Leroy "Abe" Maule
Leroy “Abe” Maule was born and reared in Payette and a graduate of PHS in 1921. At eight years of age, he was playing a baritone horn while standing on an apple box, in an adult orchestra.
Abe had a talent, most people could not even describe and was entirely self taught. If the instrument was available, he could play it but he became more famous for arranging music for the Big Band era. He climbed the ladder to stardom among the greats such as Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Phil Harris. Abe was responsible for giving Phil Harris his first big job. Harris was known as a brawler and just associating with him got Abe a pile of bruises. Harris was a drummer, who went on to fame and became one of Bing Crosby's closest friends. Those two fellows came to Idaho, almost every hunting season, to see old friends like the Maules and the Herman Welkers. In the early 1930's, Abe was musical director of Radio WGN in Chicago and while there, arranged the music to be used on a new drama entitled, 'Easy Aces', which became a rage for many years. It was at WGN that he met Ted Weems and joined his orchestra. Being knowledgeable and dependable, Abe became Weems' second conductor and recorded 'Heartaches' as a 'throw in piece', which was used when extra time was needed to complete recording. It became one of Weems' greatest hits. When Jack Benny first became popular, Abe was with the band that announced his radio show, and he went on to arrange music for so many big name bands, that he could sit in a roomful of jabbering people and write out scores, just by listening to the melodies in his mind. He could 'see' the musicians and 'hear' the genius of those destined for immortality, as his hand etched out sounds for them in the early 1930's. He wrote for Benny Goodman, who was a perfectionist and for the trumpets of Harry James and Ziggy Elman and the stabbing explosions of Gene Krupa's drums. When he worked for Jimmy Dorsey, even more personalization was demanded Abe told, when he was through with a score for that band leader, the name of each musician for whom it was intended, had to be placed on the sheet. Arranging for Paul Whiteman was really a chore because his musicians were changed at the drop of a hat. Whiteman would throw a big party and invite other bands. At the end of the evening, he would have hired the best musicians in attendance, no matter who they worked for. Bands lured each others musical stars and arrangers in a friendly fashion, in the frantic rush for fleeting fame. Abe actually got his professional breaks, playing a saxophone for Henry Halstead and Glen Gray and his Casa Loma orchestra. Also, performed on the Cinderella Roof in Los Angeles. Abe sold arrangements to Glen Miller before Miller struck it rich with his sectional fantastics. In those days, he was pouring out five scores a week at $100 each. While in his early 40's, Maule decided he better look for old age security, so he entered the University of Southern California and obtained his AB Degree and Masters in Education and for the next fifteen years, he taught straight education to elementary and junior high students in Los Angeles and Pacifica. He stated he couldn't stand to teach music because he claimed he didn't hear the total sounds of a band, but rather, he said his mind breaks music into parts and inspects the errors. He was always proud of his affiliation with Ed Gehrke and George Shurtleff. Maule did in deed, spawn many very famous and successful people but it does seem that it gave more than its share to the music field. Abe is no longer around to give his talent to the world but he left great memories with his brother, Reuel who is another Maule with a wonderful story to tell. |
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