A Long Felt Want...

[HansiRowe]

I was just reading through 'The Concertinist's Guide' from 1888 when I came across this section...

 

 

Just out of interest, has anyone ever seen one of these..?

 

And within the same guide, purely for enjoyment and those who haven't read it before, was this delightfully written article about 'nerves' and the art of playing softly, with emotion, and expression...

 

[Wolf Molkentin]

I don't seem to be able to read the first snippet, but however thank you for the second, really enjoyed my reading it!

[HansiRowe]

The first snippet reads...

 

Mr W P Dando has recently invented a Patent Concertina Holder & Support, which can be attached, when standing, to a music stand, or sitting, to a table or Piano. This supplies a long felt want; the price is also very reasonable.

[Rod]

I shall resist the temptation to place an immediate order for the strange-sounding Dandos gadget but I am all for for playing ' softly with emotion and expression ' . That is what I always strive for but I'm not at all sure what part my ' nerves ' play in the process.

[Terry McGee]

When I worked at the Research School of Physical Sciences at ANU, we used to send new apprentices down to the stores for a "long felt want". Later, we'd send them down for a "short weight". The storemen would tell them to wait over there and then send them back, sometimes totally mystified.

 

The storemen probably got a bit sick of us, although it must have made a change from the left-handed screwdrivers and the metric shifting spanners.

[John Wild]

I remember my father telling me about getting sent to the stores for two one-inch holes!!

[Bill N]

When I was in the Canadian military, new recruits were sent for "50 yards of firing line".

[Rod]

Printing apprentices were apparently sent to ask for ' sky hooks '. Such examples are probably endless.

[Geoff Wooff]

Yes Endless indeed ! Having been on the receiving end of some of these humourous incidents during my own apprentiship they now produce wistfull thoughts for me.

[HansiRowe]

Yes, me too, although I can't write here what my fellow workers asked me to fetch on my first day… it's a bit naughty and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker!! Anyway, getting back to my original question, has anyone ever seen one of Mr W P Dando's Patent Concertina Supports… that was felt to be wanting for so long..? I would just be interested in how it looks… obviously, it could have only supported one end of the concertina otherwise moving the bellows would have been a bit awkward!

 

I have found out that he was a very interesting person… and not just for his middle name alone.. Pfeffer being German for pepper!

 

Walter Pfeffer Dando was born in London in 1852, a moment the German master machinist Karl Lautenschlaeger would later identify as the inception of 'the golden age of the stage engineer, for the issue of success or failure hinged chiefly on his will and ability'...

Edited September 22, 2014 by HansiRowe

[MatthewVanitas]

Now you've done it: there was no Wikipedia biography for Dando, so I had to go and make one myself from bits and pieces of string I found in old publications online. Apparently also invented apparatus for making performers "fly" onstage, and was a photographer for the London Zoological Society.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pfeffer_Dando

 

 

(Incidentally, if anyone here wants to try writing their first Wikipedia article on anyone in concertina/melodeon history, PM me and I can walk you through the steps. A lot of famous players, builders, inventors have yet no bio on Wikipedia since ours is a niche community.)

[HansiRowe]

Ha ha… thanks Matthew for the wikipedia page… an interesting man indeed Herr Pfeffer, with some quirky talents! Still no mention of his Patent Concertina Holder & Support though…