QUESTIONS:
1- Who is known as Mr. Barberpole Cat and why? For extra credit, what was (and is) the purpose of the Barberpole Cat program?
2- Name the two VIP barbershoppers who collaborated with Mr. Barberpole Cat in the creation of the program.
3- When was the Barberpole Cat program launched?
4- What was the predecessor of the Barberpole Cat program called and when did that earlier effort come into existence?
5- How many Pole Cat songs exist today? How many existed when the program was launched? For extra credit, name them.
ANSWERS:
1- Floyd Connett (the Society's very first musical field rep) was dubbed Mr. Barberpole Cat because the concept of the program was his. The idea behind the program was/is to provide all barbershoppers everywhere with common arrangements of simple barbershop chestnuts to be sung during contest weekends, inter-chapter get-togethers and any other events where barbershoppers from different chapters find themselves in the same place at the same time. It's barbershopping's very own secret handshake.
2- Mac Huff, a musical field rep employed by the society in the 1960's and 1970's, and Ralph Ribble, the society president at the time the program was launched.
3- 1971
4- The Barberpole Cat program had no predecessor per se. However, Floyd Connett saw the need for it, or something like it, as early as the late 1950's. It was then that Floyd published the song book entitled Just Plain Barbershop, which provided barbershoppers with a common repertoire for the first time. (Extra personal trivia - In the fall of 1967 when I started singing in my first quartet, the FDU Barbershop Quartet - this was before I became a society member - all of the songs we learned were in Just Plain Barbershop. This collection of old, simple barbershop tunes remains available from the society to this day).
5- The original Pole Cat songs from 1971 include: My Wild Irish Rose, Down Our Way, Honey/Little Lize Medley (counted as one song), Sweet, Sweet Roses Of Morn and Shine On Me. The 12-song series we are familiar with today was adopted in 1987 by a vote of all society members and consists of the five songs mentioned above plus: Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie, Let Me Call You sweetheart, Heart of My Heart, Sweet Adeline, Down By The Old Mill Stream, Sweet And Lovely and You Tell Me Your Dream.
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