OH Taxonomy
Charles Hale had an idea to hire a monkey to show how an easy-play organ could be operated by anyone. The hysterically funny ads were one of a million clever ideas Hale used in selling keyboard instruments. As the founder of Hale’s Piano and Organ Company in Florida, he established himself as a...
John Thomas was the lead piano repair man for Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. The historic music retailer, which opened for business before the Civil War and closed in 2003, had several locations in the south. However, it was the company’s Canal Street location that was known around the world...
Bitsie Werlein was the last president of the famed Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. When its doors closed in 2003 it was the nation’s oldest operating music retailer. The company was established in 1862 during the Civil War when the Union Navy blockaded New Orleans harbor. During her years as...
Dave Bartholomew was a noted bandleader, trumpeter, and songwriter who captured a pioneering sound known as the “big beat” of rock and roll. His uncanny ability to provide the perfect musical expression to the words of his bandmate Fats Domino resulted in a long list of classic recordings. Together...
Parham Werlein followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather as president of Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like his predecessors, Parham also served on the NAMM Board and was a great supporter of the American Music Conference (AMC). Parham’s interview...
Jim Darby is the band instrument salesman who formed Capital Music in Montgomery, Alabama, and who built a customer base both in school band programs as well as among the elderly. Jim’s sharp salesman pitch is like that of a preacher on Sunday morning and if you are not going to buy an instrument...
French Forbes II is the grandson of the founder of the Forbes Piano and Organ Company. E. E. Forbes (Ernest Erastus) formed the company in 1889 by selling pianos from the back of his horse-drawn carriage. His son oversaw the Birmingham, Alabama, based company during the Great Depression and French...
Larry Leberte was proud of his family’s history in music retail. Larry’s grandfather opened a small music retail shop just after the Great Depression hit the United States in the early 1930s. He crafted a business plan that would include trade and bartering as well as greatly expanding the products...
Gary Asher was working at Nuncie’s Music in Birmingham, Alabama when he provided a tour and interview for the NAMM Oral History program, just three years after the program began. Gary worked in the store as its General Manager for 25 years, all the while teaching drums and percussion and buying and...
Henry Wickham knew the secret of a good sounding piano, the cast iron plates. For decades Henry was the president of the Wickham Piano Company in Ohio, where many of the plates for Steinway and other companies were created. It was Henry Z. Steinway who strongly suggested to the NAMM staff that Mr....