A Great Day on the Brooklyn Bridge
or
How
Jack Hirschorn
Became "The Mayor of Old-Time Music in New York City"
Back in 1983, the Brooklyn Bridge celebrated its hundredth birthday. Of course, there were plenty of very big, very official events where politicians and celebrities got to smile and wave for the news cameras. Yet, there was one event that didn't quite make the itinerary of all those very important people... nor, for that matter, the front page of the New York Times or top-billing on the evening news. It consisted of some 40 modern dancers "tripping the light fantastic" across the Bridge's promenade, from the Manhattan to the Brooklyn side, to the melodious strains of the fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin, played by a ragtag assortment of 40 local old-time country musicians.
The event was the brainchild of Elise Bernhardt, now a well-known figure in the arts and dance world, then a struggling young modern dancer/choreographer. At the time, Elise's "day gig" was waiting tables at Capulet's, the late-lamented Brooklyn Heights cafe on Montague Street that was a favorite hangout for the likes of Bob Dylan and his crew back in the Swinging Sixties. (Capulet's on Montague Street? Remember the Feudin' Montagues and Capulets in Bill Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet? Oh, yeah....)
It was at Capulet's that Elise met a scruffy bunch of equally young and struggling musicians whose tastes ran against the mighty stream of contemporary pop. Favoring the "old familiar tunes of the hills and hollers," as recorded on scratchy "78s" way back in the 1920s and '30s, these musical rebels called their genre of choice, "old-time country music." Instead of electric guitars, keyboards and drum kits, their "unplugged" musical arsenal consisted of cranky old fiddles, flat-top guitars, mandolins, and banjoid hybrids of every type and description.
"Aha!" Thought Elise, "These are just the kind of folks I need for my Brooklyn Bridge Centennial performance piece!"
The Legend of Jack Hirschorn
Now in this old-time crew there was a luminary, Jack Hirschorn of Midwood (Brooklyn, that is...), who was then and still is very much in demand as a master of the old-time rhythm guitar. Elise assigned Jack the task of organizing the contingent of old-time musicians that would provide the musical accompaniment for the dancers.
Jack and I met with Elise to discuss the logistics of this massive undertaking. Since we, the musicians, would be playing traditional acoustic string instruments, our problem was how could we possibly make ourselves heard over the din of the hundreds of cars passing over the Bridge as well as the subway trains constantly rolling on the tracks below the Bridge's promenade.
Jack, ever the consummate stickler for attention to detail, proposed issuing each musician a small " Pignose" guitar amp and pickup to amplify their various acoustic instruments. How would we carry the amps as we're walking and playing? Simple, we'd all wear knapsacks on our backs and carry the amps in them. As Jack put it, we'd be like astronauts: our knapsacks bearing the precious little sound generators would be analogous to the astronauts' life support packs, and the cables connecting our instruments to the "Pignoses" would be just like the astronauts' oxygen tubes.
As compelling as this image was, we opted to divide the dancers and the musicians accompanying them into four separate units. With at least 10 musicians per unit, we hoped that our "strength of strings" (to quote a Dylan song) would be enough to make our music audible to at least the dancers.
The Game Plan
Here was the stratagem: We would meet at Capulet's in Brooklyn Heights and then subway over to the Manhattan entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge. As mentioned, the performers were to be divided into four groups of approximately 10 dancers and 10 musicians each. The choreographed piece to be danced involved the dancers running ahead of their accompanying musicians a little ways on the Bridge's promenade to various designated "stations" along the way. At each station the dancers would stop and do a little number in which they would twirl long colorful ribbon streamers among the Bridge's cables and girders, then run on to the next station. The whole process would be repeated intermittently across the Bridge all the way to the Brooklyn exit.
Showtime!
The sky was dark and menacing that morning as we gathered at Capulet's. As we sat there apprehensive about the weather, Jack calmly handed each of us a large black plastic garbage bag for instrument protection in case of rain.
Finally, the time had come to make our way to the Bridge... yet, it was misting outside. Terrible doubt and anxiety seized our hearts: Will we go on the Bridge or call the event on account of rain? All eyes turned to Jack. He thought for a moment and then quietly issued the command: "Let's go!"
The mist had now turned to a light drizzle as we marched down Montague Street to the subway station to board the trains for Manhattan. In no time at all, we found ourselves on the other side of the East River. The drizzling continued as we followed our valiant leader to the entrance of the Bridge's promenade. But then a wondrous thing occurred: as the first group set foot on the Bridge, the rain miraculously ceased. The sun broke through the dark clouds. In our hearts we cheered and boldly sallied forth. As we looked behind us, we saw a large crowd of curious spectators following us. The entire performance was to go off without a hitch.
Meanwhile, the weather held until the last group exited the Bridge on the Brooklyn side. And then, once everyone was across, as if on cue, it started to rain again.
To all of us, this clearly was a sign from on high.
That night when the old-time community gathered to celebrate our participation in this historic event, we unanimously voted Jack Hirschorn "Mayor of Old-Time Music in New York City" for life.
-- Shlomo Pestcoe
- Brooklyn Bridge. Am having one high old time.... Novelty Postcard, 1908. (Collection of Shlomo Pestcoe)
Jack Hirschorn. The Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, 2000. (Photo by Robert Gilberg)
On the Promenade, Brooklyn Bridge, New York. Stereoview, 1899. (Collection of Shlomo Pestcoe)
A Masterpiece of Engineering -- The Brooklyn Bridge, New York City. ("We are looking across the East River from the Brooklyn end of the bridge....") Stereoview, c.1899. (Collection of Shlomo Pestcoe)
