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Speaker 1: This is Ralph of the Russian Rescuins introducing Hail to

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Speaker 1: the Reskins.

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Speaker 2: Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, Washington's Marching Band

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Speaker 2: has punctuated thousands of points with that favorite tune. If

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Speaker 2: you've been to a home game at Griffith Stadium, RFK,

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Speaker 2: or Northwest Stadium, you've probably seen or heard the ensemble.

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Speaker 2: They're decked out in team colors, be it the frigid

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Speaker 2: cold or the raging heat, playing their hearts out. As

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Speaker 2: the oldest marching band in the league, the group even

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Speaker 2: has collection items in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Speaker 2: The evolution of Washington's Marching Band and what they've added

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Speaker 2: to game days for nearly ninety years is part in

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Speaker 2: the pun major This is Hail Tales stories from Washington

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Speaker 2: football history the Marching ban. When he was young, Washington's

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Speaker 2: very first owner, George Preston Marshall, had grandiose dreams of

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Speaker 2: being an actor. Those ambitions were derailed when he was

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Speaker 2: drafted in World War One, but his love for drama

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Speaker 2: and entertainment never went anywhere. Dan Alpert, a member of

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Speaker 2: Washington's Marching Band for twenty two years and the band's

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Speaker 2: archivist explains.

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Speaker 3: George Preston Marshall was an incredible showman from one Iver's Dead.

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Speaker 3: He was married to a silent movie star, Kareeine Griffith,

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Speaker 3: and he got in his head as soon as he

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Speaker 3: had the Redskins here in DC that he wanted to

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Speaker 3: really put on a show. Obviously, he want to attract

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Speaker 3: fans and all that sort of thing, but he mostly

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Speaker 3: wanted to have a incredible game day experience as much

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Speaker 3: as possible for the people that would attend the games. Now,

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Speaker 3: as I understand it, of course I wasn't there, but

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Speaker 3: as I understand it, he basically also wanted to attract

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Speaker 3: women to the games. It was very much a male

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Speaker 3: dominated attendance, I guess back then, so he was trying

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Speaker 3: to add elements that might be attractive to women that

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Speaker 3: would then bring their husbands to the games and all

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Speaker 3: that sort of thing. So I guess he, in conjunction

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Speaker 3: with his wife, decided to put on a spectacular halftime

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Speaker 3: show every week.

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Speaker 2: These halftime shows included circus animals, ballet fast movie reviews.

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Speaker 2: It was Marshall's passion for a halftime spectacle that eventually

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Speaker 2: led to the establishment of the marching Band. The seeds

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Speaker 2: were planted in nineteen thirty seven, the same year that

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Speaker 2: the team moved from Boston to Washington, DC. Knowing Marshall

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Speaker 2: and Griffith loved a good show and being made up

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Speaker 2: of many fans, the Chestnut Farms Dairy Band wrote asking

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Speaker 2: to perform at a couple games. They did, and so

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Speaker 2: did some other local bands. That season, Marshall combined the

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Speaker 2: Chestnut Farms Dairy Band along with one of those others

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Speaker 2: to form the official one hundred and fifty person Washington

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Speaker 2: Marching Band.

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Speaker 3: I think at that time Marshall was trying to was

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Speaker 3: still experimenting, I think more than anything else as far

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Speaker 3: as what would work or a halftime show, so that idea,

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Speaker 3: because marching bands were already popular starting let's say in

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Speaker 3: the yearly nineteen hundreds, as far as college bands and

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Speaker 3: that sort of thing, he was trying to, I think,

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Speaker 3: incorporate a certain element that was similar to what was

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Speaker 3: going out of college games to the Crow games, because

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Speaker 3: at that time there were no Crow teams that had

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Speaker 3: marching bands whatsoever. So he was experimenting. He was trying

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Speaker 3: to be an innovator. He was trying to be at

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Speaker 3: the forefront of trying to attract different sorts of people

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Speaker 3: to the games that might be interested in even if

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Speaker 3: they were terribly interested in football, they'd be maybe excited

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Speaker 3: about the halftime shows.

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Speaker 2: Washington's band got off to a hot start, so proud

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Speaker 2: of and invested in this unprecedented ban project. Marshall apparently

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Speaker 2: was involved in the writing and choreographing of each and

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Speaker 2: every halftime show. And not only did the Marching Band

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Speaker 2: perform during home stands in those early years, they also

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Speaker 2: went on the road from time the time.

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Speaker 3: As I understand it, basically when training well, they went

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Speaker 3: to major just more or less local cities like they

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Speaker 3: would go to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York, and Brooklyn for

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Speaker 3: away games. In the early years, they used to always

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Speaker 3: go to the New York games. The first four or

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Speaker 3: five years, they take the train out to New York.

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Speaker 3: They'd play the Giants, and in fact they perform on Broadway.

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Speaker 3: Every year they did a parade down Broadway after either

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Speaker 3: before or after the game, I'm not certain which. So

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Speaker 3: that was again I think part of the showmanship. As

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Speaker 3: far as George Preston Marshall trying to draw attention to

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Speaker 3: the team in general and the band you know somewhat

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Speaker 3: as a nad junk as far as an advertising medium

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Speaker 3: for the for the team.

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Speaker 2: There's a great story from that nineteen thirty seven season

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Speaker 2: when the band traveled home after the team beat the

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Speaker 2: Giants in New York. After getting back to DC at

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Speaker 2: eleven pm, the band and fans started victory marching down

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Speaker 2: Pennsylvania Avenue. They were stop by the police because they

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Speaker 2: didn't have a permit. Marshall tried to argue, it didn't work,

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Speaker 2: so he had the band secretly meet him a couple

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Speaker 2: blocks down the road to keep the victory march rolling.

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Speaker 2: Pretty much right after they started playing. The police, of

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Speaker 2: course came to stop it, and since they couldn't arrest

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Speaker 2: the entire band, the cops decided to arrest the band cheap.

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Speaker 2: The Marshals put up his twenty five dollars bail and

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Speaker 2: got him out later by hook or by crook. The

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Speaker 2: early years were all about establishing the presence of the band,

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Speaker 2: and as any a marching band knows, if you want

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Speaker 2: to be legit, you gotta have a fight song. Interestingly enough,

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Speaker 2: during one of the first rehearsals, the band's musicians suggested

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Speaker 2: that a very popular song back then called Onward Christian Soldiers,

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Speaker 2: the Washington's Fight Song. The Marshalls, though, wanted a number

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Speaker 2: the band could call its own.

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Speaker 1: I'm David Briskin, the son of Barney Breskin. My father

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Speaker 1: was the composer of Hail to the Redskins.

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Speaker 2: Barney Breskin was the band leader at the time.

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Speaker 1: Actually, he called Coreene Griffiths on the phone and played

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Speaker 1: the song for her. And this was my dad's personal

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Speaker 1: story that she liked the song, but he wasn't crazy

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Speaker 1: about it. She really talked to her husband into it.

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Speaker 1: He was not for having a song. He wasn't really

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Speaker 1: interested in it, and she had him listen to it

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Speaker 1: on the phone. She i think talked him into it.

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Speaker 1: Part of the credit of the lyrics goes to her.

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Speaker 2: The fight song was copyrighted on August seventeenth, nineteen thirty eight,

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Speaker 2: Barney Breiskin's twenty eighth birthday, and the band started playing

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Speaker 2: it at games from then on.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: Who exactly made up the marching band obviously talented musicians,

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Speaker 2: but these were folks from all different vocations, ranging from

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Speaker 2: painters and mechanics to lawyers and shoe salesmen. Band members,

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Speaker 2: at least in those beginning years, could be rather young.

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Speaker 2: In one article I got from Dan Albert, band member

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Speaker 2: Bobby Bunkie Gretton remembers the thrill of his first time

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Speaker 2: performing with the band when he was only fourteen years old.

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Speaker 2: Other characteristics of the band really reflected the American society

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Speaker 2: in which they were operating in at the time.

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Speaker 3: Age In particular, we're considered to be a province of

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Speaker 3: a guys club kind of thing, I think in many respects,

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Speaker 3: so I don't think it was until probably now there

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Speaker 3: were already women in the band while I was there

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Speaker 3: in the nineteen eighties, but I don't think there were many.

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Speaker 2: Cindy Keyes, who was a member of the band in

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Speaker 2: the eighties with Albert, recalls in an article that there

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Speaker 2: were only six female members when she joined in nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty two, Keys holds the distinction of being the first

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Speaker 2: woman to conduct Washington's marching band.

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Speaker 3: In one article I read, also as far as racial inclusion, now,

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Speaker 3: it was an all white band I think at the

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Speaker 3: very beginning, and apparently again as far as how times changed,

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Speaker 3: Washington was criticized as being one of the very last

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Speaker 3: teams in the NFL to hire black players, and I

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Speaker 3: think so there is a certain element of people being

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Speaker 3: upset with the Redskins organization for not having minorities. So,

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Speaker 3: as I read an article in the nineteen, let's say

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Speaker 3: fifties or so, our band director specifically tried to recruit

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Speaker 3: African American players into the band, would write to all

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Speaker 3: the different high schools trying to encourage people to try out,

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Speaker 3: and we'd get nothing. We'd get absolute silence whatsoever. Now,

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Speaker 3: I'm assuming then that when the team became more integrated,

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Speaker 3: the band also became more integrated. So it was you know,

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Speaker 3: i'd say, you know, a good thirty forty fifty percent

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Speaker 3: as far as integrations, I would say, as times changed

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Speaker 3: over from the time when the band was first formed

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Speaker 3: in the nineteen thirties, some time I joined, for example,

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Speaker 3: in the early nineteen eighties.

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Speaker 2: The band blossomed throughout the mid century period and into

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Speaker 2: those glorious years under Joe Gibbs. Dozens of people helped

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Speaker 2: behind the scenes with uniforms, musical arrangements, instrument transport, and

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Speaker 2: so much more. The band gained a reputation as being

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Speaker 2: a very serious and dedicated operation. Members would travel as

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Speaker 2: far as two hours away to get to rehearsals. Highly

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Speaker 2: coveted spots opened up infrequently, and news of auditions spread

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Speaker 2: mostly by word of mouth. At one point, there was

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Speaker 2: even a practice squad of twenty five musicians who were

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Speaker 2: waiting for their chance to break into the active roster.

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Speaker 2: You might say, game after game, this well oiled, energetic

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Speaker 2: ensemble contributed with their own skills to Washington's home field advantage.

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Speaker 2: In an article about the band in the sixties, Gretton

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Speaker 2: recalls how the group sat on the fifty yard line

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Speaker 2: behind the visiting team, quote just for irritation.

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Speaker 3: I'd like the thing that we adoied the other a

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Speaker 3: little bit in such a way that we could be

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Speaker 3: given a little bit of advantage.

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Speaker 2: Trumpet line chief Jay Wells remembers in the seventies how

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Speaker 2: the band playing the fight song became a cue for

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Speaker 2: fans to begin the infamous rocking of the stands at

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Speaker 2: RFK Stadium. And then there was Dallas Week. On the

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Speaker 2: night before the big game, the band was known to

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Speaker 2: march and play down the streets of Georgetown. Nightclubs would

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Speaker 2: actually invite them in to play. Dallas Week was the concert.

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Speaker 2: Georgetown was our stage and we were firing up the

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Speaker 2: fans for the big game. Saxophone players stuff on Monica said.

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Speaker 2: Washington's Marching Band has gone through changes over the years,

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Speaker 2: but so many of the elements that have made it

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Speaker 2: special for almost nine decades remain. Members come from all

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Speaker 2: different backgrounds, As the band's current musical director, Jeffrey Doakin notes.

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Speaker 4: I think that through line of the amateurism coming from

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Speaker 4: the early days, it still holds true today that the

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Speaker 4: people are there because they want to be there. It's

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Speaker 4: not like every game we're going out and bringing in ringers.

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Speaker 4: You have to go through an audition process, a pretty

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Speaker 4: strict audition process, and you know, with the marching and

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Speaker 4: with the playing, there's a ton of music to learn.

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Speaker 4: Game days are extremely long. Now. It's super fun, but

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Speaker 4: it is hard. It's arduous, right, And so if you

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Speaker 4: didn't really want to be there, if you didn't really

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Speaker 4: love being in Marching Band and love the Commander's franchise,

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Speaker 4: you would not be there. And so I love that

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Speaker 4: that we can trace that back to the sheet metal

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Speaker 4: workers and the plumbers and all that. I don't know,

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Speaker 4: I imagine we probably still have plumbers in the band today.

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Speaker 2: Being in the Marching Band continues to be a really

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Speaker 2: significant space and community for many musicians. As band trumpeter

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Speaker 2: Benita Gladney explains, when you don't.

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Speaker 5: Have to play your instrument, you kind of miss it.

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Speaker 5: It's like probably liked sports people, that's why they go

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Speaker 5: and running gyms.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 5: You know they used to play basketball in high school

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Speaker 5: and maybe they didn't make the college football team or

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Speaker 5: basketball team, so they find themselves in gyms and they

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Speaker 5: run every weekend or they run up every evening, and

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Speaker 5: so you end up missing it because you put you

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Speaker 5: put so much time into your craft, whether it's sports

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Speaker 5: or whether it's music. It was so much time in

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Speaker 5: and then it gets to a point like I miss it.

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Speaker 5: I miss doing it. And so when I went to

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Speaker 5: a football game and I heard the band, I'm like,

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Speaker 5: that's a live band, because I didn't know they actually

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Speaker 5: had a marching band. And so when the opportunity came

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Speaker 5: around to audition, so I auditioned and I told the

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Speaker 5: band directors in my audition, I said, I just want

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Speaker 5: to play music again. I just want to play music

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Speaker 5: that's fun.

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Speaker 2: Fans still love and look forward to their music, as

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Speaker 2: longtime band member Luis Perez will tell you.

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Speaker 1: From the moment anybody sees us all nowadays, all the

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Speaker 1: phones a getting went douts because they want to get

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Speaker 1: a video and just just take pictures with us. If

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Speaker 1: we stop it anywhere where we're moving around and.

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Speaker 2: We just have trying to stop, people will imminiately jump

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Speaker 2: in front of us and kind of turn around to

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Speaker 2: get Sylvie.

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Speaker 1: It just it just creates a little bit more buzz.

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Speaker 2: I think the energy the Marching Band brings keeps on

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Speaker 2: making Washington game days one of a kind.

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Speaker 4: Sports are one of these great things that for a

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Speaker 4: couple hours every weekend, people forget about what else is

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Speaker 4: going on in their lives. Right and if we can

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Speaker 4: be some small part of that, I mean, that's an

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Speaker 4: amazing opportunity for us. And I want people to know

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Speaker 4: that the game day experience doesn't start at kickoff. It

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Speaker 4: starts way before that, with us doing our parade, us

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Speaker 4: doing our legends, plausa set. So having this conversation right now,

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Speaker 4: it's important to let people know, like, come on out,

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Speaker 4: bring your families, spend the day enjoying everything, get the food,

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Speaker 4: hear the music, and then also watch them football because

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Speaker 4: football on TV. We're watching football football in the stadium

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Speaker 4: is an experience.

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Speaker 2: This episode of Haletales was narrative, produced and researched by

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Speaker 2: me Hannah Liechtenstein, senior copywriter for the Washington Commanders. It

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Speaker 2: was produced and edited by Jason Johnson. Executive producers are

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Speaker 2: Ryan Yoakum and Kevin Klein. Graphics designed by Zach Osborne

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Speaker 2: and Matt Cashman. Special thank you to Dan Albert for

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Speaker 2: the historical materials referenced in this show, and thank you

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Speaker 2: for listening. Voting is now open for the twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: five People's Choice Podcast Awards. Vote now for Hailtales for

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Speaker 2: best Historical Podcasts. Go to Podcast Awards dot com