Monday, April 7, 2008

Last year in one of my classes at Bard the instructor discussed the impact we make on the environment, garbage per person, use of fuel, etc. Then she told us about a man in New York City who was attempting to make no or little impact on the environment for one year. He had no refrigerator, bought the food daily and ate it raw, used no paper or plastic (even toilet paper), rode a bike to work, etc. For a whole year! He will probaby write a book about it and make a fortune but it made me remember when Tivoli had the 19th Century Man. It was in the early 70's when a Bard drop out took residence in Tivoli and opened the Tivoli Player Piano Shop. At the age of 23 he had forsaken the modern conveniences to live a simpler life. He certainly looked the part. He wore his hair parted carefully in the middle topped with a straw hat. His suit was vintage and he wore spats. A pince-nex with a black ribbon completed the outfit. He was quoted as using such language as "Balderdash" or "Oh, perdition", but I can't recall that. Laurence G. Broadmoore was his name and his shop was the small building next to the Madalin Hotel. He explained his actions: since the age of 13 he had chosen another century because that "was the last time in which pride in craftmanship, beauty and intellectual honesty were valued". His craft was restoring century old player piano which he did for about $1500 per piano, taking as long as a month for each job. He did guarantee his work for 10 years. At that time, Tivoli had not yet started to regain its population, there were about 800 villagers. He attracted enough attention to appear in an article in Time Magazine which said, "he may be the best adjusted citizen of Tivoli" - which makes one wonder what the rest of us looked like. Anyway, out of curiousity I goggled his name and found he had applied for a patent in 2/13/01 for a method for coupling electronically stored music but I wonder if he is still dressing the part and avoiding this century. It almost seems so if you can't find him on the internet. Last year during a slide show on Tivoli given by our now Mayor, Tom Cordier, a picture of Laurence in full costume appeared. Tom said, "I think this is a picture of one of our old time residents, is that right Linda?" he turned to me. "No," I responded "That was the eccentric Bard student that lived here for a while restoring pianos." The audience looked at Tom, then me, and I don't think they believed either of us.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda, I am really enjoying your blog.

Lawrence sounds like quite the character! I couldn't help but do some research. Looks like "Larry" now operates Broadmoore Player Piano Repair in San Fernando, CA and may indeed have moved into this century as well...

Links:

Listserv Postings (detailing his somewhat tragic struggles with his "Power Roll" business)

Page about his "Power Roll" invention

FAQ on powerroll.com (archived, site now down)

Time Article

Photo of his Player Piano Shop in Tivoli, ca. 1970s

Anonymous said...

Hi Mom, Didn't we call him Wonka Willie????

Tivoli Bird's Nest said...

Rob, thanks for the information. The artical said he rented a house in Tivoli, but last summer, sitting on the beach at Wellfleet, Bernie said he rented a room with them for a while. I'll have to ask Margaret about that.

Anonymous said...

I worked with Larry on the weekends back in the day, and learned many fascinating details of automated musical instrument rebuilding.
I left for California in Dec of 1972 after stopping by his house for some morning coffee warmed on his coal burning kitchen stove.
It's nice to know others remember him fondly, and the piano shop in Tivoli.

Mark Willoughby Wood said...

Any idea whatever became of him?

Mark Willoughby Wood said...

Any idea of what became of him?