Venuti and Lang's Philadelphia: a guided tour

Lango-Django

Photo eleven:

Both Venuti and Lang are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon PA, a small suburb just beyond the southwest border of Philadelphia.

It’s a large cemetery, and the graves are not easy to find so we had to go ask for help at the front office.

Anyway, this shot shows Eddie (left) and Tom Massaro standing in front of the art deco monument to their famous uncle, Eddie Lang.

Tom was only a few years old when Lang died, but claimed to remember being awakened by the wailing and crying of his older relatives on Sunday evening, March 26, 1933.

Eddie Massaro was born a few years after Lang’s death. His father, Tom Senior, treasured Lang’s memory all his life, and never tired of talking about him to anyone who would listen.

Tom Senior remained bitter until his dying day that Bing Crosby had not done more to perpetuate Lang’s memory.

In fairness to Crosby, Lang got some very affectionate words in Bing's 1953 autobiography “Call Me Lucky”.

And of course, one of Bing’s sons was named Phillip Lang Crosby.

Lango-Django

Photo twelve:

Eddie Massaro points out some of the other family members’ names who are buried in the same plot as his famous uncle and namesake: Lang’s brother Alexander “Tom”, father of Tom and Eddie Massaro, and their grandmother Carmela, who died in 1923.

Lang’s parents, Carmela and Domenico, were originally from Naples and emigrated to the US in the 1880’s, when they were in their twenties.

Lang’s father Domenico Massaro must have been quite a character. After the death of his wife in 1923, he is reputed to have devoted his life to being the chief member of the Eddie Lang fan club!

Legend has it that he was a good cook, and would lure unwary victims into his kitchen with the promise of fine Italian cuisine… the price to be paid for this free meal turned out to be an interminable session of listening to Domenico's boasting about his famous son!

(Full disclosure: I can't blame Domenico, I would probably have done much the same thing myself if Eddie were my son...)

Lango-Django

Photo thirteen:

Murph and me (left) at Lang’s gravesite.

Shortly after this photo, we got our instruments out of the car, and payed tribute to the fathers of violin/guitar jazz, the immortal Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, with our version of their theme song, “When Day Is Done”.

An unforgettable moment.

(Oh, shut up, haters!)

Lango-Django

Photo fourteen:

Murph and me (left) pay tribute to the memory of the incomparable Joe Venuti.

I can’t remember if we got out our instruments to commemorate that occasion or not… perhaps not, it had already been a long day...

Lango-Django

Photo fifteen:

Back at our room at the Doubletree Inn, we got a chance to look at the Eddie Lang scrapbook which Lang’s brother Tom Senior had kept and then handed down to his sons Tom Jr. and Eddie when he died.

There was a lot of stuff in there, and I can no longer remember most of it, except the Ed Sullivan clippings, and a charming poem written by two English sisters after Lang’s death. They seem to have had a lifelong “thing” for Lang and wrote about him frequently in England's “Melody Maker” magazine over many years following his death.

Through a friend's help, I was able to find their poem in another publication, and so I will include it here:

THREE GUITARS

(1st guitar)

"It's hard to think that Eddie's gone
And left us three behind
We were his friendly trinity-
His heart, his soul, and mind."

(2nd guitar)

"I used to know when he was blue:
He'd pick me up and--- gee!
He'd hold me close and once I felt
A teardrop fall on me."

(3rd guitar)

"I knew our Eddie at his best:
When joy was in his heart!
His fingers raced along my strings
Like sudden sunbeams dart!"

(All the guitars)

"Goodbye, old friend, we'll never feel
Another master's hand.
They must have heard you play On High---
Tell God we understand."

Lango-Django

Well, thanks for reading all the way to the end, you diehards who are still with me!

There were a few other photos I could have included, but I think these cover our Philadelphia pilgrimage quite well.

In closing, anyone who loves jazz on the guitar or violin and is unfamiliar with the Olympian legacy of founding fathers Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti…

...well, all I can say is--- you are missing something truly wonderful.

And I think even Django and Stephane would tell you the very same thing.

Will

PS A visit with Mr. Google reveals that the historical marker which the Massaro brothers were seeking in 1994 seems to have been created in 1995, and it now stands on 7th Ave. north of Clymer.

alton

What a great post!

Buco

Thanks Will.

Petrov

Thanks!

billyshakes

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.