A Big Band of So Long Ago

By Peter J. Leibert. While working on a story for another of my activities, my research led me to the name of a person that was really BIG during the “big band era” of my youth. His name was Gaetano Alberto Lombardo. He was more frequently known as Guy, and he was the leader of a Canadian jazz group which eventually became known as Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. What actually caught my eye during this research was the name of one his brothers - LEBERT. Well, it is almost spelled the same.

I was actually in the library looking for information about hydroplane racing of the late 1940’s era. Did you know that Guy Lombardo won the hydroplane Gold Cup in 1946 and the Ford Memorial hydroplane competition in 1948? I actually knew that, but I was quite surprised to learn that there is a museum in London, Ontario, Canada which is dedicated to the Lombardo hydroplane racing achievements, as well as a little bit about his musical achievements.

But this is a music-oriented newsletter. Guy and two of his four brothers, Carmen and Lebert, began their musical careers back in the early 1920’s during a time when the American music business was fiercely competitive. Guy and 10 members of his young band left their hometown of London, Canada, and headed for the states, namely, to Cleveland Ohio where the odds against success were tremendous.

Lombardo’s dad had given his sons some interesting advice. “Music is easy to play and easy to listen to if you don’t forget the melody and choose songs people can sing, hum, or whistle.” Well it must have worked because within three years, Lombardo and his Royal Canadians were on the verge of national success.

During the next 25 years, there were only a couple of times that a Lombardo disc did not make the rating charts. Twenty-one of their tunes reached the number one position. Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians are the only dance band to sell more than 100 million records.

That seems to be enough about Lombardo’s music. Now let us get back to his hydroplaning. When I has a senior in high school, there were a number of people who were attempting to set a new world’s record at the Salton Sea. Guy Lombardo had just purchased a famous boat MY SIN. It had won a number of races during the prewar period. Guy renamed his boat the TEMPO VI and headed for the Salton Sea to set a new record. Being a person that was somewhat interested in music, I just had to go down there and watch those hydroplane speed trials.

Well that year, 1946, the TEMPO VI set a new record by raising the “Supercharged Gold Cup Class Straightaway” record to better than 113 miles per hour. This was the fastest speed ever recorded by a 732 cubic inch “G” boat of pre-World War II specifications.

The TEMPO VI also won the Gold Cup at Detroit during 1946, which was the year when the limitations for inboard piston engines had been abolished and virtually all hull restrictions had been abandoned. Lombardo chose to stay with the same engine set-up that had worked so well before the war. That strategy worked and the TEMPO VI broke the long-standing Gold Cup heat record with a mark of 70.89 for the 30-mile distance. Sweet music to my ears.