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Countdown to 75 Years
EST.1945
Countdown to 75 years 1950-1959: FINDING OUR WAY
“Sweet Adelines have had many adventurous years, and it is important we chronicle some of them.” — Corrine King, SA Historian (The Pitch Pipe, Dec. 1956)
Charitable Work: Sweet Adelines are known today for their generous hearts, and that tradition was alive and well in the 1950s. Soon after The Great Flood of 1951 destroyed much of Kansas and Missouri, the Jayhawk Chapter of Topeka organized and sang at a benefit called “Harvest of Harmony” along with Oil Capital Chapter’s Coquettes and Gay Notes of Tulsa, the Mel-O-Chords of Kansas City, Vocalaires of Lyons, an unnamed quartet from Great Bend and Treble Makers of Topeka. Many chapters sang at tuberculosis and polio wards. One quartet from Bartlesville, OK carried banks in the shape of iron lungs (a medical device used to treat polio at the time) as they strolled downtown, singing. Passersby dropped dimes into the banks to benefit the March of Dimes.*
Celebrities/Television Appearances: More and more homes had a television set, and many Sweet Adelines quartets appeared on the small screen, often with big names of the era. The 1953 International Champion Quartet, Big Four (“800-pounds of fun”) of Chillicothe, IL performed with celebrities such as Herb Shriner, Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey and Liberace! In the January 1952 issue of The Pitch Pipe, Marian Moore of The Polka Dots reported on a very eventful trip the quartet made to Los Angeles, where they met vaudeville orchestra leader Eddie Oliver. He escorted the quartet, along with President Lois Zoerb and her husband, to the famous Sunset Strip nightclub Ciro’s. Later, the quartet was singing in the ladies room when a woman who worked at RKO Studio heard them and invited them to come to the studio the next day to watch movies being filmed.
The Atomic Age: Sweet Adelines of the 1950s lived with the tension of the Cold War. Many public buildings and private homes had bomb shelters, and nuclear testing was big, if secretive, news. The first chapter, Atomaton, was named by founder Edna Mae Anderson because, “We have an atom of energy to start work with on the organization and we will do it to the tune of ‘Sweet Adeline.’”
Korean War: The Korean War is sometimes called “The Forgotten War,” but the Sweet Adelines of the day (several of whom served in the military or were military spouses or widows) never forgot those who served. The Nota-Belles (1955 Champion Quartet) made a 50,000-mile U.S. State Department tour of Korean War zones, and many, many quartets made visits to veterans’ homes and military hospitals in both Canada and the United States. The North West Chapter of Chicago recorded a performance for Armed Forces Radio that was broadcast to troops in Korea in 1952. Marybelle Slattery (baritone) recounted this story about singing in a train heading from St. Louis to San Francisco in a 1952 report to The Pitch Pipe: “A memorable experience on this leg of the trip was a Spanish soldier, Korea bound, who’d been on the bus all day Sunday and missed church. He asked Agnes [Volger] to sing ‘Ave Maria,’ no small task even with the best of accompaniment. All Ag had was a uke but she sang it. He sat there holding his rosary, the tears streaming on his
Vi Stern of the Decaturettes donates blood while the television camera rolls in 1955. The Nota-Belles during their 1956 USO tour. Left to right are Jarmela Speta, Ruth Geile, Jan Kastens and Phyllis Haeger.
face...It was one of those things you can’t forget. We met a lot of servicemen and they all had one thing in common: they all loved to sing, so we sang till we could barely whisper.”
Striving for Harmony: The first international chapter was chartered in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada on March 23, 1953. They were together for three years and paved the way for other Canadian chapters that soon followed. In 1954, the first international event was held when the board of directors traveled to Toronto, ON for the installation of President Dorothy Bleecker. Many early Sweet Adelines were first- or second-generation Americans and Canadians, such as the Johnson Sisters (USA), who sang with their mother (also a beloved Sweet Adeline) as part of The Grieg Ladies Chorus, a Norwegian singing group. In 1950, the Wauwatosa Chapter of Wisconsin “visited the Lutheran Home for the Aged…Bringing a special sparkle to their eyes, Lydia and Loretta Arndt led our chorus in some of the good old German songs these people loved to sing.” Sadly, at the end of the 1950s Sweet Adelines officially excluded nonwhite members via a change to the bylaws. Several choruses and individual members left the organization in protest. A more complete account of this disheartening time in our organization’s history is told in the July 2018 issue of The Pitch Pipe. In October of 1965, the Sweet Adelines board amended the bylaws by removing the wording that led to the exclusion of nonwhite members, effective May 1, 1966.
Becoming Arrangers: “Girls, IT’S HERE! It has taken two years of sweat, blood and tears (and I mean sweating not glowing) and reams of writing to activate some action and realize the reality of a Sweet Adeline quartet barbershop harmony book,” wrote Music Chairman Mary Olds in the Sept. 1952 issue of The Pitch Pipe. Those first songs were arranged by Ozzie Westley and George Zdarsky. Before that, quartets learned to arrange their own songs – and by 1956, under Nancy Bergman (MMA and composerarranger of “Harmonize the World”), Renee Limburg Craig (MMA), and Betty Oliver, the Sweet Adelines arranger education program began. The first class was held in 1956 at the Wichita Convention. The First Crowns: The first crowns were made of flowers and presented to the Quarternotes at the 1951 convention in Santa Monica, CA. In 1952, crowns made of seashells were presented to The Pitch-Pipers of Peoria, IL at the convention in St. Petersburg, FL. (On their 10th anniversary, the Quarternotes received actual crowns – and in the 1970s, they received flower crowns again when they were being honored at the Silver Anniversary, in remembrance of those first crowns!)
Headquarters: The first official Sweet Adelines business was conducted in the Tulsa home of the first paid Sweet Adelines employee, Evelyn Westfield, a former board member who was named executive secretary. During President Pearl Borg’s tenure, the organization moved into the Castle Building in downtown Tulsa, where they stayed until 1958, when the organization purchased a house which would become the new headquarters. Helen Seevers (first president) began the “Bucks for Bricks” campaign to help pay for it.
The Pitch Pipe: The first issue was published in December 1949, and the second in October 1950. In the 1950s, The Pitch Pipe included letters from the editor, president and board members, educational articles and sheet music (eventually). A large portion of the magazine was dedicated to news from the ever-growing number of Sweet Adelines across the United States and, starting in 1953, Canada. The news came from each chapter’s bulletin, which was written by their “bulletineer.” These news reports helped Sweet Adelines keep up with each other’s events, good ideas and funny or inspiring stories! Yesterday’s bulletins have become today’s newsletters and social media, and now The Pitch Pipe includes a section called “Harmony Roundup” where members still share their news with Sweet Adelines around the world.
Nancy Bergman (left) teaches a class at the 1956 Convention in Wichita, KS (USA). On the right, the cover of a 1958 Sweet Adelines arrangement book, Harmonize the World. October 1950 issue of The Pitch Pipe (left). Illustration by Marian Moore (Tune Twisters). A quartet contends with car trouble on the cover of the September 1951 issue of The Pitch Pipe (right). Illustration by Marion Moore (Tune Twisters).
From the cover of the 1955 Sweet Adelines Medalist Winners album
Milwaukee Chapter models their invitation to the 1953 convention, which was to be held in their city. Jo Brandes (center) designed her dress and wrote the words, and Lorraine Johnson set them to music. Lorraine’s sister, Lodice Mott, hand-painted the musical invitation, which read, “I’m from Milwaukee, good old Milwaukee. The Welcome Mat is out for fifty-three. We’ll expect you one and all in Milwaukee next fall, and we’ll have the best Convention of them all.”
Convention Sites: Until the 1970s, convention sites were chosen via (often hilarious) skit contests, with costumed quartets rallying for their city to be chosen. When it came time for the convention, Sweet Adelines chapters in brightlydecorated vans and buses headed out for adventure!
Growth: In 1950, Sweet Adelines numbered approx. 1,500 members in 53 chapters, all in the United States. By 1959, we had 8,067 members in 262 chapters, including several in Canada.
*Due to changing tax laws over the last 60 years, today’s Sweet Adelines have to be extra careful about how they help others when it comes to fundraising. To make sure your quartet or chorus is following the rules when giving, check out Section V of your Chapter Guide if you are in the U.S. or review the rules of the applicable tax agency for your location.
**Though it had been used unofficially almost since the beginning of Sweet Adelines, the term “Queens of Harmony” was not an official SA term until it was made so by the International Board of Directors at the 1959 Convention in Tucson, Ariz.
