Next to St. Mary’s Church is a car lot. When I was 16 it was a “used car” lot with cars of all varieties. It played an important part in my life. It had to do with the trombone I played in the MHS (Manhasset High School) band. I was a fan of Tommy Dorsey, the great trombonist and his band. Big bands like Tommy Dorsey’s had high schoolers jitterbugging across the USA. He had a one-hour radio program which featured amateur musicians at the half-hour break and I wanted to be one of them. I had to go to the RCA building in the city, via the LIRR, into a room with a hundred others hoping to be chosen. The soulful tune, “Wabash Blues,” was the one I played to get on the Tommy Dorsey radio show. Only three of the amateurs would be chosen to be a contestant.
Everyone there had to be interviewed in the soundproof booth. Three of us survived and were on the show. Dorsey’s rhythm section, a piano, a drummer, a bass violinist and a clarinet, played with each contestant. First up was a trumpet player, next was my turn with the trombone and the third had his turn with a saxophone. All of this was before an audience whose applause indicated who the winner would be. I am certain John Mince, Dorsey’s clarinet player, put me up for the win. Johnny brought out the best in me when we increased the tempo of “Wabash Blues” to a foot-stomping pace and the audience showed their approval. I went home with the $75 award. The very next day I went to the “used car” lot next to St. Mary’s with my dad. He put up another $75 and I drove home in a 1934 Ford Phaeton with isinglass windows, having passed my driver’s license test a week before. Shortly after, I got a call from a band leader who wondered if I would join his 10-piece band that played at the White Horse Tavern in Old Westbury five nights a week, Monday through Friday. But that’s another story.
—Bob Lubbers
Love these stories!! Keep them coming!