George “Lem” Trombley (1882-1963)

Kalamazoo Musician, Songwriter, Orchestra Leader

During the early years of the 20th century, Lem Trombley became one of Kalamazoo’s favorite musicians. His ragtime-era compositions sold thousands, and his performances with the top local orchestras were inspiring. He was among the city’s musical leaders when the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra got off the ground, but his real dream was to organize and direct a symphony orchestra of his own.

George Lemuel “Lem” Trombley was born in Richland Township near Saginaw, Michigan, on October 27, 1882. Joining his siblings Charles, Katie, and Winfield, George was the youngest of four children born to Sarah (Cone) Trombley and Charles Edward Trombley. By age 16, George was attending school in West Branch, Michigan, where his father and older brother worked as school teachers. George received formal training at the Michigan Conservatory of Music in Detroit and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He studied piano at the Conservatory of Music in Boston and received private tutoring in New York from pianist Rata Present. George later studied conducting with Pierre Montreux of the San Francisco Symphony.

Kalamazoo

About 1902 Trombley made the move to Kalamazoo, where he began working as a jeweler in George Rickman’s jewelry store. During off hours Trombley exercised his musical prowess on a variety of instruments by performing solo and ensemble pieces for local fraternal organizations and at social gatherings. His musical abilities received special mention in November that year when Trombley played harp with violinist Edith Forbes during the wedding ceremony of Alta Washburn and Charlie Morris at the Washburn home south of Kalamazoo.

Trombley began to pick up dance band work around the area and soon tried his hand at songwriting. In 1904 he released his first composition called “Sitting Bull March and Two-Step,” which the Kalamazoo Gazette called “striking, original, and catchy (with) vived [sic ] coloring and life, besides being tuneful and possessing well marked time.” Other local musicians soon began to take notice, especially Banks Baird, who published the piece through Baird’s Music House and promoted it heavily with his own orchestra. The Gazette called Baird’s interpretation of Trombley’s new song “splendid,” saying “the march is a winner and finely interpreted by the orchestra.”

In 1905 George met and married a Kalamazoo girl from New York named Maude Cooper. After a brief post-wedding respite, the couple settled in at their flat on Portage Street while George partnered with fellow musician Leslie F. Phillips and purchased the W. Maxwell Baking Company’s grocery, creamery and bakery business on South Edwards Street. Trombley was evidently a silent partner for only a brief time while Phillips managed the operation, as Trombley soon returned to George Rickman’s employ as a watchmaker.

Orchestral Work

In addition to the popular pieces he played with the dance bands, George Trombley had an affinity for classical music. When fellow musician Burton Fischer organized a special “Musical Festival” in June 1906 “to stimulate an interest in the best music” (Gazette), Trombley promptly signed on. The specially selected 25-piece symphonic orchestra featured members of Fischer’s Exposition Orchestra and Salomon’s Orchestra, including George Trombley who stepped up to play French horn for the occasion. Orchestral work such as this would eventually become an important element in Trombley’s musical career.

Herman Salomon’s Orchestra had been “furnishing good music” in and around Kalamazoo since 1901 and was recognized as “one of the best known orchestras in the state” (Gazette). Since about 1904 Trombley had been playing cornet in Salomon’s dance band, which included several of Kalamazoo’s most notable musicians. But Salomon’s Orchestra began to draw even more attention after 1907 when George Trombley made the switch to piano and became the talented young musician known by his friends and followers as “Lem” Trombley.

“Back at the dancing casino we found an increased throng of dancers and onlookers. The jitney dance is new to Kalamazoo, but it appeared to have its advantages for the floor was filled for every dance. The girl with the gray dress and hat of torture did not miss a number and she was happy, for sure enough, Trombley was playing.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 31 May 1916

Geo. L. Trombley Publishing Co.

Trombley began teaching piano and cornet in his spare time and returned to writing music under his stage name, “Lem.” While performing with Salomon’s Orchestra, he penned “My Aeroplane Jane” in 1911 and published it under the Geo. L. Trombley Publishing Company banner, followed shortly thereafter by “Why Don’t You Smile?” and others.

“Because he played so beautifully” (Gazette) and because he composed “just the kind of a song everybody likes” (Trombley Publishing Co.), Trombley soon lay claim to a string of dance hall hits from Detroit to Chicago between 1911 and 1917, a few of which received national attention. His 1912 composition, “The Story of a Rose,” sold more than 20,000 copies within the first few months of release; 4,000 of which were reportedly sold in Kalamazoo alone. “Harem Scarem Rag” (1912), “Rag-Time Eating Place” (1914), and others followed, keeping Lem Trombley’s name on all of the local music charts.

His ragtime tunes were wildly popular and his ballads made the girls swoon. Among Trombley’s most successful compositions was a 1915 piece entitled “Under the Summer Moon,” written by Trombley with lyrics by Leonard Marx of the famous Marx Brothers. The song was featured as part of an early Marx Brothers comedy called “Home Again,” one of the brothers’ longest running stage productions. When Oakwood Park opened its gates for the 1916 season, Herman Salomon had control of the dance hall for the summer. Crowds filled the pavilion to hear his Imperial Orchestra perform Trombley’s latest vocal and instrumental hits.

Lem Trombley Compositions

“Sitting Bull March and Two-Step” (1904)
“My Aeroplane Jane” (1911)
“Why Don’t You Smile?” (1912)
“The Story of a Rose” (1912)
“Harem Scarem Rag” (1912)
“The Truest Love” (1913)
“Rag-Time Eating Place” (1914)
“The Queen of Beauty” Hesitation Waltz (1915)
“Just to Hear You Call Me Dear” (1915)
“Under the Summer Moon” w/ Marx Bros. (1915)
“The Bore” (poem) (1915)
“Sweetheart Days” (1916)
“The Uncommercial Minstrel” (poem) (1916)
“I Left My Heart In Ireland” (1917)
“When The Girl You Love Loves You” (1917)
“Sunshine and Sorrows” (1917)
“Our Boys Are Off To War” (1918)

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

By 1909 Trombley had given up his grocery business and watchmaking endeavors to focus on teaching music and helping to raise their two sons, Winfield (b.1910) and Vincent (b.1913). In 1912 George was elected to the Musicians’ Association Local 228 board of directors as his musical interests and abilities stretched well beyond the bounds of dance band work. While his student teaching at the time focused on piano and cornet, Trombley played French horn in an early incarnation of the Kalamazoo Symphony (1914-15) and in 1921, he joined an impressive list of local musicians who helped establish today’s Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.

Kalamazoo Conservatory of Music

Trombley continued to teach piano and other instruments in Kalamazoo throughout the 1920s. With more than 100 students under his guidance, he established the Kalamazoo Conservatory of Music and Associated Arts in 1924. Trombley served as director of the organization while teaching piano and cornet, and his wife Maude fulfilled the role of secretary. Other well-known musicians and dance instructors soon joined, including members of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, who offered instruction in violin, piano, saxophone, clarinet, organ, cello, voice, dance, musical theory, and composition. Within three years the organization grew to include a staff of twenty teachers and four hundred students.

Student Orchestra

Shortly after opening the Conservatory, Trombley gathered 20 of his best student musicians and formed a youth orchestra. Within months the orchestra grew to 40 members as Trombley arranged a series of public performances in Kalamazoo and the surrounding area. During the 1925-26 season Trombley and his students performed for more than 12,000 people in Kalamazoo theaters, churches, schools, and other public places. Money earned from these performances went to support the Conservatory and to purchase instruments that students in need could borrow. The orchestra was expanded to 60 members for the 1926-27 winter season with more feature performances.

“The experience received in orchestral training is of decided value to the young musician, and the orchestra itself a credit to the community.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 27 June 1926

“Go West, Young Man”

During the early 1920s the Trombleys took the first of several automobile trips across the United States to visit friends and family along the West Coast, with stops in Chicago, Salt Lake City, Spokane, Portland, San Francisco, and elsewhere along the way. They loaded their Nash Six “sport model” with gear and motored off across the countryside, camping at popular tourist sites like Yellowstone National Park, and ultimately returning to Michigan by way of the famous Lincoln Highway.

In the fall of 1926 Maude Trombley was taken ill and decided to spend a few months with her aunt in Sonoma County, California. From their recent travels the Trombleys had come to enjoy the West Coast and soon made the decision to leave Kalamazoo and settle in “The Golden State.” Maude made the move in May and opened a beauty parlor north of San Francisco in the town of Sebastopol. After turning the Kalamazoo Conservatory over to three of his colleagues, George joined his wife and sons in California, where he could fulfill his lifelong dream of leading a symphony orchestra.

After considering cities like Pasadena and Santa Barbara, the Trombleys found their “place in the sun” in Santa Rosa, fifty miles north of San Francisco in the heart of Sonoma County. Maude purchased a beauty parlor there in July and George immediately set about making connections within the musical community. Interestingly, Maude filed for divorce in Kalamazoo that summer (possibly for tax or legal reasons), which was granted in December 1927. The couple stayed together, however, and were remarried in Sacramento a short time later.

Trombley Music Studios

Once things were settled in Santa Rosa, George opened his Trombley Music Studios in February 1928, offering instruction in piano, violin, trumpet, and other “standard” instruments to students of all ages “at a sensible price” (Press Democrat). Within weeks he also announced the formation of Trombley’s Concert Orchestra, where groups of students “from two to ten players” could gain valuable experience by playing music for fashion shows, banquets and other such events.

Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra

Come fall Trombley mobilized a group of local adult musicians and prompted the Santa Rosa Lions Club to sponsor an amateur symphony orchestra. Trombley relied on his recent experience with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and used that organization as a model for his venture in Sonoma County. After several weeks of “grueling rehearsals” at the local Elks Club, George Trombley’s lifelong dream was realized when the 45-member Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra made its public debut in February 1929 before an enthusiastic audience at the 1,000-seat Santa Rosa High School Auditorium.

After four well received concert performances, the new orchestra was in top form by June when it gave a “recital broadcast” that reached the ears of “thousands of radio fans” over KFRC in San Francisco. In a telegram to the orchestra, San Francisco Mayor James Rolph, Jr. congratulated the organization and stated that he “enjoyed every moment of the program” (Press Democrat). Indeed, there was much to be proud of, but it seems Trombley was just getting started.

“Well, Mickey Mice, didn’t we have a wonderful meeting Saturday. It sure was a pip—everybody had a good time. But don’t forget, we’re going to have another meeting next Saturday, and it is going to be good—well, boy, just come and see for yourself. We’re going to have the Mickey Mouse orchestra for the first time—twenty-five pupils of Mr. Trombley—who play trumpets, clarinets, bass horns, piano, bass drums and violins. All of these children belong to the Mickey Mouse club. Come, everybody, don’t miss it, and don’t forget your Mickey Mouse pins.”

—The Press Democrat, 21 February 1932

Mickey Mouse Orchestra

In 1930 the first official theater-based Mickey Mouse Club was formed near Los Angeles in Ocean Park, California, some twenty-five years before the more familiar television version came along. Within weeks hundreds of theaters across the country were operating their own Mickey Mouse Clubs, including the New California Theater in Santa Rosa.

George Trombley enjoyed working with young people and had achieved great success with his youth orchestra in Kalamazoo. Trombley was anxious to organize a similar group in Santa Rosa, and the overwhelming popularity of the Mickey Mouse Club at the New California Theater gave him an idea. Inspired by Disney’s series of short animated films called “Silly Symphonies,” Trombley immediately organized the Mickey Mouse Orchestra in Santa Rosa with twenty-five “little folks, all members of the club” (Press Democrat) who were students at Trombley Music Studios. Directed by Trombley himself, the Mickey Mouse Orchestra performed during matinee film showings as a special treat for theater patrons, including the 1,200 local “Mickey Mice” who met at the theater.

By the mid-1930s Trombley’s youth orchestra was part of a 30-minute weekly radio show on KSRO in Santa Rosa. The Trombleys’ son Vincent, by then an accomplished violinist and music teacher on his own, was a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony and occasionally led the youth orchestra.

Later Years

After a long illness, Maude Beatrice Trombley passed away in July 1933 at the age of 49. The following year in June, George married Erlene Frances Ratcliffe, a renowned harpist with the Sonoma County Symphony Orchestra. Their son Richard Trombley was born two years later. George continued to teach music and direct the Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra, which often featured Mrs. Trombley’s talented harp playing.

During the summer of 1946, George and Erlene took their young son Richard on a three-week “motor vacation tour” to Michigan, where they visited George’s old hometown of Kalamazoo, his first time back in nearly 20 years. The family then drove on through Detroit to Niagara Falls before returning to California, with a stop at Yellowstone Park along the way. The Trombleys were among the record 800,000 who visited the park that summer.

Sometimes dreams really do come true. George Trombley conducted and directed the seventy-piece Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra (also known as the Sonoma County Symphony Orchestra) for nearly three decades. During his tenure he conducted 179 concert performances and attended nearly 3,000 rehearsal sessions before his retirement in 1957. Following a long illness, George Trombley passed away on December 30, 1963 at the age of 81. He is buried at Santa Rosa Memorial Park in Santa Rosa, California. Erlene Frances Trombley performed with the Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra for more than 30 years, and remained a long time resident of Santa Rosa before moving to Eugene, Oregon, where she passed away in 2007 at the age of 96.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, April 2019. Revised and updated January 2020.