Conversation with Robert F. Krejci, November 15, 2019

This is something of interest, I think, to you. If you look here, this is a piece of plywood and they, all the lines are marked, and there’s Professor Lentz and I was the president and he’s the vice-president of the band those years. You really have to take a large – oh you know about this already?

Yeah, so we create things like that instead of pressing a button on modern technology that they do now. So you know about that?

Oh so you know all that stuff already

Well, this is uh, that just kind of explains what – we'd spend hours on the formations. Can you see? [ holds up photograph of band in letter "I" formation ]

And I have pictures. And your interest in this is because of?

Those days.

Well, yeah, I can punch in a few of these things to acquaint you. And then you and I can get together sometime and then I can, I’ll get an overview of what your actual interests are and what you’d like to do with the information and all that stuff.

[To E Wirth] Tell 'em how much the food was on the train.

They stopped the train and-

Whatever you want to do.

Yeah.

Well [laughs] yesterday we were talking about that. I never involved myself with the balloons because you could get caught with those, but we were on the third floor. And lots of people. If there were certain lines that were there that we knew about and weren’t quite as fond of as we should be, we’d lean out of the window with a glass of water and dump it on them and take off. It trickled down 3 stories and it got pretty nice and cool. Jan was impressed with the prices of the food on the train.

Not quite, way back then, but later on we were involved in all that. Don Lentz is – did you ever meet the man?

Side story – do you know the Temple building at the University? One room, we were, the entire band was packed in for rehearsal. That's the only place we had to go. Noise! Now what was my story?

Yeah. Oh! We'd be playing along and he'd stop and he’d say "E FLAT!" You know? He could hear that and gaw it would drive me crazy. I was president of the band and there if, somebody would, he was a brilliant man. Nice man. And I just remember that story.

President of the Band.

Later, later. This was quite a while back.

[Editor's note: Several music fraternities would have existed at this time, including Gamma Lambda and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Yearbooks from the 1940s list Krejci as being a member of both groups, but is unclear what the office of President of the Band may have been.]

This stuff is a few years later than the Rose Bowl, but we, uh, played it when we presented The Messiah. The four of us were in a group and were serenading the folks as they were coming in.

Okay sure. Okay, that’s right. And then Arthur Westbrook he was quite some guy, he was.

You’re on the wrong end.

My dates today are, I don’t remember them. I can’t spot ‘em. I was on the faculty for a number of years. I have books over there that thick.

You and I looked at some of those letters, didn’t we? She’s asking about-

She asked me which years I was on.

Oh yeah.

Yeah I did.

Do you know where Schuyler is?

Well, [reading headline] "Schuyler Band Donates Sum to Help Nebraska Band go to the Rosebowl" Nice band!

I think I’m, I think from Schuyler I think I was the only one.

"Best Boys Go West" Is that a copy of what you were talking about honey?

It was, you know at that age, it was, I already knew. I was a farm boy, and then I was making progress at the university, of course. But it was fascinating for me. I had not traveled much by then, and they treated us well. They [??] a train and hired vehicles to haul us in to take a little tour in Mexico. And we had a guy to tell us about Mexico and that’s when I bought that bottle of tequila. And I think of these stories. I lived in a boarding house when I went to the university. And I had this bottle of tequila. I did not drink much of it. But every once in a while I’d have a swallow of it.

Well. That’s when you’d come over, probably. Anyhow, what do you got there? Well, I haven’t had a cold yet, and I’d take a couple teaspoons and I really think it’d help me. It didn’t last a long time, anyhow.

"Come Celebrate Stanford vs Nebraska Rose Bowl Football Rally Dance, New Year’s Eve Night. Public Invited. Dollar Ten Per Person Including Tax." "Nebraska Float Wins Second in Pasadena Rosebowl Parade" I don’t know if you’re interested in this stuff.

I was two blocks out from the campus. The Brown Palace. Do you remember the name?

[Editor's note: According to the student directories from 1939 to 1942, Krejci lived at 1410 Q St.]

I’ll explain it then. The Brown Palace, they called it.

Yeah. One of them. Another one was Mrs. Howe. She’d take, rent out, she had a pretty good sized home, and after, so she’d rent out a room and also board university students. So I, that was, those were interesting times. That’s when I had my bottle of tequila on the dresser in that boarding house. And she’d get up, you know, she’d wake you and say "get in here and have your breakfast, you can’t go to school without breakfast." Wonderful lady. She was nice, she really was. I’d go in the kitchen and help her once in a while.

I think just business if I’m not mistaken, although I was, with Professor Westbrook and all, I was taking lessons all the time I was at school.

[ Editor's note: It is possible that Krejci changed majors during his studies. Student directories and some yearbook evidence indicate he was registerd in Teacher's College or Music, but a Daily Nebraskan article from 1940 reports that Krejci was a freshman in the College of Business Adminstration ]

Dr. Westbrook? Almost like his picture presents. He was very formal. Very to the point. Didn’t mess with you. And if you had it coming, then he would, compliment you or recommend you to someone else. Well, in Temple, he was the choral director, nice smart sharp people. He directed all these large musical groups like The Messiah and all of ‘em.

I know the name but that’s it. I was not...What’s his-

I’m sure I’ve met him. I never had any-

[ Editor's note: A Daily Nebraska article reports that Krejci performed at a band banquet at which the late Quick was honored. ]

Lentz was a nice man, and a brilliant man, and a fine musician. He would go out and score for Bakaleinikov. You recognize that name?

A famous musician on the west coast.

Yeah, and he would go out and score for him. I’m the one looking at these but it’s hard for everybody, there’s not much to see here.

Reminds me of...they must have donated more than once. "Nebraska Band goes to the Rose Bowl" "Biff Jones."

Biff?

No.

"Biff’s Boys Go West." He was the coach, wasn’t he?

Schuyler People to See Rose Bowl Game, 7 Hour Route. Can you believe it? Down from little ole Schuyler Nebraska. Here, this is a-

Oh yeah, well see, I was still living with them on the farm.

And I remember when they put me on the train in Schuyler, my poor mother was so sad. I was getting on the train to meet something, to get together with the band. I was a farm boy for years during the Dirty ‘30s and the Dustbowl years and blizzard years. I could tell you some stories about that if you’d like to hear those.

[laughs] It’s amazing that I saved all this stuff.

Well, uh, she’s-

A little of each.

Well that was not the train that-

Well a lot of them. They let us off. They were very nice to us.

[laughs] I’m sure I did!

Well, they did give us this tour in Mexico in those days. We were fed well on that train. Everything was neat and well done and respected really. But as far as, other than staying with the group, the leader would know where to go to show us things.

I wasn’t one of ‘em so I don’t remember.

Oh well they got off the train and yeah, and they were goofing around. The train sometimes would stop for quite a while to let people get off. It was a slow trip those days. And these guys were kinda hiking along the train and messing around and the whistle blew but they didn’t hear it I guess, and the train took off and there they were. They had to catch the next train hours later. I would say to myself "I can’t imagine how I’d feel or what I’d do if that happened to me!" You know, I wasn’t as adventurous as they must have been because.

It was all a positive trip except that long march along the trolley tracks. My lip was like hamburger.

There were farm folks like you heard, people that went to the Rose Bowl, farmers who couldn’t afford it, but they’d donate money so the band could go and they’d go to the Rose bowl. And what was the question?

There were people, I don’t know how deep, there were people on either side. A tremendous population gathered for that Rose Bowl.

Well, that’s their transportation.

That’s what I was describing.

Oh.

When the ice cream hits the fan it always hits at the same time. Some days

Yup. That’s another subject.

I’m not going to further this conversation anymore today, to the military.

Right now my mind is gone.

I don’t have a memory in the first place.

I’ll have to rake up all that stuff and bring it forward.

I took cornet lessons when I started university I also took some cornet lessons and I believe it was with Don Lentz. And he introduced me to Dr. Westbrook, you asked me about him. He was a very stately, but he, Westbrook, kind of took a liking to me, and I knew that by the grapevine because others would comment. And he definitely recommended to Lentz and others that I be considered for the band, so they had the military band, and then the Nebraska band, and you usually spent a little time in the military band. And I still remember, he’d be marching alongside and say"LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT"you know, teaching us how to march and all that. Oh yeah, lot of water has run under the bridge. It’s beginning to get a little full. Yeah, you asked about Westbrook. He was a very proper, nice man. You knew him?

You never saw him that he wasn’t neat and stately and dressed nicely.

I still remember when we’d be out marching in rehearsal. And Don Lentz once in a while would be walking alongside and say "LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT" and I thought to myself, well hell, I’m walking that’s the way I walk! But he was kind of stirring everybody up a little bit. [to E, sarcastically] You’re too noisy.

I do remember vividly that six plus mile march in the band, because the band was played up so much, and you can’t imagine the mobs of people along the sides of the

What have you got?

Oh did ya?

I haven’t looked for myself, I’ll have to look when you get through.

Fritz. That little dog still lived on the farm.

That stadium was jammed full today, wasn’t it?

Was that before, just traveling?

No, I was pretty neat at the university.

No well that was painted on the table. It was, the size was, in relation to the, you know

Yeah, and uh, pretty large sheet of plywood and those lines were painted on for the markers.

The yard lines, yeah.

Yeah, to the side, the measurement and everything else. Oh we’d spend half a day at a time on there doing that.

The three of us.

Sichacha [spelling unknown]

[laughs] Gingerely, yeah!

The General, what was his?

I have his name in there someplace but I can’t whip it out.

She has quite a memory.

So handsome.

In the band, the cornet.

Well I think that’s nice of you to come over.

Robert F. Middle name is "Frank".

Is Frank, my father’s name. K-R-E-C-J-I.