Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 09:35 PM

So, if that wasn't the tune to this song that Lord Executor heard, what exactly did he hear in 1893?

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Dec 11 - 03:18 PM

Who knows what he heard, if anything. He was mentally incompetent at the time.

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 04:31 PM

The deposition of Lord Executor is one of the fascinating footnotes in the story of the "Rum and Coca-Cola" litigation and it has never gotten the attention it deserves. I will try to correct this lapse in the near future. I have a copy of the deposition, including the unusual addendum, and I will post it on my site: www.rumandcocacolareader.com
A reading of the document does not support the claim that Executor was mentally incompetent when he was deposed in Port of Spain by U.S. Vice-Consul Courtland Christiani in March of 1947.
Here is the background: In the fall of 1946 the defendants in the "Baron vs. Feist" civil action contacted the leading law firm in Trinidad (or at least one of the leading law firms) in order to bolster their claim that the song "L'Année Passée" was based on a public domain melody.
The law firm was the J.D. Sellier and Co. and it is still in existence today. The man who handled the arrangements between Feist (the defendant) and Sellier was known in the documents only as "Mr. Power". Power elected to depose three Trinidadians who had knowledge of calypso which might shed some light on the matter: Harry Pitts, who had co-authored the 1944 book, Land of the Calypso; Henry McDonnell Carpenter, a classically trained musician who at that time was the music critic of the Kingston, Jamaica Gleaner; and Lord Executor. Of the three, Executor (real name Philip Garcia) was potentially the most damaging to the plaintiff because of his age. He was born in the mid-1880's and was in a position to claim personal knowledge of the melody before Lionel Belasco said he composed it in 1906.
It is hard to imagine that the lawyer(s) in Port of Spain would choose to depose someone whose mental competency was suspect. Also, Executor was the doyen of calypso at the time - his reputation for erudition was unsurpassed. On the other hand it appears that he had fallen on hard times and had lost his eyesight.
Executor was probably paid for his time, because his deposition covered two days, the 28th and 29th of March, and he had to answer two sets of interrogatories, one put together by the defense and one by the plaintiff. Executor's answers were all short and to the point.

His bombshell moment came in answer to interrogatory fourteen which was about when he first heard the melody, "L'Année Passée": "I have known this melody since about 1893 when I was a little boy living in Henry Street. It was a popular song of that period."

Unfortunately there was no follow-up question, which is of course one of the weaknesses of the deposition format. One would have wanted to hear exactly what words Executor heard and what he meant by the term "song" as opposed to the term "melody".

Executor did not have a chance to see or study the interrogatories in advance and one of the cross-interrogatories (the fourth) took him by surprise: "If you have composed calypso music, set forth the melodies of your calypso compositions, or - if you have composed more than five - set forth the melodies of at least five of them, and also state the title and the date of composition of each. If you are unable to write music, so state, and please sing the said melodies to someone who can and will write them down."

A tall order, you could say! To this question, Executor replied: "I am not prepared to give the words and melodies of my songs."

But Executor didn't give up. He took his scholarship and his authorship seriously. About six weeks later (this was on May 6th) he returned to the consulate and brought with him a trained musician by the name of George Johnson who lived at #19B Belmont Valley Road in Port of Spain. (Executor also lived in Belmont.) With the honourable Mr. Christiani in attendance he sang two of his songs, "The Donkey in Belle Eau Road" (1928) and "The Talk About Nora's Badness" (1939) and Mr. Johnson wrote down the melody as he sang. The transcription and a sworn statement from Mr. Johnson were submitted as an addendum to the deposition.

The above episode does not indicate (to me at least) the behavior of a man who was mentally incompetent.

Executor's simple statement about hearing the melody of "L'Année Passée" in 1893 would have invalidated, if believed, the incredibly elaborate case put together for the plaintiff by the famed Louis Nizer. Therefore the witnesses on the other side, like Belasco and Gerald Clark, mounted an all-out assault on Executor's character and credibility. In New York City, without Executor there to defend himself, they could get away with it. They would never have been able to to that in Trinidad.

Even so, Judge Rifkind never said in his opinion that he doubted Executor's mental capacity. He simply chose not to believe him. He put it this way: "Garcia's reputation was impeached by some of plaintiff's witnesses."

This process is part of almost all civil litigation. Both sides are lying and exaggerating and the judge has to pick someone to believe. And the judge cannot be overruled on this score.

Once again I will post Executor's deposition on my website as soon as I get a chance.

Yours truly,
Kevin Burke, Cambridge, Massachusetts
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 05:47 PM

The date of 1905 for the Soye incident was attested to by three witnesses who knew Lionel Belasco in 1906.
Gerald Clark, who knew Belasco in Trinidad in 1904. Abundantly recorded from 1914, came to U.S., attended Howard University, played Carnegie Hall. Said he heard the song L'Annee Passee in 1906 from Belasco.
Dr. Walter Merick, licensed physician in New York, director of Physical Medicine, Harlem Hospital, composer (Mango Man. opera Black Empire) and lecturer on calypso. Learned L'Annee Passee from Blasco in 1906 in Trinidad as a child who imitated Belasco's style.
James Francis Minerve, born in Trinidad, knew Belasco in 1906, later in U. S. chief technician of Dept. Physiotherapy, Dept. Hospitals, City of New York.

This establishes Belasco's claim to have composed L'Annee Passee beyond reasonable question.

The next point is Philip Garcia's claim to have heard the melody in 1893, and made by deposition, which was received by the Court.
No witnesses or supporting information have ever been found.

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: GUEST,lord exposure
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 08:51 PM

Did Lord Executor ever find out that he had been slandered in a New York City courtroom in 1947 by his own countrymen?

Well, I hope not. It was a terrible thing.

It brings tears to my eyes when I read the words to one of his late songs:

"The technical beauty of my elaborate praise
Will be mentioned by generations for many days,
I, Executor, Calypso King,
Now at this very moment I was called to sing.
What I've done for all mankind
Must be remembered as I'm getting blind.
So come and hear the story of my fatal misfortune
In this colony . . ."

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Jan 12 - 01:23 PM

Gerald Clark and Dr. Walter Merrick, before coming to the U. S. for educational and professional advancement, were well-known early calypsoans, along with Lionel Belasco. All are men of standing in their professions.

A number of Belasco's recordings from the 1920s-1930s are available on cd, but only 2-3 each of the many early recordings made by Gerald Clark have been re-issued on cd; one or two by Merrick's Band can be found on Rounder, but other than that their efforts are found only on old 45s and possibly lps.

Clark and Merrick did not slander Lord Executor, they presented their knowledge of the work of Lionel Belasco.

Philip Garcia's claim "to have heard the melody in 1893", as noted previously, has never been verified by evidence, it is only anecdotal and therefore would have no currency in any court of law.

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 03 Jan 12 - 02:35 AM

Added to Kevin Burke's mention of Lord Executor's having lost his eyesight- he went completely blind sometime in the 1950s and apparently stopped singing after that.

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 08:52 AM

Q,

I'm interested in the musical score of "Léoma Tombé", but I didn't find out the way to send you a private message. Here is my email address: jlespi[at]free.fr I would be pleased if you can mail it.

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: Monique
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 09:13 AM

Guest, Q passed away on Dec.8th 2014.

Subject: RE: Origins: L'Annee Passee (Belasco)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 05 Sep 18 - 09:38 PM

Q: "Baron, a childhood friend of the composer..."

The dates in their biographies are a little sketchy but... Lionel Belasco arrived in New York c.1914 at the age of 33. No mention of prior trips to Canada, France or the American west coast.

Maurice Baron was born in France, moved to Canada and left the family farm c.1906 to join the circus as a clarinetist, age 17. He settled down in New York in 1919 as house conductor of the Roxy Symphony, age 30. No mention of circus routes to the Caribbean but it's certainly possible.

I can't place them together until 1943's notorious songbook but both were probably adult, working professionals whenever it was they first met.

It does seem like Maurice Baron was in the San Francisco Symphony and Mare Island Navy Base bands at roughly the same time as jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman, both on viola.

Probably coincidental but, Edward Colby, adopted son of Charles E. Colby, was also a Mare Island bandleader at the exact same time and Colby the Elder died in San Francisco in 1913. Thirty years later Baron and Belasco would publish Louis Camille (a Colby variant) in that same calypso songbook.