Word: instruments
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Ukulele in hand, plump May Singhi Breen went last week to the Manhattan local of the American Federation of Musicians to try to get a union card (fee: $50). Three weeks ago, flouting the ukulele as a lowly instrument, the Federation refused her entry (TIME, Dec. 21). Last week it admitted that the ukulele is a musical instrument. But the Federation does not wish to be swamped by applications from ukulelists. May Breen might come in as a pianist or not at all. She departed vowing to carry the ukulele's cause to the National Board, highest body...
...model, the same as the best Philadelphia hospitals have. And so have several private practitioners in Tampa. So have others in numerous Florida and nearby Georgia cities. Anyone giving even cursory attention to the daily papers has often seen reports of children's lives being saved by this instrument at Florida hospitals. There is thus no shadow of excuse for the Orlando doctor's misinformation...
...Breen is an easygoing, practical-joking soul (her dinner guests have been given rolls which squeak when bitten). But her wrath was aroused when the American Federation of Musicians refused her admittance on the grounds that the ukulele is not a musical instrument. The Federation, it seemed, had never even been asked to recognize it before. Yet the ukulele does not have to be played in a hit-or-miss fashion just because it is smaller and cheaper than its cousin, the union-approved guitar. Unlike the harmonica, lowliest of wind instruments, the ukulele has all the chromatics...
...Breen prepared to do battle, to beard the Federation Board's meeting next week and, instrument in hand, force a vote on the ukulele's status. To plead her case she will present affidavits from famed musicians. Conductor Walter Damrosch heard her play last week, said it was "like raindrops in sunshine." Com-poser-Critic Deems Taylor said that he did not see why "a good ukulele player, such as Miss Breen, shouldn't be admitted to the musicians' union. Triangle players, snare drummers and expert sand block rubbers carry union cards...
...further precaution a CO meter to register presence of the gas as low as .02% was perfected by the Navy and Mine Safety Appliances Co. The device may be installed on the instrument board of any plane. A special type, with an auto-matic alarm, was designed for the U. S. S. Akron...