Biography
Born on 5 November 1902 in Borovin near Minsk, Belarus, Minevitch died in Paris on 26 June 1955. His family brought him to the United States in 1906. Although he first studied piano and violin, the harmonica became his instrument of choice, and his technical command soon secured engagements in vaudeville houses as well as appearances on the concert stage. In 1925 he assembled a formally attired ensemble that performed on every member of the harmonica family, including many rarely encountered models. Billed as the Harmonica Rascals, the group quickly became a vaudeville attraction and supplied music for two Broadway productions: Good Boy, which opened in 1928 and completed 253 performances, and Sweet And Low, a 1930 revue featuring Fanny Brice and George Jessell that ran for 184 nights.
Once talking pictures arrived, the ensemble recorded numerous short subjects in Hollywood and supplied specialty sequences for several feature films, among them One In A Million (1936), Rascals (1938), Hit Parade Of 1941 (1940), Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942) and Top Man (1943). During the mid-1930s the musicians toured Europe and performed in London. More than a hundred players passed through the ranks over the years, including Ben Burley, Irvin Crane, Ben Dansky, Lou Delin, Abe and Leo Diamond, Dave Doucette, Louis Feldman, Al Fiore, Carl Ford, Al Furbish, Eddie Gordon, Richard Hayman, James Kenneth, Harold Liechtenstein, Hugh MacKaskey, Etto Manieiri, Pat and Frank Marquis, Ernie Morris, Jerry Murad, Alex Novelle, Pete Pedersen, Sammy Ross and Johnny Puleo, the latter a diminutive musician noted for his outsized harmonica. Two alumni, Fiore and Murad, later established their own ensemble, the Harmonicats.
Minevitch’s programs mixed contemporary popular numbers with light classical works arranged, sometimes by the leader himself, to exploit the group’s singular instrumentation. He also composed, collaborating with Leo Diamond on “Suite Philharmonica.” In 1947 he withdrew from performing and settled in Europe, where he occasionally contributed to motion-picture production and made a brief screen appearance in Botta E Risposta (1950, released in English as I’m In The Revue). A few weeks before his death he married Lucille, who subsequently attempted to revive the Harmonica Rascals under Novelle’s direction; changing tastes, however, brought the venture to a swift close.
Once talking pictures arrived, the ensemble recorded numerous short subjects in Hollywood and supplied specialty sequences for several feature films, among them One In A Million (1936), Rascals (1938), Hit Parade Of 1941 (1940), Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942) and Top Man (1943). During the mid-1930s the musicians toured Europe and performed in London. More than a hundred players passed through the ranks over the years, including Ben Burley, Irvin Crane, Ben Dansky, Lou Delin, Abe and Leo Diamond, Dave Doucette, Louis Feldman, Al Fiore, Carl Ford, Al Furbish, Eddie Gordon, Richard Hayman, James Kenneth, Harold Liechtenstein, Hugh MacKaskey, Etto Manieiri, Pat and Frank Marquis, Ernie Morris, Jerry Murad, Alex Novelle, Pete Pedersen, Sammy Ross and Johnny Puleo, the latter a diminutive musician noted for his outsized harmonica. Two alumni, Fiore and Murad, later established their own ensemble, the Harmonicats.
Minevitch’s programs mixed contemporary popular numbers with light classical works arranged, sometimes by the leader himself, to exploit the group’s singular instrumentation. He also composed, collaborating with Leo Diamond on “Suite Philharmonica.” In 1947 he withdrew from performing and settled in Europe, where he occasionally contributed to motion-picture production and made a brief screen appearance in Botta E Risposta (1950, released in English as I’m In The Revue). A few weeks before his death he married Lucille, who subsequently attempted to revive the Harmonica Rascals under Novelle’s direction; changing tastes, however, brought the venture to a swift close.