VERDUGO VIEWS:Woman remembers the Police Boys’ Band

Ruth-Anne Gray Nardoni has fond memories of the years her brother, Donald Gray, played in the Glendale Police Boys’ Band.

“He was around 15 when he joined,” she said. “He had an official uniform and marched in parades.”

This was in the late 1940s, Nardoni said.

“They rehearsed in the foyer of City Hall,” she said. “My Dad, Lloyd Gray, would drive my brother down there and I would tag along, since I liked music, too.”

To find out more about the history of the band, I contacted Ritch Wells, public information officer for the city, who put me in touch with Sherri Servillo of the Glendale Police Department. Servillo invited me to come look at items she and Officer Teal Metts found in the police archives.

The band was organized by Lt. D.E. “Pop” Evans, directed by Arthur J. Babich and managed by W.E. Seidel. A parents’ group was led by Kenneth Eastburn. The band, which grew substantially in the 1940s, marched in the Tournament of Roses and Days of Verdugo parades.

The 1950 Glendale Police Officers Relief Assn. benefit, held in the Glendale High School auditorium, starred radio personality Dick Lane as master of ceremonies and featured the Police Boys’ Band.

Other performing groups included the Rankinettes, Zoro (Glendale’s own movie wonder dog), along with Jimmie Griffin and the Royal Rogues of Radio.

The program book for the event contained ads reflecting Glendale in the 1950s. Person’s Prescription Pharmacies had two locations, one at Kenneth Road and one on Glendale Avenue. Lamoreaux & Milne on West Colorado was a dealer for new and used motorcycles and accessories. H.L. (Herb) Moe offered plumbing, heating and gas appliances from his shop at 119 N. Maryland Ave., while Henry’s Drive-in Cafe specialized in chicken-in-the-rough at the corner of Glendale Avenue and Colorado Street.

Nardoni and her brother, who was one year older than she, were students at Hoover High School together. Nardoni edited the Purple Press one semester and wrote a column called, “Ruthless Truth.”

“My brother had lots of connections with studio people and I got to interview celebrities,” she said.

“We would take the bus to Hollywood, eat at the Brown Derby and visit a studio. That’s how I met Marilyn Monroe. She was extremely shy.”

And that’s how her brother met famous band leader Stan Kenton, who took an interest in him.

“Donald graduated from Hoover in 1950 and started his own band with Kenton’s help,” she said. “Kenton let Gray rummage through his stacks of music and often showed up when Gray’s band played at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa [where Kenton himself debuted in 1941].”

By this time, the Korean Conflict had begun, said Nardoni, and “one by one, the older band members were drafted. Finally, Don joined the Army, was sent to music school and then performed with the 6th Army Band in Munich, Germany.”

Sadly, Donald Gray passed away four years ago, but his gift for music lives on in his sister’s memories.

READERS WRITE

Ralph Walroth, of Glendale, wrote to say that he enjoys the historical articles about the old days.

“I have lived in Glendale and Burbank for 83 years, so many of your pieces ring a bell with me. When I was about 10 years old, my father, mother and I were going home.

As we approached Brand’s mansion, we heard a lot of noise and saw a lot of bright lights at his little airport.

When we drew up in front of it, we saw a Ku Klux Klan meeting was in progress. They were in their white robes, pointed hats and masks and were carrying lighted torches.

Being a little kid, I was scared to death of all of this and told my Dad to get out of there as fast as he could. And he did.”