East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-07-30
GaiIy Dressed Hurdy-g -gurdy has
Long Lent Color to Side
walks of New York Streets.
BY MAX KASE,
International News Service Staff
CorresDondeut.

correspondent.
NEW YORK, July 30.--New York |
City has aptly been allied the wonder
City has aptly been called the wonder
contains an institution unique even in
a city where things unique are taken
as a matter of course. 1t is hurdy-
gurdy garage" believed to be the
only one of its kind in the country
Nestled among the stupendous sky
scrapers that mark the lower district
of Manhattan is a small. dingy, wealth
r-beaten building, strangely out of
place among the surrounding palaces
of business. This is the home of the
| lhurdy-gurdy. Situated but stones
throw from the city hall, in a small
block called City Hall Place, and pass
ed by thousands of the city's dwellers
daily, the building has gone unnoticed
for years.
The hurdy-gurdy has long lent color
to the sidewalks of New York. For
years it was a common sight to see the
gayly- dressed Neapolitans trundling
their organ into a crowded street and
become the center of a crowd of laugh
ing, showing, dancing, joyous children
when the first strains of music came
, from the organ. The small ones
would sway to the tunes of the side
walks of New York" and other favor
ties, or Justify join in the chorus of
some popular song. Even the grown
ups would stop awhile and listen while
the hurdy -gurdy man played some Sc
lection from III Trovatore" or La
Gioconda," or perhaps some senti-
mental song which would bring a
catch to the voice and a tear to the
eye. And when the song was finished
the organist with tambourine would
pass among the crowd seeking his re-
ward.
But all this will soon be a thing of
the past. for the hurdy-gursy, like the
wooden Indian, the hoop skirt and the
late-lamented five-cent beer is slowly
but surely passing to things extinct
The organ business is dying out"
said the silver haired Italian proprie-
tor of the garage" sadly, speaking
through an interpreter. The people
don't seem to care about music the
way they used to, The girls grow up
about ten years younger than they
used to. They dress up and go to the
public dance halls while they are still
children. And then the passing of the
saloon had something to do with it.
Men who had a drink or two. not the
drunk men, seemed to be affected
more by the music
The garage" has been in existence
hn 4 II
formerly been a saloon. For thirty
years he said, the doors of the build
ing have opened, letting forth the Ital-
ian organ grinders and their shawl
clad women, carrying their organs
They went on regular routes, agreed
among themselves, to different parts
Of the city, over the bridge to Brook
lyn and even to points in Staten Island
and Jersey.
over There was the biggest song
hit the organs ever played, the pro-
prietor declared.
During the war and when the SOL
diers We're coming home" he said.
there wasn't a song in the world
which would reach the peoples hearts
as quickly as over There. You'd hear
a little organ grinding it out on side
street and as the people passed they'd !
swing into step, Men in uniform /
fathers, mothers, boys and girls-the |
music seemed to so right through |
them. Their eyes would shine and |
generally you would see tear or two
go slipping down their cheeks. Then
they'd drop something shiny into the I
tin cup. Generally it was nickel or a |
quarter.
But the grinders don't play over |
There any more, 1t isn't good for 4
even few pennies now. The people 4
have forgotten"
The most remunerative sections of 1
the town for the hurdy-gurdy men, the I
aged proprietor said, were where the
ordinary American citizen lived. He
responds to music the quickest.
Most of the people who are now in
the organ business" continued the
owner, ARE the old and crippled. On
holidays, which are generally the best