Rag  Time Traveling
My travels to historic sites

New London, Connecticut - Banjo wizard, Fred Bacon

New London and Groton, Connecticut were the home, studios, and workplace for banjo maestro, Fred Bacon.  Fred was born in Massachusetts but spent many of his years in Connecticut.  He led a life filled with talent.  He played, composed, taught, recorded, made inventions, and manufactured the banjo.  His years in New London were mostly spent living at the Mohican Hotel, with teaching studios just steps away all along State Street.  His banjo factory, which originated in Vermont, was moved to Groton, directly across the Thames River from the New London pier.  Fred recorded periodically from the 1890s to the 1930s, which included privately-made records and those for the Victor and Edison companies.  He favored old standards, such as Stephen Foster tunes and other 19th century styles, and Classical music.  Classics were performed to elevate the status of the once-lowly banjo.  He toured with his quintet, playing arrangements of classics.  He was not a stranger to ragtime, and composed a number of rags, but unfortunately none were recorded.  He counted among his students the accomplished Walter Bauer and Frank Bradbury, both Connecticut natives.  Bauer was a big fan of ragtime and went on to compose banjo rags over seven decades.  His student, Jim Tyler, another Connecticut native, went on to perform with Max Morath.

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Photos:  first row- Fred's 1912 recording and arrangement of Tom Glynn's West Lawn Polka.  In the center, Fred in his prime.   On the right, I am looking up historic State Street, with the New London depot behind me.  Along the left are rows of buildings where Fred had his teaching studios.  On the right, in the distance, is the Mohican Hotel which was his home for most of the years he lived here.  In the second row of photos is a closeup of the Mohican Hotel, est. 1898, and the original lobby. 
Below,  I am standing on the New London pier, behind the train depot,  looking across the Thames River directly to where his banjo factory stood.  It was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane.  To the right, is a selection of  banjo accessories he sold.   

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​A very likely visitor to New London, who played a large role in pop-vocal ragtime, was none other than Irving Berlin.  Berlin’s older brother Benjamin lived here and his business was right up the street from the depot.  A destination could barely be closer.  It would have taken all of about 90 seconds to walk there.  The family was still living in town late in the 20th century.  Benjamin is buried in Groton.     
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(Scott Joplin possibly passed through here.  In 1907 he sold his Rose Leaf Rag to composer-publisher Joseph Daly in Boston.  New London is situated right between New York City and Boston.)
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​Carthage, Missouri - James Scott

​James Scott was born in Neosho, Missouri and moved to nearby Carthage with his family when he was a teen.  He got a job working at the local music store owned by Charles Dumars, who also led the Light Guard Band.  Within a year, young James was playing popular tunes for the customers, including some of his own.  Mr. Dumars liked what he heard and began to publish James' first works, piano rags.  These were influenced by Scott Joplin, unsurprisingly.  Dumars also collaborated with Scott on two songs which he also published.  It was not long after his first rag publications that he has picked up by John Stark, Joplin's main publisher.  He possibly went to St. Louis to meet Joplin, and likely at the World's Fair, where Joplin played, as one of Scott's rags is about the fair.  Scott continued to live in Carthage into the mid 1910s, writing many more rags and some of his best work.  One of his engagements was at nearby Lakeside Park where he played for dancing and silent movies.  He eventually moved to Kansas City where he taught, accompanied silent movies on the theater organ, and played in a band.  He continued composing as well.  His first works published in Carthage already show his trademarks:  heavy scoring, an athletic style, and expansive use of the keyboard - signs of virtuosity.  There was a surprise visitor to the Dumars store one time - concert pianist Blind Boone, who played everything from ragtime to classics.  Scott and Boone sat in together and played duets.  It must have been some affair.  Scott became one of the most prolific composers of piano ragtime. 
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The photos on either end represent the Carthage ragtime contingency.  On the left, James Scott as he looked when he began his career as a composer.  On the right is his boss, store owner, band leader, and co-composer, Charles Dumars.  In the center, I am in front of the Dumars music store on Third at Main.  The historic marker at my feet is incorrect, however.  This was its second location, and Scott began his career at Dumars in 1902, not 1906.      
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Scott's first three piano rags, published in Carthage by Charles Dumars.  1903 and 1904.
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 Above is Lakeside Park- where Scott played piano for silent movies and  dancing.  Crowds came for boating, rollercoaster rides, picnicking, vaudeville, and band concerts.  It was commemorated in a song by Scott for its opening - Take Me Out To Lakeside.  He collaborated with Ida Miller of Carthage who wrote the lyrics.  Miller posed for a special set of  illustrated song slides which were      projected while she sang Lakeside for the park premiere.  This places her in a unique category.  She co-wrote the song, she performed it, and she appeared on the screen posing for it!  It was also published in Carthage, by the Ball Publishing Co., 1914.  In 1930, Leroy Shield wrote the theme music "Good Old Days" for the Our Gang comedies, which is nearly identical to Scott's melody.