Gene Beecher was a skinny little fellow who talked a lot, had some radical ideas, and at times could shock some of the people with a more conventional outlook at Carpenter's Estates. It was really odd how he ended up buying a home there anyway, as Carpenter's at that time was owned by the former Carpenter's Home Church, which back in the day (before its decline) was perhaps the biggest Pentecostal megachurch in central Florida. At the time, I worked as a security officer there, as Carpenter's was fairly good about hiring students from our college to work, and although it paid hardly anything, it was a good gig for the time. Although hired by the church, many of us worked at the adjacent property which was a large condominium community owned then by the church and staffed by us as far as security went. And, a good part of the job was meeting a lot of fascinating people - I could name several I got to know, as it was fairly easy to become close with them as some were lonely and would just come down by the desk to chat or you would see them during rounds, etc. We also had a few people from the parish Barb and I attended at the time - Christ the King, a charismatic Episcopalian church a short distance from where I worked - and we ran into them on occasion too. But, few of them stood out as much as Gene Beecher, and as I begin to talk about him, you will see why.
Eugene Beecher, a man of many talents!
Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I have an avid interest in vintage big band recordings, and that being the case, it came as a bit of a pleasant surprise one night when this skinny, wizened, little old man dressed like a beatnik professsor came down to the desk and noticed I was reading George T. Simon's book The Big Bands. He struck up a conversation about this book, and as I told him a little about my interest, he told me to look in the back of Simon's book. For big band enthusiasts and collectors, this book is a virtual encyclopedia of practically every orchestra from the time period between the early 1900's and mid-1950's, and at the back of the book Simon has an extensive list of bands that he either didn't have the time to document in detail or had little information on. So, when this fellow pointed me to the back of the book, I was directed to that section, and reading down the list, I found the name "Gene Beecher" among the orchestra leaders, and lo and behold, I was actually talking to this guy! Turns out that Gene Beecher - known in his day as the leader of what was called a "Mickey Mouse" orchestra, meaning he played in a similar style to Lawrence Welk (Beecher claimed Welk stole the "Champagne Music" sound from him, as he claimed he was the first to use it, but that remained to be seen since another famous bandleader, Shep Fields, had a similar sound called "Rippling Rhythm" at around the same time) - was a territory band (meaning he was well-known in a certain geographical region, in his case Cleveland, OH) and he was also a childhood friend of a man who was probably one of the greatest legends of the era, Artie Shaw. When Beecher had his orchestra, he played banjo and guitar, and his wife Lois (who at that time was still alive but suffering from serious dementia) was the "canary" (girl singer, in dance-band lingo) with the orchestra. He also had a moniker - as did many orchestra leaders - as he billed himself as "Beecher the Music Teacher," and in that he had a similar gimmick with his orchestra as did the better-known Kay Kyser. Although as far as I am aware no commercial recordings of his orchestra exist, a few years ago a friend of mine, Mark Caputo in Herculaneum, MO - who collects and reissues old big band broadcasts on CD (he has several hundred thousand of them!) happened to have one of Mr. Beecher's old broadcasts from 1939, and I was fortunate enough to get a copy of it from him. Mr. Beecher was right in that he said his band sounded like Welk's or Field's, and on it he sings a little too, but what is ironic is his own taste in music - despite having what was called a "Sweet Band" in the day, Beecher was a solid fan of people like Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton, which I found paradoxical but interesting. I suppose this came too from his close friendship with Artie Shaw, whom he chatted with once a week at least on the phone (I tried unsuccessfully to have him get me an autograph of Shaw, but it never happened as Shaw was noted for being a little moody at times with fans) up until he passed away in 2002. Any rate, after that initial discussion with Simon's book, Mr. Beecher and I had a lot of nightly talks, and it made going to work a joy for a long time.
An advertisement for Mr. Beecher's orchestra from the 1930's - Gene is at the upper left of the page.
As I mentioned, Carpenter's Estates was a retirement condo, and that being said it is also worth mentioning that Mr. Beecher at the time was in his late 80's, although he was very sharp and vibrant. Although he had never attended college, the man could be called a true intellectual due to the fact he was well-read, and he kept up with a lot of things. Although I didn't see eye-to-eye with him on politics or religion (he was considered by many of his neighbors, many of whom were conservative Pentecostal Christians, to be an oddball because he called himself a "Zen master," although it was doubtful he actually practiced that - he did that to repel the more over-zealous religious people), he was a fascinating individual with a good heart and we discussed a lot of music. As a matter of fact, many of us guys who were working security got to know him pretty well, and with a couple of the other guys he also discussed philosophy and art. Speaking of art, I should mention that for a bit. When Mr. Beecher retired to Florida I believe in the early 1980's, he took up painting as a hobby, and painted in a style known in the art community as "Naive Art," which was in a similar vein to the late artist Grandma Moses. This type of art is impressionistic, Dali-esque in that it was a little odd-looking to the untrained eye, but it had a following. After Mr. Beecher passed away in 2002, his paintings cornered an art market and they are today worth thousands. Lucky for me, I was able to obtain one, as Mr. Beecher gave me one himself - it is a picture of a creature that looks like a yellow six-legged cat or something. His son, whom he called "Inky," still manages the propagation of his art today, and I believe personally that was a good thing - if art with that type of value is to be managed, it should be by a family member, and "Inky" Beecher has done well in preserving his father's legacy from his base in New Jersey.
Although I eventually left Carpenter's upon graduation from college, I still kept in touch with Mr. Beecher up until the time of his passing, although we mostly talked by phone. In the last couple of years of his life, he had grown somewhat frail, and had to go to assisted living over in what was called the Villa, a part of the Carpenter's complex that provided assisted care for residents that couldn't care as well for themselves. when he passed away, he was about 92 or 93 years of age if I recall, and he had lived a long, full, and satisfying life. I still miss him to this day, but fortunately I have many good memories of him as well as even one of his paintings and recordings of his orchestra. It was truly a blessing to get to know Eugene Beecher as a person as well as a veteran orchestra leader, and I count it as a blessing - few individuals impact me personally like that, and he was one of those definitely. May he rest in peace, and may his legacy always continue to be celebrated.
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