The O"Donnell Brothers performed their vaudeville act at the Lyceum Theatre, Ithaca, New York on November 19, 1913. Exactly 100 years later the History Center hosts a concert and program to commemorate this performance. The Brothers were from Brooklyn and had a successful career as “Irish Musicians and Comedians,” performing mostly in the northeast. Ed played the bagpipe and Cornelius played violin and danced. “A True to Nature Irish Act.”
The program will be given by Nick Whitmer of Ithaca, who has been making and playing Irish bagpipes (nowadays called uilleann pipes) for about 30 years. Nick will be joined by fiddle player Jonathan Chai of Syracuse and Irish dancer Nancy Kane. Jim Murphy of Ithaca will be reading from original period documents.
For the commemoration there will be live music, some of it performed on the original Irish Bag Pipe Ed O’Donnell used in the 1913 performance. Hear a bit about vaudeville, the Lyceum Theatre, Irish music and the Irish-American experience. Several remarkable photos will be shown, and hitherto unknown facts revealed.
Unlike their Scottish cousin, the Irish bagpipe is about as loud as a fiddle and designed to be played indoors. The instrument to be played at the program is especially ornate and elaborate and was made by the Taylor Brothers of Philadelphia before 1890.
At The History Center
Gateway Center
410 East State Street
Ithaca NY 14850
Congrats, Nick, that awesome. You just have loan of those things? Would love to have some more snaps. Has those oddball shaped keys you sometimes see on big Taylors; also the Touhey-esque quick release key on the stock to let all the air out tout suite. And 5 regs, never seen a quintuple - 3/2? - set from them. 2 drones, I assume? Looks like the tonehole is on the bottom - and a big metal bracket for a conventional type forged key…huh.
Have been combing through that fultonhistory.com site you linked to in the Prices of Pipes thread looking for notices about “Irish Pipes” - lots of smoking implement stories with that one - or “Irish Bagpipe” - lots of JFK Memorial Bands with that one - but have found lots of clippings about Touhey, a few for Tom Ennis, and others. Nothing about your boys, though. Have any info about their act? Anything involving thrown pies? Or fruit?
I bought the set in June of this year. I have been working on restoring it to playing condition since then.
It has six regs and two drones. Folks with far more knowledge & experience than I have looked at the set and declared it to be the real deal - a Taylor set.
Associated with the set was a bunch of material about the O’Donnell Brothers, including photos, a scrapbook, newspaper clippings, posters, music both printed & in manuscript, etc., etc. This material stayed with the family, but I have photographs of most of it.
As far as research goes, my focus has been on the O’Donnell’s vaudeville career. Between the material the family kept and newspaper articles found in fultonhistory.com, I have amassed a fair amount of info. For example, I found out that the Brothers played in the town where I live - and hence the concert - from a fultonhistory.com reference.
I am still looking for more info & trying to make sense of what I have. One of these days I’ll write up an article.
Criminy, congrats Nick. Used to have dreams about stumbling onto an old set like that.
“Six” regs, that’s a typo right? Where’s the sixth one hiding? And what in God’s name does it do? Supplying E makes sense, after that, what? That’s nuts. Coyne built a six reg set but had the good sense to just not throw in any drones…
Maybe a reg with another D - then you could throw in full 3 note chords. Or C#. My big Bb set has a reg with C# and E, so you can play melodies on the keys. Also a double bass with G, F#, E, D. Those GB and F#A bass chords are quite the rumble.
Love the ivory chanter top too. For years I’ve played an ebony chanter with a boxwood top, same color scheme.
Exactly. That’s what I was hinting at as Bill explains in the short article that that is Nick’s new set. It couldn’t go to a better or nicer guy. However, I can’t imagine what it would take to get that beast totally going (maybe something that occurs either, as Robbie Hannon put it, once or twice a year OR only in the Platonic realm…).
Wow, Nick, that is a fantastic set! Such fortuitousness couldn’t possibly befall a better suited fellow fidgeter. Funny how the old pipes find the piper, as opposed to the other way around. Did you reintegrate the original bass drone end?
The set came with two bass drone slider parts. The one shown in the old pictures works, the other doesn’t. If anything, the one that doesn’t work looks more “Taylorish” to my eye, and shows slightly better workmanship. Go figure.
It is bone, not ivory. I am not sure what it is for. It appears to be what is intended to rest on the leg, the lowest of the drones & regs. In practice the lowest part is the bass drone. So again, go figure.
Where’s the sixth one hiding? And what in God’s name does it do? Supplying E makes sense, after that, what? That’s nuts. Coyne built a six reg set but had the good sense to just not throw in any drones…