Harold Newton |
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Dad was born in 1906. This is his third birthday. |
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The Newton family was very musical, though very
conservative. Here are he and his mother and siblings ca. 1920: Lowell
on drum, Florence on mandolin, mother Allie on piano, Blanche on flute?
(or perhaps conducting), Clara on ukulele, Bertha was probably singing,
and Harold on violin. Not sure why they all had their eyes closed. |
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Harold's first professional job was with a
Hungarian Gypsy orchestra on the Chautauqua circuit. He was told, should
anyone ask, to say he was of Hungarian descent. One of his jobs was to
tune the cembalom. |
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A very typical site in our house, though the hair
here is unusually tall. Harold was a hard working musician. He practiced
almost every day and worked all hours, especially on weekends and
holidays. |
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A portrait done in the late 40's by a Japanese
artist who saw his picture in a brochure. Since the photo was not in
color, the artist assumed Harold was blonde. In fact his hair was
almost completely white by the time he was in his late 30's. (This made
him easy to pick out in an orchestra.) They had
the artist fix this. |