Month: August 2017

Music in the Family Part V – Jacko and Papi

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Every week that I post something about music, my sock monkeys Jacko and Papi have been begging to include them in a post.  “After all,” Papi said, “I am the one that taught you how to sing.”  I always thought it was my mom and dad.  They did do a lot of singing when I was growing up.  But I also remember spending time with Papi when I was a kid.

Here is a photo of me with Papi when I was three years old.  It sure does look like he may have been singing in my ear!  He assured me that he was singing the “Yo! Ho!” song to me.  “What?” I asked, “That song wasn’t written until our Reunions Adventure.  This picture was taken way before that.”

“I know,” Papi said, “I started the song years ago when I taught Buddiloo to sing.”  So now he’s trying to take credit for teaching my mom to sing!  I know he was around back then, but I never really know when to trust what he is saying.

“Yes,” he explained, “It was around the time I was coaching Murder to sing for those old recordings you shared with everyone a few weeks ago.  I told you that!  You never listen to me.  Some sock monkey whisperer you are!  Hmmph!”

“You weren’t even there back then,” I started, but then I realized that he had been there.  I have a picture of him with Mama back in 1938.  Jacko shared it with y’all in the Sock Monkeys in the Past post.  And the recordings of Grandma (Myrtle Phenice Bucklin, not Murder as Papi incorrectly calls her) were done around 1944 “when those German Nasties were around,” as Papi likes to put it.  I’m sure he’s going to take credit for teaching her to play the baritone now.  “No,” he said, “She learned that at school.  I just sang along with her when we called the cows.”  That’s good to know.

So today I’m going to share with you “Papi and Jacko’s Traveling Song.”  According to Papi he started it in the 1940s, then he and Jacko added some more verses in 2007, and finally Jacko and I added the last part in that same year.  I’m sure some of you will recognize the melody from “The Lonely Goatherd” song from “The Sound of Music.”  It’s a rather catchy little song.  I hope you enjoy it.

Yo! Ho! Going on Adventures –
Jacko and Papi’s Traveling Song

 

Long, long ago lived a monkey sock

And a little girl that everyone called Betty Lou.

She played him a song on her baritone

Til the cows all came a-runnin’ with a moo.

​

They went to church with her Ma and Pa

And sang and gave their Glory Be’s to You Know Who.

She took along little Cyrus sock

Cuz he promised that he wouldn’t throw his poo!

​

After the service he told them tales

Of many of the places that he’d traveled to.

He made sure that they knew his skills

So they wouldn’t want to put him in a zoo.

​

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

Yo, ho! Always on the move.

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

That’s what I like to do.

​

Much later on in a different state,

He befriended a sock monkey who was very new.

His little friend took the name Jacko

And Cyrus then became his Papiloo.

 

Most of the time they stayed at home

With a family of several kids who grew and grew.

They looked forward to summertime

Cuz the fam’ly always went to somewhere new.

​

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

Yo, ho! Always on the move.

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

That’s what we like to do!

​

All of the kids grew up and left

and the house that they had lived in was too big for two.

The ma and pa got a smaller place

And they decided just one sock would do.

 

Poor little Jacko was sent away

and Jacko and his Papi had a big boo hoo!

They gave him a tag with an asking price.

At least they didn’t put him in a zoo.

​

He sat on a shelf with some other socks

as people walked right by with not much else to do.

Kids always grabbed them and pulled their tails

and some of them were taken home in twos.

 

A man by the name of Van came in,

And he journeyed from the same state as Papi Lou.

With help from above Van and Jacko met

And they became a trav’ling team of two.

​

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

Yo, Ho! Always on the move.

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

That’s what we like to do!

 

Not long ago Papi surfed the web

and came upon a story too good to be true.

Though he was old he still liked to see

the adventures of sock monkeys on the move.

 

There on the screen was his friend Jacko

and he traveled with a man that Papi thought he knew.

When he heard that his name was Van,

he knew it was the son of Buddiloo!

 

He sent off a note to his friend Jacko

to see about returning to the place he knew.

Jacko and Van came to pick him up

and their reunion was a big todo.

 

They met up with friends on their way back home,

and Papi hugged and kissed the girls of Rue Cou Cou.

Though Jacko and Van begged to take him home,

Papi went to live with Betty Lou.

​

 

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

Yo, Ho! Always on the move.

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

That’s what we like to do!

Music in the Family Part IV – Patureau Keepsake

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I thought I should have a Keepsake version of Music in the Family.  Especially since I was wanting to showcase this instrument for a while.  I tried to find photos or audio files of it in action, but no such luck.  I do have a few photos of it though.  So here you go.

1928 Vega tenor banjo

This was my dad’s banjo for many years.  He played it at Shakey’s sometimes with the family band in the 1970s, but it has a longer history than that.   Daddy left me a document about the banjo that he wrote on January 15, 2005.

Besides playing it with the family band, he also stated that he played it with some Dixieland bands in Lake Charles.  He also played it in the orchestra pit with a ‘pit band’ for Lake Charles Little Theater productions.  But he wasn’t the first owner of this Vega Four string Tenor banjo.

Vincent Maximilian Patureau, Jr. circa 1922

Daddy inherited it in 1956 when his uncle Vincent Maximilian Patureau, Jr. passed away.  Daddy was 27 years old at the time and Uncle Vincent died at the age of 54.  He was my Mee Maw’s youngest brother.  Uncle Vincent had it for many years and played it with a band in Baton Rouge.  That’s about all I know.  I’m not sure when he lived in Baton Rouge.  Probably in the 1920s and 30s when he was in his twenties and thirties.

Maybe at the age he is in this photo.  I got this photo recently from my dad’s cousin.  (Thanks again, Sis!)  He may have honed his craft for a few years, then decided to buy himself a nice Vega banjo.  That would fit with the timeline of when this banjo was produced.  According to Daddy the serial number places it as being put together in 1928.

I got the banjo in August of 2015 when we moved my mom and dad into Assisted Living in Lake Charles.  I encouraged him to keep it because there was room for it in the apartment that he had, but he wanted me to take it.  So I did.  I’ve always thought it was a beautiful instrument.  And now it’s back in Baton Rouge, where it first came into our family.

1928 Vega tenor banjo

1928 Vega tenor banjo

Music in the Family Part III – Listen to Myrtle Sing

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The more I look into my family history for references to music, the more I realize how much it plays a part of the family.  I had thought at first that the series would be a month long, but now I’m thinking it will probably be close to two months long.  And since last week we looked at my dad’s side of the family, this week will be looking at my mom’s side.  In particular, the focus will be on my mom’s mom Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  My Grandma.

Myrtle Phenice Bucklin

Myrtle Phenice Bucklin circa 1949

When I was a kid I never really cared for Grandma’s singing.  She sang kinda loud with a vibrato that seemed operatic to me.  I’ve never been a fan of the opera.  Different strokes for different folks.  But music was always very important to her.  She was singing til the day she died.  I mean that literally.  When she was 79 years old she was still singing at nursing homes for the “old folks.”  On May 6, 1986, she was singing and playing the piano for her peeps when she had a stroke and fell off the piano bench.  She ended up dying the following morning at 6:01 am.

Not only was she singing at the end of her own life, she sang at the end of her husband’s life too.  (You know this already if you’ve read all of my other posts.)  She sang his favorite song to him – “Amazing Grace” – and as she wrote in a letter to her childhood friend, “I’d finished singing, he looked up at me, smiled and died.”  Music was definitely an important part of her life.  But music wasn’t just a part of the end of her life, it was part of her early life, too.

Her father was Harry Clifton Phenice and her mother was Daisy Keys Phenice.  Both of them were musical people.  HC played the fiddle and he like to play by ear.  According to writings of Grandma’s sister Marguerite, he played a “homey” style that everyone liked.  He would play at community dances along with other extended family members.  He entered a fiddle contest in Jennings once and lost because he played a slow tune.  Daisy was beside herself because he didn’t play a showstopper like his usual upbeat songs like “Turkey in the Straw” or “Irish Washerwoman.” (or even “Soldier’s Joy”)  This allowed Daisy’s brother Leonard to win the contest when clearly HC was the better fiddler. (No bias there.)

The family also would have other families come over for a ‘sing-a-long.’  Daisy would bake peanuts or popcorn, and sometimes she would go all out and make popcorn balls with caramel and nuts.  (A treat that my mom would make for us from time to time.)  HC would play the fiddle, Myrtle (Grandma) or Daisy would play the piano, her brother Henry would play the violin, and Warren and the others would all sing along.  So Grandma grew up around music and was used to playing and singing in front of people.

That is a good thing, because otherwise she wouldn’t have been a willing participant when her older brother Sylvan suggested that he would record her singing some of her favorite songs in 1944.  Sylvan was into radio and sound systems from a young age.  This led to the Bucklin family being one of the early adopters for radio in the early days.  It also led to Sylvan making recordings of his family conversations and singing.  I am particularly thankful to him for that.

When I ‘rediscovered’ these recordings last year, I wasn’t sure who it was singing on them.  I thought it sounded like Grandma, but they were in a style that I liked.  I checked with mom and she assured me that they were Grandma.  The recordings were from around 1944.  It was after that time that she started taking singing lessons and adopted the more operatic style that I heard when growing up.  She even sings the old Irish song “Mother McCree” with a brogue and rolls her Rs.  I love it. (The titles of the songs are linked to the recordings.)

The recordings are in really good shape.  I did edit them to make it easier to listen to them.  When she sang “Smiles” she went straight into “Perfect Day” and I wasn’t sure it was a new song. I separated them into two separate files. Then on “There’s an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor” the song was cut off before the ending.  Fortunately for us, she had perfect pitch which made the editing easy.  Otherwise the beginning of the song would be out of tune with the end.

So enjoy listening to Grandma sing these old songs from bygone days.  I always find that listening to them in my car has the best effect.  If you have a smart phone that is linked to your sound system, that is.  And do it when you’re not driving!  I’m sure that thought never crossed her mind when those songs were recorded.  Mercy me!

After Grandma and Grandpa moved to Jennings in the 1970s, Grandma sang many solos at the Trinity United Methodist Church.

International Harvester 123-SP Combine

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Herbert, Roy Bucklin, and their mom split the cost of a new International Harvester 123-SP Combine in 1945 for $3319.24. The statement from Jennings Tractor & Implement Co., Inc. is below.  Mom says they bought the first one in the area.

I found a webpage with this info about that model: “In 1942 International Harvester offered its first self-propelled combine designated the No. 123-SP. The 123-SP featured a 6 cylinder IH engine, 12 foot grain head and hydraulic platform control. Options included a straw spreader and seed bagging attachment.”

On Facebook I wondered how long they would have used the 1945 combine and if it could be in this 1965 photo.

Jon Lawson wrote:

I remember my grandfather, Roy, telling me about this combine that they bought. He said they spent more time fixing it than cutting in the beginning. They were not very reliable in the beginning. He also told me that they were the fist to own one in the area also.

I really don’t know how long they used it but I kinda doubt it would have lasted that long. However we both know that our grandfathers would stretch the life out of equipment to it’s absolute maximum before discarding it therefore I wouldn’t rule it out.

Ray Bucklin told me:

Seward LeJuene and Herbert Bucklin cut rice together back when Seward LeJuene and Addie Bucklin [and her sons] owned the only two combines in the area.  Seward LeJuene was the owner of one of the big grain driers in Elton.

The combines lasted beyond 1965.  Remember the 1952 Ford truck that was still being driven in the 1970s. Daddy and Uncle Roy bought two of the same model IH Combines. So, you may find the receipt for the second combine somewhere.

They replaced the IH combines with Case combines sometime around the time I was in high school. I am not sure when I started driving the combines, but it was sometime in High school (1964-1968, probably Fall 66) and at that time we were using one of the IH combines and one of the new Cases. I am pretty sure that I drove the IH for more than one year. The IH was fun to drive. It had lots of levers to keep adjusting. So both hands were often off the steering wheel and you steered with the brakes. The Case had a lot of levers too, but it had hydraulic systems which made things a bit easier. I am not sure if we bought the second Case when I was in High School or if I had started College.

So, Daddy and Uncle Roy used the IH combines until the late sixties, but 20 year old stuff for our family is just getting broken in, so of course Daddy and Uncle Roy sold the IH combines to Harley Bruchhaus. I don’t know how long Harley kept using them. They are almost certainly scrap by now, but there is a remote chance that they are still sitting somewhere on the Bruchhaus farm. Charles may remember how long Harley used them. There is a good chance that Charles drove them too.

Roy Bucklin Home

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Ronnie Collins asked if I had some old photos of his house which was built in 1886. Before it was Roy Bucklin’s house, it was a Hine home so there should be plenty of photos in the family. I found these two I sent him a while back. I have probably scanned more, just have to find them, my scans aren’t very well organized and labeled. If you have any, I am sure Ronnie would appreciate seeing them and so would I.

The first photo is Doris, Roy, and Jeannette Bucklin. The second is Jeannette.

Mama at Bro Krumnow’s, making sandwiches for Christmas Eve 1958

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“Mama at Bro Krumneau’s, making sandwiches for Christmas Eve 1958” was the label on this film. Shirley and Lauren helped me ID some of the people. We thought the first half looked like it was taken at Ruth’s house. Lawrence is in red.

In the second half, Brother Clarence B. Krumnow is in a suit. Addie Hine Bucklin sitting in a rocking chair. William Charles “Budda” Bruchhaus points at the Christmas tree with kid in front. And Charles Bruchhaus is the kid in the diaper.

Uvonne said she saw Uncle Rudolph and Aunt Laura in there.

 

Dear Brother June 14, 1893

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Joe Bucklin was keeping his brother Louis Charles Bucklin up to date on the farm and family news while at school in Ada Ohio.  Their sister Jennie is not doing well and we believe died later in the month.  We found a copy of part of this letter.  If I can find the original and missing pages, I will update the post.

Lake Arthur   La.   June 14
L. C. Bucklin Esq.
Ada Ohio.

Dear Brother:  I thought would write to you every few days to Keep you posted with regards to matters down here.  Have nothing new to write you with regard to the rice question though it is looking quite nice.  Our hired man took Lillie Tupper home Sat.  And he said he did not see any on his trip as nice as ours   He said that Eds was very nice but had no water.

I got a letter from Austin yesterday and he is having the ………es.  He invested his money in City property expecting a boom and was going to sell out and make something but the boom did not put in an appearance and now he can’t get his money out of them.

Well, Lou, am very sorry I can’t send you good news.  the Dr. was here yesterday and did not seem to have much hope of Jennie’s recovery but he said something might turn up yet.  Her heart is quite badly effected.  Mother told me to send you the money that you might be ready for any summons.  Now Lou you must use your own judgement whether ……..

Music in the Family Part II – Patureau

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When I was young I thought I knew everything.  Understood everything.  What is it about the innocence of youth that makes people think this?  Is it innocence?  Yes, I guess it is.  Maybe a little bit of ignorance thrown in with it, though.  The older I get, the more I realize that I don’t know everything.  Not even close.  When you are young, you know your immediate family and you kinda know your place in it.  When you start looking into family history, you realize that your family is much bigger and spread out.

This is particularly true for the idea of music in my family.  When my family had the Landry Family Band in the 70s and 80s, we (maybe I should say I) thought we were so innovative and different.  People would even say that it was “special” or “extraordinary.”  We weren’t famous or anything, but we did play together every week at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles.  We’d also play for events or parties.  It was pretty special, but it wasn’t the first time that family members performed music together.

Kelly's String Band

Kelly’s String Band circa 1900 performed in the Plaquemine, Louisiana, area.

Just look at this photo from 1900.  The name of the band was Kelly’s String Band and there were some family members in it from my Patureau family line.  In the front with the funny looking trumpet (not a string) is my great great uncle Alcide Patureau (my father was Bob Landry, his mother was Erie Patureau, her father was Max Patureau, and Max & Alcides’s father was Ferdinand Patureau who was originally from France).  Alcide’s (& Max’s) brother Omer is the one in the middle with the banjo.  The guy on the right with the mandolin is Alcide and Omer’s (& Max’s) nephew Ferdinand Hebert (son of Aline Patureau Hebert).  The two guys standing up are Nick Manola and Wade Landry.  I don’t know of any relation to them.

So at least 70 years before our Shakey’s day, there were family members performing for other people’s entertainment.  And I’m sure there were probably more before that in the unknown history of the family.  This is the earliest photographic record of a band in my family.  I’d love to know what they sounded like and what kinds of music they played.

Plaquemine, Louisiana, in 1894 - Patureau family

Omer Patureau and Ferdinand Hebert

I have this other photo of two of these members who must have performed on their own with their dueling banjos.  This is Omer Patureau and Ferdinand Hebert in a photo dated 1894.  Both photos show that they were taken in Plaquemine.

As I’ve said before, people in the past did not have as readily available access to entertainment and information as we do now.  Maybe when people came from their homes and listened to them entertain, they heard things like people saying they were “special” or “extraordinary.”  And maybe they were.

As I get older and particularly with the passing of both of my parents, I do look back at those times playing music with my family and they are special to me.  And they will become more special as time goes by.  This I do know.

Feb. 17, 2022 – Update

I received a better version of the Kelly’s String Band photo.  I also figured out how I am related to Wade Landry.  In addition to that, I’ve learned more about his life.  So check out my new post to see it all – Patureau and Landry Musicians Circa 1900.

Music in the Family Part I

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I promised last week that I would post something about music.  I shared a post on Facebook this morning.  It was a video from two years ago of our Landry Family Band reprising an old Dixieland song “Jada.”  It was me, my sisters Karen and Jamie and my mom and dad playing at Villa Maria Retirement Center in Lake Charles.  We were all in town to find an assisted living home for my parents.  I didn’t realize at the time that it would be the last “performance” I would have with them.  A bittersweet video to watch.

Most people knew us as a musical family, but there have been many musicians in the family through the years on both sides of the family.  That made it difficult for me to decide where I would start this musical series.  But then that little video popped up today as a jumping off point.  So I’ll start the series by going back some years before the video I mentioned.  Some of you may be thinking of the Shakey’s days where the Landry Family Band had their heyday, but I’ve already shared that before.

Bucklin siblings in Hathaway with musical instruments

Betty Lou on baritone, Loris on trombone, and Austin with the uke in 1950 or so.

I’m taking it a little further back than that.  Shakey’s was 40 years ago and I’m going back 26 years before that when my mom Betty Lou Bucklin was a girl in high school.  This is a photo of her with her younger sister Loris and their brother Austin.  Mama played the baritone and aunt Loris played the trombone.  I’m not sure what Austin is doing with that ukelele.  He doesn’t seem to be very pleased with it.  Maybe it was out of tune or missing a string.  Maybe he didn’t think it went along with the baritone and trombone too well.  Whatever the case may be, he doesn’t seem happy in the photo.

But I’m happy that I found this photo.  I don’t ever remember seeing it when growing up.  I found the negative last year when I was going through some stuff that mom gave me.  The photo was taken around 1950, which was around the time that Mama met Daddy.  Young Betty Lou visited LSU in Baton Rouge on April 27, 1950, to compete in the State Music Festival Clinic where she earned a Superior rating on her performance on that baritone.

My mom was never good with directions.  I don’t know how many times she got lost when trying to get somewhere.  Most of the time it was a hindrance, but in this situation it proved to be beneficial.  She was at LSU and she needed help with directions.  The person she found to help was none other than a college student by the name of Bob Landry.  The other interesting thing about that meeting is that it was five years to the day prior to the birth of their second child, my brother Rob.

It was rather appropriate that their first meeting was centered around music.  My mom liked to tell that story about their encounter.  She kept the certificate she won that day and wrote a little bit about it on the back of it in 2013: “He’s been leading me around for over 60 years.”  Together til the end.