Walt Fensch's Ambassadors

My Dad recently found this photo of my grandfather with the Bob Richards /Westinghouse Orchestra. I love the "W.F." for Walter Fensch on his bass drum!

This is a handbill used by my grandfather's band. My grandfather is pictured in the back row at the far left (to the left of the stand-up bass). The band members are (back row): Walter Fensch (drums), John Miller (bass), Al Heath (piano), Joe Mayer (sax), Art Schreiffler (sax), Dale Stevens (guitar). Front row: Sid Applegate (sax), Oscar Fensch (trumpet), Howard Wildman (trumpet) and James Rosenberry (trombone).

Here is a picture of the letterhead the Ambassadors used during the 1930s.

Here is my grandfather with the Westinghouse Orchestra. He is pictured second from the left.

This tambourine was owned and played by my grandfather in the Ambassadors. The skin portion is long gone. Today, it hangs proudly in my computer room.

In 1967, a story was published in the Mansfield News Journal, recounting some of the musical memories of Mansfield in the 1930s.

Here is a telegram to my grandfather, requesting a musician from his band. Note the salary for the gig: $22.50... BIG money for the 1930s (especially considering that many guys don't get paid one thin dime for playing today!).

Do a little web research, I found some information on the person who sent the telegram to my grandfather. His name was Everett Sanderson of Fostoria, Ohio. From the web: TED LEWIS IMITATOR PLAYED THREE INSTRUMENTS AT THE SAME TIME One of Sanderson's great feats was to play three instruments at one...two clarinets and a saxaphone. It may seem quite impossible, but Duffield knew Sanderson personally and vouched for the authenticity of his ability. The period of time in which Duffield knew Sanderson was when he (Duffield) was first starting his music store. Sanderson was aged then, with no income, but played at the Black Cat, his pay being free meals. Duffield kept Sanderson's instruments in repair for free. Sanderson's instruments came to the Museum through Duffield. Also found some information about the person who was apparently the booking agent for Walt Fensch's Ambassadors, Phil Premy (see the handbill on this page). He was a lightweight boxer...

Another photo of the Westinghouse Orchestra, with my grandfather on the skins. not the Westinghouse logo on the bass drum.

This is a photo of my grandfather playing drums with the Bob Richards and His Orchestra, which also doubled as the Westinghouse Orchestra (Westinghouse logos are on the stands in front of the band members) . Photo is from the early 1930s, most likely 1932 or 1933.

The Ambassadors performing at a Valentine's Day event. Year and location are unknown.

Among my grandfather's scant band memorabilia was this membership card, for the Pines Club. My father told me that the Ambassadors often played this club, although the town is unknown. There is a possibility that the club was in Toledo, Ohio, although back in the 1930s, the distance between the Mansfield area and Toledo would have been considered significant. My father also related a story to me that he believes happened at the Pines Club. Apparently, the Pines Club was a fairly shady place, and one night, one of the Fensch brothers (my grandfather, his older brother Edwin, and younger brother Oscar often played gigs together) lighted a firecracker in the club (the brothers were big-time pranksters). Immediately following the explosion, a bunch of revolvers were drawn. Luckily, none of the brothers were shot! Who knows what kind of immoral activity could have been going on at the Pines? One possibility is that the Pines could have been serving hooch (this was during Prohibition). A...

Here are the Ambassadors performing the music for a skit featuring football players and cheerleaders.

Today (August 26, 2006) would have been my grandfather's 98th birthday. He passed away in September, 1978 when I was just a month shy of ten years old. I remember my grandpa vividly. He was an easy-going guy with a great sense of humor. He was quite the jokester. Walter Henry Fensch was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the second oldest of four children (Edwin (the eldest), Walter, Oscar and Hildegard). He graduated from Mansfield High School in 1925 — the middle of the Roaring 20s. In the early 1930s, he performed with the Westinghouse Orchestra as a drummer. Big band swing was just starting to trickle out of big towns such as New York City and Chicago, reaching smaller towns eager for hot, new music ripe for dancing. In 1934, he formed Walt Fensch's Ambassadors, which was billed as playing "Slow, rhythmic music... and sometimes they get hot." His younger brother Oscar played the trumpet in the band. One of the lines that my grandpa's band used in their handbills was ...