I was sorting through a box lot of small dolls I had just bought at auction when I came across a straw figure wearing what looked like an ice cream spoon around its neck. The word “Bermuda” and a thin string were attached to it.
I took the doll from among the rest to examine it. It was about 9 ½” tall, dressed in a shirt made of African-inspired colors, and its feet were bottle caps covered in the same green fabric as its pants. It arms and legs were wire wrapped in straw, and they were bendable.
Also on a string around its neck was a faded paper label with “Made in Bermuda” stamped on one side and “The Talbot Brothers” handwritten in ink on the other. Click on photo above for a full view.
I then realized that the doll was apparently a musician figure, and the spoon-like necklace was a guitar. I had made two trips to Bermuda, but had never heard of the Talbot Brothers. So naturally, I was intrigued and I went Googling.
By the time I visited the island, the brothers’ heyday had long past. But when they were big, they apparently were beloved. They were called the Talbot Brothers of Bermuda, and there were five brothers and one cousin: Archie (the lead singer), Austin, Bryan, Ross and Roy, and cousin Cromwell Mandres.
The brothers grew up in a family of 10 children in Tucker Town with a father who worked in a stone quarry and a mother who played organ in their church. They formed the band around 1941 (or 1942, depending on what you read). They played in nightclubs and in the homes of wealthy people on the island (interestingly, some time before, the government had removed their family and others from Tucker Town to create a spot for wealthy people and in turn, boost tourism).
They became so renowned at home that tourists coming to the island sought out their shows. These folks also wanted to see Roy play that strange-looking instrument he had fashioned from a large crate and a fishing line. He called it the Doghouse, and from photos, it looked like one.
“I used line because a regular gut bass string wouldn’t work,”‘ Roy said in an interview around 2002 with Carribbean Travel & Life magazine. ”With one string, the bass was very easy to tune, and amplifying it wasn’t absolutely necessary, at least not in the early days.”
Their instruments consisted mainly of guitars, so maybe that’s why the straw doll had a guitar around its neck.
They became popular in the United States in the late 1950s with their song “Bermuda Buggy Ride,” a sweet mellow tune that reminded me of the style of singing from 1940s movies. The group signed first with a small label that produced 10″ and 12″-inch vinyl records of their recordings, and later with ABC Paramount Records, where they released two albums. They also appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, among others.
The brothers wrote some of their own music and recorded tunes written by others, and performed along the East Coast of the United States and in London. They also incorporated humor into their their performances, encouraging the audience to participate. Some of their songs included “13 Kids,” “De Mongrel” and “Yellow Bird.”
They also tackled serious subjects, as in these lyrics from “Atomic Nightmare (1957)”: “You’re going to run, run, run back where you come from. I just heard from a little bird they’re going to drop the atomic bomb.”
Among their influences, Roy told the magazine, were other calypso singers. ”For calypso, we used to listen to the Duke of Iron. And of course there was (Harry) Belafonte. I would hang from the ceiling to hear him. He had a real natural talent and always knew where to put the emphasis when he sang.”
The brothers stopped recording around 1962 but apparently continued performing until the early 1980s. Roy was the last to die, at age 94 in 2009 in Bermuda.
Pleased to meet you, Talbot Brothers. I wish my straw doll, though, had a replica of Roy’s Doghouse.
