipment. Next we played a week at the Strand in Edmonton. Then we wound up at a place called Pigeon Lake, for the month of August. We regrouped and played at some ballroom and then came back to Vancouver after Labor Day and played at the Alma. I kept on at the Alma Academy until the spring. Then Stan joined Mart Kenny, so I got a call from Mart Kenny saying,
“I am going to leave the Hotel Vancouver, six weeks early.
There will be a six week interval before Len Hopkins comes out from the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa to play for the summer.”
As it turned out, Len was re-directed to the Jasper Park Lodge. So, we stayed on and on. I came down and auditioned for the manager.
In 1940, I succeeded Mart Kenny as music director and band leader at the Hotel Vancouver’s, Panorama Roof. I remained there for twenty five years and during that time, my orchestra was described as, ‘The Band at the Top of the Town.’ We were heard nationally on CBC Radio.
It was only eleven pieces but we featured in turn, the singer Juliette, Beryl Boden my first wife and Lorraine McAllister. Over the years the orchestra included, trumpeters Chuck Barber and Gordon Delamont and saxophonists Stan Patton and Lance Harrison.”
“How many nights per week did you perform?’
“It was an amazing five nights a week, twenty-five year run, which included twenty-five years of live Saturday night broadcasts.
“You played sax in the band?”
“Yes!
In 1938, did Van Dunfee and Gordie Delamont play with you at the Palomar?”
“Yes!”
“Around 1944 or 1945, we had a show at the Service Center, called “Furlough Dance Party.” It was located on Burrard Street, between Georgia and Dunsmuir. It was a ballroom on the east side of the street. Bob Reid was with me then.”
“Do you have any stories about Bob Reid?”
“He did arrangements for me at four dollars an arrangement. He wanted to play a gig with Harry Price, on a Wednesday night. I said,
“I can’t let you off but I will raise your arranging rate to five dollars, if that helps?”
“I was told he could read a book with one eye and his music with the other.”
“That’s true, at the Roof, I had a different sounding band than I do now. It was called a ‘Sweet Band.’ We had three violins, three saxes and trumpet and trombone. Quite often the trumpet and trombone had rests. He had a lot of free time to read a book.”
“Jim Findlay was there, when I got there. His wife,
ABOVE: 1944 Dal Richards Orchestra Hotel Vancouver, Top Left to Right, Tom Deeth, Frank Turvey, Ted O’Brien, Don Skiles, Pete Watt, Bud Henderson, Bob Reid, Don Dorazio, Byron Hauser, FRONT LEFT unknown, Beryl Boden, Dal.
Honore, is coming to my ninetieth birthday party. Do you know about that?”
“No?”
“My birthday is January 5. There is a formal dinner at the Hotel Vancouver. The Master of Ceremonies will be, Christopher Gaze and Bramwell Tovey will be conducting an orchestra. Then on Sunday, there will be a matinee at the Orpheum at two o’clock with the Corelioni Men’s Choir, full band, Jim Byrnes and friends. It is mostly corporate sales through Tourism Vancouver and I promote it on my radio show. It will be advertised in the newspaper in December. Ray Smith played with me in the Furlough Dance Party. I have a picture of that band.
A gentleman by the name of Hymie Singer, who built the Palomar, had the idea for the ‘Starlight Garden,’ (summertime dances, down at Georgia and Denman). So, we played down there Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the beginning, we only played, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at the Hotel Vancouver.
I played for the wedding of Austin Taylor’s daughter, Patricia. She married William Buckley Jr., here in Vancouver in 1952.
When the Big Band music business slowed down in the late 1960s, I returned to school and received a Diploma of Technology in the Hospitality Management field from BCIT. A career in the hotel business followed. Then, as big band swing music regained popularity in the 1980s, the Dal Richards Orchestra and I have never been busier. We play corporate events and conventions, community concerts and special occasions, like weddings and anniversaries. I take a
BELOW: 1944 Broadcast from the Service center, Dal on sax, Ray Smith on trumpet
BELOW: 1946 Dal Richards Orchestra, Starlight Theatre, Beryl Boden vocalist
ABOVE: 1952 Playing for the wedding of Patricia Taylor and William F. Buckley Jr.
RIGHT: 1976 Dal with Arthur Delamont at Empire stadium
fourteen piece band to the PNE each year and perform daily. I will be doing that again this year. I have a combo that plays Saturday night dinner dances at the Pan Pacific Hotel every two weeks, as well!”
“Did you make any more records?”
“I have a CD called Swingin & Singin with Dal Richards & Juliette that is played often on Big Band Swing Stations across the country. My biography, ‘Big Band Boom,’ won a silver medal for documentaries at the 1998 US International Film and Video Festival in Chicago. And a musical special featuring my orchestra called “What Legends are Made Of,’ has been broadcast nationally several times on CTV and Bravo. On top of all that, I host a weekly radio show on 600 AM. Last year, I also did a four day tour.
In 1997, I played a cruise on the Volga River to Moscow. It was a small cruise ship. I was there about twenty days. A travel agent wanted to put a tour together. I used their musicians. It was the ships orchestra. They were a dance orchestra. The passengers were American. I took my music book. They knew all the tunes Gershwin, Cole Porter. They had been students at the Moscow Conservatory. I stopped and started them.
I was in London, on the way home and wanted to see the musical Chicago. Muriel, my wife, was in Liverpool. Someone I was with ask,
“Did you see your sweetie last night?” I said, “She couldn’t get down, so we had to resort to phone sex!”
“That shocked them a little.”
“Have you done other cruises?”
“I have done too many to remember, Panama, Hawaiian Islands, Mexican Riviera, Caribbean, both east and west, Alaska, with my own band.
In 1937, Bob Reid, got a contract on the CN ships, that sailed to Alaska, so I played on that. My first cruise job!
If I had the time and the cruise came up, I went. I played the PNE for many years.
“I thought this interview was supposed to be about Arthur Delamont?”
“I am finding your story fascinating. I thought I would let you tell it to the end. Besides, I think there is probably a lot of him in you.”
“There was probably a lot of him in all of us old boys, Chris.”
“Arthur was going right to the end. His was a lifetime of
RIGHT: c1998 Dal at the Kirov Theatre, St. Petersburg
achievement of doing. For me, it is the same, a lifetime of learning that is what keeps me going. If I was not always learning something new, I am sure I would not still be here today.”
“Learning, achieving, commitment, life-long goals, do you think that might have come from Arthur?”
“I guess that could be! His friends called him Mr. D. My friends call me Dr. Swing!”
“Why doctor?”
“One of the awards I received was an Honorary Doctorate from BCIT.”
“Have you received many awards?”
“I have received a few awards. Let’s see,there was a presidential citation from the Variety Club in 1993, the City of Vancouver’s Merit Award in 1994, the Order of Canada in 1995 and another award was from the Open Learning Agency in 2001.”
“So there were quite a few!”
“Not bad for a saxophone player!”
“If you could sum up your philosophy of life in one sentence what would you say it was?”
“That is an easy one, one is never too old to learn something new!”
