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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
OT: Masters of the Air
OT: Masters of the Air
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SuperBee
7141 posts
Apr 16, 2025
3:04 AM
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Watching MOTA part 7 tonight.
When Sergeants Quinn and Bailey are going home, around 9 minutes there’s a brief scene where a trio of mechanics are bidding them farewell with whistles and cries of “fly safe, boys!” The fellow in the middle has a harmonica. It looks for all the world like a Marine Band.
I started wondering whether a harmonica on an American base in England in 1944 would have likely been a Marine Band. It seems quite possible, but what non-German harmonicas would have been available to service men?
Last Edited by SuperBee on Apr 16, 2025 3:05 AM
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TetonJohn
446 posts
Apr 17, 2025
10:46 AM
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Hawkeye Kane posted here about William Kraft harmonicas back in 2012; here is an excerpt:
"William Kratt, Sr., a German immigrant from Trossingen, returned home from America and started his first venture, The National Harmonica Company in Trossingen in 1918. Hohner caught wind of it and bought him out, and he moved back to New Jersey in 1925 with the proceeds where he founded Wm. Kratt Company. It was there, (apparently by all accounts) that he invented the first pitch pipe with a C-to-C white note scale. He then developed the chromatic 13-note pipe that we now know, and it's still manufactured today.
He went on to invent his own style of harmonica, which became his hottest product around the world, with millions of them being sold. Like countless other manufacturers, Wm. Kratt Co. converted much of its output production toward defense item contracts during World War II. But unlike most factories, his was allowed to continue production of his original product with a limited ration of brass. In fact, the War Department requested he continue making harps for servicemen overseas to boost morale, and they were passed out by the Red Cross in the field. The classic image of a GI playing a harmonica in the movies and memoirs is in most cases likely to be a Kratt harp."
https://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/3077795.htm
While on the subject: I was given a WK "Brass Band" also labelled as "Lonnie Glosson and Wayne Rainey Professional Talking Harmonica."
Last Edited by TetonJohn on Apr 17, 2025 11:10 AM
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