Here you go......check this picture out from I'm guessing from the early to mid 40's.
The man with the practice pad surounded by the bevy of young girls was a classmate of my Dad and THE local drum teacher by the name of Bob Varney.
What a cool way to get the chicks a practice pad at the beach!
Bob used to tell the story that he saw Gene Krupa around 1935-36'ish and was blow away by Gene's showmanship and inspired him to play.
Bob went on to play with Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Jimmy McPartland, Mal Hallet....the list goes on.
John (Purdie Shuffle) got me started with his tribute to Gene (which was GREAT) to scour YouTube to see if I could find some footage of Bob, and low and behold I found him with Kenton doing a tune called "Southern Scandal". He did an original episode of the lost Honeymooner's with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey on a live New Years Show.
I wasnt smart enough to want to play the drums as a kid but my dear friend was fortunate to study with Bob for many years and became an amazing player thanks to Bob and the great Alan Dawson.
Ahh, to be around back then!!
BGT
