The Jim Nabors Show
Jim Nabor shows are seldom known for mishaps and to be in the middle of one can be very entertaining. I was present at one such show and I will try to set it up as accurately as possible.
Jim Nabors was in the middle of one of his slow dreamy ballads as the lights dimmed and his almost operatic voice floated through the arena. If you have not had the pleasure of hearing his real singing talents, you have missed a great experience. Once he has dropped his Gomer Pyle image and character, he is capable of melting the heart of even the most stone hearted female in the room. That was exactly the setting that night at this show. The rhythm section began his introduction and we all settled in for a beautiful ballade. Then it happened….
One of the trombone players slid his chair slightly back and the rear two legs slipped off the stage. As he tried to catch his balance, his foot shot out and sent his straight mute shooting into the back of one of the sax players which startled the player enough to cause him to shout very loudly, “WHAT THE..? That would have been enough to disrupt the show but it didn’t stop there. As the falling trombone player tried feverously to regain his balance, the player next to him reached over and grabbed him by his extended leg. At that point, the light man decided to make the situation even worse by swinging the follow spot over to illuminate the confusion in our trombone section. Most of the audience was unaware of the confusion when suddenly out of the arena came an unmistakable sound of Gomer Pyle over the sound system, “Golly”, which was one of his signature comments every week on the Andy Griffith Show. That one word brought the house down and was one of the funniest scenes you could ever imagine. What the audience saw that evening was one musician laying back on a collapsed chair with both his feet in the air, and the man next to him holding on to one of his outstretch legs with two trombones pointing in opposite directions. Finish that off with Jim Nabors scratching the top of his head in a typical Gomer Pyle slumped position repeating “Golly”.
The Royal Canadian Air Force Mounted Police Show
We are all familiar with the wonderful entertainment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police equestrian shows and I had the pleasure of playing one in Dallas, Texas many years ago. The band was good and their director was a wonderful gentleman. At least until our lead trumpet player arrived in a very inebriated state. The lead player had played a job many miles away and had kept himself awake during the return drive back to Dallas by indulging in alcoholic beverages to an extreme. It was obvious at once that he could not play lead that day so the other trumpet player and I agreed to split the lead part in the show. Now what do we do with happy boy?
We knew that the former lead player needed the work and we didn’t want him to be fired so we did the only thing we could do to save his reputation. First we took away his mouthpiece for there might be a slim chance he might try to play a note. Then we explained to the director that we would like to have happy boy sit in the section between us for the booking agent was in the audience and we didn’t want him to know what was happening. To our surprise, the director said he was good with it. “Very good sports those Canadians”. Just before the overture, we sat our former lead player in tight between us and told him to hold his horn up the best he could. He understood and throughout the entire show he kept his word.
We played the show. We all got paid and the booking agent never knew the difference. As far as I know the Canadian Mounted Police director is still telling the time he had a happy boy in his section that never played a note.
The Holiday on Ice Show and the First Mach 1 Mustang
The band was to play for the Holiday on Ice show given exclusively for the Ford dealers in the Dallas area. Scheduled for the intermission was the first view of the all new Mach 1 Mustang by the Ford Motor Company. The first half went flawlessly and just before the intermission, the new Mach 1 Mustang drove onto the ice in front of the band which was also on the ice in one corner of the ice rink. The announcer began to introduce the beautiful black, full race car as it idled in front of the band. As we played and the announcer described the car to the excited dealers, I looked down at the cars tail pipe and noticed that it was pointing down to the ice. As we continued to play and the announcer continued to announce, the heat from the tail pipe continued to melt the ice.
At the beginning of the second half of the Holiday on Ice show the top female skater began to circle the rink as the band played an exciting Bolero to accompany her. Faster and faster she skated and faster and faster we played. Then it happened. As she made her turn in front of the band, her skate dropped into the circle of melted ice and down she went, and here she came. The poor young lady skidded across the ice and the band was directly in her path. As she rocketed through the waste high curtain in front of the band, all I saw was two skates and a leg. When she finally stopped in the second row of musicians, a trombone player quietly stood up, waved his arms and yelled “SAFE”.
