Four-Part Harmony: The
Quartet
I COULD HARDLY write about my experiences without referring to the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour" Quartet more specifically.
People often ask me, "How long has the Quartet been together?"
My reply, usually, is "Which quartet?" Yes, through the years there were several complete changes of personnel.
The Quartet began singing on the Revival Hour at the same time I joined the program. My work with the quartet not only included accompanying them on the broadcasts, but playing for them on our outside church engagements. I was also the speaker at many of these services.
When the Quartet was singing on the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour" Program, the music was about evenly divided between the Quartet and the Choir. This meant the Quartet sang four songs on each program. When the Revival Hour changed from an hour to a
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half-hour program, it was felt that it would not be possible to retain both the choir and the quartet. Therefore, the decision was made to continue with the choir, the piano, and the organ.
It hardly seems possible that I am no longer playing regularly with the Quartet. For five years prior to my association with the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour," I accompanied the "Goose Creek Quartet" at the Little Country Church of Hollywood. We were on the radio every day, and then the Quartet joined the Revival Hour.
The Quartet has not been associated with either the Country Church or the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour" for over ten years, and we rarely get together these days. Occasionally a local church will ask the Quartet to present a program, and we still produce a record album every year.
It is interesting to go through the old pictures and see the different faces in the Quartet through the years. I suppose a whole book could be written about these men and their various careers.
Three of the men who have been members of the Quartet went into the preaching ministry. Dick Brown, Bill MacDougall and Al Harlan have all been in the ministry for several years. Dick Brown is in Northern California working into a new capacity this year. Bill MacDougall is Associate Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church of Los Gatos, California, and Al Harlan's radio ministry originates in Los Angeles.
As I was reminiscing through pictures recently, I came across one that brought back some amusing memories. The picture included the Quartet, a lady
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singer whose name escapes me, the M.C. of the program, Peter Potter (a local radio personality), and yours truly!
This program was one of the very few secular programs in which I have participated. It featured a light type of music, and as I recall, we did use some spirituals and hymns, along with old-time quartet favorites.
To this day, the name of the program completely breaks me up. It was called "Happy Hollow" and was sponsored by a local dentist!
As the Quartet is presently constituted, there is John Lundberg, first tenor, Jack Coleman, second tenor, Ken Brown, baritone, and Art Jaissle, bass.
To answer the question, "What is the Quartet doing now?"
John Lundberg is teacher of voice at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, and Minister of Music at the Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles.
Jack Coleman is now associated with Ralph Carmichael, and does a great deal of work in the writing and arrangement field.
Ken Brown sang with Percy Crawford's quartet before joining the OFRH. He has recently been a leasing agent for the Fotomat Corporation.
Art Jaissle works for the Gospel Light Press in Glendale, California, and is soloist at the Glendale Presbyterian Church.
One of the Quartet members of former years who went on to become very successful in the commercial field was Thurl Ravenscroft, who sang bass. He has made a great many TV commercials, which most of us have seen many times. For one, he is the voice of
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"Tony, the Tiger" on the cereal commercials. He is also, characteristically, "The Jolly Green Giant." Thurl and his wife, June, are vitally involved in the Christian Day School program, and lend their presence and financial support to Christian education.
I have been in on the ground floor of Christian school work, as our daughter began her first year of school in Culter Academy. Miss Mabel Culter was the courageous founder of one of the first nondenominational Christian schools on the West Coast. Dr. John Blanchard, who was principal while our children were attending, later became Executive Director of the National Association of Christian Schools. It was a privilege to know both of these spiritual giants, and to have the opportunity of participating in the experiment of the effects of Bible training in the lives of our children on the schoolground. Having the opportunity to identify at school with the Christian truths they are taught at home, should greatly strengthen the faith of our children. I have been a firm believer in offering to my children the love and protection of Christian upbringing for every day of their lives. How else can they receive the qualities of integrity and good citizenship? So long as they remain "under the shadow of the Almighty," so much greater is the opportunity for using all of their potential.
I believe that the fear of overprotection is another of the devil's lies. How greatly he must fear a strong Christian lad! Remember Joseph and David. Children in Christian schools are not necessarily from Christian-Bible-reading homes. There is a great cross section to which each child must adjust, for many backgrounds
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and social levels are represented. Classes are smaller, and the day begins with Chapel, both of which are decided advantages.
Our daughter attended Brown School for Girls in fifth grade, and both of the children were in Culter Academy through grade school. Mark is a student at Pacific Christian High School. I have been privileged to be a member of the Board of Directors of this school for several years. Pacific Christian was founded in 1903, and has some fascinating traditions. Students have a great deal of fun, as well as an excellent and firm discipline. It is notable that Pacific Christian won the California Interscholastic Federation championship for the 1968-69 football season. There is an event called "Slave Day" when the seniors and senior teacher-sponsors are For Sale to the highest bidder, and must obey their owner for an entire day. You can well imagine some of the tortures which must be endured for the sake of earning money for the school!
The junior class gives the senior class a banquet toward the end of the school year—an event which requires formal dress, and involves a great deal of money-raising for the junior class. There are car wash days, days when every member of the class "hires out" to work; all kinds of international dinners are also given—Spanish, Indian, Mexican, Italian. There is usually a play, and in the spring and fall a "Poor Man's Hollywood Bowl," all of which bring in well-earned money. This has proved to be excellent training for our son. We feel that he will slip easily into his place in the outside world, whenever the time comes, especially under the influence of this school's motto: ACADEMIC
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EXCELLENCE IN A CHRISTIAN ATMOSPHERE.
Another former Quartet member who has been interested in Christian Day Schools is Bill Days. Bill sang top tenor, and for many years, now, has been a member of the famous "Sportsmen Quartet" which was featured on the Jack Benny radio and TV programs.
Bill remains active in the Lord's work as soloist at the Country Church of Hollywood, and he and his wife present programs in local churches and youth rallies. Bill is a professional photographer, and his work with the Christian schools involves a fine athletic program as well as individual and group photography for the school yearbook of one of our fine Christian Day Schools in the San Fernando Valley. All of these interests combine to make Bill Days one of the busiest men I know.
I recall in the early days, when we had our Country Church program every morning at 8 A.M., how the Quartet men used to find it difficult to sing so early in the morning. Naturally, we had to start rehearsing our numbers long before eight. We sang some of our numbers from stock arrangements—books of songs arranged for quartet singing. Also, spanning the years, we made our own arrangements, some of which were made by various members of the Quartet, and others by me.
I remember one night when I couldn't sleep because the strange spiritual, "We Shall Walk Through the Valley In Peace" kept ringing through my head. No relief would come until I had gone into the den, taken pen in hand, and written out an arrangement for the Quartet to sing on the next Sunday's program.
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The experience gained in accompanying the Quartet was invaluable to me. I learned how to accompany and interpret almost every kind of music. We sang all kinds of sacred music—the old hymns, the contemporary gospel songs, and the spirituals.
I found myself memorizing the numbers we sang (memorizing has always been busy for me), until I knew literally hundreds of songs from memory.
It might be interesting to note here that many of the songs sung by the Quartet were the same songs used by the congregation. However, the Quartet arrangements were usually in a different key, and with different harmonies. This meant that I had to employ two separate "memories," one for the Quartet, and one for the congregation. Did I ever get confused? I'm not telling!
Another amusing sidelight was to watch us scramble for solo material. If I became identified with "In the Garden," obviously no member of the quartet wanted to use that number as a solo. On the other hand, it was an advantage to me to have solos well-introduced with voice, as I have made it a practice never to arrange a hymn unless people are familiar with the lyrics.
There were many such songs, and often I would work hard on an arrangement, only to have the tenor or bass pre-empt my material early in the meeting!
One of the problems involved in our outside engagements was that of finances. I suppose it is easy for a church to decide, "Let's get the Quartet to give us a program." For some churches, thirty-five dollars may seem like a fairly substantial amount to budget for such a program, and yet, this comes only to seven dollars per man. Sometimes the church is fifty miles away, and
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transportation and man-hours involved in a fifty-mile round trip is included in the seven dollars honorarium! I believe that the "laborer is worthy of his hire," and certainly this should apply to those in the work of the Lord. (In all fairness, I think most churches want to do the right thing, financially, for those who serve them.)
Over the great length of time we have been working together, the Quartet has made several recordings. We began recording on the old ten-inch, 78-rpm discs. For a few years, we even operated our own mail order record business, and we divided the work between us and shared the profits, if any. I was the secretary, and it was my job to handle the correspondence, send out the statements, and open the mail.
I have never considered myself much of a businessman, but the experience gained in the record business was a great boon to me. We serviced retail order customers, as well as stores and distributors. I learned something of the whole record business structure in this little venture.
The currently active Quartet still continues to record a new album each year, and we always enjoy getting together and talking over old times.
