I did find some funny stuff via Google so I thought I'd share. A couple of newspaper articles propagate the rumour that he's the son of British poet John Masefield. However, John's son Lewis was a bit young to be on the above recording, and perished in WWII around the time that Happy was running a cocktail lounge:
This suggests Happy is his real name after all:Happy Masefield, who used to be a top bull-fiddler and now runs a cocktail lounge called the Bull Fiddle out Elmhurst way, has a sign over the bar: "In case of an air raid-first pay your check-and then don't holler."
That alleged stunt doesn't always work of course:Happy Masefield, considered one of the best "popular" bass players in the country, has a passion for zipping along at a merry speed in his car. Happy stutters, too, and, though Happy is his real name, it usually balks him when he tries to pronounce it. Some of his friends seem to think it is just a little stunt but H H Ha Happy says no. He does admit, however, that his stuttering has got him out of some difficulties with speed officers. When they stop him on the road, take a look at his license and bark questions at him, Happy begins to try to explain things. Usually, he says, the coppers get impatient, break him off in the middle of a s-s-sentence with a warning and tell him to drive along.
Still, I'm curious to know if anyone else can dig up anything on his name.Bass player Happy Masefield, who stutters badly, was laughing about his inability to start talking when the phone rang. "Next time y-y-you call," he said, "and n-n-nobody answers, d-d-don't hang up. That's m-me on the phone." One time Happy and a fellow musician who also stuttered were rushing to an engagement, when a traffic cop hailed them, yelling, "W-w-where do y-y-you think you're g-g-going?" Like the old story, their stutters aroused the cop, who thought they were mocking him, and they wound up in jail, accused of being "w-w-wise g-guys."