Evening star., 1953-01-18

jr., was master of ceremonies
on that evening where the
Golden Gate Quartet also ap-
peared.
A Customary Port
An exciting note was struck
when Irving Berlin led the
singing of the stars and the
audience of his God Bless
America" For the grand fl
male. Raymond Massey, Ethel
Barrymore, and Charlie Chap
lin, here for other events,
came to the stage to join the
Symptoms soloists and Mr..
Fairbanks in the singing Of
the national anthem.
1t has been customary for
music to play an important
part in the Inaugural festivi-
ties since the earliest days.
Much of it was of the enter
tainment variety, but the
Marine Band was frequently
called upon for some serious
music as we'll as playing for
the dancing at the Inaugural
Ball.
In the Promenade concert
given at Lincoln's Inaugural
ton in 1861, the Marine Band
was praised as presenting the
best performance of a kind
ever heard" Joining forces
with it was the Germanic So
ciety and some instrumental
lists from Philadelphia.
At the turn of the century
the celebration took on the
character known today. Three
concerts were given the day
following Theodore Roosevelt's
inauguration in 1905. At night,
a chorus of 500 voices sang
under the direction of Percy
S. Foster to the accompani-
ment of the Marine Band. One
number, Union and Liberty"
was written for the occasion
by Horatio Parker, who came
to Washington to conduct it's
premiere. F. Fanciulli wrote
an ode, Zone Flag and One
Country" which he dedicated
to Roosevelt and which the
Chorus sang. The Haydn
Male Quartet of Utica, N. Y,
gave a morning concert in
honor of the Army and Navy
and later sang at Arlington
Cemetery at the graves of the
heroes of the BattleShip
Maine and the soldiers of the
war with Spain. They sang
again at an afternoon concert.
Thomas Debut
The night before Calvin
Coolidge was sworn in. in 1925
the Washington Opera Com
pany gave a performance of
Vefdi's aida" which was the
occasion of the operate debut
of John Charles Thomas. On
the third of March the late
Hans Kinder was soloist with
the Philadelphia Orchestra at
the National Theater in VAL
entini's Suite" and Bloch's
"Schelomo." The Inaugural
Ball was a charity affair and
the Army Band, under w. j.
Stannard, greeted each Gov
ernor and his party with ap-
propriate music on their en-
frances. The remainder of the
program was given by the
Navy Band under Charles
Benter. The Coronation
March" from Meyerbeer's lie
Prophet" Mendelssohn's Fin
gals Cave" and the finale from
TschaikoWsky's Symphony
No. q" was played.
When Herbert Hoover came
into office in 1929 a concert
was held at the Rialto The
ater, at which S. L. Rothafel,
known as Roxy, was master
of ceremonies. Eleanor
Painter, soprano of the Met
ropolitan Opera; Sylvia Lent.
violinist of this city; The Re-
publican Glee Club of Colum-
bus, Ohio; the Hamilton Glee
Club of Chicago and the Media
Grotto Chanters of Topeka,
Kansas were soloists. The
program was repeated the
next night with Hazel Arth,
local soprano and winner of
the Atwater Kent National
Addition Contest replacing
Miss Painter.
And never to be forgotten
was Dorothy Maynor's sing
ing of the spiritual, "Were
You There" to a stilled audi
ence in the Armory at the ball
s@N IS