For many, the "Personality" James (Jim) Moss McHenry, better known as "Ivory Knuckles" McHenry, is legendary. Others may not know his name or know of his ability with the piano. He was trained in piano tuning, and was well known locally for his playing of the violin and the bass violin, but his ability and showmanship playing the piano was what keeps him in our memory.
Because we will be talking about three men, all with the name "James McHenry," we'll use the name "Jim" for "Ivory Knuckles," the name most knew him by, although his high-school friends called him "Mac." For his father, James Ray McHenry, we'll use the name "Ray," the name he always used with his friends. Jim's grandfather was simply James, with no middle name. We'll call him "James."
The McHenry line has a long history in Cambra. Stage coaches first ran on the Berwick & Tioga turnpike through Cambra about 1820. The crossroads was a place of trade even when the stage route was abandoned about 1840. Following the toll road becoming a public road about 1845, Jim's grandfather, James McHenry (March, 1821-March 29, 1897), operated a store in Cambra which he bought in 1855.
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The Country Store in Cambra, with young Jim sitting on the front porch. |
He purchased the store and an adjacent house which had once belonged to William Woodin, grandfather of William H. Woodin, Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The McHenry House, Cambra
The year was 1925
He also farmed and was in the lumber business, and twice was elected to the state legislature. He donated the land where the Cambra Christian Church stands. He was a former postmaster of Stillwater and with his brother Daniel built the covered bridge in Stillwater in 1850. James McHenry, at the age of 44, was one of seven McHenry men imprisoned in Fort Mifflin and held for over three months during what some call the "Fishing Creek Confederacy."
The Cambra Store and the adjacent hotel
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Stanley McHenry, James McHenry and Bearer (dog), on the side of the Cambra Store. |
James Ray McHenry was born November 27, 1878, in Cambra, one of seven children of James McHenry and Bethia Tubbs McHenry. Ray married Helen Mabel Moss. He died July 7, 1957 at his home in Cambra. Ray was an accomplished musician, with the violin his main instrument. John Laubach recalled a tale about him being whisked from a carriage by a small tornado and deposited in an orchard tree, without injury to himself. John asked Avis McHenry about that incident nearly a year ago, and she confirmed it.
One of Ray's older brothers, Stanley Woodward McHenry, had a significant impact on young Jim's career.
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Stanley (March 9, 1864-May 5, 1942) never married, but lived in the family residence and also had a successful career in the field of pianos.
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Jim took piano lessons from his uncle, Stanley W. McHenry, from 1928-1938.
Stanley McHenry, standing. James W. McHenry, Ray McHenry, Helen McHenry and Eva McHenry. |
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Jim McHenry was born May 25, 1920.Jim attended the one-room school in Cambra, the Huntington Township Elementary School and graduated from Benton High School with the class of 1938. |
He rode his bike from Cambra to the high school each day, and still had time for the Junior and the Senior plays. He squeezed in the job of class president and in the remaining minutes of each day was in the orchestra organized by his uncle in 1927 and he appeared in a show called the “Big Apple Minstrel” where he got his first taste of show business.
| Jim always said that he attended Benton Schools because of their music program. From 1934-1938, Jim played first violin, first chair, in the Benton High School Orchestra under the direction of Gertrude Leddy. |
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Playing piano for Jim came naturally, but he improved his playing by taking piano lessons from Carola S. Herring, Huntington Mills, from 1938-1940. He was a bass violin student of Arthur W. McHenry from 1939-1940. He studied violin under his father, Ray McHenry, a highly respected violin teacher and piano technician, from 1925-1938. Jim worked with his father during summer vacations and weekends from the time he was a small boy until he went away to tuning school in 1939. He graduated from the Faust School of Piano Tuning, Boston .
Jim (along with Grace Hockins, Huntington Mills) directed minstrel shows for the Huntington Valley Fire Company and the Berwick Junior Chamber of Commerce between 1948 and 1956. In these performances, entertainers would blacken their faces with burnt cork or greasepaint, dress in outlandish costumes, and then perform songs and skits . Harold Yaple remembers the time that he, Jim and Grant Britingham did a skit as the Andrews Sisters.
During 1941-42, he was employed a tuner-technician with the J. H. Troup Music House in Harrisburg . When his daughter Sandra graduated from high school, Jim wrote a long letter to her telling her how happy he was each night as he walked back to their Harrisburg apartment knowing that he would see his wife and daughters in a few minutes.
Nora Nugent, who played violin in the College/Community Orchestra when Jim was in it, and violinist and former area resident Lise Boorse, remembered that Jim was considered a "legend" in the Piano Technicians Guild. Pam Thomas remembers when her father took the testing for the Guild and he attained the rating of Craftsman, which was the highest possible rating. You can learn more about the Piano Technicians Guild at http://www.ptg.org/ .
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Jim drove bus for a time. Here is a picture from Koonsvlle. How many do you recognize? |
From left to right, Curt Dennis, Dan Ipher, ?, Bob Baer, Curt Baer, Caleb Hoyt, Alex Ridall, Nancy Ridall, Jim McHenry, Carl Chapin, Pete Kline, ? Dennis, Bucky Ridall, Shel Klintob, Ed Mincavage, Jesse Trumpare, Bill Ridall, Henry Dernier
Jim operated his own piano shop in the back of the corner store in Cambra until his death from a heart attack just before Easter in 1981. He tuned, repaired and rebuilt pianos and player pianos and also tuned for a selected clientele within a 50 mile radius, including Bloomsburg University, nearly all the schools and churches in the area, and many music teachers and the music houses. For a short time, he tuned in the Washington , D.C. metropolitan area with Berwick native Ned Dodson, who Jim taught the tuning trade. Ned also was a drummer and jammed with Jim on many occasions. They tuned at Kennedy Center while in the District as independent technicians for the Gisriel Piano & Organ Co.
Jim also played the bass violin and from 1939-45, he played local dance jobs with a group of former high school buddies. From 1946-47, he played bass with the Jimmy Topper Quartet of Berwick. From 1947-1952, he played bass with the Maynard Laubach Orchestra, Berwick. From 1952-1961, he played bass with the Rathomacs, a local trio consisting of Bob Rarig on piano,George Thomas on sax and Jim (Mac was a name for Jim used by high school classmates) on bass. From 1961-1971, he was a part-time bassist with Joe Bednarek and his Men of Note, one of the better known groups in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, with many engagements in the Pocono resorts. Jim was the musical director and accompanist for the Bloomin' Follies in 1969.
When Jim’s two daughters were old enough for piano lessons, they took lessons from one of Jim's teachers, Carola Herring. Pam maintains it was “because Dad said he didn't have enough patience to teach! He was a perfectionist and I think he was probably right.” Pam remembers that she could never get the timing right on Good King Wenceslas and it made him crazy!
Jim not only could play the piano but he could sing. John Herbert Laubach recorded some of Jim's piano offerings, produced at his home in late December, 1960. The audio tape also includes some quartet music by Jim, John Unbewust, Winton Laubach and John Herbert Laubach. Jim sang bass according to the memory of John Herbert Laubach, which came as a surprise to daughter Pam.
In 1964, Jim became interested in what became his best-known talent, his distinctive honky-tonk and backroom style of piano playing. Over a two-year period, he constructed his own back room piano from a 1911 upright, which he completely rebuilt.
Over a two-year period, he constructed his own back-room piano from a 1911 upright, which he completely rebuilt. |
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The piano was refinished in bright purple with a lighter purple accent. A mirror just above the keys reflected Jim’s rapid finger movements, and a toy counter with siren, horn, bells, telephone and special lighting, including black light on the action parts, rounded off the instrument. A brass panel to the left of the foot pedal activated the various sounds. The piano is still in perfect working condition, as are all of the accessories Jim added over the years.
The inside of the piano as it looks in June, 2005
Harold Yaple remembers helping to transport the piano when Harold, Jim, and Jay Ashworth played benefit shows or other engagements. The cart had wheels about 4” in diameter. The piano would be laboriously pushed up the short ramp to the cart and then strapped to the back.
Harold Yaple remembers hearing an Eddie Arnold song once and sang it for Jim. Jim memorized the entire song with one listening, although Harold remembers that he did start over once, saying “we need that a little lower.” As modified, the song was perfect.
Harold Yaple remembers one County Banquet with too many people talking to suit Jim. Jim told Jay and Harold to “play quietly,” and it worked. After only a few bars, the audience quieted down so they could hear the music.
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Micky and Cathy Reilly Finn shown here using Jim McHenry's famous piano |
Mickey Finn was a "rinky-tinkish pianist, band leader, club owner, show producer, TV producer and composer." He owned a nightclub in San Diego and had an NBC summer series. Performances ranged from Caesar's' Palace, Las Vegas, World tours, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom & EPCOT Center, 5 Star Cruise Lines and here using Jim McHenry's famous piano.
Whittier Letteer remembers the late 1940s when Ross Harrison, Jim McHenry and George Thomas, a group known as The Amalgamated Musicians of Upper Fishing Creek, would jam on Friday and Saturday nights at George Thomas' restaurant on Route 239 toward Huntington Mills from Hasay's Café. Whittier, an authority on matters of this nature, remembers that the place had the best hamburgs around courtesy of Dot Thomas. A favorite group would be Bruce Sutliff on the accordion, Ross Harrison on the saxophone, George Thomas on the banjo and accordion, and Jim McHenry "doing what he did best."
Some may remember Jim from his piano tuning during which time he usually played his composition of "Monotony in F Minor."
John Herbert and Diane Laubach fondly remember Jim for providing their wedding music at the Cambra Christian Church on June 28, 1970 . Jim not only performed their wedding music on the pedal organ of the Cambra Church, but he passed the communion plates bearing the bread and wine. John remembers that their late June wedding took place on a cool day, but Jim had taken the precaution to build a small fire in the stove in order to warm the church. In the process, he discovered a defective stove pipe. He was able to repair it and put everything in good order for the afternoon service. The couple still drag out the tape recorder from time to time in order to listen to the congregational singing, accompanied by Jim, thoughtfully recorded by Donald Rabb.
Those who do not remember Jim, may know his daughters Pam McHenry Thomas, a talented local artist and real estate agent with the Lutz Agency or her retired Florida sister, Sandra Bullock (not the rich and famous one). Many will know his wife, Avis Marjorie (Young) McHenry, 84, who lives in the family homestead in Cambra. Avis served as Post Master of Cambra until she retired at the age of 82.
Avis once told Pam that she had suggested to Jim that they sometime play a duet at church. She said he never mentioned it again. But after Jim's death, Avis and Grace Welliver very ably took over piano playing for church services. Before her stroke, Avis played the old pump organ a few times, which required quite a bit of effort!
Jim summed up his love of the piano by writing “I love my work in tuning, repairing and rebuilding pianos, but needless to say I am even more in love with Rag Time Piano playing, and have been fortunate in establishing a good rapport with the patrons of the Hotels and Clubs and this makes playing the piano a pleasure instead of work.”
Few men have give others more pleasure from the piano than Jim “Ivory Knuckles” McHenry, a true local "Personality."
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
--Longfellow
Our sincere thanks to everyone in the McHenry family who helped with this project, expecially to Pam and Avis who poured through scrapbooks finding pictures and scraps of information. Thanks to Scott Thomas, who demonstrated all the gadgets on Jim's piano and sent chills down my spine when I heard the horn and the telephone for the first time in so many years.
