The Happy Farmer- Bill Bell- Cities Services Band

[Stephen Shoop]

I have located a copy of the band accompaniment to The Happy Farmer as performed by Bill Bell! Apparently there were several band and orchestra arrangements done of this solo that were performed by Mr. Bell. This particular arrangement was performed by Paul Lavalle and the Cities Services Band. Apparently the tuba players in the band at the time were Bill Bell and Joe Tarto. Mr. Bell's name appears on the solo tuba part and Mr. Tarto's name appears on the band accompaniment tuba part. It is about four minutes long. I am planning to put the piece on Finale- producing full score and parts. I would encourage anyone with background information about this arrangement, circumstances, etc. to contact me. Those of you who might be interested in purchasing a copy of this arrangement (when completed) are encouraged to contact me, as well. Steve Shoop- stephen_shoop@yahoo.com

[Stephen Shoop]

Cool! Thanks for the information. Steve Shoop.

[LoyalTubist]

I am very much into old radio...

I would like to know if anyone knows if any of the recordings of the Cities Service Concert exist anywhere. None of the mail order houses that deal with Old Time Radio have any copies of the shows.

The problem was that, in the old days, programs were generally not recorded, unless they were to be played later for the western part of the United States. I don't think the Cities Service Concert was heard in the west because there were no Cities Service gas stations in this part of the country. (However, the Gulf Screen Guild theater was recorded in Hollywood, and there were no Gulf stations in California at that time. Also Ripley's Believe It or Not was done in New York City, sponsored by RC Cola, and RC Cola was unavailable in NYC at that time.)

Cities Service became Citgo in 1965.

Click here to see a Cities Service gas station