ABOVE Pageant of Music at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
JESTERS NIGHT:
On March 8th another Jesters Night was held at Annie B. Jamieson School. Louisa Olson was again the director accompanied by her majorettes and some of the members of the VJB. Ted Reynolds MC’d the evening.
PAGEANT OF MUSIC
On Thursday April 21, 1966 the Vancouver Beefeater Band, under the direction of Gordon C. Olson put on a Pageant of Music at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The Master of Ceremonies was Ted Reynolds. By this date the band had won over 150 awards for musical excellence in top competitions in Canada and the U.S.A. Citations for artistic achievemnet and public service has been received from the Provincial governments of many provinces and from governors of eastern and western States. The band had appeared on many radio and T.V. networks including C.B.U.T.. C.T.V., A.B.C. and N.B.C.
Besides the concert and marching groups, the famous Vancouver Beefeaters Band features specialty groups from its ranks, such as the trim and lovely Jesters Majorette Corps, Dixieland band, specialty artists and dancers. Selections played at their Pageant of Music included Carnival by Rimsky Korsakov, Variations on a Folk Song by Shumann and Erikson, Buglers Holiday, Leroy Anderson, Chicago by Fred Fisher, Tournaments of Horns by David Bennett, Clarinet Carousel by David Bennett, Procession of Nobles by Rimsky Korsakov, Dixieland Jamboree, Arr. Warrington, Symphony No.5 by Anton Dvorak.
At 5:00 a.m. on December 29, 1965, the band assembled at Vancouver International Airport for the 6:00 a.m. flight to California for the 1966 Rose Bowl Parade. They were to officially represent the Province of British Columbia at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. There were so many large instruments and cargo that each band member was only allowed to take one bag (30 pounds) and a carry-on bag. While in California the band stayed at the California State College. After their arrival and settling in, the next day (December 30) the band appeared in Santa Anita and played at the race course with the RCMP contingent that also came down for the Rose Bowl Parade. December 31 was a free day for a sightseeing trip to Los Angeles, Hollywood and Knott’s Berry Farm. On January 1st they marched in the Rose Bowl Parade. Entertainment at the Rose Bowl was by the Robin Hood Band. The next day on January 2nd they performed at Disneyland, followed by a tour.
On January 3rd the band left Los Angeles around 5:00 p.m. on a CP Air charter flight. The flight was diverted to Calgary due to a snow storm that hit the Lower Mainland causing Vancouver International Airport to divert all in-bound flights to other airports. When their flight landed it was bitterly cold (way below 0 degrees F) and they spent the night at a Calgary hotel. They were all dressed in light clothing as it was very warm when they left Los Angeles and the walk from the plane to the terminal was like a trip to the North Pole.
ABOVE: Beefeaters see themselves in action. Holding Momento of Vancouver Junior Band’s trip to Pasadena Tournament of Roses in California Jan.1 are Sandra (left) and Jeff McClellan, two members of the Beefeaters. The band was presented with picture of itself in Rose Bowl parade in a ceremony at Vancouver City Hall Wednesday.
ABOVE: August 2, 1966 Beefeaters bring home the bacon
SEATTLE SEAFAIR PARADE
New Fame, New Awards came back from Seattle’s Seafair celebrations with vancouver’s famous Beefeater Band Monday. Barbara Williamson, 16, holds up two first place trophies won by the 100-member group – Seattle Seafare Grande Musical Award and the High School Marching Band Award.
On Monday night August 29th old-style political campaigning with bands, dancing girls and baby-kissing candidates came back to Vancouver and collided head-on with modern-day red tape. Before a “gay-nineties” show, in support of Vancouver Centre Social Credit candidates Herb Capozzi and Evan Wolfe, got on the rails at Alexandra Park over looking English Bay, there was Musicians’ Union trouble and illegal parking trouble. The featured band was the Vancouver Junior Band. Because of this, the Musician’s Union demanded a 25-member standby band at the union’s $5-an hour-per-man scale. The promoters had planned that at least one band would play in the park grandstand. The standby band couldn’t play there because the union didn’t have an agreement that year with the park board.
So the standby band played unobtrusively in a corner of the park until the junior band arrived from the PNE a half-hour late. But the junior band couldn’t play in the bandstand either because bandmaster Gordon Olson was a member of the Musician’s Union. Two chartered flat-deck trucks were corralled in a hurry for a temporary bandstand at curbside on Burnaby Street bordering the park. But the police said no, this is a “no parking any time zone.” It was an impasse until a special parking dispensation was obtained from City Traffic Engineer Kenneth Vaughan-Birch.
Only then did the fun start. Dwellers from towering apartment blocks frowning down on the park came out of their cubicles and tourists stopped to wonder at the ways of the west and Social Credit. Capozzi, the resigned general manager of the Lion’s football club, and Wolfe, his motor dealer running mate, circulated in the grand style shaking hands, pinning on campaign buttons, and kissing a baby or two. The campaign speeches were short. The music was swingy and sweet. The elderly ladies cooed, and the young lasses and laddies were invited to a Capozzi-Wolfe “go-go” a week Wednesday. Said first-time campaigner Wolfe: “By a coincidence, I just happened to be here.” Said second-time campaigner Capozzi: “This is more fun than some of the speeches I’ve heard in the past two weeks.” Said the junior band: “We’re doing it for our old friend Capozzi.” The standby musicians grinned. The crowd of 500 clapped loudly and danced jigs. And the band played on.
The Vancouver Junior Band was invited by the Province of British Columbia to represent the Province at the Convention of A.S.T.A. (American Society of Travel Agents). The convention was being held that year in the Seattle Opera House on October 2nd and 3rd. Other outstanding musical aggregations had been selected to perform as well (a 350 piece select high school band from Washington State., the U.S. State Department Choir recently returned from a European Tour, John Scott Trotter and his 50 piece orchestra).
British Columbia Beefeater Band 