MARTIN TIPLE T-45 model

Michael Simmons gave us an enigmatic historical fact in his brilliant 2002 tiple article from "The Ukulele Occasional" :

Interesting complement, Renée Adorée later strummed the uke with Ramon Navaro in the successful 1929 silent hit : "Pagan".



If Jimmy Chu the Renée "protégé", chauffeur and tiple maestro, died in a silly motor crash the luxuous T45 tiple wasn't in the car.
In fact the Martin productions reports a unique T45 fabrication in 1922 but the incredible fancy instrument is alive, for sale here for 17500,00 $ !

If Renée ordered this instrument for the hawaiian master, it's strange that the fancy mother of pearl and turtle decorated tiple made a huge travel via New York to join the west coat and Hollywood....the  T45 was built for the William J. Smith Co. of New York.

Dr. Humphrey Bates & His Possum Hunters

Credited in the Michael Simmons article Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters , a legendary pioneering country string ensemble conducted by harmonica player Dr Bate seems to used a tiple .

According to record credits ( here compiled in : "the first génération of country music stars" by David Dicaire ) Buster Bate, son of Humphrey, played the instrument occasionaly as he played Jew's harp  harmonica & fiddle but no audio or photograph his here to testify, his sister Alcyone played "ukelele" (photographs) and piano.

Buster the tiple player is here, playing jew's harp behind Uncle Dave Macon ( banjo and hat ):

Dianetic Tiple

Scientology and Tiple ....what a weird cocktail!
Ron Hubbard owned a post 1933 T28 Martin Tiple, it's obvious that he could played the instrument as could a longtime uke player (he bought a decal pineapple Kamaka ukulele in 1927 in Hawaii and boast about having inspired Arthur Godfrey with his Washigton DC Radio banjo,uke & talk broadcasting performances in the 40's)

On the dangerous "church" pages we can learn that Ron,the hero, was captivated by ethno music and during his numerous travels bought notably a columbian cuarto a timple canarias and the pineapple Kamaka....the Dianetic T28 was probably purchased at his local dealer...

MARTIN TIPLE T-17 & T-15 models

It's the simplest model, as he's uke cousin "style 0” it’s a full mahogany instrument with a sober double B&W circle around the hole for only decoration ( some were built with ebony bridge and fingerboard )

The model shyly appears in the Martin logbooks in 1924 with six instruments and no fabrication in 1925 as the company built 725 "T-18" models in the same period .

1926-27 was an all times peak in the Martin Tiple production with 650 T-18 in 1926 and 350 T-17 in 1927 (prices in 1923 was 30$ /T-17,  40$/T-18 and 75$/T-28 )

In the crisis years and mid 30's the company stopped the fancy models fabrication, selling only the T-17 until 1936, but moderately, the golden 20's was behind…

After six years of blank production the T-17 was here again in 1947 but only for three years as the T-15 appears in 1949 and replace the T17 model.

 The only model difference is a rosewood bridge.

T-15 fabrication stops in1966 as the T-18 and T-28’s continues…

As for ukes the Martin decal appears probably in front of the head around 1932 as the stamp disapeard behind the head.

Combining the two models we have a total of 2130 of these uncluttered masterpieces, sleeping in attics or singing in your fingers and offering as their fancy expansive sisters, this powerful magic crystal sound .

Informations and Martin Tiples production log book pages is shared here, in this other great MartinTiple fan blog :  Brian Myspace page.

Prices, courtesy of Michael Simmons ( his astounding Tiple article in the Ukulele Ocasional first issue is a bible and will be frequently credited   in this pages …)

 

The simple B&W circles around the hole made the T-15/17 a direct cousin of the Martin Style-0 ukulele.

Zouzou

The 15 of september 1925, according to her 1927 memories, Josephine Baker was humming a verse from "Ukulele Lady" ...
I saw the splendor of the moonlight
On Honolulu Bay
There's something tender in the moonlight
On Honolulu Bay
as she was leaving New York aboard the "Le Berengaria" sailing to Cherbourg and a crazy international success for the next ten years and so on....

This photograph shows her with a nice white bended uke at her arrival in Paris with the cast of "La Revue Negre" Sept. 22 1925. She was another "uke friendly" artist of the 20's probably knowing tne basic chords of the instrument ....

Nearly à decade after the "Banana nude"craze she was a beloved star in France, known for her foolish kindness and her 1931 tender hit "J'ai deux amours " writen by Vincent Scotto the french hitmaker ....
Marc Allegret and the "Zouzou" producers tried to recreate in 1933 the magic cocktail : sexotica/tenderness with this musical melodrama based in Marseille melting Cabaret family secrets & the 30's star Jean Gabin as a perfect sailor lover, and Scotto as composer ...but the film wasn't a success.



The magic tiple song sequence seems to be played by the star , a simple strumm with a touchy interpretation.... The decorated bidding could indicate maybe a Regal model ...but it's surely not a Martin.

A beautiful film still, A Sheet Music for the over song of the film "Haiti" and a nice colored promotional photograph  all courtesy of Cyril Lefebvre collection

Spirits Of Rhythm

Tiple & strings swing combo pioneers , the "Spirits Of Rhythm" (early named The Sepia Nephews, Ben Bernie's Nephews, The Five Cousins) came to life with the add of Teddy Bunn as guitarist in 1932.
Three Tiple players joined the group , two at a time on air, including Leo Watson, one of the greatest scatmen of the swing era.
Here, on a movie set playback ("Sweetheart Of The Campus" 1941) , he use a Martin tenor ukulele while singing but the Tiple was his scene instrument.
Behind him, one of the Daniel brothers strumms a Martin Tiple

Douglas Daniels - tiple
Walter Daniels - tiple
Teddy Bunn - guitar
Wellman Braud - bass
Wilson Myers - bass
Leo Watson - vocals, tiple
Virgil Scoggins - percussion
Red McKenzie - percussion

Nothing to say that the entire 30's discography is pure jumpin'gold...
including classics of comedy jazz as "Dr Watson and Mr Holmes"