random May Singhi Breen ephemera

janeray1940 · Feb 24, 2014

I was trolling Etsy and came across this, and figured others here might find it interesting: Good Wishes are Immeasurable from May Singhi Breen de Rose.

No connection with the listing, I just found it interesting and thought others might as well.

hmgberg · Feb 25, 2014

You always find the most interesting things! How wonderful.

Hippie Dribble · Feb 25, 2014

And today is her birthday too!!! Happy Birthday May!!!!

This, from my FB:

Born February 24, 1895, May Singhi Breen is known as The Ukulele Lady, but she is rightfully the First Lady of Ukulele. In 1922 (she would have been 27) she was given an ‘ukulele for Christmas. The store would not take it back as a return so she decided to take lessons. From that humble beginning she went on to be the one credited for getting Tin-Pan Alley publishers to include ukulele arrangements on their sheet music- and her name is on many. She got the American Federation of Musicians (musician union) to include the ukulele as a real musical instrument, and she authored several ukulele song books. She preferred playing Martin ukuleles and had a couple custom built ones. She passed away December 19, 1970.
Here you can hear probably the first recorded ukulele lesson. The voice is that of singer Vaughn De Leath, but the uke is played by May Singhi Breen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfVQ2uXiiSI

janeray1940 · Feb 25, 2014

hmgberg said:
You always find the most interesting things! How wonderful.

I'm a reformed flea-market addict - the internet provides all the fun of finding things without the need to actually purchase them (hey, just save the image instead!)

eugene ukulele said:
And today is her birthday too!!! Happy Birthday May!!!!

This, from my FB:

Born February 24, 1895, May Singhi Breen is known as The Ukulele Lady, but she is rightfully the First Lady of Ukulele. In 1922 (she would have been 27) she was given an ‘ukulele for Christmas. The store would not take it back as a return so she decided to take lessons. From that humble beginning she went on to be the one credited for getting Tin-Pan Alley publishers to include ukulele arrangements on their sheet music- and her name is on many. She got the American Federation of Musicians (musician union) to include the ukulele as a real musical instrument, and she authored several ukulele song books. She preferred playing Martin ukuleles and had a couple custom built ones. She passed away December 19, 1970.
Here you can hear probably the first recorded ukulele lesson. The voice is that of singer Vaughn De Leath, but the uke is played by May Singhi Breen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfVQ2uXiiSI

Oh wow, that's quite a coincidence that it's her birthday. Happy birthday May! That's really neat that that ukulele lesson has been preserved.

hmgberg · Feb 25, 2014

Well, I'm not so much reformed (I bought it) as I am trying to emerge from cold turkey. Where I live, everything is an "antique." Thanks for the heads-up.

ichadwick · Feb 25, 2014

Damn. Would have liked to get that. I have many of Breen's arrangements in my PDF collection, but I'm always looking for more so share with other uke aficionados.

random May Singhi Breen ephemera

janeray1940

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hmgberg

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Hippie Dribble

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janeray1940

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hmgberg

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ichadwick

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