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PHILADELPHIA - Joseph Kaminski is broken up. He couldn't keep Trilby on the street, and the oldest name in Mummery is on the brink. The Original Trilby String Band, a troupe that has strummed and strutted annually on New Year's Day since 1898, will not march in this year's Mummers Parade because of a shortage of cash and members.
"We've gone from six fancy clubs down to one, [Bob Shannon] said. "We've gone from four or five big comic clubs to three. We went from (27) string bands, now we're down to 16.
In the words of 70-year-old comic division president Rick Porco, whose Good Timers, Murray, and Landi comic clubs account for about a third of this year's parade participants: "It's challenging, trying to raise money to participate in this parade.
PHILADELPHIA - Joseph Kaminski is broken up. He couldn't keep Trilby on the street, and the oldest name in Mummery is on the brink. The Original Trilby String Band, a troupe that has strummed and strutted annually on New Year's Day since 1898, will not march in this year's Mummers Parade because of a shortage of cash and members.
"I don't even have words, said Kaminski, 48, who as club captain told members this month he was pulling the plug. There was no chance of mounting a show with unfinished music, no costumes, too few musicians, and but a few props.
"It was the worst decision of my life, Kaminski said.
Trilby may be down on its luck, but the Bridesburg club is no outlier in Mummersland. The same pressures kicking Trilby to the curb are behind a much-shortened parade route this year that eliminates a two-mile stretch through South Philadelphia, where the working-class parade was born.
Declining membership and soaring costs are building stress within Mummery that goes something like this: If only Dem Golden Slippers could be melted down and sold for cash, the feathered folk tradition might feel more secure.
"They are the oldest name in string bands, Tom Loomis, president of the Philadelphia String Band Association, said of Trilby, whose disappearance on South Broad Street is, for now, only temporary.
"That name will not disappear, Loomis promised. "We will find a way to get them back onto the street next year.
Vanishing, however, has been a phenomenon for some time as the drumbeat of an underwhelming economy has pummeled the Mummers.
City Hall has eliminated prize money, productions have become more elaborate than ever, and fewer people have taken on the challenge to join the self-funded folk parade.
The numbers are stark. In 2001, for the Mummers' 100th anniversary parade, 12,000 comics, wenches, fancies, and string band players marched on Broad Street. This year, about 8,000 will march, said Bob Shannon, president of the Mummers Association.
"We've gone from six fancy clubs down to one, Shannon said. "We've gone from four or five big comic clubs to three. We went from (27) string bands, now we're down to 16.
In the words of 70-year-old comic division president Rick Porco, whose Good Timers, Murray, and Landi comic clubs account for about a third of this year's parade participants: "It's challenging, trying to raise money to participate in this parade.
The parade, whose roots date back hundreds of years, has always been of the people. A celebration produced not by glitzy professionals but, rather, by families and friends within the city's ethnic neighborhoods.
For generations, Mummers sewed sequins and stitched feathers onto their own costumes, banding together as clubs to celebrate the New Year in ostentation coupled with pride of ownership.
In recent years, neighborhoods long dominated by Mummery have gentrified as older families have moved to the suburbs. Membership is no sure thing.
Those who still march shell out more money than ever as costumes have become more expensive, musical arrangements are outsourced, and a pot of prize money historically given out by City Hall is no longer on the table.
"There's some bands spending $80,000 to $100,000 on costumes alone, Shannon said.
Smaller clubs have vanished or consolidated, but larger ones have remained more vibrant, if also in need of funding.
Also falling on hard times: the string bands' annual fund-raiser, the "Show of Shows.
For years, the showcase of Mummery thrived at the Civic Center in University City, routinely selling out of tickets. It moved to the Spectrum when the Civic Center was demolished, and, later, to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. This year, it was canceled, Loomis said. Drawing crowds to the Shore in February was just too hard.
The string band association has resorted to a Plan B, recently announcing a Mardi Gras fund-raising parade planned for February in Manayunk.
Credit: Maria Panaritis The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)
Copyright Charleston Newspapers Dec 29, 2014