Billy Rose

Partial Transcript: BR: I was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania in 1931. And my birthday is April 21st. And...uh...I lived there until I was about 10 years old, then we moved to Detroit, Detroit Michigan.

Segment Synopsis: The interviewers Emily, Rae, and Hannah introduce themselves and where and when the interview is taking place. Billy Rose also introduces himself. He was born in Braddock, PA on April 21, 1931. He moved to Detroit, MI when he was 10 and then moved to Dearborn.

Keywords: Braddock; Detroit; Oberlin

Subjects: Family -- Identification; Genealogy & local history; Oberlin College

Partial Transcript: HH: So were your parents also from Braddock?
BR: Well originally yeah, my father was born in New York but he met my mother in New York and then they moved to Braddock and then they moved to Detroit.

Segment Synopsis: Billy Rose had four children, three of whom are still alive. He was married 31 years to his first wife and has been married 34 years to his current wife. His grandparents came to America from Europe and his parents were from New York, which is where they met.

Keywords: Children; Grandparents; Marriage; New York; Parents

Subjects: Hungarian background; family origins; married life

Partial Transcript: BR: I met her at a birthday party in Cleveland, Ohio and she was 16 years old then. And then her mother was a good friend of my mother's and they used to come to New York for weddings and stuff, big weddings we had. And my mother talked to them I guess and then they got me into a situation when I was 19 and then I went and see her in New York.

Segment Synopsis: He met his first wife at a birthday party in Cleveland, OH. He describes his marriage as "sort of" an arranged marriage, where the parents were definitely involved in the process and knew each other well, but there were still strong feelings for each other.

Keywords: Cleveland; Detroit; First Wife; Marriage

Subjects: Arranged Marriage; Hungarian Culture; Hungarian Musicians

Partial Transcript: BR: And he played music too on Friday and Saturdays. He played viola...in Hungarian we call them contra, contrash. That's the guy that plays chords. And they played in nightclubs you know and on weekends mostly. Hungarian nightclubs, strictly Hungarian music.

Segment Synopsis: More about family history involving music, moving from Braddock to Detroit. His grandfather played the violin, his father played the viola in Hungarian nightclubs. Rose speaks a Gypsy language that he learned from his grandparents, and doesn't know Hungarian. His kids can understand some of the words in the Gypsy language but can't speak it.

Keywords: Braddock; Detroit; Grandparents; Gypsy language; Hungarian; Nightclubs; Parents; Viola; Violin

Subjects: Budapest--Violinist; Musicians--Detroit; Musicians--Pennsylvania

Partial Transcript: RF: How did they keep the culture alive?
BR: Through the parties and weddings we went to and stuff like that it was Hungarian. The food was Hungarian like stuffed cabbage and chicken paprikash, you know Hungarian food. And we still cook that way.

Segment Synopsis: Rose didn't encourage any of his kids to marry Hungarians, but they all did anyway. His daughter married someone from the neighborhood of Del Ray where they lived, and his son married the sister of the person Rose's daughter married. His other son also married a Hungarian woman. There was a strong Hungarian community, even though no one spoke Hungarian. Culture was kept alive through celebrations and food.

Keywords: Birthday Parties; Celebrations; Chicken Paprikash; Children; Community; Culture; Del Ray; Hungarian; Marriage; Neighborhood; Stuffed Cabbage; Weddings

Subjects: Family, religion, and culture; Gypsy Musicians; Hungarian Community; Hungarian Marriage

Partial Transcript: BR: The thing that it died off like that...I think it was the music today. See, it's different. Even playing in a nightclub. We used to play five, six days a week in a night, you know and I used to play three jobs a day, you know, but now no restaurants want to hire cause their just going to that other music. Or they'll hire a piano player, they don't want to pay.

Segment Synopsis: Rose says that Hungarian people who live in Europe still have a strong culture, but Hungarian Gypsy music in America is declining because of other types of music. Traditions like weddings are also changing. Rose feels sad about this decline.

Keywords: America; Culture; Drinking; Europe; Gypsy Music; Hungarian; Hungary; Money; Nightclubs; Rock and Roll; Wedding Dance; Weddings

Subjects: Fading Gypsy Culture; Fading Gypsy Music; Gypsy--Culture; Hungarian Dance

Partial Transcript: BR: I used to have 20 men playing Hungarian music, you know, but that's when they were living and they played that music. But now they're all gone and we're mostly playing American music.

Segment Synopsis: Rose prefers to play at a "classy" place like a restaurant. Once in a while he would play in an auditorium, but most work came from restaurants and nightclubs. Hungarian music is less in demand, so he plays other genres like country and rock and roll. He used to play the same venue for up to 15 years. He also talks about the money, although it wasn't much it was steady.

Keywords: Concert halls; Concerts; Genre; Hungarian; Money; Music; Restaurants

Subjects: Hungarian Music; Hungarian Nightclubs; Hungarian Venues

Partial Transcript: RF: So Was it important for you to encourage them from a young age...
BR: Yeah because they wanted to play. I started them off when they were seven, eight years old. Cause I was playing, and they liked to...they were always in it. But they... and they all were music except my daughter, my daughter didn't play, just the three boys.

Segment Synopsis: Rose's son Chris still plays music and plays with Billy still. His kids wanted to play because they saw their family doing it. All the kids played music except for Rose's daughter. He says it wasn't necessarily because of her gender, she became a housewife. Women are playing music in Hungary, but there are still more men playing things like cimbalom. Rose also talks about one of his favorite European artists. Neither Rose nor his kids has not traveled to Europe.

Keywords: Children; Europe; Family; Gender; Hungary; Music; Travel

Subjects: Family Musicians; Gender and Music; Music--Classical influences

Partial Transcript: BR: My granddaughter that just got married, Chris' daughter, she goes on YouTube, she got the backgrounds to my grandmother, my great-grandmother, to find out where they lived. And she wanted to find out a lot about our culture and who the family were and all that. Oh yeah, she's a computer wiz.

Segment Synopsis: Rose's granddaughter is interested in family history and culture, and finds things on the internet. GPS and the internet are also discussed. Rose has an album that was released 15 years ago.

Keywords: Album; Culture; Family History; Granddaughter; Internet

Subjects: Background and Culture; Grandchildren; Hungarian Identity

Partial Transcript: BR: I like to do all kinds of music. My favorite music is Hungarian, that's my favorite, I love Hungarian music. Cause I grew up in it, that's what I learned first.

Segment Synopsis: Rose likes to play all kinds of music, though his favorite music is Hungarian because that's what he grew up with. He started playing American music later partially because he had to because the music was changing. There isn't demand for his kind of music any more at parties and celebrations. In the US, Hungarian music died 20 or 25 years ago.

Keywords: American; Changes; Hungarian; Music

Subjects: Change in Culture an Music; Diversity in Music; Music--Hungarian influences

Partial Transcript: "They'll want us to play an anniversary party to remember the days they got married"

Segment Synopsis: Rose doesn't think so. However, he believes that there will always be places where people will want to hear Hungarian music. He mentions anniversary parties and celebrations where he plays the music. He then explains that it's not just Hungarian music that is losing popularity, but Polish, Italian, Jewish, Romanian, Irish, Arabic- all types of music he has learned over the past 30 years.

Keywords: Polish, Hungarian, Italian, Revival

Subjects: Diverse Music Experiences; Popular music and art music

Partial Transcript: "I played with people that know that music"

"My ear got trained to understand what they're playing"

Segment Synopsis: Rose explains that he has played with many people that know cultural music. His ear has been trained from a young age to pick up on different types of sounds, chords and melodies, so that he can easily learn new pieces and play along. He is proud that he still has a great memory for songs and different peoples' tastes/preferences.

Keywords: Music Knowledge, Music education

Subjects: Diverse Musical Talents; Speech, music, and hearing

Partial Transcript: "The chords are mostly the same type of chords, but they go in a different formation"

Segment Synopsis: The chords are basically the same, but the patterns and ways they fit together differ depending on the culture the song is coming from. He describes Hungarian music/chord patterns as mostly "melancholy", but when Hungarians dance, they play csárdás. Rose explains the two step dance technique used for this style of Hungarian music.

Keywords: csárdás, chord patterns, ethnic music

Subjects: Chord Formation; Chord Patterns; Dance Rythm; Piano

Partial Transcript: "I've never met any people like that"

" A lot of the gypsies were fortune telling gypsies, our type of gypsies don't do that"

Segment Synopsis: Rose's family never hid there identity. He explains the difference between fortune-telling gypsies that steal and are discriminated against, however his "type of gypsies" spend their lives playing music. He says that some become doctors and lawyers, and that his people have always been "good people."

Keywords: stereotyping, fortune-telling, discrimination

Subjects: Gypsy People; Gypsy Pride; Music and Business

Partial Transcript: "We're all separated now, we're not together"
"When we were in PA we were in one area, everyone lived right next to each other"

Segment Synopsis: Rose explains that there is no longer a section of the city where all of the Hungarians live, everyone has become scattered, unlike Pennsylvania where everyone lived right next to each other. Rose says it feels much lonelier now, without the physical connection of the close-knit community. The only times he feels like he sees the gypsy community come together is at weddings and funerals. He feels sad about this change.

Keywords: Cultural divide, community

Subjects: Community Separation; Hungarian Reunions; Lack of Community Distinction

Partial Transcript: "When he showed me that I wanted to cry"
"There was nothing there no more"

Segment Synopsis: A few months ago, Rose returned to his hometown of Braddock, PA visit where he used to live and where his grandparents were buried. He explains that nothing is there anymore, no railroad, no stores, no house, just "junk". This made him very upset, saying it "tore my heart out". His family couldn't believe it.

Keywords: Neighborhood change, historic city

Subjects: Local history; Neighborhoods--United States; Shrinking Cities; Urban Renewal

Partial Transcript: "The older people have it (music) in their minds because they knew what it was, but it will never come back. Never"

Segment Synopsis: Rose strongly believes that the popularity of Hungarian music in America has come to an end. He does not have any interest in passing down musical traditions to younger generations because they seem completely uninterested.

Keywords: Musical Legacy

Subjects: Musicians, Romani; Romanies -- United States -- Social life and customs; Romanies--Hungary--Music; family, religion, and culture

Partial Transcript: "I still go to church and all that"

Segment Synopsis: Rose grew up catholic and raised his kids catholic. His first wife was catholic and his second wife converted after they married. All of his kids married catholic spouses. He explains that he probably would not have married someone who was not catholic.

Keywords: Catholic Church--Customs and Practices; Identification (Religion); Marriage--Religious aspects--Catholic Church; Religion, Catholic, Marriage

Partial Transcript: "It was an Italian restaurant and I met a lot of movie stars there"
"We strolled around the tables and played requests"

Segment Synopsis: In 1946, Rose worked at Giovani's restaurant in Detroit where he met many movie stars. He met and played for Anthony Quinn who was very impressed by his music. He also met Barbara Streisand in the downtown Detroit music scene.

Keywords: Downtown Detroit, Gypsy performers

Subjects: Detroit (Mich.)--History; Musicians, Romani; gigs (employment); musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "It was a good adventure. I loved music and I loved to play. I played in Vegas, opposite Wayne Newtown when he first started out, in the Freemont Hotel in 1960"

Segment Synopsis: Rose remembers that there were always nice people that worked in all of the restaurants he played for. He particularly remembers an expensive restaurant in downtown Detroit where he played in the 1960s. The name of the restaurant was London Chophouse and he believes it's still around. He recalls again, as previously mentioned, playing with Wayne Newton in Las Vegas in 1960.

Keywords: Nice people, downtown Detroit, adventure, Wayne Newton, 1960, 1974

Subjects: Detroit (Mich.)--History; Musicians, Romani; gigs (employment); musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "They were all just friends of mine. Distant cousins. After awhile my sons started to play with me..."

Segment Synopsis: Rose discusses how he for the most part place more-so than relatives. After awhile, however, his son began to play with him but for the most part he played with his friends. His sons all grew up and moved to other places such as Florida and Las Vegas.

Keywords: family, friends, performing, band

Subjects: Family, religion, and culture; Musicians, Romani; musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "No I read music too..."

Segment Synopsis: Rose mentions that he had to be able to read music because when he moved to New York with his first wife he joined several klezmer Jewish bands and needed to make sure he could read the notes.

Keywords: read, music, sheet, klezmer, Jewish

Subjects: Genealogy; Musicians, Romani; Romanies--Hungary--Music; musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "Oh I can play classical but not the heavy Classical, like the dances and stuff...the Rhapsody and things like that"

Segment Synopsis: He could play whatever the leader, the violinist would play. But he could play some Classical music. His speciality however is Hungarian music and the following the speed of the violin

Keywords: classical, music, Hungarian, speed, violin, leader

Subjects: Music--Classical influences; Music--Hungarian influences; Popular music and art music; Romanies--Hungary--Music

Segment Synopsis: Brief interlude on the venue Billy Rose and his band would be playing at later that night. Question about what type of venue and whether or not it's equivalent to an auditorium or not

Keywords: auditorium, venue,

Subjects: Cimbalom; gigs (employment); musicians (employment); venue

Partial Transcript: EP: "Have you ever played with this person before?

BR: No

ER: Is that scary or is it regular? Is it normal?

BR: No because Georgie we follow him. He's the violin player. So whatever he plays we gotta play with him. See, we don't have anything set

Segment Synopsis: Original cimbalom player was from Chicago but he hurt his toe and is unable to participate in the show. At the hospital they told him he had problems with his heart. They found a replacement from Cleveland. He hasn't played with the person before. Again it is mentioned that since Rose follows the violinist, Georgie, he does not have to worry about any other members. Everyone just has to follow Georgie.

Keywords: Cimbalom; Cimbalom makers; gigs (employment); musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "You can't just play music and just read it and that's all. There's many people like that. Like symphonies and stuff they can't play without the music..."

Segment Synopsis: Rose acknowledges that since Georgie is the violinist, he decides upon the tempo and songs that are played. Since everyone else just follows, they don't bring any sheet music. They just listen to Georgie's pick and tempo and use improvisation from there. Rose discusses the importance of practicing music. He mentions that his daughter and wife both can't play music without reading the sheet. He believes that if you practice something until you truly know it that you'll be able to play regardless of sheet music.

Keywords: improv, program, Georgie, violinist

Subjects: Music memorizing; Musicians, Romani; Sheet music

Partial Transcript: "He might play a Greek song, called a Coffee song"

Segment Synopsis: Rose gives brief rhythm of song Georgie may lead at the concert. Rose does not know what Georgie was in the mood to play for the concert tonight so he guessed that potentially he may play a Greek song that he likes - not just Hungarian music.

Subjects: Coffee--Songs and music; musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "Mostly but he got so many songs that I don't know that I've never played"

Segment Synopsis: Rose noting that even though for the most part he knows many of the same songs that the lead violinist, Georgie, knows - he still is unclear as to what songs they will play that night.

Keywords: music, songs, repertoire

Subjects: Musicians, Romani; Performing arts--Repertoire; musicians (employment)

Partial Transcript: "And then there's the jazz guys, talking about Johnny Smith, George Benson - all great musicians"

Segment Synopsis: Rose discusses some of his favorite guitarists including Andre Segovia. He was a classical guitarists. He used to listen to him as a little boy. He mentions several jazz artists including Johnny Smith and George Benson. He also loves a French Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt who passed away. "He was so great that every jazz guitarist wanted to be like him." Rose recalls that three of Django's fingers burned together but he still played so quickly and beautifully regardless because of his technical abilities. Rose saw Django Reinhardt play on tour with Duke Ellington.

Keywords: jazz, Django Reinhardt, Johnny Smith, Andre Segovia, George Benson, favorite, guitarist,

Subjects: Guitar; Guitar music (Jazz); Musicians; Musicians, Romani

Partial Transcript: "It doesn't matter whether it's a French guitar, or an acoustical guitar, it's a guitar and it got the same notes as any other guitar only some of them sound a little bit different"

Segment Synopsis: Rose says he plays a Jazz guitar but mentions that it doesn't really matter which type of guitar one plays as they all have the same notes.

Keywords: jazz, guitar, notes, sound, French, acoustical, electric, amplifier, different,

Subjects: Guitar; Musicians, Romani

Segment Synopsis: Brief summary of what will happen with the interviews and requesting a final signature.

Keywords: signature, interview, thank, you,

Subjects: Interviews