ITEA Journal Volume 47 Number 2 (Winter 2020)

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Tubby the Tuba Part I:
by Douglas Yeo

More Than a Melody-More than Oompah

PART 1-Introduction and the birth of the Kleinsinger/Tripp collaboration

The phrase has been with us for centuries, at least since the 1400s in English, but it is much older in many cultures around the world. Whether spoken or read by adults or children, it stimulates the imagination, and brings us to another place. No matter the language, it always signals a beginning.

Il était une fois. . .
Es war einmal. . .
Einu sinni fyrir langa löngu. . .
Det var en gang. . .
Érase una vez. . .
Vieną kartą. . .
Ngày xùra ngày xura. . .

Once upon a time. . .[1]

Tubby the Tuba at the Circus (© Decca, 1950)

Tubby the Tuba Goes to Town (© Golden Crest, 1960)

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Tubby the Tuba (© Cosmo, 1945)

The Further Adventure of Tubby the Tuba (© RCA Victor, 1947)

The Tubby the Tuba Song (© General, 1950; © assigned to RYTVOC, 1955)

Editor's note: Douglas Yeo's comprehensive article about Tubby the Tuba appears serialized in eight consecutive issues of the ITEA Journal throughout 2020 and 2021.

And so it is that The Story of Tubby the Tuba begins. "Once upon a time, there was an orchestra which was all busy tuning up." [2] Conceived in 1941, recorded in 1945, and first performed for an audience in 1946, Tubby's story is well known to tuba players as well as the millions around the world who have heard it in concerts, read it in books, or seen it on film. Call it what you like-a fairy tale, a fable, a morality play-Tubby continues to captivate us. In addition to the story itself, Tubby the Tuba has played an important role in the history of literature for the tuba, as it was the first significant composition for tuba solo and orchestra, predating the Tuba Concerto of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1954) by a decade. It has been performed and recorded by some of the most famous tuba players in history as well as by amateurs and students. And the spin offs from the success of Tubby the Tuba are a story in themselves. Some of the tale of Tubby's creation has been told over the years in these pages,[3] but as I was researching Tubby the Tuba for an entry in my book in progress, An Illustrated Dictionary for the Modern Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba Player (Rowman & Littlefield), I was struck by how much more there is to its history and place in history, and how newly available sources and research both adjust its currently received narrative and add more to what we have known. I decided to go down a rabbit trail (or, in this case, it's better described as a bullfrog trail), and began looking more deeply at Tubby's origin story and legacy. Here is some of what I found.

Anthropomorphic characters in children's literature

Francis Barlow, Aesop's Fables (1687).

Tubby the Tuba belongs to a genre of stories that anthropomorphize objects or animals and give them human characteristics. Such stories have been around for millennia, dating back to the anthropomorphic deities of ancient Egypt to the fables of Aesop. Aesop, a Greek slave who lived in the fifth century BC, told stories that were later codified and written down by writers in Greece and other European countries. Of course, such stories with a long, early oral history cannot always be neatly attributed, and some scholars have found evidence that many of the fables attributed to Aesop appeared in ancient Asian, middle eastern, and Indian cultures. [4] These stories often featured anthropomorphized animals that spoke to one another across genus and species. From their beginnings, such fables were used as tools to teach both adults and children important lessons and virtues including the benefits of hard work (and the perils of the slovenly life), and the value of respecting authority figures. Later tellings of fables emphasized Biblical values, often citing the book of Proverbs as their moral authority, such as in versions of "The Ant and the Grasshopper" (originally "The Ant and the Cicada"). While the story is better known in more recent renderings as "The Little Red Hen," the tale concerns an ant who, throughout the summer, collects food for the winter while a grasshopper spends his time singing. With the onset of winter, the starving grasshopper pleads with the ant for food but is denied sustenance. The moral is that idleness has consequences, as the story was featured in the object lesson "The Wasted Life" in the Victorian era publication, The Sunday School Teacher (1866), which admonished, "an idle soul shall suffer hunger," which is drawn from Proverbs 19:15. [5]

Fairy tales, such as those popularized by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the nineteenth century, brought additional lessons to readers. Stories such as Aschenputtel (Cinderella) spoke of injustice served to one who was undeserving of mistreatment, replete with an evil step-mother and step-sisters, rescue by a fairy godmother (and in later tellings, industrious, anthropomorphized mice), and a handsome prince who finds value in one who others find valueless. "And they lived happily ever after." Contemporary scholars go even further, often framing Cinderella and other such tales in terms of classism, feminism, and female psychology, to say nothing of how the old stereotype of the evil step-mother flies hard in the face of today's blended family structures. [6] The parallels between Cinderella and The Story of Celeste-a successor piece by the same creators of Tubby the Tuba that will be discussed later-are notable.[7]

Serpent by Pelligrino de'Azzi (Venice, late eighteenth century). Courtesy Boston Symphony Orchestra, Casadesus Collection. Photo by Michael J. Lutch.

Throughout history, musical instruments have also taken on zoomorphic characteristics. The buccin (dragon bell trombone) and basson russe (upright serpent with dragon bell) were popular in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century France and Belgium, and the buccin often had a tongue of metal that vibrated while playing and marching. The extraordinary serpent by Pelligrino de'Azzi (Venice, late eighteenth century)-since 1926 part of the Casadesus Collection of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and on display at Symphony Hall, Boston-has a carved bell in the shape of, well, a serpent. [8] In certain African tribes, drums are infused with anthropomorphic characteristics, part of ritual/cult activities that equate the drums-some made from human skulls and skin-with human men. The bell-Agogo-is "thought of as an obedient man with a sonorous voice" in the Esan culture. [9]

Jean-Jacques Grandville, Funeral Oration of a Silkworm (1842).

From musical instruments in the shape of animals, or which are thought to possess qualities of humans, flowed fanciful literary and illustrative treatments of anthropomorphic instruments. The nineteenth century saw a flowering of these characters, none more fanciful than those from the pen of Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (1803-1847), also known as Jean-Jacques Grandville. He provided illustrations for Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux (The Public and Private Life of Animals), a collection of stories by several writers including George Sand and Honoré de Balzac, published in 1842. [10] All of the characters in the stories are animals who were given voices and human characteristics, and Grandville's illustrations that accompany Oraison funèbre d'un ver a soie (Funeral Oration of a Silkworm) include a funeral cortège led by a serpent playing beetle who would have been instantly recognizable to his French reading audience at the time.

Ennery and Clairville, The goose that lays the golden eggs (1860)

His most bizarre anthropomorphic creations appeared in his Le Autre Monde (Another World) of 1844. Musical stories and drawings abound within its pages, and his mechanical creations of the most fanciful type include the unfortunate story of an anthropomorphic ophicleide:

An accident marked the end of this concert [that was organized by Dr. Puff]. In the fireworks in D when the fugue ends smorzando with a sweet and dreamy melody, an ophicleide, charged with too much harmony, burst suddenly like a bomb, throwing sharp and black and white notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes-clouds of musical smoke and flames of melody spread through the air. . . Steps are being taken to prevent an accident from happening again.[11]

From Grandville's fanciful anthropomorphic musical creatures we come to something that was the precursor to a speaking tuba, the characters made from a string bass, lute, and bass drum in the illustrations for L'Oie aux oeufs d'or (The goose that lays the golden eggs) by Ennery and Clairville (Louis François Nicolaie), published inJournal Amusant (1860). [12] Here, musical instruments had human features that were integrated into the instruments themselves. These we recognize as the direct ancestors toTubby the Tuba, even more so than Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (1936) to which Tubby is often compared. Prokofiev assigned various musical instruments to represent characters in his story-the bird by the flute, the cat by the clarinet, the duck by the oboe, Peter by the string orchestra, grandfather by the bassoon, the wolf by French horns, and the hunters by timpani. But only grandfather, Peter, and the bird are given voice by the narrator, and the listener is made privy only to the thoughts of the cat. The story of Tubby the Tuba , on the other hand, with its musical instruments that not only speak but have human-looking physical attributes when the story came to print and film, was to become something else. [13]

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp: A collaboration begins

Tubby the Tuba was the brainchild of George Kleinsinger (music) and Paul Tripp (story and lyrics). The stories of these two men inform their collaboration, and their lives and careers-while defined in large part by their works about a friendly, talking tuba-were wide-reaching.

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George Kleinsinger and his first wife, Ruth Edelman (1941). Courtesy Fred and Jane Kleinsinger.

Born in San Bernardino, California (February 13, 1914), George Kleinsinger's family came to New York City when he was five years old. [14] After initially pursuing a career at dental school, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and served as music director at several CCC camps. He studied music at New York University from 1930-1937 where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (majoring in music), studying composition with Marion Bauer and Philip James.[15] Among his early works were a string quartet (1937) and, I Hear America Singing (begun 1932, completed 1940), a cantata based on poems of Walt Whitman. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union asked Kleinsinger to revise the piece and it was performed in June 1940 for Eleanor Roosevelt in Madison Square Garden, New York City. A few weeks later, NBC broadcast the piece during its coverage of the Democratic National Convention (held in Chicago). [16] It was Kleinsinger's first notably successful composition, and it was recorded in 1941 on Victor Records with John Charles London, baritone, and the I.L.G.W.U. chorus (directed by Simon Rady, who had a long association with Kleinsinger in the years to come and who produced the first recording ofTubby the Tuba), conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret. [17]

In 1938, Kleinsinger received a fellowship to attend the Juilliard School of Music where he studied composition for two years with Frederick Jacobi and Bernard Wagenaar. Following in the footsteps of Heinrich Schütz and many others who found the story to be intriguing, Kleinsinger composed a work (with a text by Beatrice Goldsmith ) based on the Bible's King David, Absalom, my Son, for baritone solo and a cappella chorus (1940) which was later recorded on Victor, sung by George London (1947). [18] But it was the composition of his cantata turned allegorical jazz opera, Victory Against Heaven (1940)-the libretto was written by Winthrop Bushnell Palmer-that brought George Kleinsinger into a collaboration that would change his life.

Paul Tripp and his wife, Ruth Enders (1952).

Paul Tripp was born in New York City on February 20, 1911. He enrolled at City College in New York when he was 14 and later Brooklyn Law School but he dropped out of both schools without receiving a degree. [19] He was attracted to acting, and had a small part ("another Marquis") in the revival of Walter Hampton's production of Cyrano de Bergerac that had performances in numerous cities including Chicago, Washington D.C., and New Haven, Connecticut, before a run on Broadway in 1936. Other small parts followed, including a 1937 Broadway revival of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, and in 1939, he was selected for the part of "Speed" in George Kleinsinger's Victory Against Heaven.

Victory Against Heaven was described by contemporary media as a story about the struggle between science and nature, "the criminality of materialism, the salvation of spirituality, the war against the machine, the triumph of the good earth over science." It received three performances in Hartford but the review in the Hartford Courant dripped with sarcasm and found little to recommend-"Mr. Kleinsinger's score is a dainty form of swing, hardly jazz in any robust sense of the word.". [20] Still, Kleinsinger and Tripp formed a simpatico friendship and the two began exploring further collaborations. Kleinsinger suggested to Tripp that he write stories rather than sing and as things turned out, Tripp did write many stories-but he never gave up singing.[21]

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Jack and Homer (© Arrow Records, 1947).

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Jack and Homer the Horse (© Chapell, 1955; © assigned to RYTVOC, 1989).

Their first joint project was Jack and Homer the Horse, a story for children that received its premiere on December 12, 1941 at the WOR radio studio in New York City. Kleinsinger wrote the music and Tripp wrote the story.[22] Conducted by Robert Russell Bennett, it was narrated by Ray Middleton, who would later figure in recordings of Tubby the Tuba stories. When Jack and Homer the Horse was recorded in 1947 for RCA Victor, Tripp narrated the tale and assumed the role of all of the story's characters including Jack, his horse, Homer, a giant, a court page, the king, and the king's daughter. "Once upon a time, there was a little boy who wanted to be a hero. His name was Jack, and he had a horse whose name was Homer."[23] Each of the characters in the story were represented by a different musical instrument; this was a compositional device that was to run through several of Kleinsinger and Tripp's collaborative works. Tripp took on the various roles with charm and élan, and he supplemented his natural dialect with a masterful toolbox of voices. He had a way of ingratiating himself to listeners, as if he was one's favorite uncle or a friendly neighbor who had just moved in across the street from another state.

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Pee-Wee the Piccolo (© RCA Victor, 1948).

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Johnny Stranger (© RCA Victor, 1950).

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Little Star of Bethlehem (© Columbia, 1957).

George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp, Happy Instruments (© Chappel & Co., 1958; © assigned to RYTVOC, 1989).

The performance of Jack and Homer was, in Tripp's recollection, the seminal moment in the creation of the Tubby the Tuba stories, the seed of which was planted in the WOR studio thanks to a conversation with the studio orchestra's tuba player, Herbert Jenkel. That story unfolds in Part 4 of this article, but it is important to note that Jack and Homer was but the first of many collaborative works for children created by Kleinsinger and Tripp. In addition to the several Tubby pieces, there was Pee-Wee the Piccolo (1947), [24] the previously mentioned The Story of Celeste (premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy conducting),[25] and Pancho goes to a Fiesta (1949). Adventures of a Zoo, which was dedicated to the Philadelphia Zoo, was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 1949 with Tripp narrating. [26] All were recorded by labels large and small including Victor, Columbia, Decca, and Angel, as well as "kidisk" labels such as Cricket, Disney, and Peter Pan. Others, like Johnny Stranger (1947)-a story about a young immigrant to the United States, "My name is Johnny Stranger and I've come across the sea; if you've never seen an immigrant, just take a look at me"-were recorded on Victor's Youth Series and touched on relevant cultural themes which are still with us today.[27] Their collaboration, The Little Star of Bethlehem-the story was conceived by Tripp in 1944 as a Christmas gift to his wife, Ruth Enders-featured a foray into period instrument performance. It's 1957 recording on Columbia Records with the Orchestra of Ancient Instruments included oboe d'amore, viola da gamba, recorders, and virginal in the orchestra.[28] In 1958, Kleinsinger and Tripp published and recorded a collection of eight songs for children, Happy Instruments, which includedSliding Sam, the Trombone Man and Jojo, the Banjo. [29] There was no tuba song in the set since by then, as we will see in Part 7 of this article, they had covered the genre of tuba song quite well.

While their lives were strongly intertwined by their many collaborations, George Kleinsinger and Paul Tripp had independent careers that were exceptionally interesting, broad, and influential. For those who only know them because of Tubby the Tuba, a deeper look at their work will allow us to consider the breadth of their influence for the whole of the second half of the twentieth century and beyond.

Editor's note: Part 2: George Kleinsinger , will appear in the Spring 2020 issue of the ITEA Journal.

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Douglas Yeo (yeodoug.com and thelasttrombone.com) is lecturer of trombone at his undergraduate alma mater, Wheaton College, Illinois. From 1985 to 2012, he was bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and he served as professor of trombone at Arizona State University from 2012-2016. In 2014, he was the recipient of the International Trombone Association's highest honor, the ITA Award. He is the author of several books including Mastering the Trombone (co-authored with Edward Kleinhammer, Ensemble Publications), The One Hundred: Essential Works for the Symphonic Bass Trombonist (Encore Music Publishers), and Serpents, Bass Horns, and Ophicleides in the Bate Collection (Oxford University Press), as well as dozens of articles for many music journals and magazines.

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Acknowledgements

My long obsession with Tubby the Tuba was made all the more enjoyable by interactions with many people who provided help and encouragement along the way. I am especially grateful to David Tripp and Suzanne Tripp Jurmain, and Fred and Jane Kleinsinger, children of Paul Tripp and George Kleinsinger, for providing me with both personal insights as well as invaluable source materials and photos from their family collections. David Tripp also served as a liaison with the Library of Congress which then provided a number of items that are part of the Paul Tripp Papers. I am also grateful to Louise Eastman Weed (RYTVOC) who generously gave permission to quote lines from the Tubby the Tuba story scripts and provided other helpful information. As a trombonist, I am quite aware that some might view me as an interloper in the world of tuba research, despite the fact that during my long career as an orchestral player, I sat next to and enjoyed unforgettable collaborations with some of the finest tuba players in the business, including David Fedderly, Chester Schmitz, and Mike Roylance. To this end, my good friend, Jerry Young, was particularly encouraging and helpful when I wanted to know who I might contact in the tuba universe to get a bit of information and if what I was writing was on the right track. Jerry is a fount of information and wisdom; I'm deeply grateful for his friendship and support. And Benjamin Pierce, editor of the ITEAJ, didn't even blink when I proposed submitting one of the longest articles to ever appear in the Journal. I am also thankful for the help of many others who joined me along the way, including:

Lori Azim, David Bonner, Darren Britting (Philadelphia Orchestra Personnel Department), Bridgette Carr (Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives), Chatfield Music Lending Library, Brianna Cregle (Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library), Ron Davis, Andrew Duncan, Scott Hansen, Don Harry, John Van Houten, Jr., Andrea Immel (Cotsen Children's Library, Princeton University), Marco Katz, Susan Kleinsinger, Paul Krzywicki, Mike Mashon (Library of Congress), Rosa Mazon (Los Angeles Philharmonic Archives), R. Winston Morris, Kevin Mungons, Eli Newberger, Mike Roylance, Gene Pokorny, Chester Schmitz, Peter Shrake (Circus World), Jim Self, Stephen Shoop, Andrei Strizek (Music Theatre International), Gabryel Smith and Sarah Palermo (New York Philharmonic Archives), John Taylor, John Tomasicchino (The Metropolitan Opera Archives), Deanna Swoboda, Herbert and Barbara Wekselblatt, and the helpful staff at Buswell Library, Wheaton College (Illinois).

Unless otherwise indicated, all images in this article are from my personal collection; copyrights are held by the individual copyright owners.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Herbert Wekselblatt (1927-2019),

Tubby's first tuba voice.

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