Don Messer and His Islanders
Donald Charld
Frederick Messer was born on May 9, 1909 in Tweedside, New Brunswick
- the youngest of eleven children. Don Messer's musical talent became evident
when he was little more than a toddler, so it was no surprise to his family
when he made his debut at age seven, playing the fiddle at a barn dance.
This proved to be the beginning of a lifelong career of making toe-tapping
music. His first group, was called the Backwoods Trio, which later
became the New Brunswick Lumberjacks. In 1939 Don Messer and His Islanders
got their first big break on radio. But it was the incredible overnight
success of "Don Messer's Jubilee" in 1959 that made his name a household
word across Canada. On March 21, 1969 marked Don Messer's 35th anniversary
in broadcasting. He passed away in 1972, after 38 years of combined
broadcasting in radio and television.
 Marg
Osburne joined the Islanders in 1947, after Don had heard
her sing on a Moncton radio station. Her naturalness, warmth, and
simplicity won the hearts of thousands of Canadians who tuned into the
show every week. |
 Charlie
Chamberlain, the singing lumberjack left the the bush
camps far behind when he joined Don Messer's band in 1935. Charlie
had a twinkle in his eye and loved to kick up his heels in front of a mike
or a camera, but he could also bring a tear to the eye when he joined Marg
for a hymn sung in gentle harmony. |
 Johnny Forrest
with
his Scottish burr, his accordion, and his kilt brought the traditional
tunes of his native land to the Don Messer show. The songs he sang
and the music he played contributed to the distinct flavour that audiences
loved. |
 Don Tremaine
came
to Canada at an early age, attended school in Halifax, and after a stint
with the Mounties became one of the busiest and most well known personalities
on Maritime radio and television. |
 Warren MacRae
began
his musical career at an early age: at ten he was playing drums with the
Charlottetown West Kent School Band and the local Salvation Army Band.
He progressed to dance band work when he was twelve. |
 Julius "Duke"
Neilsen could play practically every instrument; he was
cornetist in a Salvation Army Band and boy bugler in the Navy. He
won a contest to play cornet in Benny Goodman's band and travelled with
him for a while - but turned down an offer from Arthur Fieldler to play
bass in the Boston Pops Orchestra. |
 Rae Simmons
was
born in Nova Scotia and started playing the clarinet and the saxaphone
when he was fourteen. After joining Don Messer in 1940 he doubled
as announcer for the group for many years. |
 Cecil
MacEachern was equally at home on the mandolin, bass
fiddle, or guitar. whether his violin joined Don for a lively reel
or his guitar accompanied Marg in a plaintive folk song, P.E.I. born Cec
played the music he loved. |
 Waldo Munro
started
playing piano at age nine, and went on to play in dance bands and on radio
before joining the Islanders in 1951. They say that Pictou County
lost one of its best baseball pitchers when Waldo chose to make music his
career. |
 Vic Mullen
who
hails from Yarmouth, N.S., auditioned with his own band for the Messer
show, and Don liked the way he played the banjo so much that he hired him.
His nimble fingers and happy grin contributed to the infectious spirit
that characterized "Jubilee". |
 Gunter Buchta
took up dancing as physiotherapy after suffering a leg injury in WWII.
This led to his becoming a superb professional dancer, and after coming
to Canada, he joined Messer's show. The swirling, twirling, fast-stepping
routines of the Buchta Dancers proved him an imaginative interpreter of
square dancing. |
 Bill Langstroth
was
born in New Brunswick, and graduated from Mount Allison University as Bachelor
of Fine Arts. He spent the first dozen years of his working life
as producer, writer, director of the half-hour "Don Messer's Jubilee" |
Acknowledgements:
Photo's and extracts from "CANADA'S DON MESSER" by Lester
B. Sellick (1969)
and various album jackets, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Don Messer
Jubilee Video (1985)