The Original Columbia Chapter

Tigertown Tuners, 1949-1980

Ah, The Good Ol' Days . . .

The original Columbia chapter began operations in late 1949, and was officially chartered sometime prior to 1951 -- by the end of 1951 there were at least 29 members.  The chorus was directed by Dr. Lynn Hummel.  As an example of how busy these guys were, here is a listing of the shows they put on in 1952:

January 20 - "Variety Show" in Stephens College Auditorium, featuring the "Little Dixie Chorus" made up of the Moberly, Mexico, Fulton, Jefferson City and Columbia chapters

April 8 - "Parade of Barber Shop Quartets" (the first of many), which featured quartets from Columbia, Mexico, Fulton, Jefferson City, Moberly and the Columbia Chapter in part 1, followed by quartets from St. Louis (2) and Kansas City (1), and finishing with the Little Dixie Chorus.

December 13 - "Variety Show" in Stephens College Assembly Hall, featuring several local quartets, as well as the 1949-50 International Champion Quartet, The Midstates Four, and the reigning 1952-53 Champs, The Four Teens.  (BTW, the next night in Jefferson City, there was a Parade of Quartets sponsored by the Jefferson City chapter, who split the cost of bringing the two champion quartets in.)

1959 - The Confederates (1956 International Champs) perform at the Columbia Chapter Show on Valentines Day.

1963 - Columbia Mayor John H. Longwell declares the week of April 15-21 as "Barbershop Harmony Week" in Columbia in recognition of the 25th anniversary of SPEBSQSA.

1967 - The Columbia Chapter has taken to calling itself the Tigertown Tuners - Bill Tetley has been their director for the past few years.

1969 - The Governor of Missouri, Warren E. Hearnes, proclaims the week of April 6-12 as "Barbershop Harmony Week" in the state of Missouri.  Here is a photo of the Tiger Town Tuners (sic) as they appeared in their show that year, with Arthur Carlson as their new director:

1970 - The Chapter petitions SPEBSQSA to change its official location designation from "Columbia" to "Central Missouri", noting that the growing number of existing and prospective members in surrounding towns would very much prefer the more general designation, but is told by the Society that the designation must be a town, city, county, or other easily definable location.

1972 - Not to be out-done by his predecessors, Columbia Mayor Orville E. Hobart proclaims the week of April 9-15 as "Barbershop Harmony Week" in Columbia.  On the down side, the chapter is placed on "associate" status on October 1st by the international society as membership drops below 25.

1973 - Bob Combs takes the reigns as director of the Tiger Town Tuners, and is also Chapter President.  Membership continues to dip to 17 by year-end, despite efforts at growth including open auditions.

1974 - With a Herculean effort, the chapter manages to bring its membership back above 25 prior to the March 31 cut-off that could have meant the loss of the chapter charter.  On November 22, they put 20 guys on the risers for a show which included guest quartets The Classic Collection and The Music Monopoly from Kansas, local quartets The Good Time Four and The Hummingbirds, as well as the prospective Sweet Adelines chapter chorus from Moberly.

Following several years of gradually declining numbers, the Tuners' membership dropped to 6 (which still included a Society-registered quartet, however) in 1979 and never recovered.  1980 is the last year for which chapter records are available.

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