This was the spot of a man who loved music. I could tell by the spectacular display of guitars sprawled on a table out front on the lawn, the two banjos, the antique Edison phonographs, the ancient Victrola and the small music boxes posing as stringed instruments.
Three harmonicas were lying on a table waiting to be auctioned, including one in a box inscribed Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals. (By the time the auction got started, one had been stolen). Under the tables were boxes of albums, sheet music and reel-to-ree1 master tapes.
They were apparently part of this music lover’s collection, and they had been well cared for. I saw not a speck of dust on the guitars, although the phonographs were dusty. One auction staffer said those had been found in the back of the one-car garage.
The musical instruments were set off by themselves, on a special table away from an eclectic mix of glassware, jewelry, Zippo lighters, mini soft drink bottles, German cuckoo clocks and more. Even those were separated from rows of boxes and tables loaded with what looked like flea-market finds in the back of the house for this estate sale.
One table included some photos of naked women (I always wonder why families don’t discard some of this stuff. A couple years ago, a photo album of a nude couple from the 1940s or 1950s wound up on an auction table.)
Stationed at the front door to the house – also for sale and located in Egg Harbor Township overlooking Lakes Bay not far from Atlantic City – were two stone dogs that fetched a pretty sum ($375). In fact, there was a bounty of dog paraphernalia here, including ceramic figurines and a pair of metal Scotty dog bookends that my auction buddy Janet was eyeing.
The inside of the house was as immaculate as the guitars, and that’s where I came across photos of the man who loved music – Paulie Teardrop. I had never heard of him, but for years, he and his guitar apparently were popular entertainment at Primavera restaurant in Caesar’s Atlantic City.
Paulie Teardrop – whose real name was Paul Ciaurella – died in January at age 76. Some of his relatives were at the auction, including a woman who started crying anytime anyone mentioned his name, according to Janet. The woman and other family members were also bidding on Paulie’s stuff.
Born in East Harlem, Paulie and his brother Tony started out in the 1950s as the Teardrops, with Paulie on the guitar and Tony the accordion singing and playing Italian tunes, according to a 2008 story in Shore News Today. They opened at the Copacabana in New York in 1953, according to the story.
A decade later, they recorded “Aunt Carmella’s Italian Favorites,” a collection of songs with some comedy thrown in. Paulie is on the album cover in drag. The two received a gold record after the song “Till” sold one million copies. The Teardrops made more than 20 albums, according to the news story.
Tony died in 1980, and Paulie moved to Atlantic City four years later with his guitar, continuing to sing professionally until last year, according to the Press of Atlantic City newspaper. One friend recalled him as a “strolling musician” regaling diners at the Caesar’s restaurant.
“Anybody who knew him as a musician knew he loved music,” friend Rita Stafford told the Press. “His whole world was about music. And he would totally work the rooms – the people loved him. He had lots of fans, people who followed him. And they came in just to see him.”
Paulie apparently knew and met a lot of famous people – one piece of kitsch on a table in back was a singing animatronic Dean Martin doll. The Shore News Today reporter wrote of seeing photos in Paulie’s home of him posing with such people as Dinah Washington, Sammy Davis Jr., Red Buttons and Martin.
At auction, I found a laminated autographed photo of Nat King Cole among a large group of reproduction prints propped against a wall out back.
After learning more about Paulie, I knew the guitars at auction were not necessarily a collection but a livelihood. They included a Fender Model F2 with a Harrah’s Atlantic City casino pick (sold for $290); two D’Agostinos ($20 and $220); Washburn acoustic guitar, new in box ($110); Penco electric guitar ($150); Gretsch Synchromatic Model 6576 ($210. Janet remembered the same auctioneer begging someone to buy one of these at auction once for $1. “We should’ve bought it,” she lamented) and Dobro with silver resonator ($200). An Epiphone banjo went for $300, and a Paramount Style A banjo – from the 1930s, the auctioneer said – sold for $410.
Another of Paulie’s treasures was parked next to the house: A royal blue Town Coupe whose exterior was as slick and clean as the interior. Someone mentioned that he rarely drove it, opting instead for the other cars that were for sale. The car stretched as long as the driveway, but it was a beauty.
I used to see Wally and his brother Tony at the bonsoir in the Bronx and baychester avenue went there all the time they were very good
My uncle was tony teardrop, I do remember the bar & restaurant called the bonsoir, my father was the bartender there, I was only 10 years old, but I do remember when I went there I used to see this chimpanzee called Mr. Jiggs, my father used to give drinks from the bar.
I played with plulie a few times in the Bronx. he started a new band after his brother passes an they still loved his music. then he moved to a c I went there an he came out of the dressing room an started to sing an play in the lobby of the hotel.
great write up i knew paulie as a neighbor and as a fon at ceasars