Interviewer
Daisy Grunau
Project
El Paso History
Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee
Born in Chicago, Illinois on October 6, 1901; trumpet player with the Kentucky Five in St. Louis in 1918; played with Paul Biese six months in 1919; Oriole Orchestra member in 1920 for a year and a half; played with Arnold Johnson for one year, 1921, and Paul Specht in 1922 at the Alemac Hotel in New Jersey; organized Frankie Quartells's Melody Boys in 1923 at the Montmarte Cafe; OKEH Records artist, recorded with Paul Whitman in 1922; played with Isham Jones' Orchestra for a year and a half; organized Frankie Quartell's Orchestra at the Bouche Villa Venice in Chicago and Miami Beach; also Chateau Madrid in Havana, Cuba, from 1933 to 1936; worked with Nick Lucas Orchestra at the Hollywood Dinner Club in New York in 1936; played at Colosimo's, Chicago's oldest cafe from 1939-1941; enlisted in the Army on November 20, 1942, in Special Services as a bandleader and was stationed at the Air Force Training Command at the Stevens Hotel, Chicago (now the Hilton Hotel); manager of the Morocco Theatre Cafe at 11 N. Clark St. in Chicago in 1944, and manager of the Stowaway Room at the Stowell Hotel in Los Angeles, California in 1945; played at the Indio Cocktail Lounge in Indio, California; appointed manager of the Colonnade Hotel Auditorium, Singertsland, Riviera Beach, Florida in 1954; retired and living in El Paso; 75 years of age.
Summary of Interview
Biography; his beginnings in music; the Edgewater Beach Hotel and Mr. Severo G. Gonzales of the Central Cafe in Cd. Juarez; working in Galveston, Cd. Juarez, and El Paso; prominent businessmen in El Paso in the late 1920's and early 1930's; the first radio station in El Paso; people who used to frequent the Central Cafe.
Date of Interview
3-15-1977
Length of Interview
45 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 291
Transcript Number
No. 291
Length of Transcript
16 pages
Date Transcribed
5-1977
Transcriber
Sarah E. John
Interview Number
No. 291
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Frank Quartell by Daisy Grunau, 1977, "Interview no. 291," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.