1947 movie - The Fabulous Dorseys

[Toad Away]

There's a scene in this movie that features the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and the tuba (upright valves) seems to have one of the largest 'recording' bells I've ever seen. Just a fabulous looking instrument. (I luv horn-dorn). Based on some pictures I have seen, my educated (?) guess is that the tubist might be Joe Tarto -- I just don't know. But of equal interest is who made that beautiful tuba

[Steve Marcus]

Check out http://video.google.com/videosearch?cli ... e&start=10.

The view of the recording bass starts at 1:41 into the segment. At 3:25, there is a close view of the tubist and his horn.

Use your own judgment, but it looks like no more than a 26" diameter bell to me.

[jimself]

That was most surely the regular tuba player from the Whiteman Band (don't know who it was at that time). George Bouje was the studio player at MGM but never played a big horn. All those films of that era featuring big bands used the regular band guys not studio players.

Jim Self

[Bandmaster]

I found a document listing Mike Trafficante as his tuba player in 1928. Another shows the personel on a "best of" album with songs from between 1920 and 1933 showing he used the following tuba players over the years:

Norman McPherson
Mike Trafficante
John Sperzel
Al Armer
Sammy Heiss
Pierre Olker
Min Leibrook

In an old thread here on TubeNet:

Many tuba players of the past and the present double on Bari Sax. Min Leibrook (1904-41), who played with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the 1920s (and was Bix Beiderbecke's best friend)doubled on Bari Sax because Whiteman didn't want Min playing tuba all the time. If you remember, Whiteman's group was unique in that it always had TWO tuba players on its roster. One did most of the playing and the other doubled on double bass. Mike Trafficante was a decent tuba player who didn't play much tuba with Whiteman. I did some study of this group for a book I was planning to write. It seems there was some reason why, if you look at the seating of the Whiteman Orchestra had the tubists sitting on opposite sides of the room.

[TubaDave88]

Ok, just so we are clear. Min Leibrook never played a bari sax (well maybe he tried one for 10 mintues in a music store in 1923, but who knows haha). He played bass sax, double bass, and tuba. I know Min played a Conn bass sax, but he may also have played a Buescher bass sax early on. He played a Buescher sousaphone while he was with the Wolverine Orchestra(with Bix) - see photo -

I do not know what kind of horn Mike Trafficante played. I do know there is color film for The Fabulous Dorseys and better picture quality out there, but I don't have it.

I would have to guess the tuba in the film is probably a Martin or maybe a York.

-Dave

[LoyalTubist]

Mike Trafficante played some tuba with big band groups in the 1940s, though I'm not sure which ones. He died in the late 1960s.