Corps Names

[Andyroo]

The commonly used nicknames of corps are one thing; the names used by the announcer at the start of a performance are a different thing: My junior corps was sponsored by the local AL post and the local RC church. On Saturday nights we competed in the Mayflower circuit, and were announced as "The Golden Rays from Stoughton". On Sunday afternoons we competed in the CYO circuit and were announced as "Immaculate Conception - Stoughton". One corps, two different names. There was one other difference that I remember between the two circuits: In Mayflower, the girls in the guard had hemlines just above the knees, but in CYO, they were just below the knees :-)

You're certainly right about the hemlines. We had a similar issue - competing in both Eastern Mass and CYO.

In fact, just this past weekend I was showing my six-year old grandson some photos of my wife and I when we were in drum corps. He's laughing hyterically, telling my wife that it "looks like you're wearing a gown."

[TomMoore]

The novelty of the name "Buccaneers" notwithstanding ($1 to Kris), here's an excerpt from an article by our corps historian, Donnie Solinger, about the founding of our corps and the choosing of the name:

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For years during the 1930s, 40s, & 50s there were many junior drum and bugle corps in Reading and Berks County. It was essentially a youth activity. Junior corps members were forced to retire from competition at age 21. Some of these corps included the Barons (West Reading), the Green Hornets (Kenhorst), and the Cadets (Temple). Others were named the "Modern Woodmen" and the "Greater Reading Post." There was even a corps sponsored by the Grand Army of the Republic called "Stinky Davis" (no doubt the nickname of one of their leaders). By 1960 all of these corps had folded. There were many senior, (now called "all-age") corps in the northeast at the time, with names like the "Raiders" "Musketeers" (Philadelphia) and "Caballeros" (Hawthorne, NJ) and "Princemen" (Boston). But there were no all-age corps in the Reading area.

When the Buccaneers' founders first started talking about forming a senior corps they settled on a nautical theme. Many of them had been in the Navy and had marched together in the Temple Cadets. They were determined to start a senior corps when they had all completed their military obligations. Along the way they agreed on the name "Jolly Rogers." They liked the skull and crossbones as a logo and it fit the nautical angle. It was the working name of the gradually forming new corps.

At the third organizational meeting of the Jolly Rogers in early 1957, someone in the growing group of charter members pointed out that a corps had just formed in Toronto called the "Jolly Jesters." Some thought "Jolly Rogers" was too similar to "Jolly Jesters" and was not really the image they were trying to project. At some point someone suggested the name "Buccaneers." According to charter and founding member Bruce Englehart, no one remembers who it was. But the name was an immediate hit with all in attendance, and so the Reading Buccaneers Drum & Bugle Corps was born.

Edited June 18, 2010 by TomMoore

[Piper]

Just an historical note. The word "Buccaneer" does not neccesarily denote "Pirate". Most pirates were buccaneers, but not all buccaneers were pirates. It mostly pertained to how people cooked their food BITD. Seriously.

[Ron H]

MBI is not quite as obvious as it appears. Even though the corps dates from 1946, it was once called The Toreadors, and even the Grain Belt Diamonds when they were sponsored by a brewery in the '60's. (They marched in tuxedos!)

The corps was originally all-male, like a lot of other seniors. Women were admitted in 1971. When the corps was searching for a new identity to reflect its modernization Corky Whitlock, the horn instructor, advocated the unusual name "Twin Cities Amalgamated Brassworks." The unwieldy name was streamlined to "Brass, Incorporated" when the corps was officially inc'd as a non-profit in '72. And that's the name they operated under during their 1st DCA appearance in 1973 and the subsequent RCA years.

In 1980 another Midwestern corps formed called the "Ohio Brass Factory." That, plus the incessant questioning of parade fans asking "where are you from?" caused the corps to add Minnesota as a prefix.

Edited June 18, 2010 by Ron H

[JimF-LowBari]

So Stinky Davis was a GAR corps? DANG!!! I'm being serious, have seen the name before but no location was given. And I'm enough of a Civil War history buff to know what the Grand Army of the Republic posts were.

Can't wait for the next time I see Donnie S. "Hey Donnie, who the Hades was Stinky Davis?".

And thanks Ron, having seen Brass Inc when they first came to DCA in the late 70s I always get screwed up on the details of MBI or BI. I forget if MN was added or taken away and when.

Edited June 18, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[goalieguy]

MBI is not quite as obvious as it appears. Even though the corps dates from 1946, it was once called The Toreadors, and even the Grain Belt Diamonds when they were sponsored by a brewery in the '60's. (They marched in tuxedos!)

The corps was originally all-male, like a lot of other seniors. Women were admitted in 1971. When the corps was searching for a new identity to reflect its modernization Corky Whitlock, the horn instructor, advocated the unusual name "Twin Cities Amalgamated Brassworks." The unwieldy name was streamlined to "Brass, Incorporated" when the corps was officially inc'd as a non-profit in '72. And that's the name they operated under during their 1st DCA appearance in 1973 and the subsequent RCA years.

In 1980 another Midwestern corps formed called the "Ohio Brass Factory." That, plus the incessant questioning of parade fans asking "where are you from?" caused the corps to add Minnesota as a prefix.

Just to add in a few tidbits to what my old compadre Ron said...When they started the corps back in 1946, they were just known like so many others as "Post 208 D & B Corps" - In short order they added the name of the post to it...Laidlaw..Men of Laidlaw kinda led into the Laidlaw Toreadors after that stint as the Grain Belt Diamonds.

Now that connection with the remnants of the old Schmidt / Hamm's Indians came in when they made the name change to "Twin Cities Amagalmated Brassworks, Inc." the rest of Ron's info is correct..

Funny thing about that connection to the old "Indians" - I remember marching St. Paul's Payne Avenue parade my rookie season, and as a tribute, Corky Whitlock set up the hornline in a staggered file formation..in the shape of an arrowhead..Didn't hurt that the parade route went past the Hamm's brewery on the East Side ..always thought that was cool..

I always wondered if the brewery ever invited the corps into the 'Hospitality House'(aka The Rathskeller in the Sky) after the parade back in the day...

MMMM - BEEER!!

Pat

[JimF-LowBari]

Just to add in a few tidbits to what my old compadre Ron said...When they started the corps back in 1946, they were just known like so many others as "Post 208 D & B Corps" - In short order they added the name of the post to it...Laidlaw..Men of Laidlaw kinda led into the Laidlaw Toreadors after that stint as the Grain Belt Diamonds.

Pat

Pat, quick question for ya buddy.....

Was Laidlaw a suburb of Minn/St Paul or was it name of a veteran? What I've read on the corps history is kinda corn-fusing....

Oh yeah.... wonder if Grain Belt was any better than Iron City. IOW - does a bnch of cereal pieces taste better than pieces of rust.

Edited June 18, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[Commander71]

From a Canadian perspective...

The Marching Ambassadors of Toronto were actually the Toronto Signals Regiment regimental band. When doing an appearance in the States in the 1950's a local reporter coined them "Canada's Marching Ambassadors".

The Jolly Jesters of Toronto were another army reserve regimental band...I believe they were Service Corps...and their original drum corps uniforms were clown costumes. Not sure which came first, the name or the uniform.

The Flying Dutchmen of Kitchener ON were another army reserve regimental band. Before the First World War the community in Kitchener was mostly of German or Dutch origin. The community was called Berlin then. To show their patriotism they changed the name to Kitchener (after General Kitchener of WW1 fame) and Waterloo (the victory over Napoleon). Dutchmen became a jr. corps in the late 60's and also spawned Dutch Boy and Northstar.

Guelph Ontario is known as the "Royal City" for reasons I don't know, and the 11th Field Regt. Royal Canadian Artillery became the Guelph Royalaires.

Niagara Militaires in the early 60's sprang from a military cadet type organization and have always had, as their alumni corps currently does, strong connections and respect for the Royal Canadian Legion (our version of the American Legon).

Most of the other corps of the era seem to have picked their names to copy US corps they liked or just sounded cool to them:

The Merriton Buccaneers, Welland Lancers, Port Dalhousie Guardsmen, Stamford Guards, Hamilton Viscounts, Canadian Commanders etc.

[goalieguy]

Pat, quick question for ya buddy.....

Was Laidlaw a suburb of Minn/St Paul or was it name of a veteran? What I've read on the corps history is kinda corn-fusing....

Oh yeah.... wonder if Grain Belt was any better than Iron City. IOW - does a bnch of cereal pieces taste better than pieces of rust.

Thanks Jim - I needed the laugh...As 'questionably' palateable as regular Grain Belt was (as a corn brew), it was better than Iron City..that rust must have come from the old steel cans..

Actually Grain Belt had a 'high end'(rice beer) version called Premium - still brewed today at the Schell brewery in New Ulm, MN.. That was and still is a very good brew..it came in clear bottles like Miller High Life..

Laidlaw was the name of a veteran..the post was actually in So. Minneapolis near where I-35W goes south from downtown..they moved to an old union hall down in my neighborhood..and then disappeared when the city took that whole block for a new development..Post 208 merged with 2 or 3 other posts and are now part of Post #1 just up the street from Laidlaw's last home..To tell you how tough it's been, Post 1 had to sell their building recently, and now conducts their meetings and such at the Eagles' building across the street..Urban RE-renewal I guess..

MBI got "sponsorship" from a post in Roseville, MN (1st tier St. Paul suburb) last year for the trip to Scranton, and they were happy to let us use their banner in our AFS for that show..

IRON CITY AAAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEE !!! Runs and hides!!

Pat

[TennTux]

I'd be interested in how the Renegades got their name, though. I'd imagine that's a good yarn.

The Renegades (Everett, MA - RCA Corps of the 70's - Donna *SunGuard33* and I marched in the Renegades from 1970-1973)

A few members of the Lt Norman Prince Princemen Sr D&B Corps decided to start another competitive SR Corps from the Boston area. As they were involved with this new endeavor they were told by several remaining Princemen members; "Your nothing but a bunch of Renegades"

(At least that's what I was told by a few Princemen Alumni that started the Renegades, Everett, MA. One of them was our Director/Founder Ed Gaff, older brother to Baritone Extraordinaire (and friend to many of us here) Bob Gaff)