jonesmj wrote:Or does anyone have any Conn literature/catalogs mentioning Donatelli and/or the Donatelli model CC tuba?
I have a photocopy of a 1934 Conn catalog of bass instruments, advertising many of their tubas and basses. The quality of my copy is poor, and would not stand another generation usably, so I don't think it would be useful to try to PDF it. There is a section for endorsements. The first one is by Donatelli, with a head-shot photo only (no tuba). The caption says "Philip Donatelli, for 13 years bass tuba, Philadelphia Symphony Orch."
Next to that is a "letter" he wrote, with his signature. The letter is certainly contrived by the Conn ad-man, and perhaps the signature is, too. It says:
Mar. 6, 1934 [this is a guess--the date is mostly illegible, but the year is correct]
Dear Sirs:
I have used Conn basses exclusively since 1907 and consider them the finest and easiest playing basses attainable.
/s/ Philip R. Donatelli
Of course, we know it isn't strictly true--Donatelli at least experimented with the York before selling it to Jacobs. He liked the York well enough to actually pay for it; I suppose he could have sent both prototypes back.
The picture shows a man in his 40's, which fits with the dates in his statement.
The catalog lists a number of other endorsements, which give some context to Donatelli's position as a Conn endorser. Here is what they write:
We can't begin to show here even a small percentage of the very finest stars who use Conns today. The few shown, however, will testify to the leadership of Conn instruments with the stars in all types of engagements and in all parts of the country.
All Conn testimonials are guaranteed to be voluntary and genuine expressions of opinion for which no payment of any kind has been or will be made.
Donatelli's endorsement appears first, suggesting that he was the biggest fish in that pond at the time. Other endorsers were John Manuti (the Met), Arthur Storch (San Francisco Symphony), Cy Carey (WLW Radio; Fillmore Band), Carl Pritchard (MGM Studios), Paul Schmidt (Rochester Phil.), Jack Shirra (Hal Kemp Orchestra), Bernard Miller (Hotel Taft, NY), Myer Rubin (Barney Rapp's New Englanders), Stanley Soboski (Fox Theater, Detroit), Fred Geib (NBC; Walter Damrosch Orch.), Stan Fletcher (Buddy Rogers Orch.), Jason Cox (WRR Staff Orch., Dallas, and Dallas Symphony [funny that the radio gig was mentioned first]), Wm. Alexander (Harolds Stokes Orch., NBC Studios, Chicago).
Of those, I'd only heard of a couple, and, of course, Bill Bell was top dog at the time and played a King. And Geib's appearance well down the list is interesting.
Rick "forgetting who sent him this photocopy" Denney
