InCider Press, July 2004, page 6

and first president of the Manhattan (New York) chapter.

"The Old Songs" is really an introduction to a more complete work of 14 pages, "A Little Close Harmony." It is a glee club type song with banjo and other instrumental background.In the early days of our Society, O'Hara gave permission to use the introduction as our theme song.

--Author unknown, most recently seen in "The Ballyhoo", La
Cresenta Chapter, Bob Barnes, Editor
--Submitted to PROBE site by Wm. Grant Carson, former VPBE

"The old songs, the old songs, the good old songs for me . . ." was composed by Geoffrey O'Hara who was born in Ontario in 1882. O'Hara was a banker and professional musician. He received an honorary doctorate in music from Huron College.

O'Hara composed songs for Al Jolson and Enrico Caruso. Two of his better known popular compositions were "K-K-K-Katy" and "Your Eyes Told Me So." He also composed many spirituals including "There Is No Death" and "I Walked Today Where Jesus Is." It isn't known whether he wrote barbershop songs although he was the founder

If you missed this opportunity to sing in the churches during the first two Sunday, be sure to look at the schedule on the back page and join us for the final two performances in the Manhattan area.

I mentioned on Thursday evening that we find ourselves once again short of music. This is another plea to look through your music at home, your music folder, your briefcase, your music box, or where ever you might store music from time to time. Whatever is not on the "Summer Music Repertoire" list, please bring it to rehearsal and turn it in to Bob Ridley. Specifically you were asked to look for and bring the "Barbershop Porpourri" book. We want to sing some songs out of that book, but we currently do not have enough for everyone to see the music. Each year we purchase more music to replace missing or lost music, but there comes a time when we need to be more accountable with the music issued to us. Please make the effort to look through your music when you read this article. Let's see how much music we can "recover" with this July '04 effort. Thanks for your help!

Often times when we finish with our Sunday morning performances we feel like it is not time to quit. We have a great time participating in the various services, and sometimes even have moving experiences ourselves. Then, when we have completed our tour, it is time to go home, and we all go our separate ways, sometimes not being able to even say "good-bye" to each other. Thank you (again) to Terry and John for hosting the group in Axtel last month. That is the kind of gathering that helps to complete a rigorous singing expedition. We would like to do it again after the July 25th church performances. Everyone (including spouses and guests) are invited to the Westbank Townhomes clubhouse after the final performance. We will have the meat and drinks, and ask for you to bring a side dish to share with the group. Bring your swimming gear if you like. The clubhouse is air-conditioned and the pool is refreshing. We can do more singing, visit, eat, and cool down after a good morning of sharing our music around the community.