noseflute.org: 10/7/12

Oct 13, 2012

Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part I

With the "Nose Flute Pioneers" series, Noseflute.org enters a little cycle of research. I hope it won't be too arid for a blog, but I really think that the facts I found have to be published. The sources : Google patents, US Census and an access to newspaper archives. But also, depending on the topic, correspondence by e-mail with descendants. Let's better say : internet searching tools available for a Frenchie not able to access US real paper archives.

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Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part I

The Stivers: The King of Fakirs

Writing an historic article about the Stivers family is not an easy task. For sure, as usual, there is not much info easily available and more than that, the name "Stivers" is not rare enough to be sure that this or that event is related to the "right one". Not so difficult regarding James Stivers, because there were very few of them, but horribly difficult for George Stivers, which have been legions! Even in the same area. And worst: in the same family, there were several "George W. Stivers" living at the same time. In fact, I found that it was the tradition in that family to name the first son by the name of its father, including the middle initial). So, there are generally 3 perfect homonyms to deal with in the same family, and when the age is not mentioned... Or when the middle initial is not, you may add other individuals to the list.
So, I hope I made not too many mistakes in what follows. I erased from my research any info "only possible".

So, my Story begins with... George W. Stivers. Let's call him « George W. I », because as I wrote, we have to deal with a « strain » of fathers and sons wearing the same name. And George I has a lot to do in the Humanatone story.

George Washington was born in May 1854. His first appearance in NYC directory dates of 1891. George is already married since 1873 with Frances, an English girl born Aug. 1856, with whom he'll have 11 children, with only 6 surviving in 1900. In 1891, they are the tenants of a billiard room (or store?), at 221 Bowery st., in Manhattan. They live not far, 46 Pike st., near the Manhattan bridge.

221 Bowery :

They have 6 children left : Ellen (Jun. 1874), George W. (Jan. 10, 1876) [let's call him George W. II already], Frances (Jan. 1880), James Joseph (Jul. 11, 1881), May (Mar. 1886), Kathryn (Apr. 1890).

The next year, the billiard activity moves to number 19 of the same street, then disappears from the addressbook... In 1896, George W. II marries Kathryn, and they have their first child, a girl called May (Apr. 1896). Geo II is clerk.

In 1898, George I has become « merchant ». This is the beginning of a long story. In fact, George Washington has opened a store at 15 Ann St. (and has moved his home to 93 Concord), with an annex at 108 Nassau, dedicated to selling « Novelties ».

Indeed, George Sr. was made to be a merchant. He immediately has a feeling for what will sell, and uses some very modern marketing techniques, calling for agents.

First a bit shy with a novelty that he manufactured (Aug 1899):

« How'd you like to be the iceman » was a huge musical success of 1899. The song was written by Helf and Moran (1898) and performed by Will F. Denny. You can hear it here:

What was the Stivers' novelty? Probably this one, of the same kind (of metallic crap) that the ones he will sell a few months later:

But then, George I has THE great idea. The admiral George W. Dewey (ohoh! what a common surname!:), hero of the Spanish-American war, is hugely honoured when he comes back home: « Returning to the United States in 1899, he received a hero's welcome. New York City's September 1899 welcome home celebration for Dewey was a two-day parade. » (wiki)

George recruits 500 (yes! five hundred) agents to sell the « hundreds of different » items.

The novelties are of that kind:

Oh, Stivers is not alone on the market! But he did it large! He is named "The King of Fakirs" or the "boss fakir". Fakirs? Well, the Urban Dictionary defines the term also as "One who fakes. One who creates fake images". OK, in this case, street vendors or performers (this makes us remember of Garrett J. Couchois, see this post, who was supposedly "caught" playing a Humanatone "as a fakir" one or two years later, but *before* the Stivers launched the Humanatone by Humanatone Co in 1903. Was he the "missing link", the one who taught the Stivers the existence of the nose flute? Possible, but not sure at all).

Yes, the success is HHHuge! :

According to Stivers' figures (1,250.000 items sold, most of them at ¢5, let's even say an average of ¢3), we could state without a large mistake, that the merchant made a turnover of $37.500... in 2 days! And probably a benefit of some $9.000. In 2012 money, that's the equivalent of $250.000! Wow!! The King of Fakirs!

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George W. III was born on June 10, 1899, and in 1900, all the Stivers family (that is 11 persons), including the Georges I, II and III live together at 93 Concord St.
George W. III *may or may not* be George Walter Stivers (we'll retrieve this one later). In fact, there are TWO Georges W. Stivers born in NY in June 1899.

We learn that Ellen (widowed, 26) and James (18) are clerks, Frances II is cashier and that, most interesting, that George W II is « steel engraver ». There is no real doubt that they all work at their father's store. What's Jr's job? Engraving patterns to make medals? Certainly.

At this point, there is a deep mystery (or a mistake in the census?). Ellen, widowed, as Frances II, are noted has having had no children, and Kate, George II's wife, had only one. James is not noted as widowed. But there are 2 kids noted as belonging to the next generation. George III ("G. Son") and May ("G. Daughter"). So, which one is Geo.II's child? And who are/were the parents of the other? Is he/she an orphan of both father and mother? Or George II has had a former marriage and a child from a prior spouse? This is not conceivable since May was born in 1897, and George and Kathryn married in 1896 (this would be technically possible since May was born in January, but it would mean that George hadn't waited for his hypothetic first wife's corpse to get cold before marrying Kathryn. We can't believe that). So, either one grand child is a double-orphan, or there is mistake in the list, and both are from Geo.II and Kate.

The business continues, and Geo. W. I still recruits "fakirs" to sell his merchandise in the street and during fairs:

In 1901, Geo. W's job is registered as "notions". Which George is it? GW I or GW II ? And what are "notions"?? Ideas seller?

Oct 12, 2012

More about RON nose flutes

After the post about the clay nose flutes made by Ron, our friend Sho Hiragawa sent us some pictures of his own, plus a link to Ron Youtube channel: Murasaki874.

Sho's hanabue, #228, has not a saddle shape, but part of a cylinder. However, the clay and the features are the same than the #376.

And here, one video by Ron, the last one the 5 "demos" he recorded on his channel.

Oct 10, 2012

Two Marketed Rejects

I just received a bunch of Weidlich & Lohse (well, the low grade chinese current production), in order to giveeasily or make experiments. Among them, two were lightly marbleized (yeehah!). For sure, they are certainly not as beautiful as Maikel Mei's one, which is... perfect. But they are not regular.

When you look at their top, they just look bizarre and unclean: the yellow one is not of the bright lemon usual color, and the green is unpure, and darker as the vintage green.
But if you turn them on their belly, you can see light smear of other pigment frozen in the plastic.
It is now clear those should be rejects. While watching at Maikel Mei's one, so perfect, it could have been a psychoedelic series, made on purpose. But mines are obviously the result of changing the color of the batch in production.

My green one is clearly the result of the last red pellets in a new batch of green bodies. And the dark traces in my yellow flute are probably the rest of a dark blue series (since there is no black pellets used).

A Joyful Band in Mukonoso !

Members of the Kansai Friends (関西間友の会) joyfully playing before the passerbies at the "Mukonoso Freedom" event (武庫之荘フリーダム), in Mukonoso (Hyogo Prefecture). Video by Hanabue114.

Small Fry, by Will Grove-White

Will Grove-White, member of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, has just released his second solo album: Small Fry. The songs are played with a lot of pocket instruments: drums for children, mini-sax, bass Harmonica, piccolo trombone from Danmark, ukulele for sure and nose flute! [remember that Will has made great nose flute videos, see here and here].

Small Fry is a remarkable and funny album, with strange combinations. The idea was to make a "pocket album". And yes, everything is tiny and delicate, but the sound is great and gorgeous. From New Orleans to Blues, with some hint of Country and ballads, every tune sounds aerial, crystal clear, joyful.

Here is an excerpt of an interview given to Julie Kinot, of UOGBfrogsfan.org, and published in French on Paperblog.fr :

JK - I’ve noticed you have a «french» title : La Vie en Nose. You play nose flute on this one and you have recorded some videos of you playing noseflute on Youtube. What do you like in this instrument ?

WGW - Yes, of course I love the daftness of the noseflute, and it’s a deeply unattractive look while playing it. It seems like everything a musical instrument shouldn’t be. I have the Nosy Diva and Antoine at noseflute.org to thank for a lot of my enthusiasm, so any complaints should be addressed to them please. But ‘La Vie en Nose’ obviouly brings to mind Grace Jones, who is herself as mad as a box of frogs, and also prone to using daft plastic technology in her performances : youtu.be/kIicwZrkEhY I’m sure she’d have a go at the noseflute.

For our best pleasure, Will gently gave the authorization to publish La Vie en Nose, one of the 13 titles, which contains nose flute riffs. Please enjoy!:

You can get the Small Fry album here.

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Useful Links :

- More about Small Fry
- Will Grove-White website
- Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain website

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Oct 9, 2012

Clay Hanabue by Ron

Published on the Facebook page of our friend Mr. Hisaaki Matsui, this original shape nose flute was made by Mr. Sawada, potter settled in the Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

It is made of clay, for sure, and has a flat "saddle" shape (hyperbolic paraboloid), which is quite interesting. Please note the different pairs of holes: the bottom one is probably used with a cord to have the flute hanging around your neck, "ready to play". The double top pair is, as I guess, destined to hold the hanabue on your face, with the cord passing in from the back and out from the front of 2 close holes, avoiding to pass the cord upon the whole width of the flute (and thus masking it). Am I right?
Very nice flute, indeed.

Photographs by Mr. Hisaaki Matsui.

Oct 8, 2012

Great paper from 1903

July 1903 was the launch of the metal Humanatone made by the Humanatone Co (sorry to be so precise, but we saw there was a prior Humanatone (probably) not made by James J. Stivers).
And the following paper dates of September 22, 1903. It is probably the *best* one - in the meaning of laudatory - ever written about a nose flute (besides mines, for sure:). Well, maybe the journalist was paid a bit for that, contrarywise to me!

From Decatur Daily Democrat (Indiana), Sep. 22, 1903:

Mei's History of Art - Series 1: Rock Cave Art

Maikel Mei, well known regular reader of this blog, musician and collector, is also a nose flute painter, as we already had the opportunity to show notably here, here and there.

Maikel has entered a long process and huge work: browsing the History of Art, by painting 10 series of 4 pictures (40 paintings altogether!). Each series will be exploring a selected era or culture, as a tribute to its style(s). The frames are 40x30cm large, and worked with acrylic paints.

What's the link with nose flute? Each painting will figure an elephant, and you'll discover that his head is the exact profile of a Weidlich & Lohse Nasenflöte, the famous "Swan logo" nose flute.

Maikel will probably have comments to add to each series, so, don't miss them in the "comments" part of this post, at the end of it. Also, don't hesitate to click on the pictures to magnify them, and get the full quality of the details.

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Mei's History of Art - Series 1 : Rock Cave Art (Pre-historic)

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On the same topic:

- Beautiful drawings by Maikel Mei
- Nose flute paintings by Maikel Mei
- Maikel Mei's new paintings
- Bocarina painting by Maikel Mei

Mei's History of Art:

- Series 1: Rock Cave Art
- Series 2: Native Art

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Speedy tremolo!

Here is a new video by Don Luis, in which he uses « the tip of [his] finger to make the corner of [his] mouth vibrate ». The result is an interesting very quick tremolo :

Oct 7, 2012

Rectification: Humanatone appearance date

The frequent reader of this blog will have often read this assertion: "The brand Humanatone exists only since 1903". It is true that the name Humanatone has oftenly been and still is used by some as a generic name for nose flutes. As people say "Aspirin" (a brand originally trademarked by Bayer AG) instead of "acetylsalicylic acid", or "Escalator" (trademarked by Otis) instead of "moving staircase", many people ared to saying "Humanatone" for "nose flute", even if the instrument comes from a foreign country.
So, when I read in a 1922 magazine (see this post) that « Art Jacobs, also a musical wonder, performed marvels (of discord) on a "Humanatone", which he purchased at the Chicago World's Fair in 1892. », I thought the journalist was using a brand name for the generic noun.

Indeed, James J. Stivers, founder of the Humanatone Co., wrote in the 1904 Humanatone trademark file: « As shown in the accompanying facsimile, my trade-mark consists of the word "Humanatone". This trade-mark has been continuously used in my business since July 6th, 1903."

More, the Chicago fair was opened to the public in 1893. So, I thought that the redactor, who wrote the paper in 1922, had made several mistakes, notably the one consisting of using the well-known (in 1922) brand for one of the first nose flute commercialized.

Stivers specified « in my business » and this detail might mean the brand was used before, in another business or by another industrialist.

Hypothesis? No. I just find 2 articles using the name Humanatone before 1903.

The first one, from the New York Times is dated Sep. 29, 1902, and announces a demonstration of the famous nose flute, to stand in John Wanamaker annex store, NYC.

Note that, interestingly, the NY Times specifies the Humanatone ambitus, and also mentions its invention « in upwards of 300 years », probably refering to the Guarani bird call.

But even more interesting, is this article from The Manitoba Morning Free Press (Winnipeg edition), dated of the 20th of December, 1894, that is, one year only after the Columbian World Chicago Fair.

So, the brand Humanatone was already existing in 1894. Was it also the name of the 1893 Chicago nose flute? We may think so.
However, I do not know how to understand the last sentence of the paragraph: « Its future appearance will be welcomed ». What does that it mean exactly?

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About metal Humanatones, check :

- Humanatone - part I : the metallic era
- New Humanatone ads
- The Two metal Humanatones
- Another metal Humanatone
- Humanatone boxes
- Another Humanatone box
- Humanatone: A very early user manual
- The Magic (Nose) Flute: only questions... .
- A Humanatone and clones chronology
- A Humanatone in 1892 ?
- Humanatone: Early promotional demos
- Another Humanatone archive
- Huma... something
- Rectification: Humanatone appearance date
- Great paper from 1903
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part I
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part II
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part III
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part IV
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part V
- A Humanatone as a scientific tool
- Two other Humanatone Ads

And on later Humanatones :

- Humanatone - Part II : the Gretsch plastic era
- Humanatone - Part III : the Gretsch metal era

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Short german solo

A very short video of a nose flute solo by Dubbeglasbrieder Olli, recorded live. On the
MsJaegermeister69 channel.