| Golden Memories |
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Chapters |
| Oxford Hotel at Grand and Maple streets.
During the first winter we loaded the entire chorus in a truck on Christmas Eve and serenaded the three hospitals and the nursing home singing Christmas carolS. The chorus also sang for the Northwestern Oklahoma Sports Association and for about 1000 farmers who attended the Soil Conservation clinic held by the Gold Spot Association. Radio station KCRC aired part of this performance which was a first for the chorus. At this time there were two quartets in the group: "The Brother-In-Laws" - Romayne Baker, Harry McKeever, Bud Stephenson Sr., and Wilford Evans; and "The Blue Notes" - Ed Fleming, Joe Collins, Earl Kirk and Harold Goodholm. New members in 1948 were: A.C. Cornelson, Ted Schreiner, Jack Gorton, Paul Garber, J.A. Smidt, Leroy Roever, M.E. Craven, Fred Scoggin and Dell Stull. It was during this period, around April 1, 1948, that we prevailed on Professor Morris Poaster of Phillips University to become our chorus director. This was no reflection on the great job Fred was doing; it just allowed him to be more involved in coaching and in quartet work. The winter of 1947 was the first time most of us ever saw a live barbershop show. We loaded up and took in the Cherokee chapter show. Coming home from that experience we were determined to have a fall show in 1948. We weren't even chartered then! Our Charter night was May 10, 1948. We were sponsored by the Cherokee, OK chapter. A buffet supper was enjoyed before the program. "The Locker Room Four" from Blackwell sang and 30 minutes of the program was broadcast by radio station KCRC. OK City sent a delegation of 50 men along with three of their quartets, the "Boresome Foursome", "Southern Serenaders" and the "Four Roses". After the quartets, the three choruses there sang: the Oklahoma City chorus directed by Tracey Sylvester, the Cherokee chorus led by Clay Digged, and the Enid chorus directed by Morris Poaster. The presentation of the charter to Enid president George Miles climaxed the evening. From this night on, we thought we were good. One June 11 and 12, 1948 about 20 members and their wives went to Oklahoma City to the International Convention. They returned with great stories and fond memories. In August Harry McKeever and Romayne Baker attended the district meeting held at the Holiday House, Lake of the Ozarks. The first annual picnic was held August 16 at Joe Collins' house; it was the best and started a new tradition. In October a group traveled to Newton, KS to hear a concert by the Keynoters. Bud Stephenson Sr. was chairman of our first Harmony Festival and we discovered how little we knew about putting on a show. The first difficulty was setting |
the date for the show. We started planning for November
12, changed to November 27, but because of a football game, moved it back
to November 20.
We wanted to book the Mid-States Four but found they wanted more than we could afford ($600). We did get the Keynoters (($125), the Flying L Quartet ($100) and the Boresome Foursome ($75). We originally booked the Aztec Theater but had to move the show to the Education Building. Ed Bourchard had a hard time getting reserved seat tickets printed; he had to get them done in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Then our biggest worry was whether the people would buy the tickets. We had a pep meeting, pounded the table and told everyone that they had to work harder selling tickets. Everyone was losing sleep, but not Ed. He calmly said, "boys, don't worry about a thing. We will have a sell out". Up to noon Saturday, the day of the show, he had sold about half the tickets but that night people were waiting at the door to get their tickets. It WAS a sell out! Casey Cohlmia, a member and a newspaper writer, stated "it simply indicates that SPEBSQSA has something the public wants and richly relishes, namely beautifully blended harmony. Call it Barbershop if you wish but don't try to discount it. It's Great Entertainment". We took in $2,206, netting around $800. Our first show was over and it exceeded all expectations. We decided to have another one and began planning right away. That winter we sang Christmas carols for the State School, three hospitals, nursing homes, and performed for the Presbyterian Church's Christmas Eve program. On February 23, 1949, we were invited to sing on the Tulsa chapter show which was quite an honor. On May 15 the chorus went to Ponca City to charter their chapter. On December 12, 1949, the chorus held their second annual show. We had a new sound system installed and improved the acoustics in the Convention Center in downtown Enid. With more than 3000 folks in attendance, and ticket prices of $.75 to $1.75 the chorus netted $335 after paying for the sound system and acoustic work. Quite an achievement for the late 1940's. As the years went by, the chorus continued to flourish with show attendance over 2000. In 1951 it was noted that O.C. Cash, himself, attended the Enid chapter's show. He was introduced as the father of the barbershop society. We continued to present top quartets such as the Four Hearsemen in 1953, the Orphans in 1954, the Confederates in 1957, Dealers Choice in 1973, Side Street Ramblers in 1979 and Class of the '80's. In 1989 we began doing Singing Valentine-O-Grams. With Dave Eck as chairman and only two |
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How It All Began Chapters Chapter Histories International Quartet Champions ChorusesAdministration
Contests and Conventions Registered Quartets Publications Recognitions In Conclusion