Warfleet Press

Biographies on Unique British Columbians

Woodwinds, Brass & Glory

Photo album of the Kitsilano Boys Band.

’58 Kerkrade

Synopsis:

   When Arthur Delamont died in 1982 at the age of 90, it was thought the story of his band was soon to be lost to all, as no one had ever recorded all the successes and triumphs the band had achieved during its fifty-year history. Amongst  the difficulties in piecing together the story after his passing, many of the original boys in the band had passed on as well, their stories lost to history.

     Christopher Best investigates the story through those still living and through scrapbooks and archival photos accumulated from Montreal to Vancouver. As the story unfolds, it looks like a documented history
of the band is possible after all but then the question is whether
or not the quality of the archival material that survived is good
enough to include in a book! Christopher Best manages to piece
together the amazing story of the worlds most successful boys
band and through the aid of modern technology, edit the over 450
photos he accumulated into the only pictorial record of the band in
existence today!

This is the only one of my books on Delamont and his band, that includes trip itineraries and vaudeville posters for all his fourteen trips to the old country.

Published by: Warfleet Press
Release Date: Copies available
Pages: 329
ISBN13: 978-0-9812574-5-7

To order this book, please leave a message in the reply box below

Best Traveler

2 responses to “Woodwinds, Brass & Glory”

  1. Diana Avatar
    Diana

    I am writing this because my father was in the Kitsilano boys band in 1937. My father’s name is William L. Cavalli now 88yrs old, living in Santa Maria Ca. He wanted me look on the internet to see if I could find any pictures of him and his oldest brother Vittore S. Cavalli in the band. He recalls playing in West Minister, Stanley Park, Vancouver Island. He at the time was not able to travel with the band due to being under age. He was told by his parents that on one trip the band was heading on tour to England by boat, but the was hit by a torpedo. He remembers the war was going on in Europe.

    Please contact me if you can find any information or being able to receive any photos in that year? He would be so pleased, to see if he could find a picture of himself and his brother playing with the band.

    Thank you for your assistance,

    Diana Jehle

    Reply
    1. neighborhoodsofmetrovancouver Avatar
      neighborhoodsofmetrovancouver

      Hi Diana

      Thanks for writing. Your dad’s name is unfamiliar to me but that is not unusual.If boys did not go on a major trip then it was really hard to find out about them. The boys who went on the trips were well documented on programs etc. If you dad was in the band in 1937 he might have gone to San Francisco unless as he says he was too young. In 1939 the boys did go back to England and left when war was declared. They were not hit by a torpedo but were chased back across the Atlantic by a u-boat or so the story goes!

      My big picture book on the band came out in 2014 The Life & Times of the Legendary Mr.D. Your dad may be in one of the pictures in there probably only he would know. The cost of the book is $49.95. Shipping to California would be $20. It is probably more but that is okay.

      Let me know if you would like a copy.

      Thanks
      Chris Best
      archivist/historian/writer

      Reply

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