Laurence McKinney was born in 1891 in Albany, New York. The family firm, James McKinney & Son, founded in 1857, was a prosperous iron foundry specializing in the ornate cast iron facades popular in late 19th century commercial buildings. Known as the “Tiffany of ironworks” they shipped their products nationwide and even internationally. As the son of the son, it was assumed that he would eventually manage the company. Always a talented writer, his witty verses were published in the local newspaper, while he was still in his teens. In 1908 he entered Harvard and joined the Harvard Lampoon. Four years later, now an editor, he wrote the Hasty Pudding show of 1912 starring his friend humorist Robert Benchley.
Laurence McKinney in 1891 with his father and grandfather.
The talented cartoonist Gluyas Williams joined the trio who McKinney claimed to have succeeded in making the Lampoon into a “national menace”.
After college his light verse and humorous essays appeared in numerous national magazines including Colliers, the Atlantic Monthly, The Saturday Evening Post, Town and Country and Fortune while he ran the family business with his father and promoted local causes. He also served in the First World War, during which he contracted, and survived, the Spanish flu.
The Depression cratered the family fortune as their real estate holdings in Manhattan were lost to foreclosures and construction nearly ceased. He rented his large home to a New York politician and in 1933, to make a little money on the side, created a popular adult music education course which he taught for three years.
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Most of the verses and illustrations collected in People of Note appeared originally between 1939 and 1940 in issues of the popular weekly Colliers' Magazine. The book itself was published in October, 1940. It was immediately popular and never went out of style, selling over 70,000 copies in twenty one printings, the last appearing in February, 1960.
Although individuals portrayed in the illustrations are not based on actual members of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, one, the Conductor, appears to be celebrity conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977). He is best known for popularizing classical music during his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and appearing in the Disney film Fantasia. Married for a time to heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, he was noted for his free-hand conducting style.
In 1930, the People's Orchestra of Albany was founded by Italian native John G. Carabella, a student of Pietro Mascagni, who had come to New York state to take a job as an organist at a church in the Albany suburb of Cohoes. It began with just 24 members. Carabella was an excellent conductor but lacked the training or skills to grow his largely volunteer group into a functioning symphony orchestra. Impressed with the growing interest the young organization was creating and familiar with several of the musicians, McKinney joined the group and began by inviting prominent musicians to showcase their talents at performances.
By 1938 he had become President of what was now the Albany Symphony Orchestra. For the next twenty years, he managed its transition into a popular and successful local orchestra. At the same time McKinney had been toying with the idea of writing a book of verses to introduce young people to the instruments that made up an orchestra. He contacted Gluyas Williams in Boston and managed to convince him to do the illustrations. Williams, initially reluctant, agreed to give it a try. As the two attended several Albany performances together, both verses and images were inspired by Albany Symphony musicians. “The Conductor” appears to be celebrity conductor Leopold Stokowski. By 1939 People of Note was finished. Introducing it by publishing individual verses in Collier’s magazine, by 1940, when the little book appeared, the market was waiting. It earned rave reviews, went through 22 printings, and sold over 70,000 copies. Even today there is a lively market on eBay for used copies of People of Note at various prices. Meanwhile, McKinney continued managing his company, and during the next 25 years, enlarged and modernized James McKinney & Son into a leading steel construction firm. Laurence McKinney died in 1968.
In 2000 his son, Laurence O. McKinney, noticed that a reprint of People of Note was being offered for sale on Amazon. Citing the extended copyright, he told Amazon to stop selling it. When they refused, he took them to court in Boston, winning the case and a settlement. It was then that he decided to republish his father’s book, once again making it available to music lovers everywhere.