MEMORIAL DAY IN NYC, AND AN ALL-WOMEN BRASS BAND
One hundred years ago today … New Yorkers celebrated Memorial Day with parades of veterans, flowers for fallen soldiers, and an all-women brass ensemble.
The Sun and New York Herald. 31 May, 1920, p. 6. Newspapers.com
New York Tribune, 30 May, 1920, p. 12. Newspapers.com
The biggest parade seems to have been the one on the West Side of Manhattan. The June 1 Daily News reported: “Heroes of the two greatest wars in which the United States has taken part, the American Civil War and the great European conflict, rubbed elbows in the Memorial Day Parade yesterday along Riverside Drive from Seventy-second to Ninety-second Streets.”
Daily News, 1 June, 1920, p.1. Newspapers.com
Civil War veterans. Daily News, 1 June, 1920, p. 1. Newspapers.com
A mile north of the parade route, services were held at Grant’s Tomb. An all-women brass ensemble provided the soundtrack.
Daily News, 1 June, 1920, p. 1. Newspapers.com
The Gloria Trumpeters, pictured above, made several records for Columbia Records in 1920. On May 20, the label released “Come When the Lilies Bloom,” which can be heard here. (We have mentioned Columbia Records before, such as our May 8 post about Al Jolson’s “Swannee..”)
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN. MAY 31, 2020.
TAGS: Memorial Day, holidays, veterans, doughboys, World War I, music, women’s history, brass bands, Daily News