“Arnold Masino and his trained monkey, Tonya, will be featured in sixth-floor Toyland,” read a Rike’s Christmas Open House ad in the Nov. 12, 1961, edition of the Dayton Daily News. “Youngsters will love the music of the hurdy-gurdy and the antics of talented Tonya.”
So what were Tonya’s antics? Often dressed in a striped shirt and Shriners hat, or fez, she danced, performed tricks, and cranked Masino’s mechanical street organ.
In the mid-19th century, Capuchin monkeys were a common sight alongside Italian immigrants in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., busking on busy city sidewalks. Unfortunately, hurdy-gurdy men, often from poorer neighborhoods, fueled anti-Italian sentiment, especially in New York City.
In 1936, Fiorello La Guardia, New York’s newly elected Italian-American mayor, banned organ grinders, hailing them a “public nuisance.”
While dressing up an organ-grinding Capuchin monkey in a Shriners hat may be frowned upon today, you can still catch an homage to the tradition this weekend at the 47th Mid-America Band Organ Rally at Carillon Historical Park.
This lively gathering of self-playing mechanical pipe organs — some antique, some modern — features everything from hand-cranked street organs to huge Dutch fairground organs with hundreds of pipes. These fascinating machines churn out what enthusiasts call “the happiest music on Earth.”
47th Mid-America Band Organ Rally
When: Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Carillon Historical Park, 1000 Carillon Blvd.
Cost: Included with Park admission. Free for members.
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