Virgil Hummer, my Uncle

Virgil Hummer

I really did not know him but remember seeing him playing his banjo during Thanksgiving and get togethers when I was younger. He would crack jokes inbetween playing songs. Humor and sarcasm ran through my family as far as I remember. I do not know how to play the banjo but I do play guitar and have a HUGE passion for music, have loved music as young as I can remember. I do have a few photos of his banjo that I inherited .....

And here is one of his flyers...

I do plan on scanning and uploading some more pictures of him in the near future. But for now I am going to type an article I recently recieved from the Lamar, MO Democrat newspaper from Dec. 21, 1977. Just found it interesting and thought I would share it with others.

Local entertainer shares his past; wonders about the future

"The toughest act I ever followed was a guy who played a banjo and made it sound like two."

Johnny Carson made that comment recently on his "Tonight" show, and if he thinks that was tough he should see Virgil Hummer 26 years later. Now, Hummer gets the sound of three banjos from one.

ONCE BILLED AS "the world's greatest banjoest," Hummer dropped out of show biz early in 1954 when he followed his boss, "Colonel Wilbur," from Omaha to Lamar. "Sometimes you have to get away from it to stretch," Hummer explained of his move to the small town life. Hummer worked several years with the Colonel's entertainment service, and now lives quite modestly at 1502 Broadway.

The man who's spent many a 13-hour day practicing his banjo as a youth now fills his days with teaching others what obviously was inherent in him. After only 17 lessons on the banjo, Virgil's teacher told him, "You don't need to come back."

"THAT WAS BACK in the Depression," Hummer remembered, "when eggs sold for six cents a dozen and hamburger was three pounds for a quarter." His teacher, by the way, was Floyd Graham who was the guitarist for Red Nickels and His Five Pennies.

Hummer had been "messing around by ear" with a banjo, but finally got a job driving a truck to Kansas City for lessons. He loaded the truck all night at Chanute, Kan.; drove to Kansas City; unloadeded, then took the lessons for $1.50 each at the Drake Hotel, before making the return trip. The round trip took 24 hours and his salary paid for the lesson and a meal.

The young entertainer was on his way, and the talent shows so popular at the time were "duck soup." Hummer played for wages of everything from ice cream to $1.00 to "we'll pay you if and when we get a sponsor." He laughed, "and as I recall - they never did." He won so many talent shows he finally was barred from the Cozy Theater at Pittsburg because others refused to compete with him.

LIKE SO MANY OTHERS of his day, Hummer's life was rudely interrupted by the familiar cry, "Uncle Sam wants YOU!" At Camp Crowder in Neosho, Virgil trained as a radio repairman, but his talent refused to lie dormant. Strumming away in the rec room, he came to the attention of a passing officer and wound up entertaining the Post Commander at his birthday party.

Later, he auditioned at the Field House for a show General Eisenhower was putting together. Seems several Hollywood stars were getting cold feet about entertaining overseas during heavy fighting, so the General formed a troupe he could command.

WINNING A SPOT on the USO show that came to Camp Crowder earned him not only a spot on the show starring Cary Grant, but a chance to share the famous man's dressing room. A few months later, Hummer learned that USO show was one of two shows selected from 90,000 tryouts and that his later selection for the show "Hey Rookie" that would tour the world was one of 18 from the entire United States.

At Camp Meade, Md., Hummer shared a tent with Zero Mostel who, as Jack Benny's number 1 writer, was making $2,000 a week. Hummer shared a spot on the show with Sterling Holloway and the two sailed for Casablanca and a six-months stay in Africa.

FAMOUS AND EXOTIC locales - Algeirs, Tunisia, Naples, French Morocco, Burma, China, Calcutta - roll off his tongue as easily as we'd talk of a trip to Milford. And every memory is "another story." There's the two weeks he spent with the head hunters; the time he entertained the leprosy ward; the lion's den in the ruins of Carthage; his walk across Mt. Vesuvius 30 days before it erupted; the tour of the casbah - his stockpile of experiences is endless.

Back in Africa, Hummer did a show for an admiral on a boat. " I must tell my friend, Ike," the admiral raved, and sure enough, the only four-star general at that time came to the Opera House in Algiers to catch the show. He was accompanied by General George Patton, a mere three-star general. They came backstage to visit the cast, and later a press release carried Gen. Eisenhower's comment:

"IT IS A GREAT SHOW. Don't take my sole judgment, but your reputation has preceded you here. Since the begining of the war, this is the first show I've taken time out to see. Your reputation caused me to come... "

Throughout those years Virgil and his bano were featured in "Hey Rookie," "Brother Rat" and "Bands From Overseas," a film short. When "Hey Rookie" broke up, some of the band went to China and Major Melvyn Douglas selected some for his show "Brother Rat." In a memo home, Hummer noted, " I was lucky - Douglas took me."

AFTER HIS DISCHARGE Hummer studied two years at Creighton University. He'd decided since he could easily starve doing what he liked best - playing the banjo and painting - he'd study business administration and open a music store. Again, his talent would not be denied.

Back at his old hangout - Kansas City - Hummer got hooked up with Col. Wilbur and toured 11 Southern States. On a "burlesque wheel," he went from "here to New York to Canada - twice." During that stint, he appeared on shows with Abbott and Costello.

IN 1947, HUMMER WENT to Omaha where he played in clubs, International Harvester of Stars and Ford Shows for seven years. It was there in 1951 he appeared on a few shows with Carson. "John did three things," Hummer recalled. "He was the world's worst magician; did an equally lousy ventriloquist act - but he layed 'em in the aisles with his monologue."

Hummer especially remembers a "Little Red Riding Hood" takeoff that Carson did. "I listened to that thing over and over - and I never did get it. The crowd was rolling in the aisle, but try as I might - I didn't get it." A picture in Hummer's album has the notation, "John Carson, Lyle De Moss and Virgil Hummer on a flight from South Dakota to Rapid City."

Locally, Hummer's "jammed" with Clyde McCoy when he was in Joplin; he's appeared on KODE-TV; played 16 weeks at Shotgun Sam's in Joplin and visited with his old commanding officer, Melvyn Douglas when Douglas was in Joplin to see about an aunt.

TODAY, HUMMER SELLS musical instruments, tunes pianos and gives music lessons. Students come from all over the nation for his expertise. One came two summers during vacations from Berlin, Germany; the foreign exchange student studied with Hummer when she was here from Switzerland; another came from Maryland. One of his students flies up from Joplin every Saturday night. Virgil meets him out at the airport, then returns and watches as his plane disappears into the darkness.

The teacher lists Dennis Schubert as his student with the greatest promise. "Dennis had been studying piano for five years and started taking guitar lessons with me as a joke," Hummer said. "His folks had just bought him a new piano..."

FOR ALL THE EXCITEMENT, fame, and publicity that Virgil has enjoyed, his biggest battle lies ahead. In addition to his tremendous talent for the banjo, Hummer's nimble fingers are equally equipped for handling a painter's brush. As a matter of fact, while still in high school Thomas Hart Benton - after judging one of Hummer's paintings - volunteered to give him free lessons. Benton was quoted in the Kansas City Star as "seeing greet merit in the boy's painting."

The battle facing Hummer is whether he should continue with his music or go back to the brush and easel. "I can't do justice to both," he sighed.

And another field lies unexplored for the confirmed bachelor. "I've always thought I'd get married some day," he grinned, "I just haven't found the right one."

But that's another story...

This was a very interesting find for me! For one I did not know that he painted along with the exciting events he experienced through his journey in life!

I will try to post more pictures later, but till then.....