The St. Leo PuddleJumpers

"They broadcast their music over radio station WMMN in Fairmont, which first went on the air late in 1928," it reads in the article "Puddle Jumpers found fame on airwaves" (5 APRIL 1981).

The article looks like it was a column called, "The Monongalia Story," by Dr. Earl Core.

It continues, "The Puddle Jumpers didn't wait long after that.  Their first broadcast was Jan. 19, 1929.

"For several years they were on the air from 9 to 10 p.m.  Saturday."


"During this time, they missed only two nights, even though they often had to jump a lot of puddles to get from St. Leo to Fairmont.  The two nights they missed were because the station had technical problems."


This is on page 4 of the Panorama.
Section called "Heritage."


"The leader of their group was Scott Phillips, who was a foreman for the Manufacturers- Light and Heat Co., stationed at St. Leo.  He had grown up in Fairmont with Mr. Holt and Mr. Rowe, owners of WMMN, and contacted them about the Puddle Jumpers, who had already begun to play together.

"The owners agreed to give them an audition.

"Two of the members lived in Metz, one in Mannington, one in Hundred and the others in or near St. Leo.  They assembled at the home of Scott Phillips several times in preparation from [sic.] the big event."


Core:  "In the beginning, they had three fiddle players (if you carried a violin in a paper bag, it was called a fiddle!), three guitars and three banjos.  They later added a caller for square dances and a tap dancer.


"The fiddle players were Ben Wilson, Charles Woolard and Leck Hayes.  The guitarists were Scott Phillips, Oakle Delaney and Ray McVicker.  The banjo players were Theodore Lynch, Roy Renner and Clarence Jackson, who has provided the memorabilia for this account.

"The caller was 'Poker' Phillips and the tap dancer was 'Blackberry' McDonald.  The guitar players, plus Lynch and Renner, played and sang solo numbers.

"For the audition, Joe Dorringer, station manager, seated the group in a circle in a room in the Fairmont Hotel, where the station was located.  As they played he went around and listened to each instrument.

"After they had played a few numbers, Dorringer said he did not know whether that type of music would sound right over the air, but 'we will try it.'"

"Those were the early days of the radio," Core writes.  "The Puddle Jumpers then were introduced by an announcer and played a few numbers on the air.

The announcer asked listeners to call in and comment on the program and make requests for any numbers they would like to hear.

Soon the switchboard was jammed with calls.  Success was assured."


Then in the article Dr. Core talks with Clarence Jackson.

"'We were literally puddle jumpers,' Clarence Jackson said.  'Most of us had five miles of dirt roads between us and paved roads on Flat Run.  In the winter, we walked to the hard road and were met by friends who furnished transportation, or parked our cars there and walked to them.'

"During the group's three years on the air, it became so well-known that the members often were called on to ride in parades or to play for square dances, family reunions, fairs and other occasions," the author explains.

"Besides Joe Dorringer, the WMMN announcers were Holland E. Engle and Herbert Morrison, who later was to win fame in connection with the Hindenberg dirigible, and who now lives in the Cheat Lake area.

"At one time in Carmichaels, Pa., the Puddle Jumpers played for a square dance when there were 28 groups of eight on the floor dancing to one figure caller.

"Clarence Jackson, later a staff member of the Soil Conservation Service, was then a teacher in the Battelle District school system.

"He recalled that 'one member of the Board of Education wanted to fire me from my teaching position because I helped play for square dances, which to him was a deadly sin.'"


Core goes on to explain about how musicians were kind of "in the business" and kind of not.


"One of the WMMN announcers later went to a more powerful station in Wheeling.  He invited the Puddle Jumpers to play in Wheeling after their Fairmont program one night.

"At the Wheeling station, the group alternated playing with another group until daylight.  The announcer asked the listeners who lived a long way from the station to write or call in.

"At that time of night, reception was possible at a greater distance."



"The Puddle Jumpers," Core explains, "Were not paid by the station.  When they approached the management about receiving at least payment for expenses, one official replied, 'Money!  Damnit, you're making history!'

"The group did play for money at the Jacktown and Waynesburg fairs one year.  The musicians performed in a tent that would hold 40 to 50 people and charged 20 cents for a 20-minute program.

"Attendance was good because people were anxious to see the group they had heard on the radio.  In those days, radios were scarce, and any family that had one was likely to have visitors on Saturday night."


The Core article written in 1981 concludes, "All of the Puddle Jumpers except Scott Phillips, Ben Wilson and Theodore Lynch are still living, although 50 years have passed since they were at the height of their fame."




ONLINE is simply astounding!

We can see a picture of the WMMN microphone on the front cover of a book called,
MOUNTAINEER JAMBOREE:  COUNTRY MUSIC IN WEST VIRGINIA
By:  Ivan M. Tribe

And...just a little ways into the book they mention The St. Leo Puddle Jumpers!

Just so you know...you can read this book (AND OTHERS) online at Google books.




Academically, in papers, a person can quote a line or two, without having to get permissions.

Longer quotes are called "excerpts," and sometimes people have stated, no reprinting excerpts without permissions.

This cuts down on stealing and, what do you call that?  Trying to claim you're the writer of something when all you did was copy it from someone else.  Plage-er-i-zing.

All that being said, it also cuts down on possible conversation about things.  People lose interest in things they can't ack-sess.  And then those things, get un-remembered in our cultural memory, as well, as in our individual heads.

And, things that don't get discussed much, "have a way" of being defended as ultimate truth:  Here it is, take it or leave it, that's what happened, and there's further no questioning about "History."

In the late 20th century publishing had to contend with copyright issues.  Fees and permissions cost a pretty penny.  That's why a lot of stuff that could've gone into books, did not.  And that's part of why private publishing found a space on the scene of published works.

The internet has its own issues regarding copyright and cutting and pasting.  Just because people don't keep up with the latest laws and application of those laws doesn't mean that people can, ultimately, disregard the established precedents on publishing.  E-publishing has many of the same rules as print and visual media publishing.

A bibliography in a paper or included with a compilation of information is a great practice to get into, and it's also helpful to posterity to try and weave references to the works used and cited into the writing of a solid piece.
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I think MOUNTAINEER JAMBOREE is a good one to read for its filling us in on documentary work in addition to all this story about music.  You'll notice even the now deceased Senator of West Virginia--Byrd--pitched in something for the introduction...back when there was money for "culture," I guess.

And I'll post this passage on this trip...

"With the onset of the Great Depression, most West Virginia recording artists (with the exception of Billy Cox) ceased these activities.  Recording had never been paid more than nominal fees although some musicians like Hutchinson and Harvey managed to earn a living for a few years from live performances.  The blind singers like Miller, Reed, and Harold turned to music from necessity prior to recording and continued their dependence on it, although the 1930s social legislation seemingly eased their burdens somewhat.  A few musicians found they could continue their careers through the increasingly popular medium of radio....Others such as Hutchinson, Harvey, Justice, Arville Reed, and the Kessingers returned to the working class which they had never fully left.  The according activities of the prosperous late 1920s proved to be--from the economic viewpoint of the musician--only an interesting but temporary and limited income supplement" (38 MOUNTAIN JAMBOREE, Tribe).

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Found reference to Scott Phillips in a database of WVU (West Virginia University).  I think you can read that first page without downloading anything...which I know is important to people with older connections to the internet!

The site shows us, "Folk Music at the West Virginia and Regional History  Collection:  Alphabetical Lists of Performers."

That's at:
http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection/sound/byperformer.htm

And it shows us that some people were dishwashing and working in industry other than music while they were performing.

Scott Phillips was the "leader and organizer of the St. Leo Puddle Jumpers, a string band popular in the 1930s and 40s."  And also led the Hundred Fife and Drum Corps during the same period.

And he was an "oil and gas field worker."

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Hundred, West Virginia

Grandma Pearl told my mama to write down "Hundred Crossroads" which she did, it's amongst these scraps of papers gathered in a basket that gets sorted into Christmas Card addresses and such.

Some religious people called the fiddle a Devil's Box, I tell mama and try to explain that back then the St. Leo Puddle Jumpers were like...well, we've both lived through heavy metal and Rock and Roll, but back then, Grandpa Wilson...Ben...Glenn...he would've been a "bad ass."

She really liked hearing about the couple things I was telling her about the article and could hardly believe that they got mentioned in some books...

As musicians they were influential.

For better or for worse.

I try and tell her a little without blurting out that I'm doing a website.

And she lets slip...

Oh well, Pearl and Willie might've sang with the Puddle Jumpers on the radio.


Guess we're not supposed to tell Ida Mae, STILL!

Pearl

                                                                 

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Drew Beisswenger wrote a book called:
FIDDLING WAY OUT YONDER:  THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF MELVIN WINE

I haven't read it yet.  It's advertised online and at least some parts of it are on Google Books!

In the chapter, "Performing, Working, Raising A Family, and Finding Religion," Melvin recalls things like...the business of being a musician in the olden days.

So when we add some of that book's text to compilation here...we're listening to ourstory being told in grand style...a mix of memory and academics and history-sorting and real people bringing real people on the page and screen to life.
"The exact dates various musicians were regular performers at WMMN is difficult to determine," for the musician. 

You can bet there were some kind of "records" since somebody was making money off the music.

"But the early performers on the station included the St. Leo Puddle Jumpers, Gainer and Gainer, fiddler Chuck Satterfield, the Crutchfield Brothers, and the Yerkey Twins" (page 59, Fiddling Way Out).

Beisswenger:  "Even though Melvin believes they were the only active square dance band in Fairmont at the time, the group barely made enough money to survive.  On a good night, they would earn only about four dollars to split among the three of them.  While they usually played at dance halls, they often needed to play in homes and garages where dancers would pay...." (60 FIDDLING WAY OUT YONDER).



"Church people frowned on country dances as sinful and strongly opposed the fiddle because of its association with dancing--hence the nickname 'devil's box.'  the back-up instrument, the banjo, fared little better, drawing the wrath of many preachers and churchmen" (14 MOUNTAIN JAMBOREE).

Oh, you can imagine those first cars in the area tearing away from the spots...and laughing...and how, you know,
 
romancing rhymes with dancing.

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We heard that old Ben Wilson also got re-hitched after things between him and Pearl dissolved.  But we haven't gotten around to looking at any of his records.

For all the "glamour and the glitz" of the 1920s, this was one of the most serious times in our nation's history.  A time when violence within the culture was often hidden behind packaging of a gleaming white and shiny.





Why puddlejumpers????

Anybody whose lived off the grid or out of suburban bubbles, away from city gridlock, on the land...knows how that really means, very often, IN THE LAND.

 Check out this photograph ...Mud makes for extreme "sports" like using stilts, hovercrafts, and other "puddlejumpers"!