Center for Technology & Innovation, Inc., 321 Water Street, Binghamton, NY 13901,
Telephone: 607-723-8600 email: info@ctandi.org
Remembering the soleful tunes of yesteryear!
Valerie Zehl's neighbors, Press & Sun-Bulletin - 30 September 2009
EJ's greatest hits on CD
Lots of people love show tunes. Shoe tunes are another matter.
"We are singing shoemakers from Endicott Johnson and this is why we're here ... To sing and dance and have some fun, so won't you lend an ear ... "
Songs like that tend to have a more exclusive audience. But if somebody in your family made a living at EJ in years past, you may appreciate the old songs on this new CD.
EJ did a lot more than make shoes, as anybody familiar with local history knows. Its paternalistic philosophy impelled it to build houses, libraries, parks and medical facilities for its workers.
"Music played a big part of life then," explains Susan Sherwood, executive director of the Center for Technology & Innovation. The CD, called EJ Shoe Tunes, is a joint project of the Johnson City Senior Center and CT&I.
The EJ Workers Band and Chorus had a big repertoire, many songs with lyrics written for the company, including "The Endicott Johnsons" by Philip Evans. Among its catchy stanzas: "They bought the old Casino and made a charming Ideal Park ..." And then an old commercial favorite, to the tune of "If You Knew Susie:" "If you knew Guidestep like I know Guidestep, oh, oh, oh, what a shoe ..."
Today's singers, 80-plus volunteers from Greater Binghamton -- including several with ties to the earlier group, such as the two daughters of director John Morris -- donated a collective 500-plus hours to create the CD. It's available for $15 (see box) and proceeds support a new endeavor that Susan is proud to tell the world about today:
Called the TechWorks! Museum of upstate invention and industry, it will be located at 321 Water St. in Binghamton with a target opening date in 2013. It will build on ideas that have been floating around for years. (Remember THIINK Town, once referred to by the late Press columnist Gene Grey as "among the most tortured acronyms in the history of gobbledygook, Thiink [yes, two i's] means The Home of Innovation, ImaginatioN and Knowledge (and) would involve a projected $90 million theme park on 30 acres.")
This idea, however, already comes with a signed deed. The brick-and-mortar museum is housed in what was once an ice cream company -- which brings Susan, who has been in cultural resources management more than 30 years, to the first of a few requests: "We want to learn more about Binghamton's ice cream factory. If you have photos, documents, or stories of working at Binghamton Ice Cream, General Ice Cream, National Dairy Company or Sealtest, please call us at 773-0092."
And another: "Volunteers are needed to help inventory and move artifacts and archives (no heavy lifting or computer skills required)" in the developing site.
And a third, one related to those ditties celebrating EJ and its products: "Come to the Shoe Tunes Community Sing Along. We'll provide the words to old favorites and EJ songs." Join in the fun at 2 p.m. Oct. 25, at the Goodwill Theatre's Schorr Family Firehouse Stage, corner of Willow Street and Corliss Avenue, Johnson City. There will be a charge, to be announced.