ALVINO REY ST. LOUIS BLUES (TALKING STEEL GUITAR PUPPET!) PLUS Joe Walsh talkbox *update 6.9.19
Alvino Rey's 'Talking Steel Guitar' could actually talk, giving Rey's orchestra its distinctive sound (some of Rey's critics called it a 'gimmick'). Rey played with virtuosic skill, demonstrating his guitar's 'singing' quality by manipulating the tone and volume controls. 'Stringy' (the guitar's nickname) was able to sound as if 'HE' were saying words. Of course 'Stringy' wasn't, but Luise King, Rey's wife was. In something that describes like a sexual fetish, Luise stood backstage with a small plastic tube connected between her mouth and Rey's amplifier, forming words with her lips and throat muscles. Rey would make her make 'IT' say his name as he glided the steel bar along the strings of his steel guitar, all while playing, perfectly dressed in a perfect tuxedo.
With the device, Rey and Luise were able to create eerie vocal sounds in four- or five-part harmony, which seemed to mysteriously emanate from the steel guitar.
**INVENTION** Alvin McBurney (ALVINO REY) was born in 1908, and grew up in Cleveland. His first instrument was a banjo, which he tinkered with, attaching electrical wiring to amplify its twang through a radio loudspeaker. In the Spring of 1935 Rey was hired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation to produce a prototype pickup with engineers at the Lyon & Healy company in Chicago, based on the one he had developed for his own banjo. The result was incorporated into Gibson's first electric guitar. *SKEETS HERFURT* Arthur 'Skeets' Herfurt, (clarinetist) moved to California to work with Alvino Rey in the early 1940s. Following his stint with Rey, he worked as a studio musician in Hollywood, in addition to work with Benny Goodman in 1946-47. His studio credits into the '60s, include: Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, and Stan Kenton. He worked with Goodman again in 1961 and 1964. Herfurt appeared in two of Rey's films, 'JAVA JIVE' and 'CIELITO LINDO,'he also appeared as a saxophonist in the 1958 film 'The Nightmare,'playing clarinet on the soundtrack. He was a member of Lawrence Welk's orchestra and weekly television show from 1979 to 1982. THE PETE DRAKE /ALVINO REY CONNECTION *Pete Drake's two most famous talking steel songs were 'Forever' and 'Lock, Stock and Teardrops'. INTERVIEWER: How did your "Talking Guitar" come about? PETE DRAKE: Well, everybody wanted this style of mine, but I sort of got tired of it. I'd say, "Hey, let me try and come up with something new," and they'd say, "I want you to do what you did on So-and-so's record." Now, I'd been trying to make something for people who couldn't talk, who'd lost their voice. I had some neighbors who were deaf and dumb, and I thought it would be nice if they could talk. So I saw this old Kay Kayser movie, and Alvino Rey was playing the 'talking guitar'--I thought, "Man, if he can make a guitar talk, surely I can make people talk." So I worked on it for about five years, and it was so simple that I went all around it, you know, like we usually do. Alvino Rey died in Salt Lake City. He was 95. **ALVINO REY TRIVIA** *He changed his name to Alvino Rey in 1929 to help fit in with a Latin music craze* The first electric guitar(Gibson Guitar's ES-150) prototype is kept in the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle* Alvino Rey claims to have been playing electric guitar before jazz guitar pioneer, Charlie Christian* One of the King girls married Rick Nelson* Rey became a Mormon on his marriage to Luise King in 1937* Rey recorded with crazed exotica bandleader Esquivel on RCA Victor* Rey was one of two ukulele players on the March, 1961 recording sessions for the Paramount movie "Blue Hawaii," backing Elvis Presley* Walt Disney eventually bought the rights to Sonovox and used in it cartoons for five years* Alvino used the unit for his band's opening theme, voicing the mantra, "Listen, Listen, Listen"* Sonovox dynamic throat units pre-dated plastic-tube, 'talking instrument' devices, still in use today* In the 1970's, Peter Frampton popularized the talkbox (Heil) on 'Frampton Comes Alive,' voicing a decidedly different sentiment* **QUESTION FOR YOUTUBERS** IS THIS CLIP FROM 'JAVA JIVE' OR 'CIELITO LINDO'? WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE CREEPY UKULELE-PUPPET?