“OH MR. SOUSA! WE DIDN’T KNOW THAT...”
• You entered Masonry at age 26 and were a Master Mason for 51 years. In addition, your father was a Mason, and nearly half your band members were Shriners!
• Three of your best known marches have Masonic origins: The Crusader (1888), The Thunderer (1889) and Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (1923).
• You were president of ASCAP in 1924.
• You were an expert horseman; an avid hunter; an excellent baseball pitcher; a skilled boxer; and one of the best trapshooters in the country, with countless trophies and awards, leading you to be elected president of the American Amateur Trapshooters Association.
• You were chairman of the National Association of Shotgun Owners.
• During World War II, the United States Coast Guard christened the Liberty Ship, SS John Philip Sousa.
• In 1954, the Austrian Mint issued the John Philip Sousa Centennial Medal.
• Three Indian tribes made you honorary chief, calling you, respect- ively: “Chief Singer”; “Chasing Hawk”; and “Great Music Chief.”
• Each year, hundreds of high school musicians across the country are recipients of the John Philip Sousa Award for outstanding achievement.
• The Washington Post March started an international dance craze in 1889 --“The Two-Step”--and became the #1 hit tune in both America and Europe, totally eclipsing the waltz as the standard of ballroom dancing around the world for many years, until it was unseated by “The Fox Trot.”
• It also remains one of the most frequently requested and played marches ever written and, at the time of its composition, the news- paper for which it was written was vaulted into international promi- nence and celebrity.
• When Columbia Records published its first catalog, the entire contents consisted of just your marches!
• In all, you composed 136 marches; 15 operettas; 70 songs; 28 fantasies; 24 dances; 5 overtures; and apart from a large body of other musical works, 7 books, 138 magazine and newspaper articles ...and 27 letters to the editor!
• Some of your most famous marches include: Thunderer; Sabre and Spurs; Invincible Eagle; U.S. Field Artillery (“Caissons go rolling along”); King Cotton; Manhattan Beach; Gallant Seventh...
• Apart from El Capitan, your other successful operettas included The Charlatan and Free Lance, with Bride Elect, Desiree, and Chris and the Wonderful Lamp receiving only mild success.
