Chasing Memories -- Gilbert & Sullivan, Eileen Farrell, and my Father

Arnold G. Tew (2009)

My 95-year-old father has lost his memories -- or they are there, but trapped inside due to an inability to communicate them now. It is very saddening to see him unable to enjoy the sharing of his memories of growing up or his life as a father, grandfather, or great grandfather; but it is the increasingly common status of members of the "Greatest Generation" in the twilight of their years.

Sir William S. Gilbert

Sir Arthur S. Sullivan

While I do not recall my father singing Gilbert & Sullivan songs when I was a boy, my youngest brother (who is nine years junior to me), says he grew up hearing our father sing from various Gilbert & Sullivan comedic operas -- particularly H.M.S. Pinafore. My brother saw several Gilbert & Sullivan shows with my parents at the outdoor summer theater at Washington Crossing Open Air Theatre in Titusville, NJ after I had already left for college and graduate studies. It is only in those young adult years of mine that I remember occasionally hearing my father sing from Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado. He always enjoyed singing around the house and had a fairly decent voice so that his performances were never cringe-worthy in the least.  When he was a youth he was musical and played the clarinet in his high school band and orchestra.  At one point he was a member of the Rhode Island State High School Band. He was in the band when it played at the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and they performed for the King and Queen of Great Britain during their visit to the Fair.

Eileen Farrell

Many people will recall a famous soprano singer from New England named Eileen Farrell.  She was born in Willimantic, Connecticut the youngest of her parents' three children.  Her parents were vaudeville singers known (before starting a family) as "The Singing O'Farrells."  The family moved around Connecticut for many years and lived in Storrs when the parents taught music and drama at Storrs Agricultural College (now part of the University of Connecticut). Eileen attended most of elementary school and her freshman year of high school in Norwich before her family moved to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. She entered Woonsocket High School as a sophomore in 1936 and graduated from that school in 1939. Eileen went on to a singing career that lasted more than half a century.  She performed in operas, theater, on television and radio ("Eileen Farrell Presents" for seven years). She sang opera, classics and popular music. She was called "one of the finest American sopranos of the 20th century" by the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph. When she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1960 there were 22 curtain calls and an account of the event in The Saturday Review said the ovation created "an ear-splitting din." Eileen was married to Robert Reagan, a police officer in New York, and they had two children. She died in March 2002 at age 82.

My father also attended Woonsocket High School (WHS), but for his senior year his family moved to Cranston and that is where he graduated in 1939. He skipped a grade during elementary school and was born at the end of November, so when he entered high school in 1936 he was probably the youngest in his class and had not yet had the growth spurt that eventually had him mature to over six feet tall. He was smart, young, and short while at WHS and his social life was fairly difficult, so he threw himself into music and the clarinet soon becoming first chair. While I had heard many years ago that Eileen Farrell was in his class at WHS, I did not know until recently that he did some acting and singing -- and that he had a minor role as Tom Tucker, the "Midshipmite" in H.M.S. Pinafore with Eileen Farrell who had a major role as Mrs. Cripps ("Little Buttercup").

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The photograph of Arnold G. Tew, the author's father, is from the persoanl collection of the author.

Photographs of Gilbert and Sullivan are in the public domain in the U.S. because they were published before January 1, 1923. The original image of Gilbert was created between 1899 and 1911. The original image of Sullivan at age 44 was first published in 1893 and was probably taken between 1885 and 1887. The photographer is unknown and Sullivan probably first used it himself as a carte-de-visit in the 1880s. [For more information on the photographs see, Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Sullivan ]

The photograph of Eileen Farrell was obtained at Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Farrell,  and it is believed to be available under fair use because: 

1. It is an image of a historically significant figure
2. Eileen Farrell is deceased and it is believed that no free equivalent exists
3. The image is being used for informational and identificational purposes only and at the head of the paragraph referring to Eileen Farrell
4. The inclusion of the image adds significantly to the article
5. It is being used in a free, non-commercial blog where no remuneration is received whatsoever

Image of the Woonsocket High School performance of "Pinafore" in 1938 is from "The Quiver," the 1938 Yearbook for Woonsocket High School.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Copyright 2018, John D. Tew
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _