Steinway's "Victory Vertical" pianos from WWII

[Wade Hampton]

I just ran across this article about Steinway's pianos designed for use by the military in World War Two, the "Victory Vertical" model:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...teinway-pianos

I had no idea those existed.

Something I have seen, and which I suspect were more common, were portable pump organs used by chaplains during services they held for the troops.

When I went to see the roots band Ollabelle in concert, one of the guys in the group was getting some sounds that I simply couldn't figure out - it sounded great, but it wasn't an instrument I could put my finger on. When I spoke to him after the concert he told me it was one of those WWII-vintage chaplain's portable pump organs.

Anyway, I thought this article on Steinway Victory Vertical pianos might interest some of you.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Tico]

Very cool and fascinating.
Thanks for posting, Wade.

[Bob Womack]

That's an interesting little piece of history for those of us who study WWII history.


Bob

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Something I have seen, and which I suspect were more common, were portable pump organs used by chaplains during services they held for the troops.

When I went to see the roots band Ollabelle in concert, one of the guys in the group was getting some sounds that I simply couldn't figure out - it sounded great, but it wasn't an instrument I could put my finger on. When I spoke to him after the concert he told me it was one of those WWII-vintage chaplain's portable pump organs.

Wade Hampton Miller

Those old portable pump organs are cool.

Here's one being used to accompany a beautiful meditative ballad by Ivor Cutler (you may remember him as "Buster Bloodvessel" from Magical Mystery Tour).

[Jim Owen]

Good stuff, Wade.

My old buddy Chip plays a military-issue double bass, apparently made for the Navy. It’s aluminum. (Spray painted faux wood grain.) Apparently they tried wood, but humidity was an issue.

It sounds good when played in a group. But if he plays it solo, you notice that the tonic is what you get. (Very few overtones.)

[Wade Hampton]

There used to be a guy who had one of those aluminum stand up basses who was a regular at the Winfield festival back in the 1970’s and 80’s. He lived locally and I’d always see him down there when I’d go around to the picking sessions in the campgrounds.

You could see him a mile away because he’d removed the brown paint that the bass had been covered in and blitzed down the aluminum underneath. So you’d see this guy playing a silvery metal bass.

He called it his “National bass.”

I think they were actually made by Kay, and there are a lot of them floating around because they’re close to indestructible. But most people who own them haven’t blitzed off the paint and polished them up.


Wade Hampton Miller

[jnidoh]

Interesting Wade, thanks for posting.......what I really liked was the GI in the first photo playing the guitar.

Full web gear and long sleeved fatigue shirt with the buttons on the cuffs. He's holding on for dear life and with the canteen clearly visible, can assume that the rear of the guitar is tucked tight against some ammo pouches.

Realize this photo was staged but have to admire those musicians able to bring the music with them under all conditions.

john

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by jnidoh

Interesting Wade, thanks for posting.......what I really liked was the GI in the first photo playing the guitar.

Full web gear and long sleeved fatigue shirt with the buttons on the cuffs. He's holding on for dear life and with the canteen clearly visible, can assume that the rear of the guitar is tucked tight against some ammo pouches.

Realize this photo was staged but have to admire those musicians able to bring the music with them under all conditions.

Well, you need to keep your canteen handy for when you play a dazzling, fiery guitar solo: afterwards you're going to be thirsty!

Here's the photo that kind of captured my attention - notice how the guitars are being stored:

˙˙˙

Still, it's safe to say that the USMC had more important things to worry about on Guadalcanal than how the guitars were being handled!


whm

[Tico]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

... Still, it's safe to say that the USMC had more important things to worry about on Guadalcanal than how the guitars were being handled!

Aw, who cares?
Those are just good-for-nothing Martins and Gibsons from the 30s and 40s.

[Wade Hampton]

Given the humidity levels on Guadalcanal, I doubt that the strings on those guitars held up very well. They didn’t have any coated Elixir strings back then!

When I was a kid the TV stations often played the movie “Guadalcanal Diary” on Saturday afternoons. More recently Terence Mallick made “The Thin Red Line,” which was a somewhat more realistic movie showing that incredibly difficult campaign. But the most realistic portrayal of what those combat Marines went through clawing their way across the South Pacific was the mini-series “The Pacific.” There was nothing fun or remotely romantic about that horrific theater of the war.

After Guadalcanal was finally wrenched away from the Japanese, it became a supply depot and support base for Allied activity elsewhere in the region. I have to assume that that’s when that photo of the Marine sergeant tuning the piano was taken: they didn’t have any time or room for pianos on Guadalcanal back when US forces were barely hanging on by their fingernails...


whm

[Glennwillow]

Hi Wade,

Interesting article about the Steinway Verticals, the AL double bass, etc.

I will read that article in detail tomorrow.

Regarding Gadalcanal, one of my uncles, now passed away from old age, was in the 2nd Marine Div. during WWII and was at Gadalcanal, then Tarawa, then Iwo Jima, other places I'm sure I am forgetting. He was a sergeant. It's amazing he got through all of those horrendous battles alive. He suffered from PTSD his entire adult life after that, but nobody had yet found a name for it then.

Thanks,
Glenn

[Wade Hampton]

Glenn, I believe it about the PTSD. Combat in the European and North African theaters was no walk in the park, but what both sides went through in the Pacific and Burma is unbelievably awful.

I spent some time in Japan in the early and mid-1980’s, and during those stays I met a number of Japanese WWII veterans. But virtually all of them that I met had ridden out the war in the relative safety of Manchuria and China. I don’t think I ever met a single Japanese veteran who’d served in the South Pacific, much less in Alaska when the Japanese occupied a couple of the Aleutian Islands.

Most of those guys never made it home.


whm

[jpd]

WOW!..................

[Earl49]

Fascinating read, as someone who used to own a 1920 Steinway grand until just a couple of years ago.

The father of my best friend in high school was a Marine in Korea, and had plenty of awful stories to tell about that little adventure. War is neither fun nor glorious. All the more reason we should support and appreciate the volunteer troops that lay it on the line for all of us now, and in the past. I heard it nest said that a veteran is someone who once signed a blank check, payable for any amount - up to and including their life.

[ManyMartinMan]

Great article Wade. Thanks for posting it.