by Peter Cates Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt As I am writing this on May 5, I wish to pay tribute to conductor Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt who was born on this day 124 years ago and passed away on May 28, 1973, at the age of 73 . Some background: he recorded a number of 78s for the Telefunken […]
by Peter Cates Gerard Robichaud Novelist Gerard Robichaud (1908-2008) was born in Québec, moved with his parents to Lewiston as a child, returned to Québec at 18 to study for the priesthood and practice writing stories during his spare time, but then left the priesthood to return to Lewiston in 1928 and over the next […]
by Peter Cates Highlights Highlights (Columbia CT 52849) is a 1992 cassette of 24 selections from the massive 1991 four CD set, Just for the Record, of almost 40 years of Barbra Streisand’s singing with a few vocals from composers Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers, and Michel Legrand, and singers Judy Garland, Neil Diamond and Ray […]
by Peter Cates Gingersnaps A 1956 seven-inch 45 (Kapp K-226X) features the Gingersnaps, four women from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, who had been friends in high school. They perform two novelty bubblegum pop songs, Gingerbread; and Lenny! Lenny! This record was for me an intriguing historic curiosity because, having been born in 1951, the ‘50s have remained […]
by Peter Cates Sarah Orne Jewett The October 1904, Atlantic Monthly, out of Boston, Massachusetts, had an article, The Art of Miss Jewett, on South Berwick Maine’s own Sarah Orne Jewett (1849 – 1909) , via which Charles Miner Thompson (1864-1941) stated the following: “…I always think of her as of one who, hearing New […]
by Peter Cates A childhood memory Among my many childhood memories were the innumerable Sunday drives, when gas was inexpensive, down to Pemaquid, Rockport, Port Clyde, Belfast, Owl’s Head, St. George. One particular memory is of the humongous rock quarries in St. George and it was brought to mind when I was browsing in Maine: […]
by Peter Cates Harold John Breau Born in Pea Cove, Maine, Harold John Breau (1916-1977), better known as Hal Lone Pine, was a popular country singer for almost 40 years, especially throughout Maine, New Brunswick and the Canadian prairies, and recorded several songs for RCA Victor during the early 1950s with his wife Betty Cody […]
by Peter Cates Joyce Butler In an 1995 textbook anthology, Maine, the Pine Tree State from Prehistory to the Present, the late Kennebunk historian Joyce Butler provided an essay on family and community life from 1783 to 1861. A few items: Saco was originally Pepperelborough, “a rough lumbering town.” The missionary Paul Coffin considered Union […]
by Peter Cates Ladislas Farago A 1954 book War of Wits, by journalist Ladislas Farago (1906-1980), is an account of intelligence networks during World War II. What gave Farago’s book interest was his own work in South America and his access to many spies and agents who were eager to tell their stories. One such […]
by Peter Cates Dylan and Vee At a 2013 concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, Bob Dylan paid tribute to Bobby Vee (1943-2016), who was in the audience. Dylan played piano as part of Vee’s backup band for two gigs in 1959 and the two singers had remained friends and performed together on occasion over subsequent […]