I found an obituary in The Volunteer for Harold Malofsky, or Harry Meloff as he was often called. A musician and playwright, he was loved by his comrades in the International Workers Order (IWR) in the US and his fellow soldiers in Spain, where he died in September 1937 at Belchite, the first year he arrived. He wrote the theme song for the IWO musical "All Together Now", and the song became a sort of anthem for the group after Meloff's death. He also wrote the Song of the International Brigades.
I also found a program for the April 2, 1939 Harry Meloff Theatre Festival. Elia Kazan, the director of 'On the Waterfront' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire', helped sponsor the event, which was held at the Nora Bayes Theatre.
Malofsky also wrote many letters to Miriam Sigel back in the US.
"I'm glad you liked the song I sent. I wanted to write out some more for you, but I can't find a piano in this town. I guess my fingers will get stale too."
In one of the letters he references Camp Unity. I have seen photos and other vets talking about this camp also. What was it?
In another letter, he asks Miriam, whom he affectionately calls Mim, to take his sheet music of the song "We are the Fighting Anti-Fascists" to the New Masses magazine headquarters for the July 1937 issue.
Next visit, I am thinking of continuing my reading of his letters to Ms. Sigel in order to get a better understanding of who he is, and to learn more about how he was involved in music in Spain.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Ebony Band's Songs of the War
The Ebony Band, an alternative orchestral group from Holland under the direction of Werner Herbers, presented a series about songs banned by the Nazis in 1991. One of the concerts in this series was dedicated to the Spanish Civil War, and I listened to the first half of this concert on the CD "Music from the Spanish Civil War", recorded on BVHAAST Records. The following are my reactions to the songs:
1. Conlon Noncarrow - Piece for a Small Orchestra nr. 1 (1942)
member of Abraham Lincoln Brigade
passport confiscated on return from Spain so he moved to Mexico
2. Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) - Marcha del 5. Regimiento (1937)
member of German Communist Party
written for Jan. 7, 1937 Madrid concert
operatic
Kantate 'Auf den Tod eines Genossen' op. 64 (1937)
series of cantantes based on novel Pane e Vino (1937) by Ignazio Silone
antifascist lyrics, musical style of his mentor Schonberg
Kriegskantate op. 65 (1937)
3. Silvestre Revueltas (1899 - 1940)
Mexico en Espana (1937)
dramatic, operatic singer, strong brass march
Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca (1936)
response to reported murder of Lorca by fascists
-Baile
starts with solo mournful horn
transition to chaotic, high-pitched carnival music
ends with same mournful trumpet
(maybe I could transcribe this and play it?)
-Duelo
clarinet floating above creepy vamp
ends with hitting of gong
-Son
mariachi
-Frente a Frente I (1938?)
singing in Soanish
-Marcha (27 of April) (1938?)
-Frente a Frente II (1938?)
"Mussolini y Franco, Hitler y Pandilla, mueran, mueran, mueran."
1. Conlon Noncarrow - Piece for a Small Orchestra nr. 1 (1942)
member of Abraham Lincoln Brigade
passport confiscated on return from Spain so he moved to Mexico
2. Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) - Marcha del 5. Regimiento (1937)
member of German Communist Party
written for Jan. 7, 1937 Madrid concert
operatic
Kantate 'Auf den Tod eines Genossen' op. 64 (1937)
series of cantantes based on novel Pane e Vino (1937) by Ignazio Silone
antifascist lyrics, musical style of his mentor Schonberg
Kriegskantate op. 65 (1937)
3. Silvestre Revueltas (1899 - 1940)
Mexico en Espana (1937)
dramatic, operatic singer, strong brass march
Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca (1936)
response to reported murder of Lorca by fascists
-Baile
starts with solo mournful horn
transition to chaotic, high-pitched carnival music
ends with same mournful trumpet
(maybe I could transcribe this and play it?)
-Duelo
clarinet floating above creepy vamp
ends with hitting of gong
-Son
mariachi
-Frente a Frente I (1938?)
singing in Soanish
-Marcha (27 of April) (1938?)
-Frente a Frente II (1938?)
"Mussolini y Franco, Hitler y Pandilla, mueran, mueran, mueran."
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Today I found a goldmine: The liner notes of Max Parker's record, Al Tocar Diana, with songs the Franco prisoners sung in the San Pedro de Cardena prison. He recorded the tracks just over a year before he died, when 70 years old. I hope to find the record stashed in ALBA, the Avery Fischer Center, or maybe even the NYPL.
Parker's parents were Lithuanian Jews, who came to the US around 1904. During the transition, their name changed from Parkelchick to the Americanized Parker. He learned to sing in the family's orthodox synogogue alongside his siblings. He dropped out of school at 15 to work. Being very involved in the New York Jewish community, he saw from the outset the personal threat posed by Nazi Germany. In 1933, he took part in his first anti-Nazi rally, selling ice cream to marchers heading down Broadway to the German Embassy at South Ferry. His business sense combined with his social justice sense. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he had to stand up against Fascism. In February 1937, he set sail for Paris en route to Spain.
After crossing the Pyrenees Mountains, he arrived in Spain, and after training served as a truck driver out of Albacete. During one harrowing search mission at Gandesa, where he was being ordered to travel behind enemy lines, his truck was captured by Italians. The Spanish soldiers were lined up, and one in every 10 or 20 was shot dead on the spot. The Italians wanted the Internationals alive to later trade in exchange for Fascist prisoners. Being the only man who spoke Spanish and English, Parker served as translater.
They first were held in Zaragoza. I believe it was in a church, and the Fascists made them relieve themselves behind the Church alter, while press took pictures. The pictures would be used to exemplify Republican disrespect for the Church. After some time, the prisoners were taken to San Pedro de Cardena. At this time, they realized that they would be in prison for some time, an unknown amount of time. They had all been sentenced to decades of time in jail. The men began to sing, teach educational lessons to each other, play chess, and do any other activities to mimic normal life and retain some sanity. He remembers his captain, Frank Ryan, as an inspiration, a man who maintained his honor in the face of brutal treatment. After being forced to sing the Fascist national anthem each morning, the internationals would return to their holding cell and sing Jarama. At the line "Before we continue this reunion, let us stand to our glorious dead," all the men stood and saluted. One of the prisoners was a choral director, and managed to create a steller choir out of the prisoners. They performed multiple times for the guards.
When Parker heard a group singing "Muera Negrin" in the prison courtyard, he knew the Republic was defeated for good. In February 1939 the Fascists decided to release some of the international prisoners. He was sent to San Sabastian, and soon after taken back to Paris and sent home. Amazingly, he answered the call again to fight in World War II.
His record, Al Tocar Diana (At Break of Dawn): Songs From a Franco Prison, was released from Folkways Records in 1982, FH 5435. Parker also recommends Songs of the Spanish Civil War Vols. I and II, Folkways FH 5436 and FH 5437.
Parker's parents were Lithuanian Jews, who came to the US around 1904. During the transition, their name changed from Parkelchick to the Americanized Parker. He learned to sing in the family's orthodox synogogue alongside his siblings. He dropped out of school at 15 to work. Being very involved in the New York Jewish community, he saw from the outset the personal threat posed by Nazi Germany. In 1933, he took part in his first anti-Nazi rally, selling ice cream to marchers heading down Broadway to the German Embassy at South Ferry. His business sense combined with his social justice sense. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he had to stand up against Fascism. In February 1937, he set sail for Paris en route to Spain.
After crossing the Pyrenees Mountains, he arrived in Spain, and after training served as a truck driver out of Albacete. During one harrowing search mission at Gandesa, where he was being ordered to travel behind enemy lines, his truck was captured by Italians. The Spanish soldiers were lined up, and one in every 10 or 20 was shot dead on the spot. The Italians wanted the Internationals alive to later trade in exchange for Fascist prisoners. Being the only man who spoke Spanish and English, Parker served as translater.
They first were held in Zaragoza. I believe it was in a church, and the Fascists made them relieve themselves behind the Church alter, while press took pictures. The pictures would be used to exemplify Republican disrespect for the Church. After some time, the prisoners were taken to San Pedro de Cardena. At this time, they realized that they would be in prison for some time, an unknown amount of time. They had all been sentenced to decades of time in jail. The men began to sing, teach educational lessons to each other, play chess, and do any other activities to mimic normal life and retain some sanity. He remembers his captain, Frank Ryan, as an inspiration, a man who maintained his honor in the face of brutal treatment. After being forced to sing the Fascist national anthem each morning, the internationals would return to their holding cell and sing Jarama. At the line "Before we continue this reunion, let us stand to our glorious dead," all the men stood and saluted. One of the prisoners was a choral director, and managed to create a steller choir out of the prisoners. They performed multiple times for the guards.
When Parker heard a group singing "Muera Negrin" in the prison courtyard, he knew the Republic was defeated for good. In February 1939 the Fascists decided to release some of the international prisoners. He was sent to San Sabastian, and soon after taken back to Paris and sent home. Amazingly, he answered the call again to fight in World War II.
His record, Al Tocar Diana (At Break of Dawn): Songs From a Franco Prison, was released from Folkways Records in 1982, FH 5435. Parker also recommends Songs of the Spanish Civil War Vols. I and II, Folkways FH 5436 and FH 5437.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Failed Visit
After researching Bill Bailey, a big name in the history of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades, I decided to personalize my research, and study a lessor-known topic. I came up with the idea to research the music inspired by the war, or if not that, then how music helped the volunteers cope with the toils of war. Although this is a promising topic, I must not be researching it in an effective way, because I found little information about my topic from searching the ALBA website.
Today I went to the archives to look up what little I had found related to music, but realized the tamiment library would be closing in 45 minutes for an event. It was frustrating to allot a portion of my time to research, only to find that the library would be unavailable. I rushed to research what I could in what little time I had, and found a few German patriotic songs of the war. However, when I tried to copy the lyrics, which were themselves copies of originals, two people rushed over to me one after the other to tell me that I was breaking the rules by copying archive files. All in all, it was a frustrating and unproductive visit.
Today I went to the archives to look up what little I had found related to music, but realized the tamiment library would be closing in 45 minutes for an event. It was frustrating to allot a portion of my time to research, only to find that the library would be unavailable. I rushed to research what I could in what little time I had, and found a few German patriotic songs of the war. However, when I tried to copy the lyrics, which were themselves copies of originals, two people rushed over to me one after the other to tell me that I was breaking the rules by copying archive files. All in all, it was a frustrating and unproductive visit.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Bill Bailey's Life Before Spain - INFO FROM 2 VISITS
I listened to John Gerassi's interview with union activist and Abraham Lincoln Brigade member Bill Bailey. Bailey describes his life in great detail, as he emerges from a poor, working-class family and becomes a union activist.
Bailey was one of thirteen children in an Irish/English family. His parents came over in the 1890s, and Bailey was born and grew up in Jersey City. Seven of his siblings died before age one. Bailey went to school through the fifth grade, but then dropped out to begin working. He bounced from job to job, finding whatever labor he could.
As a sailor on a ship making deliveries between London and the US, he met an Indian stowaway whom he took a liking to. He managed to get the fellow blankets, and generally watched out for him during the journey. When the boat arrives in London, the stowaway waves goodbye to Bill and heads out to catch a boat to India because his mother is dying. Later on, the Indian meet Bill Bailey again, this time in tears, telling of how the British ships refuse to take him to India and even are forcing him to return to the US. His story saddens Bill Bailey, but the Indian gets back on Bill's boat returning to the US. One night, however, during a heavy storm, the Indian jumps overboard to his death. He was wearing a life jacket, so it is unclear whether it was suicide or something else. Bailey was so struck with the iniquity and sadness of this man's story that he sought to make life more fair to the worker and fight what he saw as injustice. He found his avenue for this with labor unions.
After describing what inspired him to work for people's rights, Bailey goes into a humorous account of the first strike he attempted, aboard the Mun Dixie ship. The Marine Workers Industrial Union put him up to the task. He began by placing union pamphlets in conspicuous spots like toilet stalls, but no one read them. Then he came up with the devious idea to hide all the books on the ship, including sailors' personal collections as well as the ship's library. After the deed, with the seamen deprived of their reading and going crazy, he offered them union pamphlets to read. The sailors all read the pamphlets because there was no other reading options. This is how he ensnared the crew. When the ship made port in Baltimore, the sailors went on strike for better working conditions, but were soon arrested and replaced by scabs. His first strike was a failure.
In 1935, the arrest of the left wing activist Lauren Simpson by the German Gestapo created a big stir. Simpson had been caught distributing anti-Nazi literature on the "Manhattan" ship bound for Germany. Once the boat reached port in Germany, the Gestapo police stormed the ship, beat him up, and found some anti-Nazi buttons in his locker. This was enough to imprison him, and likely for execution later on.
This cause ignited anti-Nazi ferver, and Bailey and his mates decided they needed to make a statement. The plan was to sneak onto a German ship called the Bremen when it was in port, tear down the Swastika flag, and burn it. While this was going on, thousands of protestors would gather to condemn the Nazis. The plan did not work out as planned, however.
Bailey brought a razorblade in his pocket to slice the flag free from the flagpost. But being nervous, he kept sticking his hand in his pocket to see if it was still there, cutting himself each time. By the end of the night, the pocket with the razorblade was filled with blood from his hand. Second, the Nazi sailors, instead of being below deck, were on deck because it was a beautiful night. After a while, Bailey realized the plan would not work, but he and his friends still would not leave the ship without making a statement. They decided to get to the flag and rip them down, regardless of the repercussions. Bailey and three others fought their way toward the flagpost. Bailey climbed up, ripped one flag down, and when he went into his pocket to retrieve his razorblade, he realized it had slipped out the bottom and was lost. Luckily, a fellow Nazi protestor, Aaron Duffie, was nearby, and sliced the flag with his own razorblade. The Swastikas on the flags floated down into the ocean. The crowd was screaming by this time, either Nazi supporters out of horror, or anti-Nazi protestors out of excitement. Bailey was taken down by the Nazis, and carted off to jail, but the statement had been made.
Bailey was one of thirteen children in an Irish/English family. His parents came over in the 1890s, and Bailey was born and grew up in Jersey City. Seven of his siblings died before age one. Bailey went to school through the fifth grade, but then dropped out to begin working. He bounced from job to job, finding whatever labor he could.
As a sailor on a ship making deliveries between London and the US, he met an Indian stowaway whom he took a liking to. He managed to get the fellow blankets, and generally watched out for him during the journey. When the boat arrives in London, the stowaway waves goodbye to Bill and heads out to catch a boat to India because his mother is dying. Later on, the Indian meet Bill Bailey again, this time in tears, telling of how the British ships refuse to take him to India and even are forcing him to return to the US. His story saddens Bill Bailey, but the Indian gets back on Bill's boat returning to the US. One night, however, during a heavy storm, the Indian jumps overboard to his death. He was wearing a life jacket, so it is unclear whether it was suicide or something else. Bailey was so struck with the iniquity and sadness of this man's story that he sought to make life more fair to the worker and fight what he saw as injustice. He found his avenue for this with labor unions.
After describing what inspired him to work for people's rights, Bailey goes into a humorous account of the first strike he attempted, aboard the Mun Dixie ship. The Marine Workers Industrial Union put him up to the task. He began by placing union pamphlets in conspicuous spots like toilet stalls, but no one read them. Then he came up with the devious idea to hide all the books on the ship, including sailors' personal collections as well as the ship's library. After the deed, with the seamen deprived of their reading and going crazy, he offered them union pamphlets to read. The sailors all read the pamphlets because there was no other reading options. This is how he ensnared the crew. When the ship made port in Baltimore, the sailors went on strike for better working conditions, but were soon arrested and replaced by scabs. His first strike was a failure.
In 1935, the arrest of the left wing activist Lauren Simpson by the German Gestapo created a big stir. Simpson had been caught distributing anti-Nazi literature on the "Manhattan" ship bound for Germany. Once the boat reached port in Germany, the Gestapo police stormed the ship, beat him up, and found some anti-Nazi buttons in his locker. This was enough to imprison him, and likely for execution later on.
This cause ignited anti-Nazi ferver, and Bailey and his mates decided they needed to make a statement. The plan was to sneak onto a German ship called the Bremen when it was in port, tear down the Swastika flag, and burn it. While this was going on, thousands of protestors would gather to condemn the Nazis. The plan did not work out as planned, however.
Bailey brought a razorblade in his pocket to slice the flag free from the flagpost. But being nervous, he kept sticking his hand in his pocket to see if it was still there, cutting himself each time. By the end of the night, the pocket with the razorblade was filled with blood from his hand. Second, the Nazi sailors, instead of being below deck, were on deck because it was a beautiful night. After a while, Bailey realized the plan would not work, but he and his friends still would not leave the ship without making a statement. They decided to get to the flag and rip them down, regardless of the repercussions. Bailey and three others fought their way toward the flagpost. Bailey climbed up, ripped one flag down, and when he went into his pocket to retrieve his razorblade, he realized it had slipped out the bottom and was lost. Luckily, a fellow Nazi protestor, Aaron Duffie, was nearby, and sliced the flag with his own razorblade. The Swastikas on the flags floated down into the ocean. The crowd was screaming by this time, either Nazi supporters out of horror, or anti-Nazi protestors out of excitement. Bailey was taken down by the Nazis, and carted off to jail, but the statement had been made.
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