An Appreciation of a Very Special Person

Originally published Aught 27, 2015:

When I was about 7 years old, I met a man who became a very important influence on my life - Doctor of Music Carlton Jones Lake. He was the founder and first conductor/director of the Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale of which I was one of the founding members. He saw some ability in me and my singing voice that I didn't see and took me on as a private voice student at the Philadelphia Settlement Music School.

When my Dad lost his job at the steel mill, I knew I couldn't continue my lessons (which were already being given at a much reduced rate). I told Carlton and his response was: "We'll see."

Unknown to me and my parents, Carlton had a connection with the Rodgers & Hammerstein organization, having found many of the boys who had appeared in their stage version of "The King And I" with Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner. When they contacted him that one of the boys who was playing "Fredrich Von Trapp"  in the Broadway cast of "The Sound Of Music" (in accordance with child labor laws, an actor under 16 could only do a maximum of 4 shows out of the 8 shows each week, so each roles had two actors) was going through that painful time of his voice changing and they were looking for a replacement, he arranged an audition for me.

As with my later experience with Noel Coward, it was probably a good thing I really didn't know who those four old men were (Howard Lindsey, Russell Crouse, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II) or I would have been scared to death. They must have liked what they saw, because I was hired to be "Kurt Von Trapp" four shows a week in "The Sound Of Music" and one of the original "Kurt Von Trapp's" moved up to fill the role of "Freidrich".

One of the very special moments in my life happened at a competition called the Welsh Eisteddfod in Philadelphia in 1968, where he and I went head-to-head in the "Men's Challenge Aria" contest and he won first prize with me a close second. He was more pleased with my award than he was with his own.

Carlton died at age 74 on January 6, 1998. One of the great ones.