Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts, is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania some 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia and 18 miles southeast of Reading. Pottstown is the center of a productive farming and dairying region and in the past has had extensive interests in the iron and steel industry. There were huge rolling mills, furnaces, nail works, textile mills, bridge works, agricultural-implement works, boiler and machine shops, foundries, and manufactories of bricks, silks, shirts, hosiery, etc. [2]
It was during the Depression, in early 1931, that Ray Hartenstein Sr., who would later be known as "the dean of the big band ballroom operators, decided to add a dance pavilion to the swimming pool and picnic grove he had built five years earlier on a portion of the old Sunny Brook Farm".
For its first three decades or so one of the big "name" dance bands played here every Saturday night, New Year's Eve, and sometimes during the week or on other holidays. Located just east of Pottstown, it attracted dancers from a 50-mile radius, and all the Main Line, who came to dance to (or in some cases just to listen to and watch) virtually all the top dance bands in the country.
The finished ballroom opened on Memorial Day, less than eight weeks after its construction was started. "Modern in every detail and spacious enough to seat 1500 persons at a banquet," it was reported in the Pottstown Mercury the next day, "the new building ranks with the finest to be found at any place in the East.... [It] attracted upward of a thousand persons to the opening and the beauty of the building excited the admiration of all who were on hand for the opening dance."
The first band to play at Sunny Brook Ballroom, at its opening on Memorial Day 1931, was Joe LaFrance and his Bosch Radio Band, advertised as "one of the finest in the country".
The size of the ballroom and its capacity to accommodate a large crowd also helped Sunny Brook attract the best bands. The attendance record, over 7300 people, was set in February 1942 by Glenn Miller during his last road trip before disbanding his orchestra to go into the U.S. Army Air Force in September.
But overall, it was Tommy Dorsey who drew the best, with crowds of more than 6000 on several occasions just before Glenn Miller's record. "If we wanted to make money to buy something or do something," Ray Hartenstine Jr. later recalled, "we brought Tommy Dorsey in, sent him a cable."
The ballroom was still run on the assumption, as Ray Hartenstine Jr. put it, that "it is a privilege to come to Sunny Brook", and that it was a place where there would be no trouble. It was an atmosphere appreciated and respected by both the bands that played there and the people who came to listen and dance. Everybody was well dressed, and if anyone got out of line in any way he or she was asked to leave.
Both before and after the war there were regular remote radio pickups from Sunny Brook over station WRCV in Philadelphia and also, from time to time, on nationwide broadcasts over the CBS or NBC networks as Sunny Brook was included as part of a regular series of pickups each week from ballrooms and hotels in different parts of the country. [3] [4]
The current President of "Sunny Brook Management Partners, Mr. Tom Oehme was recently a guest on “A Night at The Palomar” discussing the movie career of Miss Martha Tilton when one of our listeners from Philadelphia called into the show. Mr. Oehme invited the listener Chuck Henry, who just happens to be an author who has written several books about the fabulous big band vocalist Frances Langford, to be his guest for the upcoming show featuring Miss Amanda Carr on October 15th. Mr. Henry’s raving review by e-mail prompted me to write this article about both Sunny Brook Ballroom and the beautiful and talented Miss Amanda Carr. Below is Mr. Henry’s review.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Reflections on Sunnybrook
From: Chuck Henry
Date: Sun, October 16, 2011 9:05 pm
To: requests@wyyr.com
Hi Chris,
Well we're home. What odd traveling! It took us six hours to drive 41 miles to Pottstown and 53 minutes to get home. A little lopsided but then that’s the Henry's and their motoring trips. I can't explain it. I won't even try to explain it.
We explored a little bit of Pottstown Saturday during the day. A cute little town but it is a depressed state. I did find a thriving tobacco shop in the center of town and loaded up on some different brands of pipe tobacco. Bought two ounces of their own version of Capt. Black, the gentleman letting me know that their blend was far superior to the packaged version. Having been through that routine before, I only bought two ounces of their blend. It just ain't so. The supposed superior blend has an ok taste but burns hot, and bites and so I will blend it with the real Capt. Black to use it up.
But the real story is the night at Sunnybrook. I wanted to try and see Tom Oehme before the show and give him the books and as it happened he was the first person we ran into. Tom is a thoroughly engaging person who went way out of his way to make us feel welcome. As if he hadn't already done enough, he gave us a book of a pictorial history of Sunnybrook, a real treasure! The place is set off the main street of Pottstown in an immaculately cared for setting.
It's like a time travel. As you walk in, you can almost hear the strains of Miller, Shaw, James, and the Dorsey’s emanating from the four walls. Tom had us sitting at one of three tables reserved for him up front. There was nothing between us and the beautiful stage. There were several hundred people there ranging in age mostly from the 40's on up plus Tom's grand daughter who appeared to be about 12 and who proved to be quite a dancer! She was really into the whole thing.
The show started promptly at 8 with the lovely Amanda Carr enchanting all of us. With her long blond hair, when she turned her back to the audience, it was like having Frances Langford, live.
Amanda has a lovely strong voice. A full voice, an even voice, in all of its registers. The band was definitely authentic, playing all of the tunes expertly under its director. I was surprised that I did not know more than a few of the tunes but all were done in great big band arrangements.
Priscilla and I danced more than we ever have. We, however, were not mistaken for Fred and Ginger. We did the slow numbers leaving the upbeat ones to the experts.
The highlight for me was going backstage to the real wall of fame with all of the signatures of the wonderful people who graced that place over the years. Miller, James, Shaw, Goodman, Tilton, Forrest, all there and what was really great for me, the area was just as it was when the folks had been there, signing the wall. What I really liked was that there was no brilliant illumination or fancy frames around the signatures, just some worn looking hooks to hang coats and some very old looking lockers, chipped paint and all.
It really created quite an atmosphere and the signature of Lou Costello with the words I'm a baaad boy! Really stood out. As soon as I saw that I thought of Mike from Asbury and Peggy. Some had drawn caricatures of themselves and others. What a piece of history!
As the evening wore on a good many of the elderly left before the end. It went to 11'Oclock and I know full well how tired you can get after 10. But we stayed till the end and Amanda sent us out with a stirring version of At Last.
About four other Miller tunes were played, String of Pearls and your theme song, Moonlight Serenade. If you ever get the chance you should go up there. You would love it! We want to go back. The Miller band will be there in March. We'd love to go to that!
Didn't see Frances Langford's name on the wall but that doesn't mean she wasn't there. She will have to go there in 'No Matter How Impossible.' I'm already thinking of having her there sometime in the 50's as I have some time to fill, the 50's being a time period where not too much has been written of her activities. I know she did a nightclub act called 'Frances and the Fella's but outside of a publicity photo of them together and a newspaper ad, that's all I know.
So, it was a great time, a wonderful trip back in time. We are so
grateful to Tom, Spencer and you for such an adventure...
Chuck Henry
Amanda Carr "If You Could See Me Now"
Boston based daughter of a big band vocalist and trumpeter Nick Capezuto, who played trumpet with a whole list of top bands including the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Louis Prima, Freddie Slack, Buddy DeFranco, Larry Clinton Tex Beneke and probably most known for Herb Pomeroy Band, Amanda Carr is a multi-styled vocalist/pianist that began early on in her teens in the rock and pop genre, but has in recent years focused on fresh interpretations of the Great American Songbook. For over three decades she’s performed and recorded both in the U.S. and Italy.
She and her CD’s have received critical acclaim from a tough bevy of reviewers. Her 2005 recording, TENDER TRAP debuted on the National Jazz Charts at 55 and received 4-stars from All Music Guide.
Her follow-up recording in 2007 was a feature story by Nat Hentoff in The Wall Street Journal which catapulted her to global exposure with sales and airplay as he hailed her, “...a true jazz singer in a time of wannabes”. She’s also featured in Hentoff’s latest book, “At the Jazz Band Ball: 60 Years on the Jazz Scene” (2010-University of California Press)
Amanda Carr
Amanda has been featured with The Artie Shaw Orchestra, Harry James Orchestra and has also appeared with the Glenn Miller Orchestra among her many other guest vocal appearances including guest soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra. She is considered the #1 vocalist on the big bands “First Call List”.
She’s headlined at the EuroJazz Festival in Italy along with James Moody and George Mraz, and recorded “Live in San Giorgio” with Trio Martinale from Turin.
Amanda has composed and performed award-winning music for two PBS documentaries and received an Emmy nomination for “The Story of Golf”, an 8-part series on the Golf Channel. She’s won awards for her musical contributions to “Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History” and original works with children’s music with the “Lil’Iguana” series.
In 1999 she received the Videographer Award by the NTA for excellence in Music Composition in addition to her multiple “Telly’s”. She has dozens of TV and Radio commercials to her credit and owns and operates a successful recording studio in the Boston area that acts as her independent record label.
Amanda Carr sings with the Concord Band
Among her own recordings, her eclectic album credits include the late Dave Guard from the Kingston Trio on his final album “Up & In”, a yearlong project in the early 1980’s.
Since then she has a long list of album credits as both a music composer and vocalist. Along with 4 other CD’s since 1995, Amanda released big band CD “Common Thread” in October of ‘09, with the Kenny Hadley Big Band.
Like the 2007 small group release “SOON”, “COMMON THREAD” soared to #2 on Amazon’s Jazz Bestseller list on the heels of a Wall Street Journal endorsement and debuted #32 on the Billboard Charts.
Amanda Carr and the Kenny Hadley Big Band "CommonThread"
With distribution and airplay in over a dozen countries, including Japan and the Netherlands, and a growing International fanship, Amanda continues to perform with her own group while a popular guest vocalist with many other ensembles.
Amanda is the CEO of the newly formed not for profit organization American Big Band Preservation Society, Inc. which has a mission of preserving and promoting Big Band music through performance and education and acquiring a library of unpublished Big Band arrangements to share with the public. [5]
Please visit http://www.americanbigband.org/
Sunny Brook Ballroom is one of the few remaining large dance halls of the pre-World War II era still in existence and still operating. If you are in the area stop by and say hello to Mr. Tom Oehme (Pronounced Amy) and ask him to show you around.
Amanda will be my guest on “A Night at The Palomar” November 14th, 2011 at 9PM Eastern Time. Daylight Saving Time ends Friday, October 28, 2011at Midnight, be sure to set your clocks back one hour.
Dallas, TX.
[1] http://www.nps.gov/vafo/historyculture/index.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottstown,_Pennsylvania
[3] http://www.sunnybrookballroom.net/
[4] http://www.sunnybrookballroom.net/BallroomSetups.html
[5] http://www.amandacarr.com/
