celebrating the legacy of hilda terry and gregory d’alessio 8 Henderson Place Foundation was established in 1975 by acclaimed cartoonists and longtime instructors at the Art Students League, the husband and wife team of Gregory d’Alessio and Hilda Terry determined to preserve the history of Henderson Place, a designated landmark district built in 1882, and its creative residents and notable visitors over the years. Hilda Terry and Gregory d’Alessio, legendary in their own right, exemplified a pioneering spirit, social consciousness and creative collaboration: entrusting the foundation with a most precious legacy.

The foundation archives constitute a treasure trove that has been so diligently preserved by the founders: records of history and culture reminding all of us, all generations, of the past century: the journeys, the triumphs, the tribulations, the fellowship amongst these creative artists. The preservation of this collection allows us to better understand the artists’ inner world and until now, little known aspects of that great American Poet Laureate and Troubadour, Carl Sandburg,and his days in New York City, his passion for the guitar; and a side of Andres Segovia rarely seen, recordings never before heard by the likes of Vladimir Bobri, Eugene Raskin (‘Those were the days’) and Gregory d’Alessio, and a documentary from 1942, that had been hidden away for over sixty years, on cartooning as a weapon, dealing with anti-axis cartoons organized by d’Alessio as chairman of the Committee on War Cartoons,under wraps until now, protected by the founders for the sole purpose of preservation and perpetuity. Without which, generations from now would never know that there was a ‘spunky woman in her late sixties up at all hoursin the umpire’s domain at Major League baseball stadiums, working on the first digital graphics for the scoreboards of the Yankees, Kansas City Royals...Little would they know, this woman was none other than Hilda Terry, the cartoonist known for Teena, a syndicated comic strip, the first of its kind focusing on the bobby sox generation during the war years, debuting on Pearl Harbor day, gracing our newspapers here and abroad, for over twenty years.Little would they know how Carl Sandburg spent his time at 8 Henderson Place, the articles he wrote for the Guitar Review, some of which went unpublished and we are now able to read, his Silly Center Opera Company with Ethel Smith, Irwin Hasen, Gene Raskin (‘Those were the days’) performing in this very place, the quintessential Queen Anne dwelling that houses the foundation.By revitalizing and unfolding of a bygone era, the foundation celebrates the carefully buried legacy of Hilda Terry and Gregory d’Alessio, a creative partnership in the truest sense, and as more hidden treasures are uncovered we may draw a better understanding of the creative landscape of this past century.

8 Henderson Place Foundation remains dedicated to protect, preserve and perpetuate its invaluable historic archives for cultural and educational purposes and to continue the founders’ legacy to develop and encourage research in cultivating of the aging creative spirit.

8 HENDERSON PLACE FOUNDATION AN ILLUSTRIOUS PETITE CARTOON MUSEUM, ARCHIVE AND RESEARCH CENTER

established 1975

The henderson place hisToric disTricT consists of a varied but homogeneous group of small town houses designed and built at one time and retaining today much of their picturesque charm and original character of the 1880s. The District comprises the east side of Henderson Place itself, the north side of East 86th Street from Henderson Place to East End Avenue, the entire East End Avenue blockfront between 86th and 87th Streets, and the south side of East 87th Street extending some ninety-two feet from the East End Avenue corner. In this compact area, less than half an acre in extent, 24 of the original 32 dwellings have been preserved with remarkably little exterior alteration. At one time or another, such well known personages as Mrs. Millicent Mcintosh, the Duchesse de Richelieu, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, John Barrymore, Noel Coward, Nancy Thayer (EE Cummings’ daughter) and Willard Roosevelt have owned or occupied houses in the District.

early hisTory Henderson Place is situated on land which, during the 18th Century, was part of the farm of William Waldron. When Waldron died in the second half of the century, the land was divided and sold to various landholders. The block where Henderson Place is located today was sold to John Jacob Astor and Archibald Gracie who Iater sold to Joseph Foulke. In the 1850s, a part of these properties was acquired by John C. Henderson who in 1881 started to build houses for “persons of moderate means.” Henderson was born on October 16, 1809, in Cincinnati where his father, a civil engineer, had been prominent in laying out that city. He came to New York as a young man and gradually achieved financial prominence as an importer of furs and ostrich feathers, and producer of fur hats and straw goods. He eventually acquired a consid-erable amount of real estate in New York City, including the section in Yorkville which is the subject of this designation.Yorkville was founded in the 1790s by German immigrants who gave it that name to emphasize that it was a part of New York, as distinguished from nearby Harlem.

By the second quarter of the 19th Century many well-to-do Germans such as Ehret, Ruppert and Ringling had established their homes in the vicinity. At that time the community was about five miles north of the built up part of the City; it con-tained some fine prosperous farms, and many wealthy New York families such as the Bayards, Foulkes, Rhinelanders and Schermerhorns built their country seats there. To the east were many country seats, such as John Jacob Astor’s, which was located at 88th Street, west of Avenue B (now East End Avenue). Archibald Gracie, one of New York’s outstanding shipowners and merchants, lived nearby in Gracie Mansion, now the official residence of the Mayor. It stands just across East End Avenue from what was eventually destined to become the Henderson Place project. The eastern portion of this estate has now been included in Carl Schurz Park, located along the East River.

archiTecTural imporTance The group of contiguous dwellings, constituting the Henderson Place Historic District was designed with the characteristics of the Elizabethan manor house combined with Flemish and classic detail in a style developed in England between the years 1870 and 1910, principally by Norman Shaw. Ho was a scholarly architect who wished to evolve a comfortable and romantic domestic style. For reasons that had little to do with the good queen, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, this late 19th Century style became popularly known as “Queen Anne”. It was a very personal style and depended largely on individual taste. Because it had such quaint and picturesque qualities, full freedom was permitted in the juxtaposition of otherwise disparate elements. This appealed to people who were looking for something both fanciful and novel.

John c. henderson was one of these. In 1880 he selected the architectural firm of Lamb & Rich (Charles A. Rich, 1855-1943 and Hugo Lamb, 1848-1903) to design this intimate group of residences. The project was virtually completed by 1882. The houses were intended to be sold to “persons of moderate means”. Twenty-four of the thirty-two original houses still remain. The eight which are missing were once located on the west side of Henderson Place, facing those which remain. It was an exceptionally attractive little dead end street of houses designed in a uniform style of architecture. The eight hous-es which were demolished have been replaced by a multi-storied apartment house that now overshadows its neighbors so completely that they appear even more diminutive than they really are. Two of the remaining houses have been combined, and three other houses have also been joined inside so that actually there are only twenty-one dwelling units in the district.

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from the foundation archives

Cartoonists have always been among the first to contribute their services for a worthy purpose. When comic strip characters are featured in drives they lend a more vivid meaning to the cause. All during the war, cartoonists placed their heroes in patriotic situations . . . in the armed services . . . observing rationing . . . working for organizations . . . taking jobs in factories . . . in every way promoting an all-out civilian, as well as service men’s war effort. People who read these strips, were influenced by them, and acted accordingly.When War Bond Drives were in full swing, the cartoonists were behind it with willing pen. Every comic strip character in some way showed or spoke on the importance of buying bonds. Whereas selling posters were messengers of the United States government, “comic strips” got into the homes and hearts of their heterogeneous audience.

CARTOONISTS vOLUNTEER THEIR TALENTSCARTOONISTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AMONG THE FIRST TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE WAR EFFORTS

from the foundation archives of wwii documents

1942 victory news: cartoons by dr seuss, d’alessio

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Peter Arno (top), “OK boys, let go the scrap iron” and Syd Hoff, “The Three Bears nertz, when are we gonna beat the Axis?” on loan from the 8 Henderson Place foundation for exhibition at the Society of Illustrators, New York City.

from an article in artnews magazine 1943

In December 1941 the American Society of Magazine Cartoonists founded the Committee on War Cartoons which included Colin Allen, Private Mel Casson, Private Dave Breger (originator of “GI Joe”), John Groth, Adolph Schus and was chaired by Greg d’Alessio. Debuting at the Art Students League in February 1942, the committee’s Cartoons Against the Axis exhibit featured some of the best cartoonists then working in the United States: Charles Addams, Peter Arno, Mel Casson, William Gropper, John Groth, Rea Irvin, Crockett Johnson, Charles Martin, Louis Priscilla, Garret Price, Gardner Rea, Ad Reinhardt, Carl Rose, Saul Steinberg, Arthur Szyk, Barney Tober and Syd Hoff (above, showed a child standing in his crib and asking his mother, “The Three Bears nertz – when are we gonna beat the Axis?” Cartoons against the Axis moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, afterwards touring the country helping raise money for the war effort.

THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CARTOONSS E R V I N G T H E U . S . G O V E R N M E N T V O L U N T A R I L Y I N T H E W A R E F F O R T

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Rollin Kirby: “Epidemic”

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:I Klein: “World Conquest Fly Paper!”

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Gregory d’Alessio: “Murder, Inc.”

d’Alessio, as chairman of the Committee of War Cartoons, spearheaded the “Cartoons against the Axis” collection of over 200 cartoons by the most legendary illustrators and cartoonists of the day. These images illustrate selected works of this significant collection, as exhibited in 1942 beginning at the Metropolitan Museum before traveling across the country.

THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CARTOONSS E R V I N G T H E U . S . G O V E R N M E N T V O L U N T A R I L Y I N T H E W A R E F F O R T

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Saul Steinberg: Don Quixote

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Bill Wenzel: Untitled

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Ad Reinhardt: Untitled

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Kay Kato: “I see the same numbers that your Italian and Japanese friends are worried about.10¢, 25¢, and $18.75.”

from the Cartoons against the Axis collection:Leonard Burland: “Everybody buy Defense Bonds and Stamps to help me knock-out the Hitler’s Axis Gangsters. Your Uncle Sam will do the fighting.”

THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CARTOONSS E R V I N G T H E U . S . G O V E R N M E N T V O L U N T A R I L Y I N T H E W A R E F F O R T

THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CARTOONSS E R V I N G T H E U . S . G O V E R N M E N T V O L U N T A R I L Y I N T H E W A R E F F O R T

from the Welcome Home collection:Hilarious cartoons which poke fun at situations in which returning men of the armed forces will find themselves—braving welcoming committees, adjusting themselves to civilian life and domestic life, to cocktail parties, to wives and screaming babies, to doting parents and relatives, to nasty little nephews and younger brothers.

“Outstanding among the cultural productions of this war are the efforts of the cartoonists. One who has made his mark is Gregory d’Alessio. Familiar to readers of “Colliers Weekly,” he has — for the past dozen years — been a contributor to outstanding magazines and newspapers both in the United States and in England. In this fascinating ‘Welcome Home’ series he studies the returned servicemen and the adjustment from military ways to civilian that GI Joe has to make. Gregory d’Alessio is a people’s cartoonist. He is not just another pen-and-ink man trying to be funny. He is an artist who, looking at the contemporary scene, sees the sublimely ridiculous and portrays it. His satire is the equal of the great novelists. His style of drawing is an individualistic departure from the routine of convention. And he accomplished, even in a literary way more than many an accepted novelist- for example-would in dozen of volumes. He is brief-and to the point! And his style does not annoy us.” — from the Dispatch Herald, Erie, PA May 1945and from the San Francisco Chronicle, April 1945: “If you agree with McBride’s blurb-writer that Collier’s is “the outstanding purveyor of pictorial humor in this country,” d’Alessio is undoubtedly your meat...”

The stock market crash of 1929 was responsible for d’Alessio’s career as a cartoonist. He lost his job as a bank teller on Wall Street. In desperation he looked about for another job to no avail. Having been interested in drawing even as a reporter on a Brooklyn newspaper, Gregory started drawing cartoons and his persistence and mastery landed him in the Saturday Evening Post with his first published cartoon. In 1939, d’Alessio began working on a panel cartoon syndicated to some fifty newspapers in the US and Canada entitled“These Women” in which he lampoons the foibles of the women of that period, particularly in relation to the war and the American homefront. As chairman of the Committee on War Cartoons, he worked closely with government agencies on matters pertaining to cartooning for the war effort, from promoting the sale of War Bonds to orchestrating the collection of axis cartoons and a full length documentary on cartooning as a weapon, chronicling the traveling exhibition, and as well sketching wounded veterans in hospital centers and teaching and encouraging those with an inclination towards the arts.

D’ALESSIO WELCOMES HOME THE HEROESNOTED CARTOONIST’S WARM DEPICTIONS OF THE RETURNING SOLDIERS TO CIVILIAN LIFE

ON THE HOMEFRONTGREGORY AND THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CARTOONS

GREGORY D’ALESSIOARTIST,CARTOONIST, HUMANIST AND HUMORIST

The need for confirmation of the humor factor in art can’t be filled for all time by the highly esoteric tongue-in-cheek of “pop”. In all probability, come the millennium, the greatest art treasures sought by future archaeologists exploring our buried remains will be those steel engraving plates of old cartoons to be dug up where 20th century printing plants will be uncovered. Many of our cartoons that now evoke a short “Hah!” will, more than anything else produced today, bridge centuries of language change, new customs and unforeseeable relateables to resurrect the sense of our peculiar spirit. Naturally, quality varies. At the top, it takes a very special blend of gifts to recognize the comedy in the human condition, to abstract from an amusable subjective perspective the imaginative and emotional reaction of an objectively observing participant; and then to bring it out in whatever combination of skills best serve the total communication of the individual - narrating, mimicking, satirizing, drawing, - as one who in compulsive excitement talks with his hands and his whole body as well as his vocal chords. The fact that such an artist may not be contributing to the creative progress of painting techniques is immaterial as long as he has brought forth a true conception fathered by the life around him.

THE CARTOONIST’S POINT OF vIEWAN EXCERPT FROM CARTOONIST HILDA TERRY’S ‘POINT OF VIEW IN PAINTING’

Terry studied art at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League, where one of her teachers was d’Alessio. They were married in 1938. Not long after, the gossip colum-nist Leonard Lyons included a piquant item about how Terry managed to sell the NewYorker a cartoon that her husband had thought too frivolous to draw himself. That first cartoon never ran, but Terry sold others and worked as a fashion illustrator. In 1941, she was signed to produce a feature ini-tially titled “It’s a Girl’s Life” for King Features - summoned on orders of a telegram from that most cartoon-aware mag-nate, William Randolph Hearst. The strip first appeared on a date that would jangle in Terry’s memory, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. As World War II progressed, Terry and her husband both drew for patriotic war bond campaigns ostensibly scripted by celebrity entertainers like Fibber Mc-Gee and Molly. In 1943, she won a contest sponsored by the Office of Wartime Information for the best cartoon on war-time conservation. Terry toured with USO shows and was

also a national official of the Campfire Girls (her American Indian name was “Squaw-With-Many-Prom-Dates”). After em-barrassing the National Cartoonists Society into withdraw-ing its blackball against women, she served as a judge on the contests it sponsored. excerpt from the New York Sun, October 18, 2006

HILDA TERRY’S COMIC GENIUSTHE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF ONE OF AMERICA’S LEGENDARY CARTOONISTS

When Segovia was a young boy, the classic guitar was strung with three fine-quality gut strings and three silk-colored strings wound with fine silvered wire. These strings, though sweet in tone, caused the guitarist to endure great tribulations because of their unpre-dictability, their fragility, and their quick loss of resonance. The first strings Segovia used were made in Granada and bore the brand name La Viuda. Later he preferred strings made by Pirastro. Then, after suffering much anxiety because of a scarcity of strings during World War II, in 1947 he began a life-long friendship with one who was to put an end to Segovia’s constant searching for a satisfactory guitar string. This was Albert Augustine, who, at Segovia’s urging, was to develop, from plastic material obtained from the du Pontiac company, nylon strings which were to replace the gut strings with incalcu-lable advantage in durability, exact calibration, sound and ease of action.

Almost a half century ago a great stroke of fortune befell me; I heard some Segovia and Vicente Gomez recordings in California. Instant enthrallment took over. I became a humble disciple of the classic guitar. Back in New York, alone in my feelings, I feverishly sought the company of like captives, Where could I find where the guitars were? I knew there must be some hidden in the city.

Inquired, I manipulated, and in time there emerged the authoritarian figure of Vladimir Bobri. He immediately saw in me just the man eager and willing to help him reorganize the Society of the Classic Guitar, in limbo since 1938, waiting for World War II to end.

Bobri had a list—a precious list—of all charter members of The Society, now disunited and scattered like lost sheep in different parts of the New York area. Together, we sent out a call for a meeting to be held in my apartment.

And so was the Society of Classic Guitar brought back, more vigorous than ever, and to become a model for guitar groups throughout the world. And in due course, came the birth of The Guitar Review, again to achieve wide acclaim as the leading organ for the classic guitar,

All of this in the name of our mission to promote the classic guitar, deserving of recognition as an instrument among other instruments that make music.

Of course, the crusade led by Segovia, king of the classic guitar, followed by a succession of brilliant princes of the instrument was bound to succeed; but not without the tenacious leadership of Vladimir Bobri, the Guitar World’s Dedicated Amateur who knew how to get people and things together to achieve those exalted goals.

Gregory d’Alessiofebruary 1987

SEGOvIA AND THE GUITAR STRINGTHE MAESTRO’S PLEA FOR THE NYLON STRING AS RECOUNTED BY VLADIMIR BOBRI

SOCIETY OF THE CLASSIC GUITARGREGORY REMINISCING ON VLADIMIR BOBRI AND THE BIRTH OF THE GUITAR REVIEW

CARL SANDBURG THE POET AND THE DISTINGUISHED COTERIE

Carl Sandburg was eager to meet the New York guitar crowd. On a September night in 1948 he joined “the distinguished coterie” as he called us, to partake liberally of guitar, song, food, wine and camaraderie. The members of the Society of the Classic Guitar soon learned that Carl was not merely a loving elderly gen-tleman looking for a good party.

No! What really brought him to us was our magazine, the GuiTar revieW. He wanted to write for us. “Do you know,” i asked him, “that the Society of the Classic Guitar and the Guitar review are among the most suc-cessful nonprofit ventures in the land? What i mean is that, of all the nonprofit ventures, our profit is more non than any of the others.”

On the historic night of our first meeting, Carl lifted his glass high in the gesture of a toast, and out of the blue, in clear mellifluous sylla-bles and with a loving regard for how accents fell, this famous american poet recited one by one, with dramatic pauses, the very infamous, unsung names of the editors of the Guitar re-view. Carl’s feat was the high point of our eve-ning and the more impressive because it was truly spontaneous, unadorned admiration for an effort that he knew to be a labor of love.

Gregory d’Alessio

from left to right: Gregory d’Alessio, Eithne Golden, Andres Segovia, Vladimir Bobri and Mirko

Carl Sandburg and I weren’t always playing the guitar, or singing, or partying, or gallivanting about or celebrating something; we also celebrated, as when we sat and talked about art – his, mine, and other arts... Sandburg’s thoughts, ideas, opinions and insights on any subject always made fascinating pictures.

Sandburg had the keen natural response of the poet’s instinct; he could spot a fraud a mile away. he looked for the life force of a work . whether abstract or realistic, classical or modern.

In a 1951 issue of the Guitar Review, specially devoted to the song and guitar, our newest contributor offered this stunner about our mutually beloved instrument.

Here, now, I pause in puzzlement over what could not conceivably be explained as a simple oversightin the chronicles of Sandburg’s life, particularly in his obituaries: Sandburg was a national poet-hero who early on began to make the guitar a central part of his life. Yet that aspect of his life is seldom mentioned. I speak here of the classic guitar — the guitar of Segovia.

Gregory d’Alessio

During Carl Sandburg’s extended stays at Henderson Place, there were parties galore. Ever since that day in 1948 when Carl unabashedly set out to track down the guitar people in New York, he was one of us. It had always been hard enough keeping our sans-Sandburg parties small, but when word got around that the Poet Troubadour was to be in our midst, it was impossible to avoid a scene here like the last night of the Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro.

Warmed, mellow and oiled, voices of different timbres, textures and colors began, one by one, to punctuate the air, rising slowly and blending finally into a swelling chorus. It was a meandering path the music traveled, to no apparent resolution. Anticlimax followed anticlimax. When it seemed the last chord was at last struck, one of the singers, maverick fashion, would take flight on a cadenza of his own, and again a new ending was in the making. Barely had the last strain of the impromptu overture faded away ... an opera had begun. The soprano always played by Ethel Smith. enter the female heavy, Delores Wilson, beautiful blond, buxom, and a bona fide Metropolitan Opera star.

Our opera fantasy exploded spontaneously on the night of our first ‘family’ party with Carl Sandburg. Finally the singers exhausted their voices and ideas. Sandburg hugely delighted but more amazed at such a feat of consistent, protracted improvisation, rose from his deep chair and in true claque enthusiasm applauded, calling out “Bravo, Bravo!” Then he raised his hand, waved it ceremoniously over the heads of the players, and said, tremulously, with deep reverence ”You are a group, outstanding and astounding, I dub you now The silly cenTer opera company.” A boxcar evening Carl called such sessions, and he, the hobo of yore, unwilling to suppress the memory of those days three decades in the past, was king.

Gregory d’Alessio

top, left to right: Gregory d’Alessio, Stanley Koor, Gene Raskin. middle row, left to right: Nina Dova, Yvonne Sherwill, Etta Zaccaria, Irwin Hasen, Francesca Raskin, Hilda Terry, Olga Steckler. bottom row, left to right: Johnny Raskin, Gustavo Lopez, Julio Prol. photographer Len Steckler

GreGOrY D’aleSSiO legendary cartoonist, painter and teacher. A native of Manhattan, trained at the Art Students League, where he was vice president from 1937 to 1944 and a beloved instructor for many years. His paintings were shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York and elsewhere. Gregory first pursued a newspaper career, turn-ing to cartooning in the 1930s. Eventually his work appeared in syndication, (These Women, late 1939 and Welcome Home, after the war) reaching 75 newspapers and magazines, including The New Yorker, Colliers, Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. During World War II, Gregory served as chairman of the Committee on War Cartoons, orchestrating the historic collection of Cartoons against the Axis, exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1942. A guitar aficionado and good friend of Andres Segovia, Gregory was co founder of the Society of Classic Guitar in 1946 and two years later he and co founder Vladimir Bobri gave birth to the award winning magazine, Guitar Review. In “Old Troubadour” Gregory lovingly recalls his 20-year friendship with Carl Sandburg, who often stayed in his home, 8 Henderson Place. The aging poet, having been a longtime admirer of Andres Segovia, got in touch with members of the Society of the Classic Guitar in 1948 and contributed some texts for their Guitar Review, which d’Alessio edited. The book celebrates Sandburg’s ruggedness and “aw-shucks” simplicity; his great pleasure in singing, playing and listening to the guitar.

HilDa TerrY the first woman to create a nationally syndicated cartoon featuring a teenage girl, the bobby sox generation. debuting on Pearl Harbor Day 1941 running through to 1964. And it was Terry who singlehandedly broke the gender barrier at the National Cartoonists Society. In 1949, spurred on by her husband who nominated her, Terry bucked the trend and applied for membership in the NCS. She was quick to point out that if refused, the name of the NCS should become the National Men Car-toonists Society. Despite the worry of some members that they would no longer be able to curse, Terry was admitted and wasted no time bringing forth her women cartoonist friends. Terry blamed a wave of newspaper strikes for the demise of Teena in 1964. But she was busy on other fronts, namely the home front, where their active social and cultural life at Henderson Place took up much time: hosting gatherings of fellow cartoonists ,and artists, members of the Society of Classic Guitar, the Silly Center Opera Company, and impromptu art shows among writing projects. As time went on, her pioneering days were not over. In the 1970’s it was Terry who pioneered, championed and won awards for her digitally animated scoreboards at Major League baseball stadiums.

Carl SaNDburG an American writer and editor, born in 1878, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. HL Mencken called Carl Sandburg “indubitably an American in every pulse-beat.” In the twenties, Carl started some of his most ambitious projects, including his study of Abraham Lincoln. From childhood, Sandburg loved and admired the legacy of President Lincoln. For thirty years he sought out and collected material, and gradually began the writing of the six-volume definitive biography of the former president. The twenties also saw Sandburg’s collec-tions of American folklore, the ballads in The American Songbag and The New American Songbag (1950), and books for children. These later volumes contained pieces collected from brief tours across America which Sandburg took each year, playing his banjo or guitar, singing folk-songs, and reciting poems. It was in 1948, when he called upon Gregory d’Alessio and the guitar gang, beginning a most heartwarming camaraderie with d’Alessio, spending his time in New York City, on the top floor of 8 Henderson Place.

aNDreS SeGOvia, widely considered as one of the best known and most influential classical guitar personalities of the 20th century. He is remembered for his expressive performances: his wide palette of tone, and his distinctive (often instantly recognizable) musical personality in tone, phrasing and style. destined to become one of the greatest guitarists in music history. Segovia was born on 21 February 1893, in Linares, a small town in northern Andalusia. Segovia can be considered a catalytic figure in granting respectability to the guitar as a serious concert instrument capable of evocativeness and depth of interpretation. Sego-via influenced a generation of classical guitarists who built on his technique and musical sensibility, including such luminaries as Julian Bream and Oscar Ghiglia. In 1961, Segovia was soloist and model in a ‘blending of the arts’ private concert under the auspices of the Society of the Classic Guitar. While he played, twenty noted artists captured the renowned guitarist on paper, including John Groth, Irma Selz, Vladimir Bobri, Byron Browne and Gregory d’Alessio. Chronicled, preserved and photographed, the event remains an integral part of the foundation archives. The beloved guest and frequent ‘artist in residence, Andres warmed the hearts and souls of those gathered at number 8 as his legendary music permeated the walls. The Segovia room honors his memory and the archives hold a vast treasure of his writing, recordings and photographs.

vlaDimir bObri was born 13th of May 1898 in Kharkov, the Ukraine into a family of culture and intellect. Acquiring an adventurous attitude toward life and art, theatre and ballet, he fled from Russia in 1917 first to Istanbul where he designed sets and costumes for the Russian ballet, movie posters, iconic paintings. Settling in New York in 1921 Bobri gained notoriety as a painter and illustrator, though it is his love for music, that of the guitar that led him to be a founding father of the Society of Classic Guitar, where his involvement embraced Gregory d’Alessio and the two began as co editors of the Guitar Review in 1948 with Andres Segovia as honorary president. An essayist and composer, Bobri led a remarkable life which so tragically ended in a fire destroying much of his work. 8 Henderson Place foundation is proud to be uncovering manuscripts, correspondence, recordings and artwork of this exceptional man, playing a large part in the life and times of 8 Henderson Place.

legendary artists of 8 henderson place

OTTO HarbaCH American pop and Broadway lyricist-librettist wrote the lyrics for “No, No, Nanette,” produced on Broadway in 1925. The musical comedy as legend has it, is commonly identified with the Boston Red Sox “Curse” legend. The story goes that producer Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in order to finance the production. In 1914, another phase of Harbach’s songwriting career began with the founding of the American Society for Authors, Composers and Publishers (ASCAP). He was a charter member of the new society and would remain actively involved serving as a director (1920-1963), vice president (1936-1940) and president (1950-1953). Harbach, most renowned for “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” collaborated with the best songwriters of his time, including Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and Sigmund Romberg. The illustrious Harbach and Gregory’s dear friend Carl Sandburg, with shared connections to Galesburg, Illinois, had followed one another’s triumphs and successes; one a writer of musical plays and lyrics, the other, a writer of history, biography and poetry, both troubadours and incurable romantics. Their lives intersected at 8 Henderson Place, Otto at the age of eighty-seven and Carl at eight-two, in the company of Segovia, Olga Coelho and the Silly Center Opera Company.

OlGa COelHO considered one of the most important Brazilian artists of the 20th century, Olga was actually a fully trained lyric singer and classical guitarist. She made her first recordings in 1930 and soon became a radio celebrity; a few years later she started to perform accompanying herself on the guitar with astonishing skill. After her triumph at a congress of folk music in Berlin, the Brazilian government chose her as an official cultural ambassador and, together with her husband, the poet Gaspar Coelho, she traveled extensively and became an international celebrity. The critic of the New York Times said she was by far the best folk singer he had ever heard. From 1944 she left her husband and started a relationship with Andres Segovia, which was to last for over a decade. She is frequently mentioned as the very first guitarist to give a concert on nylon strings. In 1944 she daringly offered to try out these experimental strings in her recital the very same evening they were brought to Segovia, despite the thin calibre and the excessive sharpness of the timbre, defects which would soon be corrected by Albert Augustine. “This exciting experiment made it possible to envisage the perfection of the new strings,” as Segovia related. A most delightful singer guitarist, Olga would regularly rehearse at number 8 before her concerts and the police would inevitably be called as neighbors grew concerned; her vocal shrills set in motion a heightened cause for alarm.

GeNe raSkiN architect, musician and songwriter who wrote the hit record “Those Were The Days” in 1962. Gene and his wife, Francesca, were international balladeers for years, playing at the infamous White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village (perhaps most famous in the early 50s with Dylan Thomas and other writers frequenting the bar and in the 60s other notables performing there have included The Clancy Brothers, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Norman Mailer and James Baldwin.) Raskin’s song, Those Were the Days, lamenting the passing of those golden days gives reference to the White Horse in the line ‘Once upon a time there was a tavern.’ Paul McCartney heard Gene and Francesca Raskin singing the song in a club called the “Blue Lamp” in London in the mid 60’s, and after ‘discovering’ Mary Hopkin he remembered this song and suggested it to her, the rest as they say is history. When the Beatles formed the Apple label, they recorded Mary Hopkin singing “Those Were the Days”, the right to which had been purchased by Paul McCartney through his agent and the Raskin agent. The song’s success after Mary recorded it was nothing short of phenomenal, It became a number 1 hit all around the world for her, and was recorded in English, German, Spanish, Italian and French, and by the end of the first year of its release it had sold over 5 million records. At one time, Raskin opened mail containing a check for $26,000, which were the royalties just for the US mechanicals for that month. Raskin bought a home in Pollensa, Mallorca, a Porsche “Spider” and a sailboat, and lived very well off his royalties for the rest of his life. He also collected royalties from his novel, Stranger in my Arms, his play, The Old Friend, and his several books on architecture, which continue to be used at universities around the world. Gene and Francesca were regulars on Henderson Place, gathering at number 8, always entertaining, and performers of the Silly Center Opera Company.

alberT auGuSTiNe the legendary developer of the Augustine Strings, was first introduced to the maestro Andres Segovia in 1946 by Vladimir Bobri. Segovia relates: “One evening in early 1940s, in conversation with a group of foreign diplomats, I was deploring my acute shortage of strings. “If God doesn’t remedy the situation,” I said, “I shall very soon be obliged to put my guitar away entirely.” A member of the British Embassy who was listening to me, General Lindenman, spoke up and asked me,

“Which are the strings you need most urgently?” The first nylon strings were introduced to Segovia in January 1944 and tried that very evening on stage by Olga Coelho in New York despite the thin calibre and the excessive sharpness of the timbre, defects which would soon be corrected by Albert Augustine.” Segovia continues, “This exciting experiment made it possible to envisage the perfection of the new strings, and gave us grounds for looking forward to the day when we might dispense once and for all with the gut strings that had brought us so many trials and tribulations. Thanks to Augustine’s efforts, the guitar may now be heard on phonograph records and radio broadcasts with less interference from parasite sounds and therefore with greater purity than ever before. My own gratitude reflects that of all guitarists today. To Vladimir Bobri gave my first statement in praise of the strings manufactured by Albert Augustine, authorizing him to make my opinion known throughout the world. My words were printed on the small envelope in which the strings are packaged, and thus found their way into all countries -where the guitar is loved. The craftsmanship and perseverance of Albert Augustine have triumphed, although not without bringing him his share of grief. Like all those who leave the beaten track and venture with honest purpose along steep, untrodden paths, he has left drops of blood among the brambles. But the inner joy of victory is for that reason the more intense. As Spinoza said of happiness: “It is the passing of man from a lesser perfection to a greater one”.”

legendary artists of 8 henderson place

CarmeN amaYa always a mesmerizing guest at 8 Henderson Place, is considered by many to be one of the greatest flamenco dancers who ever lived. During the peak of her career in the 40’s and 50’s, she was an international cultural icon who combined fury with tenderness—a wild, exotic woman with the fierce pride of Spain and the uncontrolled vagrancy of the Gypsy spirit. Carmen Amaya’s career began at the age of four and throughout her childhood, she performed alongside her father in the taverns and music halls of Barcelona. By the time she reached her teens, she was on her way to becoming an international success, having received accolades from audiences in Madrid and Paris. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s, Amaya traveled the world and achieved her greatest fame in the Americas, captivating audiences from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, to Mexico and the United States.

eTHel SmiTH known for her rendition of Tico, Tico, selling over a million records, whose trademark was her selection of hats and penchant for costumes and bright colors, traveled the world during her more than 30 years in show business. Ethel entertained audiences in Milan, Paris and London, as well as the troops during World War II, played at Brazil’s Copacabana casino and was an organist at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. It was there that an agent spotted her and encouraged her to use her musical talent in films. She enjoyed a career that included 26 albums, one-woman shows and movies with stars that included Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Van Johnson. Ethel’s star rose in 1940. She had been working a four-week booking in Rio de Janeiro. She had gone over well, and the management kept extending her engagement. But one night, while roaming around a tough section of Rio, she heard an interesting beat. It came from a combo that was playing in the back room of a “cheap dance hall.” She entered and mixed with the musicians during their break and asked what they were playing. No one knew the name or the composer but they explained that the song had been played for many years in Argentina. From then on Ethel began playing it in her act in the arrangement she had made of it for the organ. Her audiences, mostly wealthy Argentinians and tourists, had never heard the tune and acclaimed it. If it hadn’t been for Pearl Harbor, says Ethel, she might still be there. But when the war broke out and in no time after coming to New York “Tico-Tico” was a smash hit. Ethel, a strong personality on and off stage, and with a flair for showmanship, remained a name in show business appearing at presentation houses and in such films as Bathing Beauty (1944) with Esther Williams, George White’s Scandals (1945), and Cuban Pete (1946) with Desi Arnaz. Ethel was an early member of The Society of Classic Guitar. She always loved the instrument, and according to Gregory “played it expertly. She was also an organist, singer, comedienne and actress on continuous tour with her quintuple-threat talent and winning personality. She was instant ingratiation onstage and offstage, no different. With my friend Carl Sandburg, when they first met on Henderson Place, it was instant infatuation.”

DelOreS WilSON a soprano who found fame on the opera stage and later on Broadway, made her debut at the Metro-politan Opera in 1954 in the title role of “Lucia di Lammermoor” opposite American tenor Jan Peerce. Wilson had 26 appearances with the Met, including seven with its touring company, in a variety of performances. Her roles included Rosina in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Zerlina in “Don Giovanni.” Her last performance at the Met was in a 1959 revival of

“Lucia.” In 1965, she debuted on Broadway in the musical “The Yearling” and also appeared in “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Annie.” Delores Wilson was “the acknowledged prima donna of The Silly Center Opera Company. Our local and immediate rival for her services was the Metropolitan, downtown a ways. It was Delores to whom Sandburg wrote his most sentimental “love” letters, for he loved sopranos. Someday, perhaps, a scholar of romantic writing will put together a collection of classic love letters, calling it

“Great Love Letters of All Time” and Carl Sandburg will not only be the best represented qualitatively, but also quantitatively, for he wrote love letters of many kinds. The ribbon binding them together was honesty.” In mid September 1960, after the Broadway opening of Norman Corwin’s show, The World of Carl Sandburg, at the Henry Miller Theatre, Delores, as Carl’s companion for the evening, received that evening, the following inscription into one of his Lincoln volumes: “Delores = please keep me in your thoughts often = you are one of earth’s brightest, says this scrivener—.”

eDWarD STeiCHeN was recognized in his lifetime as one of the great photographers of the 20th century. Born in Lux-embourg in 1879, a toddler when his parents migrated to the United States, eventually settling in Milwaukee. There, in his mid-teens, he became an apprentice lithographer and took up photography as a hobby. But his first love was painting, and it was this that prompted him to travel to Paris in 1900. Painting is ever present in his early photography, especially the influence of the Impression-ists. He achieved those effects by blurring his lenses with petroleum jelly or manipulating his negatives and prints in the darkroom. In New York, Steichen founded the Photo-Secession group with Alfred Stieglitz and contributed to a quarterly called Camera Work. And it was thanks to Steichen’s Paris connections that Matisse, Rodin, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and other French painters were first introduced to America at Stieglitz’s Gallery 291, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He would soon make his name as the first mod-ern — and Modernist — fashion photographer, interpreting fashion and celebrities in a style that would influence later generations. Gregory would refer to Steichen “as a genius, indeed a latter day Leonardo da Vinci as Sandburg fondly labeled his brother-in-law Steichen. Sandburg, the family scrivener, couldn’t wait to commit to manuscript the story of his brother-in-law’s great wisdom and accomplishments, “Steichen the Photographer,” Carl’s fond and frankly loving memoir of Steichen. The crowning achievement of Steichen’s career was in 1955 when as director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, he conceived that magnificent exhibition, the greatest exhibition of photography ever assembled, “The Family of Man.” The museum published a book, with the prologue written by Carl and the show began to travel, and after a tour of the United States and the Western world, The Family of Man got a bid from the East: Russia, anxious to see the exhibit, indicated she would lift the Iron Curtain for a peek at it. The Moscow opening was set for July 1959 and along with the show would travel the two octogenarian brothers-in-law, Sandburg and Steichen. On July 19, 1959, the eve of their departure, The Silly Center Opera Company and its privileged coterie of “subscribers” assembled at Henderson Place and threw a big noisy bon voyage party for the two bold venturers into the inscrutable East. Often have the walls of Henderson Place rung loud with the sounds of music, laughter and lighthearted fun.” This was monumental.

legendary artists of 8 henderson place

The foundation celebrates the legacy of our founders Gregory d’Alessio and Hilda Terry with the commitment to protect, preserve and perpetuate the invaluable treasures within the walls of Henderson Place: the drawings the paintings, the ideas, the journals, the sketch books, the recordings including the laughter, the memories, the music, the creative ambience. The foundation strives to actively promote through exhibitions, publications, education and research with every intent to resurrect this most historically significant collection, so charmingly housed in 8 Henderson Place, a Queen Anne dwelling nestled within landmarked Henderson Place Historical District, entrenched in the cultural and social history of New York City. 8 Henderson Place extends our resources to visiting scholars, musicians and artists introducing works, the vast collection of correspondence, photographs and rare documents never before in the public domain. Preservation of the archives and drawings is ongoing with plans to restore the building in all its essence, in accordance with museum and architecturally historic standards.

Protecting the legacy we have been entrusted with by our founders is both a responsibility and a privilege. We remain dedicated to our mission as we continue to uncover significant creative works, chronicling an important time in the social and cultural landscape of New York City.

Our properly preserving the archives of 8 Henderson Place foundation much depends on public support. Your donation is essential to the protection and conservation needs of the archives, and restoration of the building that houses the cartoons, the paintings, drawings, correspondence, manuscripts, recordings and photographs documenting this important time and place. A full digitization program is underway on WWII Victory newsletters, the Committee on War Cartoons correspondence and activities, OWI documents, wartime bulletins and an ongoing recovery and resurrection of the almost two hundred Cartoons against the Axis, the documentary and traveling exhibition.

We are tremendously grateful for any contribution in supporting our mission, and in pursuit of our commitment to the founders’ emphasis on creativity and aging, with programs being planned around the living legendary pioneers, the octogenarians and nonagenarians of Henderson Place history.

8 Henderson Place Foundation is a qualified public charity under Sections 509 (a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code and has a 501 (c)3 status. Contributions are deductible under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.

If you prefer to send your tax deductible donation by mail, our address is8 Henderson Place foundation, 8 Henderson Place, New York, NY 10028

you may also reach us by email: the8hpf@gmail.com

8 HENDERSON PLACE ARCHIvESAN ILLUSTRIOUS PETITE CARTOON MUSEUM, ARCHIVE AND RESEARCH CENTER

SUPPORT US WITH A DONATION PRESERVATION OF THE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES DEPENDS ON YOUR SUPPORT

Within the Walls of 8 henderson Place

lived cartoonists Hilda Terry and Gregory d’Alessio.

Legendary in her field, Terry had been summoned

by the cartoon magnate William Randolph Hearst,

to create the first strip of the bobby sox generation,

Teena, debuting on Pearl Harbor Day, December

7, 1941. It was the spirited Terry who singlehandedly

broke the barrier to females at the National Cartoonists

Society. In her later years Terry, the pioneering force,

created the first digitally animated scoreboards at

Major League Baseball stadiums. Her husband

Gregory, a master of whimsy, distinguished himself as

chairman of the Committee on War Cartoons during

WWII, spearheading a collection of morale boosting

Cartoons against the Axis on exhibit in 1942 at the

Art Students League and Metropolitan Museum of

Art. Greg and Terry created a documentary film on

the history of cartooning as a weapon, featuring

the legendary illustrators and cartoonists who had

contributed to the collection. Gregory and his friend,

artist composer Vladimir Bobri founded the Society of

Classic Guitar in 1946 and two years later Bobri and

d’Alessio gave birth to the award winning magazine

Guitar Review, with their beloved friend Andres Segovia

as honorary president. The creative atmosphere of

Henderson Place flourished with their world of friends

congregating within these walls over the years with

Carl Sandburg and Andres Segovia as residents of

the house from time to time. Luminaries gathering at

number 8 included composer Otto Harbach (No, No,

Nanette), Irwin Hasen (creator of Dondi), Rose and

Albert Augustine (creator of the nylon guitar string),

photographer Edward Steichen, Gene Raskin (Those

were the Days), legendary flamenco dancer Carmen

Amaya, singer guitarist Olga Coelho, opera star

Delores Wilson, organist Ethel Smith among others.DONATE