Almost 100 years ago: Orlando newspaper once sponsored Newsboys Band

Once upon a time, right around the time Walt Disney Studios was starting up in Los Angeles, Orlando had two newspapers: the Orlando Morning Sentinel and the Evening Reporter-Star.

The jury is out on which was the superior paper. After all, this slice of Central Florida history took place nearly a hundred years ago, and they eventually merged to form the Orlando Sentinel. But from about 1926-1931, one of the City Beautiful’s papers of record had its very own marching band.

The Reporter-Star Newsboys Band was the passion project of newspaper owners and twin brothers J. C. and R. B. Brossier, who hired bandmaster Edgar Ball to direct the ensemble.

“The band was planned for boys 9 to 13 who delivered the paper or sold it on street corners around the city,” reads a 1993 Orlando Sentinel article by Bill Bond. “The ensemble was impressive as it paraded down Orange Avenue in the late 1920s or held concerts in the old band shell at Lake Eola.”

The Newsboys even had a chance to perform in front of President Herbert Hoover and the first lady in June 1929.

The band made three summer tours throughout the Northeast, including one in the summer of 1931. Jim Hickman, a 93-year-old Orlando resident, was an infant when his 13-year-old brother, James Garnett Hickman, went on tour as a clarinet player in the Newsboys Band.

“I used to deliver the Reporter-Star,” Jim said, recalling his childhood. “[The Newsboys] went on a goodwill tour to promote Orlando.”

It was August 1931 when the 54-member group embarked on a trip that spanned 30 days and 25 cities, reaching at least 50,000 people. Using letters, postcards and newspaper clips saved by Jim, his niece-in-law compiled a book that details Garnett’s adventures on the road.

“Peaches in NC are 10 cents a bushel. Mr. Ball bought four bushels,” reads a letter from Garnett to his family dated Aug. 7, 1931. “We are in the hills sure enough now. My laundry bills were $2.00 yesterday. I have 85 cents left.”

That same letter divulged that Garnett, a mostly well-behaved boy by his brother’s recollection, had been in five fights.

“Jaw is swollen. Couldn’t play in the last two concerts, but played today,” the letter goes on. “Mr. Ball said if I didn’t quit fighting he was going to send me home. Guess I will quit.”

The rest of the trip appeared to be mostly smooth sailing, other than a report from afar that a monkey at the zoo had stolen Garnett’s red cap. The Newsboys had fun and restful times in Hershey, Pennsylvania, before wowing the mayors of Philadelphia and Newport News, Virginia, during two separate stops.

The Newsboys even dazzled the crowd in Chautauqua, New York, with audience members who were initially apprehensive about hosting a “juvenile organization” with two jazz numbers in the program.

“Every number drew prolonged applause,” reads an Aug. 27, 1931, article penned by J.C. Brossier with a Jamestown, New York, dateline. “We were told by those who have been living at the park that seldom is such applause given to any but the most noted artists.”

Certain themes arise when viewing Garnett’s letters as a collection. The young man seems concerned about money and meals, also writing in great detail the status of his laundry.

“Please send me some money. I have 8 dirty shirts and only 30 cents left,” he writes from Atlantic City in mid-August 1931. “Peaches are 10 cents a bushel up here and mighty good.”

The Newsboys returned safe and sound after a tiring month on the road.

“All in all, this was the best trip from a publicity standpoint we ever made,” said J.C. Brossier, the paper’s editor and publisher, in an article detailing the band’s return home. “We were able to play before the type of people who travel, and we played in those sections from which Florida draws many winter visitors.”

Brossier goes on to praise the young men who represented Central Florida so well, saying, “The boys were fine young ambassadors, too, because they were strong boosters for Orlando and with their well-bred, gentlemanly conduct were fine examples of young persons this city produces.”

Find me @PConnPie on Twitter and Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.