Gladstone Society Archives Letter From Brad Spinney Out of the “clear blue” arrived a letter from a very old friend, Brad Spinney. We had been out of touch for many years, since he moved down to Florida. He was born on February 11, 1915 in Kettery, Maine and studied in Boston with Hugh Murphy. In his early career he played drum set with Vic Firth’s fathers band. He moved to New York and while establishing residency, worked in the Gretsch factory. He landed the job at WOR where he played alongside Moe Goldenberg for 13 years. When the studios disbanded their orchestras, he remained an active free-lance player on the New York scene for many years. One of his enduring accomplishments is the very early effort in compiling the “Encyclopedia of Percussion” in the early 1950s, long before there were any attempts at serious research or catalogue. Unfortunately, only volumes A & B were ever published. He recently contributed his papers and research to Indiana University. April 2003 Dear Arnie, ...saw your address in “Allegro” and couldn’t resist a few bouquets to worthy percussionists. Yours truly played a recording date w/Russell Bennett (on Indian themes) with Walter Rosenberger1 on timps. I remind him how great the timps sounded when we see each other (once every 50 years). I couldn’t find Walter in the new directory. Is he still living? Ronnie Gould2 and I dropped in on you when you were playing a Broadway show3 . Remember? This time you were playing timps and the sound was great! Sol Goodman paid me the greatest compliment I ever got. Long after he retired from the Philharmonic we were riding in his Cadillac in Florida with a back seat full of drummers. Sol said, “You (meaning me) belong up with us!” Who wouldn’t be content to play 5th chair percussion for a lifetime with any symphony orchestra? For years I kept a drawer full of chances for Symphonys...Minneapolis, San Francisco, etc. One day my phone rings and it is Boston Symphony asking me to audition. At that time I was contracting percussion for “Cinerama”- the 3 dimensional movies. I am sure you would have turned down Boston (as I did ). It was my pleasure to do many things with the one and only Sam Borodkin4 . His tunings were fine even though his instrument with the NY Philharmonic was snare drum. Did you know that Bill Moriarity (Pres. of our union) plays great trumpet? I worked with him with a little German Band for some time. Did you know that Gladstone drums were tested by me (about 1938-39) after they were put together by Dick Dickson? Dick Dickson was an artist particularly with rope tension drums. Plastic heads were getting better all the time. The big feature of Gladstone was being able to tighten the bottom heads without taking the drum off the stand. With plastics, once the bottom head was set it was not necessary to move anything. On the snare throw-off it was never quite perpendicular5 . However a drummer in Baltimore already had a better mouse trap.6 Viola Smith (when I was working for Gretsch) came to me and said (quote) “show me how to play a Samba”. I wrote basic Samba rhythms on a piece of paper for her and she said “I can’t read music”. She was the drummer for Phil Spitalny’s all-girl orchestra and she played very fine drums. Throughout my life I have always stressed the importance of drummers being able to read but without the stiffness that usually goes with it. Solomon Hall7 , drummer with Cab Calloway was my pupil- also “Blackie” (with Lena Horne). I first met “Billy” Gladstone about 1938-39? Billy would come to the Gretsch factory at 60 Broadway8 , Brooklyn where I was sweating out an 802 union card! A new-comer was not allowed to work but one single date a week. At the Gretsch factory I was taught how to make a drum from the ground up. The shells on Billy’s drums were not always the same. He might take a Ludwig shell and put his metal parts on it. You see, the basic concept of the drum was to be able to tighten the bottom head in damp weather without taking the drum off the stand. There was a tiny pin that sold for one dollar that had to be replaced once in a while9 . All in all, the drum was a dream. There was simply too much hardware to start rattling! I bought one. Billy had a different price for everyone! The thing that we must remember him for is that he was a great showman and always a gentleman. He was one of a kind. Billy memorized the shows and did not have too much to read. This left him free to sell his bag of tricks that people loved. He actually improved on the drum parts because he was a man of good taste. He will never be forgotten! I believe that my playing days are over. I can not lift Piatti now. However, I am now in my 89th year and believe I must have set some kind of a record...being in every state in the union (including Alaska and Hawaii 2X)- 30 trips to the West Indies and South America. God has been good to me. Take care of yourself. Your friend, Brad Spinney 1 Walter was the first percussionist in the New York Philharmonic from the mid 40s to 1985. He also was assistant timpanist until 1955. Walter is still alive at age 84. Walter was the first of his students that Saul Goodman brought into the NYP. Buster Bailey started in 1949 and Morris Lang was brought in as percussionist and associate timpanist in 1955. It was the first orchestra to have a section that were all a product of the American conservatory system. |