Question: The music of the GI Generation

[FedoraFan112390]

I'm trying to find out things about my grandfather. He died in 1975 so I never got to meet him and anyone who could tell me first hand stuff is dead. So a little help here.....

My grandpa was born in 1920 in NYC. Son of Italian immigrants. Served in Army in WWII from '39-'46, was a Staff Sgt. Liked to gamble a lot (his nickname was "Ace"), also apparently liked cartoons, liked going to the movies, seemed to have something of a sentimental side as he kept all of his old Driver Licenses, Work IDs and other mementos from jobs he had long since left behind. Always had his hair slicked back and was very, very clean about himself--Good hygiene, had a lot of his clothes tailored tight. Seemed to adjust easily to his times--He wore long sideburns in the 1970s and wide collared, Disco-esque shirts not long before his death in 1975. He loved the YMCA, loved military related organizations such as the American Legion etc, worked as a Postman, a Cabbie (in the early 50s) and a Security Guard.

With a man of that time and that upbringing and whatnot, what sort of music would he have liked? What sort of music did people of that era--people born around 1910-1925 or so--tend to like? The one thing I know is he hated Tony Bennett because he'd met Bennett while working for the Pinkertons at the 1964 World's Fair and Bennett was rude to the guys working there who were asking for autographs. I'm asking about music because for me a person's taste in music says something about them.

 

[Stanley Doble]

For someone of his age and tastes the default choice would be big band swing music which was the most popular with young people from 1935 until rock and roll came along about 1954. The way you describe him he sounds like the perfect Sinatra fan.

But, you never know. He may just as easily gone for bebop or grand opera for all we know. Among his memorabilia is there anything to indicate a taste for music?

 

[Shangas]

During the 20s to the 50s, the predominant style of popular music was some variation of jazz. Starting with ragtime and "hot" jazz in the Edwardian & post-WWI era, then "Sweet" jazz during the 20s, morphing into the more familiar "Swing/Big-Band" stuff that lasted from the late 20s/early 30s up into the 1950s. The 50s saw the rise of Rock & Roll, Doo-wop, etc.

If your grandfather was a guy of his generation, and a young man during the 30s and 40s, I'd say he would've listened to a lot of stuff like Goodman, Miller, and perhaps some of the more popular, younger artists of the time. It was in the 40s that a youngish chap named Frank Sinatra was making his debut on American radio...

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Sadly no musical stuff among his memorabilia. Tons of work, job, clubs and other stuff, but no music stuff. I'd ask my grandma but they had a VERY, VERY bitter separation in the late 1960s (due to infidelity on his part) and she doesn't even refer to him as my grandfather; only as "my husband." She won't say like "your grandpa...". They spent 20 years together, from 1948 to 1968 yet she can only seem to recall every bad thing he did. It's odd; The longer he's been gone, the more bitter she's become. In the first years after his death, she'd tell fonder stories about him if he was brought up. In the several years he was living at home again (He had suffered a minor stroke in 1973, had no money or any place to go, so he was allowed to move back in but not as her husband. He lived in the Community Room of their house until his death), she treated him very nice and civil, even doing favors for him. She was at his side when he died.

But she's so bitter that she'd never tell me anything about him as a person other than how horrible he was. Even then, it's hard to get her to mention him. And if say I was to ask her if she still had her vinyl records from years ago--which would be an indication of what kind of music was played in the house years ago and thus would be an indication of their musical tastes--she'd get suspicious and think I'd want to steal them. She accuses people of stealing her property often....

And all of his siblings and in-laws are dead. No living in-law in this family predates the '80s--what I mean is, none of his son and daughter in laws were part of the family prior to the '80s. None of my aunts or uncles by marriage ever met him. The only living person who could possibly have some knowledge about him is my aunt's ex-husband. They were married in 1972 and my grandpa lived with my aunt and that husband after his stroke until his death. But I've never met the man, he and my aunt don't speak despite having a child together; it'd be awkward at best.

Another person I could ask is his girlfriend, if she's still alive; They were together from around 1964 to 1973 and lived together after my grandparents split up and she seemed to be the love of his life from what I've been told, but I don't even know her name, no one knows her name, and it'd be again awkward. "Hey, you were with my grandpa back in the 60s and 70s and broke up my grandparents' marriage only to leave my grandpa nine years later when he had a stroke and you didn't want to take care of him, lemme ask you a couple of questions."

 

[Doctor Strange]

My dad was essentially the same age - born in 1919 and grew up in NYC - though of Jewish rather than Italian extraction. His musical taste ran to Broadway musicals and light classical music, plus some 50s/early 60s folk artists (Harry Belafonte, Thodore Bikel, Burl Ives, The Kingston Trio). But my folks didn't own any big band records until they bought a retrospective set in the 70s. He never showed much affinity for jazz or swing, though my mom (who'd once played trumpet in a swing combo herself) did. When I started acquiring Goodman, Basie, Ellington, etc., records, she was the one who could identify the songs almost immediately.

Anyway, he liked the popular classical warhorses, and the cast albums of all the musicals they'd seen. (It's worth recalling that Broadway used to actually be affordable to the average joe - my dad often mentioned that on their first date in 1946, he took my mom to the original production of Carousel: "And I got us the good seats - 85 cents!")

But my point is: not everybody of that generation was necessarily a fan of swing, even though it was the popular music of the time and was always playing in the background. Beware of stereotypical generalizations!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Swing was the "music of youth" at the time, but judging from what you find in surviving caches of 78s, Kay Kyser sold more records than Benny Goodman, and far, far more records than Jimmie Lunceford or Count Basie. Surveys taken among college-age kids around 1940 revealed a strong preferance for sweet bands over hard-swinging outfits. Jitterbugs were never more than a noisy minority among the kids of the time. The real, serious jazz fans of the era had no use for Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey -- they were far more interested in old Bix Beiderbecke and King Oliver records.

There were very few Italian-American kids of that generation who didn't grow up hearing Caruso records played over and over again if there was a Victrola in the house. A taste for opera is nowhere near as unlikely as it might be for a kid growing up today.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Though my Dad was a Korean War vet born in 1928 he was still pretty close in age to the WWII G.I. Generation. The core of his musical tastes was Big Band as well as musical theatre. I have tons of programs from the musical productions my parents avidly attended. He was also a particularly big fan of The Three Suns which even prompted him to try to learn to play the organ.

[video=youtube;T_c1aAHA-rg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_c1aAHA-rg[/video]

 

[Amy Jeanne]

My grandmother, born 1929 (still living) loved Burl Ives and Bing Crosby. She liked some swing, too. She says she could never stand Sinatra.

 

[Shangas]

My grandmother who died last year, was born in 1914. As I recall, her favourite music was the crooners of the 30s-50s, and a smattering of Classical. She used to tell me that the Blue Danube Waltz was one of her favourite pieces of music. She also used to sing me "South of the Border" every now and then, when I was a kid.

You know the one. Goes like this:

[video=youtube;UXEpJEnbhO4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXEpJEnbhO4[/video]