Hammond as in Organ

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Hammond as in Organ- Forward by Stuyvesant Barry

he Hammond organ is so well known that when Roxana Hammond gives her last name to a telephone opeator, the opeartor often asks, "Hammond as in organ?". It's not known just in this country, but all over the world- probably just as well in Poland, for example, as in the United States. And when I tell friends I'm writing the biography of Larry Hammond of the Hammond Organ Company, they often ask, "Is he the son or the grandson of the man who invented it?" It's hard to believe that the inventor is still living, that the first Hammond organ was sold in 1935. [Editor's note: Laurens Hammond passed away in 1973 after this book was written]
The reason I wrote this book is that as I got to know Larry I got more and more entranced with the stories he can tell about his life. These ought to be written down, I felt, and finally- if no one else is going to write them down, I am.
Larry was anything but enthusiastic about this: he didn't think his life was of enough general interest and as I would be most unlikely to find a publisher, I'd be wasting my time. And he certainly wanted to have no part in subsidizing publication, as he shuns the thought of publicly "tooting his own horn". But I couldn't help feeling that there must be many others who would find these stories fascinating and I persevered.
ore than half of the book is quoted directly in his own words. This part is indented to avoid the awkwardness of endless quotation marks. Most of the rest is slightly abbreviated and adapted from what he told me over a long series of reminiscences from May 1972, through February 1973. Some parts come from magazine and newspaper articles, former business associates and former employees, family and friends, and books, to fill out the picture. I hasten to add that the complimentary characterizations did not come from him, but from those who have known him.
I truley hope the reader will enjoy as much as I have the life stories of a remarkable human being.
- Stuyvesant Barry

Chapter I - Geyser in the Teacher's Inkwell Index
ŠCopyright 1974, Stuyvesant Barry All Rights Reserved May not be copied, published, used on anyone else's web pages or in any way without express written permission.