UNSUNG HEROES of the SILVER SCREEN

ALL BOW PHOTOS COURTESY RICHARD WARD

The Golden Age of Hollywood brought Los Angeles one of the highest concentrations of string players anywhere in the world. Many of them were recording for the booming movie industry: the studios in those days, from the late 1920s until 1960, represented some of the finest string playing anywhere. Each of the ‘big five’ movie studios formed its own professional orchestra to record lm soundtracks from the mid-1940s to the end of the 1950s.

Their level was unrivalled these world-class musicians had immediate access to a number of excellent luthiers, including Helmuth Ellersieck, Paul Pilat Jr, René and Marcel Aerts, Mario Frosali, Abraham and Benny Koodlach, Paul Toenniges, and the in.uential Hans Weisshaar. Many of these firms are still in business today. But less well known are the Los Angeles makers whose bows were ubiquitous throughout the Hollywood recording industry. Their work was indispensable to the recorded sound and style of the era.

JAMES FERDINAND LE CYR

Active in Los Angeles 1911-59; making bows c.1920-34 Probably the first bow maker in Los Angeles, James Ferdinand Le Cyr was born in San Jacinto, California, about 90 miles fromHollywood, on 9 May 1887. A self-taught maker, he established a violin shop at 216 West 49th Street in downtown Los Angeles in 1911, though he continued in other jobs - including as a musician and a painter - until 1920. Not until then did he settle in as a full-time luthier, listing himself as such in the census.

His shop appeared in the directories throughout the 1920s, and although he moved it several times, he remained downtown - which was then the centre of music making in LosAngeles, with plentiful theatres and other performing venues as well as the Musicians Union offices. A dozen makers were gathered there at this time, including Abraham Koodlach, the local luthier to Jascha Heifetz and Mischa Elman. By 1924 Le Cyr was at the Majestic . eater Building, advertising that 125 of his violins were in use in Los Angeles, underlining his regional importance. It appears that Le Cyr was the only person making bows in Los Angeles at this time.

During the Great Depression, Hollywood emerged as the centre of musical employment. Le Cyr followed suit: though hestopped making instruments and bows, he gained a lasting reputation there for his artistic repair work. He took a job as salesman at the Platt Music Company around 1934, also in the heart of Hollywood, where he worked until 1937. He remained in Hollywood for the rest of his life, moving his shop at least three times until his death on 23 December 1958. At one point his shop was at 5940 Sunset Blvd, virtually next door to Frank Callier’s; at another, he was a block away from the iconic Grauman’s Chinese . eater. . is area of Los Angeles was teeming with world-class string players and there was no problem for multiple shops and luthiers to stay in business in such a concentrated area.

Le Cyr’s bow making career was relatively short: around 1920 to 1934. His bows were made primarily when musicians played for the silent films, before the talkies were ubiquitous. His work was perfect for the musicians of the early movie industry, even if his output was small by the standards of contemporary European bow makers. His bows satisfied a need for good, locally made work at a time when patriotism frequently drove demand, setting the stage for a wave of Los Angeles bow making.

FRANK CALLIER

In Los Angeles 1928-71, making bows 1928-early 1960s Frank Joseph Callier was by far the most important bow maker in Los Angeles, both for his huge production of quality bows and for the 43 years he was a mainstay of the string playing community. He was also a first-rate luthier. Born on 5 April 1883 on a farm in Perryville, Missouri, he started his career as achild tinkering with the family violin. When he was 17 he moved to St Louis, about an hour north, first taking a job as a carpenter and eventually setting up as a barber. So intent was he on becoming a violin and bow maker, he set up a workbench in the back of the barber’s, building instruments between haircuts. Absorbing what he could from contemporary luthiers in St Louis, he was ultimately self-taught, with nothing but his own intuitions to guide his work.

The nose of this Le Cyr bow gives the head a heavy feel, yet the sides of the head, particularly where it meets the stick, are rounded. The head model is unique, with no apparent inspiration taken from another maker. Likewise, the frog has an uncommon shape: the shortest part is towards the butt end of the stick, growing taller as it moves toward the ferrule. He brands his name, which is now quite faint, on the player’s side of the frog.

During the First World War, Le Cyr was stationed at the Los Angeles Harbor where he was a member of the Marine Band. While he first opened up his shop in 1911, he did not become a full-time maker until 1920.

This is at once a classic example of Callier’s work and a rare example of one of his bows mounted in gold and tortoiseshell. The wood is very good, the head upright with a tall feel. The frog is well proportioned; the thumb projection and throat are both typical of his work. Also typical are the use of screws to affix the metal underslide, and the button’s double collar. The octagon extends beyond the wrapping, French style.

Callier was a master woodworker. He made this special case in 1932 to house a quartet of his instruments. The Associated Press distributed this image to newspapers nationwide.

This bow is more typical of Callier’s work in that it is silver- mounted. Yet the thumb projection and throat are quite stylised; while he had a consistent style from early in his career, his work was not mechanical. As with all his frogs, both with the single eye and Parisian eye, the pearl dot is relatively small. Again the head model is upright and tall, the chamfer transitioning on to the round stick. The octagon extends beyond the wrapping. The brand stamp is deep and clear, and has the supplemental 'U.S.A.’

CALLIER PHOTO COURTESY CALLIER-SCOLLARD VIOLIN SHOP

Callier moved to San Antonio in 1914, working towards his goal of becoming a full-time luthier. Though he made his first bow in 1909 and had an enthusiastic following, his career properly began in 1920 at the age of 37. And it was only then, when he secured quality raw materials from a wood dealer in New York, that he truly began making bows as a vocation.

While in San Antonio, he was awarded a silver medal for two violins and fifteen bows, several of which were mounted in gold or ivory, in the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial International Exhibition. According to Callier, it took him a full year to make the complete set. He was particularly proud of this prize. This was on the heels of a diploma of merit, awarded by the American Violin Trade Association in 1926 and a prize in Chicago in 1925. All these prizes carried significant weight for the domestic market; US musicians were keen on buying American-made bows and instruments. With a firmly established reputation and prizes in hand, he was ready for a bigger market.

By the end of 1928 Callier had established a shop in Hollywood The e timing of his move was impeccable, and undoubtedly by design: the town was at the precipice of tremendous cultural and artistic growth. Major movie studios began exclusively producing full-length sound movies by the end of 1929, guaranteeing a small army of fully trained professional musicians to settle in Los Angeles where work was plentiful and well paid. And while talking pictures brought about the end of cinema orchestras, the new way of Hollywood attracted and maintained high-calibre string players who were both discerning and critical. They all needed bows and instruments, and the talented Callier understood that Los Angeles was the fastest-growing market in his industry

CALLIER WAS THE FIRST BOW MAKER TO SET UP IN HOLLYWOOD ITSELF, WHILE THE MAJORITY OF LUTHIERS WERE STILL DOWNTOWN

He was the first violin and bow maker to set up in Hollywood itself, while the majority of luthiers were still downtown. His shop was on 5837 Sunset Blvd according to the 1930 LA phonebook, where he advertised himself as: ‘Maker of.High Grade Violins and Bows, Scientific Reconstruction, Varnishing and Repairing, Dealer in Old and New Violins and Bows’. In 1932 he advertised on 5831 Sunset Blvd, finally settling into his permanent location at 5906 Sunset Blvd in 1934. His shop, where he remained until his death in 1971, was minutes away from Capitol Records and Paramount Pictures among many other recording studios. His bows and instruments were popular, and his shop was a gathering place for studio musicians.

Having trained with his father Frank, Paul Callier nevertheless developed a style of his own. The head of this bow is typical: while the back of the head is upright like his father’s bows, the overall build is shorter and thicker. The stick is octagonal - something rarely, if ever, seen on a Frank Callier. Paul did not always make his own frogs or buttons. His brands were always deep and clear, frequently appearing multiple times, sometimes even on the stick behind the head. His bows were made in Pasadena, where he had a shop from 1946 to 1984.

Callier made his bows as tools, intended for use rather than for collecting.They were sold at reasonable prices, almost exclusively mounted in silver and ebony. In 1929 he advertised his bows at $25-$35. As a point of comparison, in 1931 the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company (who also had a Los Angeles branch) charged $35 for the basic ‘W.E. Hill and Sons’-branded bow, new, with silver mountings and a plain-sides frog (prices for Hill bows ranged from $27.50 to $150). A Dominique Peccatte could be as much as.$600. According to the eminent Hollywood violinist Louis Kaufman, in 1934 union wages were $137.50 for a typical 13-hour day of recording. At these prices Callier made and sold up to 3,000 bows to some of the .nest musicians anywhere in the world.

The tireless Callier knew exactly how to advertise himself to the public, knowing that good American-made bows were sought after, and a market was available nationwide. Unlike the other Los Angeles bow makers, he advertised in major American string magazines such as The Violinist and Violins and Violinists. He regularly boasted of his accolades in the press. In 1931 he made a bow and wooden bow box for Albert Einstein, who played the violin as a way to relax his mind. Einstein wrote a thoughtful thank-you letter, and Callier ensured the whole affair was documented in a newspaper article complete with photo. He worked by himself with his wife at the counter, six days a week. Thanks to his talent, work ethic and savvy business sense, combined with the music scene surrounding the Hollywood machine, he became something of an institution for string players there.

A prime example of Callier’s ability to market his work was his brand stamp: Frank J. Callier U.S.A. Not all his bows were branded with the supplemental ‘U.S.A.’, and I suspect he understood the patriotic fervour surrounding the war years in America. He knew that imports had virtually ground to a halt by the late 1930s. Imported bows were increasingly difficult to come by, and regardless, many players, particularly the large population of refugee musicians in Los Angeles, wanted to support American craftsmen. Callier likely branded his bows ‘U.S.A.’ during the war years as a way to increase sales.

Callier’s shop continued successfully even after botched surgery on his cataracts in the early 1960s, though he stopped making bows as his vision deteriorated. He trained his son Paul, who opened up his own shop in nearby Pasadena in 1946.This is one of the few instances in America where bow making continued in the family for two generations. Unlike his more austere father, Paul did not shy away from using gold mountings, or even Manzanita wood for his frogs.

KEITH’S BOWS WERE ALWAYS STRONG, WELL BALANCED, AND MADE FROM HIGH- QUALITY WOOD

The head of this Stanley Keith bow is an exaggerated ‘hatchet’ model. As is typical of his bows, the ridge comes to a sharp point where it meets the stick. His self-taught hand shows itself in the transition from the head to the stick. The brand stamp is shallow, and found on the stick just above the winding where it can remain fresh. Keith made his own frogs, which are inspired by German work; in this example the slide is affixed with brass screws of different sizes. The bow is strong, well balanced, and of good wood

The head style of this viola bow is similar to that of the violin bow, but the shape is less exaggerated. The top of the head comes to a rounded point where it meets the stick. The pearl slide on the frog is not centred and the three-piece button is wide. The bow is stamped lightly just above the wrapping on the player’s side of the stick. Like the violin bow, it has excellent balance and strength.

STANLEY JEROME KEITH

In Los Angeles 1936-48

A respected luthier and bow maker in his lifetime, yet obscure today, Stanley Keith spent twelve years working in Los Angeles. He was born in 1891 in Chesaning, Michigan. His mother died when he was nine and his father did not allow him to learn the violin for religious reasons. He ran away from home when he was 15, and did anything and everything to make ends meet: working as a barber, playing trombone in a cinema orchestra, even operating a tractor in an open-pit iron mine. Eventually he learnt the cello well enough to enter the Hochstein School at Eastman in 1923. It was in 1927, while teaching the cello, studying at Eastman and playing gigs, that he first started making bows and.instruments. By 1935 his colleagues in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra were praising his work. Like Callier and.Le Cyr he was an autodidact.

Seeking a larger market of musicians, Keith moved to bustling Los Angeles in 1936. .e next few years were to be Hollywood’s greatest, where US movie industry profits peaked at $1.7 billion in 1946. He was in the perfect place to thrive, especially given his versatility - his 1941 phonebook entry calls him a: ‘Maker of Violins, Violas, Cellos, Bows / Repairing Old Violins, Strings, Fittings / Importers of Special Music, Studies and Chamber Music’. He opened Keith Music Store on 1419 Georgia Street, in.the middle of downtown LA, and immediately adjacent to the Musicians Union. His bows were always strong, well balanced, and made from high-quality wood.

Keith moved to rural Fresno, California, around 1948 where he quickly established himself, working in high demand until he died in 1969. It was here that he could focus on making instruments and bows, which earned him high praise throughout the region. He had a lasting impact on musical life in Fresno and the broader Central Valley, where he was one of the founders of the Fresno Philharmonic in 1954.

MATIZS STARCENKO

In Los Angeles 1948-62

Perhaps the most enigmatic maker of high-quality bows in the US, Matizs Starcenko was born on 15 November 1893 in Riga, Latvia. He married Ksenija in Vladivostok, Siberia, on 24 June 1921, shortly before political instability in the region caused them to flee to Shanghai, where he lived for about 15 years.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Shanghai was home to a .ne group of European musicians. .e local orchestra, known offcially as the ‘Shanghai Municipal Council Symphony Orchestra’, was filled with white European musicians (its first Chinese player was allowed in 1927 and the ensemble only officially hired Chinese people in 1938). It attracted internationally renowned concert soloists, including Jascha Heifetz and Arthur Rubinstein.

Keith’s shop was directly next door to the Musicians Union, where he was undoubtedly an active member. In addition to his skills as a maker of instruments and bows, Keith was a talented cellist who played gigs throughout Los Angeles.

Starcenko’s style, matching his personality, can be eccentric. Here, the button is quite long and the frog rather short. Two small pins are right next to each other on the one-piece heel plate. In this case he uses a Parisian eye on the gold and ebony frog, though he frequently used horn, or a compass star of his own creation. The head model is of his own design, the nose quite small in relation to the head. Like many of his bows, there is no 'comma’ in the transition from head to stick. It was used regularly in recording studios by Arnold Jurasky and is an excellent playing bow.

Two members of the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra during the 1920s spoke of visiting Starcenko’s violin shop in Shanghai. One was Willem Wegman, who was principal second violin in Shanghai for six seasons during the 1920s and joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1950. .e other was Vladimir Tarnopolsky, violinist in the Oakland Symphony in the 1970s, and a veteran of the Russian Army during the First World War. He purchased a Vuillaume violin and Kittel bow from Starcenko in the 1920s. It is likely that Starcenko’s Shanghai business consisted of doing repairs and selling instruments and bows. Like many American makers of his generation, where Starcenko learnt the craft is mired in rumour, mystery and speculation.

Starcenko moved to Rio de Janeiro on 19 September 1939 with his wife, probably escaping the Japanese invasion of China. On his Brazilian immigration documents he lists his profession as vaqueiro (cowboy) but his foreign registration document, issued a few months later, lists his profession as ‘specialist in dairy farming and accounting’. Whatever his true profession - and everything with Starcenko was a mystery - the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, founded in part by European expatriates fleeing the violence of the Second World War, performed its inaugural concert in July 1940, around the time of his arrival, allowing him to continue his activities in the violin world. And of course he acquired a stock of good pernambuco over the nine years he lived in Brazil.

Starcenko immigrated to Brazil from China, dubiously listing his occupation as ‘cowboy’. While in Brazil he acquired a fine stock of pernambuco.

STUDIO MUSICIANS OFTEN VISITED STARCENKO’S SHOP AND HIS BOWS WERE IN REGULAR USE

SOME FAMOUS CUSTOMERS

Alexander Zukovsky

Zukovsky was a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s violin section from 1910 to 1927. He was an MGM contract musician in the 1930s and also led the Zukovsky Trio, and the Russian Quartet. He was later a member of the Los Angeles Trio.

The dedication on the photo reads: ‘To F. Callier the excellent violin maker with best wishes from Alexander Zukovsky. May 4, [19]31’.

Dave Rubinoff

Rubinoff was one of the most famous violinists of his era and known to mainstream audiences, performing regularly on radio shows. He made several cameo appearances in Hollywood films in the 1930s,and was a guest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House. Here, Rubinoff (bottom left) poses with Callier, who had just made a custom violin and folding bow that could fit in the great violinist’s !photo from 1934.

Arnold Jurasky

Jurasky was one of the most active studio musicians in Los Angeles, performing on records, movie soundtracks, and in the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, among others. He had also played in the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra. The Starcenko bow shown on page 59 was made especially for him.

Harvey Whistler

CALLIER PHOTOS CALLIER SCOLLARD VIOLIN SHOP . WHISTLER PHOTO COURTESY JOSEPH GOLD

Best known today for his classic publications, including Introducing the Positions and Preparing for Kreutzer, Whistler (below) had a large collection of bows including one by Frank Kovanda, and published widely on the history of bows for stringed instruments.

This bow exhibits all the traits that made Frank Kovanda so famous. The octagon is sharp and clear, the head a stylised Tourte copy. The front ridge has an exaggerated curve, sweeping crisply to a clean point at the tip of the nose. His bows were overwhelmingly octagonal, the finish rich and glassy. His frogs were customarily inspired by Tourte and were unlined.

BOW PHOTOS RAPHAEL GOLD

Starcenko immigrated to the US through the port of New York on 13 November 1947. Quickly settling in the heart of Hollywood in 1948, he opened his shop at 850 N Vine St, next door to the American Federation of Musicians building. With ready access to clients and a five-minute walk from the RKO studio, his business thrived. Studio musicians often visited his shop, and his bows were in regular use.

Starcenko earned a national reputation for his well-balanced, high-performing bows. One of his bows was pictured in Joseph Roda’s seminal 1959 work Bows for Musical Instruments, giving him even more prominence. In 1962 he moved north to Santa Barbara where he continued working until he died in 1964. Because of his short tenure in LA, combined with the fact that he did not always brand his bows, they are exceedingly rare and di.cult to authenticate. But they were perfect tools for the Hollywood sound of the era.

FRANK KOVANDA

Making bows in Los Angeles 1951-c.1971

Born in 1904 in Cicero, Chicago, Frank Kovanda became arguably the finest American bow maker of his generation. By the age of 20 he was working with William Lewis and Son, one of America’s premier violin shops. According to Geoffrey Fushi it was Carl Becker Sr who encouraged him to take up bow making. Kovanda quickly developed a national following; his bows were used in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and beyond.

Unlike Callier, a master promoter who advertised extensively throughout his career, Kovanda shied away from the press. Nonetheless, the 1941 Lewis catalogue waxes eloquent about his great skill, calling him an ‘artist’, who has ‘achieved a very wide reputation for his superb craftsmanship’. As proof of his distinction, his bows sold for $75-$125 in the early 1940s, commensurate with the highest-grade gold-mounted Nürnberger, which sold for $110 at William Lewis. Kovanda made a number of exquisite gold and tortoiseshell bows, several of which have remained in pristine condition. His bows were seen as collectable, purchased and treasured as objets d’art.

KOVANDA MADE A NUMBER OF EXQUISITE GOLD AND TORTOISESHELL BOWS

Kovanda moved to Los Angeles in 1951 to work for Paul Toenniges, his former Lewis colleague. Toenniges had moved from Chicago to LA to open Studio City Music (now Benning Violins, still in the family). One can only assume that the Hollywood studio musicians would have been thrilled at having a famous bow maker like Kovanda in their midst.

In the mid-1950s he took a job with the Los Angeles City Schools, where he repaired school instruments. He began drifting away from bow making around this time, perhaps burned out by the unique preferences of his customers, though he did continue making some bows through the 1960s, and on a very limited basis into the early 1970s. Kovanda is among the best of the early American bow makers, not only for his bows’ playing quality, but also for their superb craftsmanship.

Taken on the whole, the bows produced by these archetiers are sui generis, from a wholly unique period of international bow making, driven by the needs of a cadre of world-class musicians. Despite the fact that several bow makers were working in close proximity, they did not appear to share techniques or concepts. They were all self-taught, and came from dramatically different backgrounds. None of them emerged from a tradition, and in essence, they did not pass one down. Yet their bows were widely used throughout Los Angeles, serving well the musical needs of their peerless milieu. The artistic qualities of their work were understood by the musicians who used them, and heard by millions of unsuspecting cinemagoers.

The author wishes to thank the Callier-Scollard Violin Shop, Joseph Gold, Michael Weisshaar, Hans Benning, Ifshin Violins and David Stone.