Gus Haenschen

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Walter Gustave "Gus" Haenschen (born November 3, 1889 in St. Louis , Missouri , † March 26, 1980 in Norwalk , Connecticut ) was an American musician, arranger , composer and bandleader who was one of the in the 1920s was the most influential unit manager in the record industry. He also worked under the pseudonyms Carl Fenton , Paul Dupont and Austin Huntley .

Live and act

Haenschen came from a Swedish-German family and grew up in St. Louis ; at the age of 13, he performed as a professional ragtime pianist in city nightclubs. He was friends with Scott Joplin and studied at Washington University, where he led a popular dance band that played a mix of ragtime and salon music. Through the mediation of a family friend, he was given the opportunity to appear on the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team during breaks . Around 1914 he composed compositions for the Victor Military Band and Irving Kaufman (“Underneath the Japanese Moon”, with Gene Buck); he also wrote under the pseudonym Austin Huntley , which was also reportedly used by James C. O'Keefe and Theodore Morse. In September 1916 Haenschen was given the opportunity to record with a string formation ( WG Haenschen's Banjo Orchestra ) for Vik Records in New York ("The Murray Walk"). In the same year he played several tracks with his band for Columbia, including " Maple Leaf Rag ", one of the few recordings of the title that were made during Scott Joplin's lifetime.

Before Haenschen was drafted into the US Army, he worked as a day job manager in the record department of a department store in St. Louis. After the end of the war he was henceforth a musician, music seller and composer; "La Rosita", written under the pseudonym Paul Dupont , became Haenschen's biggest hit. After 1919 he worked for the record department of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company (later Brunswick Records ) as musical director until July 1927. In the field of jazz he was involved in three recording sessions between 1929 and 1930.

He oversaw and arranged hundreds of recordings for Brunswick, including the orchestras of Ben Bernie , Gene Rodemich , Ray Miller , Isham Jones and Benny Krueger . Haenschen had his copyrights for the individual titles registered as Carl Fenton ; This was done against the background of taking into account the anti-German mood in the population with the pseudonym after the end of the war. As the Carl Fenton and Gus Haenschen Orchestra, he also recorded several records, such as “Nola” (1916, with Felix Arndt ); "Toddle" (1921), "Brown Eyes Why Are You Blue", "Alone (At Last)", "Titina" (1925) or "What a Day" (with Eddie Thomas, 1929). When the "Fenton" orchestra appeared in public, it was under the direction of the violinist Ruby Greenberg , who continued to use this pseudonym after 1927. Haenschen u. a. responsible for recording Al Jolson when he moved from Columbia to Brunswick. Haenschen also arranged for singers Billy Jones and Ernest Hare ( The Happiness Boys ), one of the first successful duos on emerging radio. Haenschen also promoted the careers of guitarist Nick Lucas and banjoist Harry Reser .

After a change of management at Brunswick, Haenschen worked for the radio from 1927 as an orchestral conductor and musical director. In 1929 he became a supervisor at the New York Sound Studios, where the World Broadcast Transcription series was created. From 1931 he also directed the program The American Album of Familiar Music . Haenschen worked there until the 1950s, as well as musical director of various radio programs for NBC and with Voice of Firestone for their broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera . During this time Haenschen had few opportunities to produce his own recordings, mostly in connection with his work for the radio, etc. a. with the singers Jessica Dragonette , Thomas L. Thomas and Margaret Daum . He also conducted a series of interviews with musicians sponsored by the Gustave Haenschen Collection at Ithaca College, which he created .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Candace O'Connor: Beginning a great work: Washington University in St. Louis, 1853-2003. Washington University, Saint Louis, Mon. 2003.
  2. ↑ a b Information on Carl Fenton (Gus Haenschen & Reuben Greenberg)
  3. ↑ Tim Gracyk, Frank W. Hoffmann: The Encyclopedia of Popular American Recording Pioneers. 1997.
  4. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed August 25, 2015)
  5. ^ Felix Arndt (May 20, 1889 - October 16, 1918), was a pianist and composer; influenced by George Gershwin , he wrote a number of songs, the most famous being the Novelty Song Nola .
  6. ↑ actually Je cherche après Titine. by Leo Daniderff.
  7. ↑ NARD Journal - The Official Organ of the National Association of Retail Druggists. Volume 67, pp. 1-1146.
personal data
SURNAME Haenschen, Gus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Haenschen, Walter Gustave (real name); Fenton, Carl (pseudonym); Dupont, Paul (pseudonym); Huntley, Austin (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician, arranger, songwriter, orchestra director and unit manager
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1980
Place of death Norwalk , Connecticut