Hide Article Text (OCR)
In a musical career that has spanned more than 60 years, Marty Caruso has amassed a warehouse of memories. There probably isn’t an entertainer in the industry who Marty hasn’t known or a mayor nightspot in the country he hasn’t played.He’s conducted three mayor city symphony orchestras, worked for Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason and Perry Comowhen their shows were the biggest on television and helped guide the Four Aces from their beginning at the old Rec in Prospect Park to a time when they were the nation’s hottest vocal group.But if he had to pick one “gig” that led to his mostmemorable moment, it might have been when he was conducting the post band at Camp Kilmer, N.J., during World War II. Less you think Marty spent The Big One”in some stateside Army camp, a little history is in order.T.ikp a lot of young men in Chester back around 1940, Marty Caruso decided to join the Army to “get your year over with.” The only trouble with that plan, which seemed a good idea at the time, was that before the year was over, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and for most of those eager volunteers, the one year became five or six before they were civilians again.Marty spent two of these years in the South Pacific “with all th* rats and scorpions” and hit such lovely spots as Bora Bora, New Hebrides, Guadacanal and Bougan-ville.“We were up at 5 every morning,” Marty recalled. “I worked in operations during the day, like everyone else, and then after work I'd play in a little jazz band I had formed. It was the only entertainment on the island, sowe were constantly in demand.“Another unit would want some music so the C.O. would say, *Get Marty and the band,’ and we’d move to another location. The only trouble was, since we were new to the place, we didn’t know where the foxholes were. So when the Japanese began their nightly bombing attacks, Fd throw my clarinet one way and run the other. Particularly on Bouganville,” Marty said, his moodinstantly changing. They bombed the hell out of us onBouganville.”After two years of this, Marty had acquired a touch of malaria and a strong case of what the G.I.’s used to call ‘jungle rot” The bombing also had left him partially deaf. The Army sent him home.Well, not quite home, but at least dose to home. He was sent to camp Kilmer where he immediately was put in charge of the poet band. In those days, you could be discharged if you had enough “points.” The longer you were overseas and the more dangerous area you served in, the more points you were awarded.“I think you could get out with 45 points,” Martyrecalled. “I had about 90, but the poet commander was stuck for a band leader, so I stayed.”“Now Kilmer was a port of embarkation for troops headed for Europe. The war was still going on, and our job was to play some military marches as the guys walked down the dock and boarded the ship.”And that is where one of Marty’s most memorable moments unfolded.Tm playing and who do I see walking down the pier, loaded down with dufflebags and equipment, but my younger brother Tony and one of our best friends, Rudy Pompilii.“I saw them and started to cry, and then they started to cry. I was crying because I knew what they were heading for...I think they were crying because I was crying. So I helped them with their gear and put them on the ship.”Looking back, he thought of the late Rudy Pompilii, that most gentle of people, wearing a uniform and carrying a gun is almost ludicrous. Rudy went on to serve in an Army unit with a sergeant who had a heavy German accent. His name was Henry Kissinger. Sgt. Kissinger went on to bigger and better things, and so didRudy.Rudy was the saxophone player for Billy Haley and the Comets whose recording of “Rock Around the Clock practically introduced Rock music to the world.Marty Caruso is in his 70s now, still teaching music at his studio in Brookhaven, still willing “to give my heart” to any youngster who truly wants to learn.His family is legend in the area. The five sons of Anna and Anthony Caruso, who taught music in a studio near the 3rd Street Bridge in Chester, all became successful and, even more important, respected musicians.Vince, the oldest, is now retired. Having mastered the piano, he’s now ^kling golf. Good luck, Vince. Larry, the bass player, has a sandwich shop in Media. Tony, the trumpet player, and Henry, the drummer, still areplaying in Florida.Millard Robinson, a legend himself as a football coach at old Swarthmore High, now directs the summer programs at Rose Tree Park. He’s been trying for about five years to get the Caruso brothers together again to play there one night.I would imagine the list of musician volunteers to fill out the rest of the band alone would fill the park.Marty says it probably won’t happen.“I don’t know if Tony and Henry would come up from Florida,” he said. “Besides, we’re not looking for any more acclaim. Music has been my life, and it’s been a good life.“If you enjoyed my music over the years, that is myreward.”“It’s been a pleasure.”Ed Gebhart is a public relations executive for a major corporation. His column appears Friday.* #* jr
Newspaper Details
Delaware County Daily Times
Chester, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Oct 27, 1989
Page 38
Full Page
Clipped by
Judi B.
FL, USA 25 Oct 2021
Other Publications Near Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester Reporter
Chester Evening Times
Delaware County Daily Times
Chester Times
Chester Daily Times
