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REPORTS AL BRACKMAN
"Ladies and gentlemen of the
radio audience," we can imagine
the announcer reading before the
microphone, "I am happy to pre-
sent Senor CL YDIOS LUCASIO
and his Marimba Rumbamen who
will bring to you a half hour of
fascinating rhythms from old Cu-
ba .• Play, Senor Lucasio!"
Or the announcer might just as
well begin, "Heigh ho, members
of our great radio audience. We
shall now take you to the Coral
Room of the Surf Beach Inn, where
KL YDE LUCA and his Hawaiian
Islanders bring you the glamor of
moonlit beaches and the rustle of
grass skirts with their mellow hula
rhythms."
But then he might even start
with something like: "This is Sta-
tion WODL bringing you your
weekly program of 'Whispers
from the Blue Danube' with Herr
CLYDE LUCAS-STRAUSS and his
Viennese Waltz Princes. As his
first selection Herr Lucas-Strauss
brings you favorite excerpts from
'The Prince of Pilsen'."
And why not this? "How do,
folks! We are now in Broadway's
gaY Congo Club. And who do we
have here? Who do we have
here? Yes, you guessed it, folks.
It's none other than CLYDE (HOT-
CHA) LUCAS and his Red Hot
Rhythm Slingers ready for an hour
of blazing swing. Let 'er rip, Mr.
Hot-Cha Lucas!"
Herr Clyde Lucas-Strauss and
his Viennese Waltz Princes, Klyde
L'lca and his Hawaiian Islanders,
Clyde (Hot-Cha) Lucas and his
Red Hot Rhythm Slingers, Senor
Clydios Lucasio and his Marimba
Rllmbamen, castanets, ukuleles,
saxophones, bass horns, and vi-
olas all rolled into one seventeen-
piece band!
Which band? Of .course -
r:L YDE LUCAS and his California
Dons, or, as the orchestra has re-
rently been called, because it was
the first to record the original "Red
A..ople" tune, Clyde (Biq Apple)
Lucas and his Carolina Dons.
To know how these musical
quick-change acts are done,
you've got to know something
about Mr. Clyde Lucas himself,
the slender, good-looking young
man who waved a baton in the
packed grill room of the exclusive
Hotel New Yorker in New York
and who spent those thermometer-
busting afternoons making record-
ings for Variety Records.
Clyde Lucas was born in Min-
neapolis- Minneapolis, Kansas.
Two years before his teens he
persuaded his father to buy him a
saxophone. "The biggest that
they've got," specified Clyde,
afraid that his pa would return
with some sort of toy kazoo. Ac-
cordingly little Clyde was present-
ed the largest saxophone that the
home town could offer-a bari-
tone sax.
Because he had the only bari-
tone sax in the five surrounding
counties little Clyde was invited
to tote the huge thing for the town
band in Ottawa- Ottawa, Kansas.
Tired of lugging the monstrous
baritone around with him, Clyde
decided to study the piano. A year
later, after the youthful musician
had learned to pound out both
symphonies and ragtime on the
keyboard, Clyde looked around
Clyde Lucas
for new worlds to conquer and
finally decided upon a slide trom-
bone. In the same year he won a
state-wide singing contest.
Time came for Clyde to go to
college, and there he made up his
mind to study, not music, but-
engineering! But after scoring a
sensational 96 in the Seashore
test, a psychological examination
for determining native musical
ability, Clyde agreed it might be
better at that if he continued with
his music. In the course of time
he picked up the guitar and the
marimba.
The young musical jack-of-al1-
instruments decided to organize
his own orchestra as soon as he
left school, but because he could
"double" on mo~t anything, Lucas
thought it would be best if "hIS
orchestra" contained only men
who could also play two, three,
and even four instruments each.
Such an outfit, he rightfully rea-
soned, could take everything in its
stride.
But finding musicians versatile
enough to satisfy Clyde's de-
mands was a job for a G-roan,
and Lucas spent five years of his
spare time musician-hunting be-
fore he had an orchestra that he
could really call his own.
. And what a band it turned out
to bel Practically every member
of the orchestra can double on the
violin and the ukulele, in addition
to doubling on one or two other
i~struments, so that with a flick of
his baton, the maestrq can change
his California Dons from a pine
hre$t of trombones and trumpets
h n jungle of waving violin bows.
r.lyd9 Lucas' introduction to the
"Riq Apole" came as sort of a
~l' ~~k. Clyde and the orche!;tra
. had just arrived at the recording
studios for a waxing date and
while waiting for the recording
room engineer to set his apparatus
i'1 order, Clyde and his brother
T.'Tn, who handles all the vocal
nc:siqnments, entertained the rest
of the boys with snatches of -o
new dance called the "gig Ap-
~lp''' that they had seen in a news-
reel only the day before.
79