basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 15 Sep 2011 8:21 am |
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Ron Whittaker 23rd February 1927 - 5th September 2011 RIP...
A dear friend of Pat and myself and known to most of us in the Hawaiian Music circle and family, he would be known HERE as the printer used by the British Steelies for their newsletter..
Yesterday we attended his funeral and memorial service, it was a moving ceremony where Frank (Kahili) Leadon read a tribute to Ron finishing with the words of Beda Loehner, "The song is ended but the melody lingers on."
Those attending were too many for the chapel and it was standing room only.. There was a contingent of Aloha Dream members and the attire requested was Hawaiian Aloha Shirt and Lei..
Ron gave us his own goodbye when his version of Aloha Oe was played and, on the recording, he spoke the ending saying "Aloha from me and my Guitar" Such a personal goodbye..
Our sincere sympathies go out to Wife Roseanne, son Stefan, family and friends.
Pat made a beautiful Lei tribute and presented it on behalf of all Aloha dream Members.
The very first article in the first Issue of Aloha Dream February 2003 was written by Ron Whittaker, here is a reprint of it..
DID YOU KNOW...............
Ron Whittaker who was born in North Staffordshire, England in 1927, is also a Magician?. He is a member of the prestigious International Brotherhood of the Magic Circle, and founder of the Mercian Mystics Society.
Here is an article from The Sentinel newspaper Saturday April 2000 an interview with Ron, about his life.
MAGIC LIFE OF A MAN WITH MANY TALENTS
When I made my debut as a magician in front of an audience of children at Merrial Street Scool-rooms in Newcastle, I opened a box of matches upside down and they went all over the floor.
That was one mistake. Another was to ask for a volunteer to come forward to help me. They all got up and everything went flying when my table was knocked over in the rush.
I became interested in magic when I was about 16, although at that age I was also intent on learning to play the guitar after seeing Felix Mendelssohn and his Hawaiian Serenaders at the Theatre Royal.
On top of that, my father had been teaching me the basics of photography from the age of five or six and that led to my later interest in printing. But let’s start at the beginning.
I was brought up at Crackley Gates, near Silverdale, and left school in 1941 when I was 14. My first job was with the Co-op as a van boy delivering bread. I also worked for Swettenhams and Blockleys grocers and has a spell at the NatWest Bank at Trentham Gardens.
I was about 28 when I started up on my own as a printer and photographer after working part-time in this field. From the age of nine I’d been developing and printing my own sepia-toned photographs by sunlight.
My first professional jobs were taking pictures of babies and then I was asked to do a wedding. I was as nervous as hell, but they seemed to be happy with the results.
As a wedding photographer, I did straightforward black and white pictures in front of the church door, not fancy stuff into the trees like they do today. I charged three pound for twelve photographs in a nice album. Later, I became the official Students’ Union photographer at Keele and covered the first graduation day ceremonies.
At the graduation ball I had a champagne breakfast at 4am on the ballroom floor.
Another occasion I remember was the visit of the Queen and Prince Phillip in 1955. I was one of only a handful of photographers allowed into a big display at Stoke City football ground.
I took pictures of the Prince holding up an umbrella as he and the Queen drove round the ground in a Landrover in pouring rain.
In the 1950’s I found a lot of work at the Theatre Royal, Hanley, doing pictures for stars like the comedian Reg Dixon and Charles Hawtrey of the Carry On Films.
Alongside the printing and photography I had a go at playing the Hawaiian guitar after hearing Felix Mendelssohn. For me, his music conjured up dreams of sunshine.
I found a teacher at Basford, Professor Billington, who taught me to read music, but I had to go to another teacher at Smallthorne to learn to play Hawaiian guitar.
An agent at Longton had a nucleus of players to form a band and asked me to take it over even though I was only 18 at the time. For a time I was the youngest bandleader in the country. We called the 16 piece band Johnny Tanaha and the South Sea Islanders. We had two vocalists, two hula dancers, and some fine local musicians like Ken Jones, Roy Taylor and Graham Simons.
Our trumpet player had been a pupil of Nat Gonella and the drummer had been given lessons by Gene Krupa.
Our first date was at Longton town hall . We played Hawaiian War Chant which was all the rage. However, I particularly remember the night we played at the Queen’s in Burslem. We were treated like stars and people asked for our autographs. They obviously didn’t realise that we were local musicians.
The band was a short lived affair because our agent disappeared. Even so, I kept up my interest in Hawaiian music and have sent private tapes round the world as a member of the BMG international club.
It was through my interest in Hawaiian music that I developed as a magician. I’d been conjuring with things from Woolworth's when I visited a man in Porthcawl after writing to him about music for several years. He showed me how to do tricks and really opened my eyes.
Calling myself the Great Ronaldo, I went round the clubs with fellow artists like Jack Simms., Sam Bass, Gil Hunt and Clubby Wilson. I also did my act as a member of an after-dinner concert party.
A lot of magic is difficult to do properly, but you have to make it look easy. In the end its all down to practice.
One of my regular tricks involved cutting up a rope several times and then restoring it to its original state. One night I cut a finger on the scissors. The rope was red with my blood.
Occasionally - though not very often - I performed a fire eating act. Doing it at one show around Christmas I burned my arm and set fire to the festive decorations!
I also remember doing my usual routine with a pound note when my black marker pen leaked all over my hands. Everybody knew what had happened, so I just held my hands up and sang a verse of Mammy into the microphone. It fetched the house down.
If things went totally wrong, I just threw the offending article over my shoulder and told the audience I was insured against that. The important thing was not to stand there like chips.
Talking about things going wrong, I got to know Tommy Cooper before he was famous . I saw him at magic conventions. Later I had my picture taken with him showing him a trick. Actually, Tommy was a good Magician.
Another thing I did was mind-reading. People told me they felt quite creepy when I got the right answer. But I must emphasize that it was all trickery. There was nothing supernatural.
When bending forks Uri Geller used to put himself across as having a divine gift, but I know that everything can be learned. Uri is a clever and a good showman, but he doesn’t have a divine gift.
Incidentally, I find that the cleverest people are the easiest to deceive. You can’t deceive an imbecile . I formed a society for magicians, the Mercian Mystics, which is 50 years old this year[2000]. All our members will tell you that being a magician costs a lot of money. You can pay forty pounds for a book on tricks. I always looked on it as a paid-for hobby.
Ron was talking to John Abberley in this interview.
Ron Whittaker May 2003
1960 -1976 were Ron’s recording years, In his home studio he and George Hewitt had weekly recording sessions, producing reel-to-reel tapes for the “BMG” tape club which circulated tapes worldwide. Their recordings were considered to be some of the best produced in Britain.
Ron has been on holiday to Hawaii three times, here he is with the Moe family
Ron also made all the leis for his band, so it wasn’t long before he had a new career supplying them to local bands. His ad in the BMG magazine read “Hawaiian lies, hand made by Johnny Tanoha” and orders came in from all over the world. Soon after, he signed a contract with Clifford Essex Music Co. of London, to supply them on a wholesale basis and his ad ran in that mag until the company went out of business.
Ron has also made guitars, one of which can be heard on one of Sammy Mitchell's cassettes , “Back Again” also produced by Ron.
There will be an in depth review of the “Sammy Mitchell” tapes by Basil in the next issue, and also the tapes will be advertised for sale in “Desert Island Disc’s”
The feature which sets Ron’s guitars apart from all others is his pickup, designed to produce the tonal characteristics of the old Rickenbachers and Dickersons without the use of the horseshoe magnets.
Once having heard them, many players in other lands [including the U.S.] have felt that this is the only guitar for them, and Ron has the satisfaction of knowing that many of his guitars are “out there” making beautiful music.
Ka mâlamalama o ke Akua e ho`opuni mai iâ kâkou
Ke aloha o ke Akua e kîpuni mai iâ kâkou
Ka mana o ke Akua e ho`opakele mai iâ kâkou
e alo o ke Akua e mâlama mai iâ kâkou
Ma kahi â kâkou, e hele aku ai he Akua nô
Amene
May the Earth continue to live, May the heavens above continue to live
May the rains continue to dampen the land, May the wet forests continue to grow
then the flowers shall bloom, and we humans shall live again. |
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