Taylor Gordon in Concert (1960)
When Taylor Gordon returned from New York in the late 1950s to settle once more in White Sulphur Springs, Montana, he also returned (at the age of 67) to the concert stage for the first time in well over two decades, performing in the Springs as well as in other Montana towns and cities. One of those concerts is advertised here in the February 24, 1960, edition of the Meagher County News:
The March 2, 1960, edition of the Meagher County News reports on the concert:
“A program of negro spirituals, classical and secular songs was presented in a concert by Taylor Gordon, at the grade school auditorium last Saturday evening. A sizeable crowd, including a number of people from out of town, attended in spite of the below-zero weather that night.
“Mr. Gordon was accompanied by Miss Mary Louise Nelson at the piano.
“The concert was Mr. Gordon’s first public appearance since 1939, and the first time he had sang here since 1936.
“Mr. Gordon began his singing career in 1919. From that year until 1925, he was a vaudeville performer in many eastern cities. In 1925 he formed a partnership with J. Rosamond Johnson and they toured the country giving concerts. They were featured in a radio program, ‘Dixie Echoes,’ on the CBS network until 1930. During this time Mr. Gordon published an anthology of Negro Spirituals, which was issued in two volumes.”
[The MCN is in error here, as it was his partner J. Rosamond Johnson with his brother James Weldon who published The Books of the American Negro Spirituals, although Gordon was connected to the books, as the Johnson / Gordon concerts were intended in part to promote them.]
“In 1932 he appeared in the New York show ‘Shoot the Works,’ which was written and produced by the late Heywood Broun. Later he appeared in ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ with Seth Arnold; and in 1934 in ‘The Gay Divorcee’ which starred Fred Astaire. This last show was taken from New York to Chicago during the World’s Fair and Mr. Gordon went with the troupe to Chicago. His last public appearances were in New York [sic] during the 1939 World’s Fair.
“When the United States entered World War II, he took a job with the Curtiss-Wright aircraft company in New Jersey. After the war he was employed by Merit Studios, a division of Burton, Barton, Durstine and Osborne advertising agency. He returned to White Sulphur Springs last year.
“Mr. Gordon published a book entitled ‘Born to Be’ in 1929. The book tells of his early life in White Sulphur Springs, and of his adventures while traveling with the Ringling circus. Copies of the first edition have become collector’s items, and Mr. Gordon is planning to have the book republished.”
Taylor Gordon and Rose Gordon Biography Project 