Last edited: Monday, August 18, 2008
Puzzles
Listen closely....
From which piece of music is this clip taken? Do you know who wrote it?
(No, it wasn't written by one of the Sons of the Pioneers!)
Suggestion No. 1 your mystery music is an arrangement of the major themes of Puccini's La Boheme. It may even be the actual overture, I'm not sure, but at least that's where all the music is to be found. Now all you have to do is go out and find the perfect recording of that opera and you'll have it forever!
There are also several photos among the collection that Bob Nolan left his grandson, Calin Coburn, that still puzzle us. Aside from Bob himself and a few familiar faces, there are individuals in these pictures that we cannot identify. If you can help us with provenance or identification of faces, we would be grateful. Please email either of us AND quote the number of the photo.
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 1
Flash Whiting is at back right and Bob is reclining in front.
Who are the other two?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 2
c. 1936 Who is the man and the two children with Bob?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 3
Who are the men with a mustachioed Bob. They are all holding bows. The words on the back in Bob's handwriting are "Start of bow hunt 1937. Check the mustache. Oh! Brother!"
Suggestion No. 1: The one next to Bob looks a lot like the ever-present musician and assistant to Gene Autry, Frankie Marvin. He appeared in most of Gene's movies and a lot of his TV shows. (Charlie Murphy)
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 4
c. 1939 Six unidentified faces with the Sons of the Pioneers.
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 5
c. 1943 Who is the lady in these two photos?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 6
c 1944 Who is with Bob and P-Nuts?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 7
c. 1944 Who are the people with Bob and P-Nuts?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 8
c 1943. Who is Tex Wilson?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1: Tex Wilson played a bad guy in the 1948 Sunset Carson movie Fighting Mustang. (Edward Phillips, Simi Valley, CA)
No. 9
Who is the man and woman with Bob and Lloyd Perryman?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 10
In a firehall. Where? Who are they? What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1:
#10 looks like it might have been taken up at Big Bear Lake because of the rustic setting and Bob's casual attire. Since then, I noticed that Bob is wearing the same clothes in #11. Also, if you look at the fellow partially hidden behind Bob's right elbow you will notice his tie and hat matches the fellow's in #10 standing in the front row second in from the left. Wherever these two photos were taken, it's obvious they were taken on the same day or evening. Maybe this was a fireman's ball in Big Bear or wherever. Who knows? (Dick Goodman)
No. 11
c. 1946-8 What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 12
c 1942 Who is the lady with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1: Alice Fleming
No. 13
c. 1946-8
Who is the little boy with the cast on his leg? The words imprinted on the sheet read "Texas Scott____ Hospital."
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 14
c. 1946-8 Who are these official-looking men with Bob Nolan? What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1: RCA Victor reps. (Karl E. Farr)
No. 15
c. 1946-8 Who is the man with the Sons of the Pioneers? What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 16
c. 1946-8 Who is the man with the wives of the Sons of the Pioneers?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 17
c. 1946-8 Who are these people with the Sons of the Pioneers? What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1: RCA Victor party.
No. 18
c. 1950s Who are the man and woman with Bob and P-Nuts? Where are they?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 19
c. 1946 Who is "Smokey"? What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1: My guess is that it is Ray Whitley; it looks like him. I don't know if he used the name "Smokey" outside of the movies. That was the name he went by in the Tim Holt westerns. (Ed Phillips)
Suggestion No. 2: The clown looks a lot like Emmett Kelly from Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Response: I looked into Emmett Kelly a few years ago and found a fan club as expert in their field as you are in yours. They acknowledged that "Smokey" was an Emmett Kelly copy but pointed out small differences in his makeup application and costume that told them it wasn't Kelly himself. So I'm still looking around and when I found out Ray was called "Smokey", I remembered that he was called that in The Old Wyoming Trail, too, so maybe the name stuck to him.
No. 20
c. 1953 Who are the people with Bob, P-Nuts and her father, Mr. Brown?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 21
Who are the two men on the right beside Bob and his father-in-law, Mr. Brown?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 22
c. 1953. Who is the man and the woman with Bob? What was the occasion?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Suggestion No. 1: Richard or Robert Sherman (songwriter who co-wrote dozens of songs with Bob Roberts.)
Suggestion No. 2: Charles Lung
No. 23
c. 1946 Who is the lady Radio WHN announcer?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Answer: She is actress Adrienne Ames.
No. 24
What year would this be taken? Where?
The print under the newspaper clipping reads "Bob Nolan, encouraged by composers like Hoagy Carmichael, decided to devote his time to writing songs himself."
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 25
The newspaper clipping appears to be of some kind of keyboard. Any ideas of where it was taken?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
No. 26
What is the monument? The only words we can read are "Pittsburgh" and "July 4, 1826".
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Answer: The picture says, "Pittsburgh-July 4,1826. That was the birth date of Stephen Foster. (Bill Marquet)
No. 27
This is another newspaper clipping. Where are they? What is the statue?
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Answer: The monument in the picture is of Stephen Foster and it is located at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Bill Marquet)
No. 28
c. 1939 Two unidentified faces with Karl Farr, Pat Brady and Lloyd Perryman.
Email: calin1@cox.net or elizabethdrakemcdonald@gmail.com
Thank you!
