Beschreibung:

A Bacon and Day Silver Bell four-string banjo, model No. 4, circa 1920s, featuring a wooden resonator with brass parts, a large brass plaque on resonator personalized "H Goff," "Style No. 4 / B & D Silver Bell / The Bacon Banjo Co. Inc. Groton, Conn" engraved to small brass plaque on verso, manufacturer name and model number to brass armrest, mother of pearl inlay to fingerboard, with a Weather King banjo head, a rhinestone to neck's side (missing a rhinestone on opposite side) and one rhinestone on peghead, small paper labels ("C," "EF," "F," "AF," "BF") in Goff's hand taped to neck's right side, with purple velvet-lined black leather carrying case containing extra strings and maintenance equipment (screwdrivers, etc.) in inner case, with two extra banjo heads, one with approximately 38 autographs mostly in ink, housed in original transmittal package with Joseph Rogers Jr. & Son transmittal label, with a large group of "Firehouse Five Plus Two" ephemera including a scrapbook, 68 pp (15 pp are blank), a gouache on celluloid caricature of the "Firehouse Five" featuring Goff, matted (mat's backing is an original Goff magazine illustration sketch), several "Firehouse Five" LPs, a test pressing record, programs, sheet music, a poster, framed 8 x 10 in. photograph, gelatin silver print, of Goff posing with the banjo in this lot, approximately 35 black-and-white and color photos (including some duplicates), gelatin silver prints, depicting Goff, the "Firehouse Five," etc., a 4 x 5 in. negative Goff portrait photograph holding the banjo, and other related materials. Harper Goff was a talented banjo player and a member of Walt Disney's Dixieland band, the "Firehouse Five Plus Two," which was composed mainly of prominent Disney employees like Ward Kimball. After making their national radio debut on The Bing Crosby Show in 1950, the "Firehouse Five Plus Two" performed together on The Mickey Mouse Club and other TV shows, films like Grounds for Marriage (1951) and at public events, and recorded many albums. The band also played at Disneyland on its opening day. Goff played this gorgeous vintage banjo at public events and also plays it in his cameo opposite Janet Leigh in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955). The banjo has all its major parts and appears to be in working condition. The celluloid of the "Firehouse Five" included here was likely created for the band's appearance in the Disney Goofy cartoon, How to Dance (1953). Of special interest is a banjo head that Goff collected autographs on, mainly at his performances. The many signatures on it include Bing Crosby, Ginger Rogers, "Satchmo" (Louis Armstrong--the "Firehouse Five" performed with him in Pasadena in 1954), Mack Sennett, Joseph Cotten, Benny Goodman, Vera-Ellen, Sonja Henie, Greer Garson, Hoagy Carmichael, the Andrews Sisters (Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne), Robert Taylor ("Robert" is smudged), Van Johnson, and others. Banjo: 4 x 12.75 x 37 in.; banjo case: 4.75 x 16 x 40.5 in.; scrapbook: 1.5 x 12 x 14.5 in.; scrapbook: 1.5 x 12 x 14.5 in.; animation celluloid: 11 x 14 in.; framed photograph: 9.5 x 10.5 in.