| JANUARY 10, 2013 -- We have enjoyed another holiday season and all the treasured memories which go along with it. Each Christmas when I see plots of land filled with fragrant pine trees to be sold, I think of the man from Brooklyn, Connecticut who owned and operated a huge Christmas tree farm. It was a popular business known far and wide as was his business of taking the large stones he found in the fields and turning them into beautiful markers. That was Ralph Ingalls. He was chosen as “Christmas Tree Grower of the Year” and was president of the growers association for many years.
An active Granger, Ralph was Master of Brooklyn Grange and of Quinebaug Pomona and a member of the State Grange Agricultural Committee.
He was a nice looking gentleman, quiet and unassuming – but when he sat down to his honky-tonk piano- watch out - everything went crazy!
At one time he had come across an old music book - World War I vintage containing songs that were a little bit nice/ a little bit naughty! He learned the songs and they became his trademark!
The Pomona put on a lot of minstrel shows in those days with Ralph, his brother James and Bob Payne being star performers. Everyone had a favorite. State President, Jody Cameron tells me his was “The Seven Little Old Ladies Stuck in the Lavatory.”
And it’s oh, dear, what can the matter be?
Seven old ladies got stuck in the lavatory;
They were there from Sunday till Saturday,
Nobody knew they were there.
Now the first old lady was Margaret Flynn,
She went inside on a personal whim;
But she somehow got stuck between the bowl and the rim,
And nobody knew she was there.
And it’s, oh, dear, what can the matter be?
Seven old ladies got stuck in the lavatory;
They were there from Sunday till Saturday,
Nobody knew they were there.
Now the second old lady was Elizabeth Humphrey,
She went inside and she made herself comfy;
When she tried to get up, ah, she couldn’t get her bum free,
And nobody knew she was there.
And it’s, oh, dear, what can the matter be?
Seven old ladies got stuck in the lavatory;
They were there from Sunday till Saturday,
Nobody knew they were there.
Ralph often took part in the spring/fall concerts of the Mountain County Choristers. He played and sang in his own special style - but the audience wouldn’t let him go until he gave his own rendition of “He Couldn’t Get to It!!”
I’m glad I’ve been able to “get to it” and give you this reminder of the man from Brooklyn who kept people laughing - many of them right off their chairs!
Do remember Ralph Ingalls. |
