Amen Family Musical History

As told to John Vento by his Uncle, Anthony ” Herb ” Amen:

Musical Amen History

John, this will be the first of a series of the musical history of the Amen Boys as they were referred to by the Pittsburgh media 1920 thru 1930 (as told to me by my father Vincent Pinzey Amen). This also led me to a furious hunt through microfilm at Carnegie Library researching old clippings of that era. John, you would not believe the endless hours I spent searching even into years of my life. And now, I am ready to tell our family’s musical history. Phillip Amen was my father’s uncle He had 4 sons: Frank, Michael, Joseph and Louis These boys would become known as The Musical Amens.Their father, Phillip, made his sons study music the old way-hour by hour, note by note. They were not allowed to leave their home on Carver Street until they finished their lessons. As young men, they formed The Amen Brothers Orchestra, playing over radio station WJAS and at high-class social clubs in the Pittsburgh area. In those days, music was pure perfection, and only those with complete musical talent survived. They played after concert theatre gatherings for some of the worlds greatest entertainers who were  appearing in our city.

Pittsburgh was a hub for great Broadway talent such as Mae West, Al Jolson, W. C. Fields, and Jimmy Durante just to name a few. Later on in my story I will tell you about Louie Amen (who was famed on Broadway) and his close ties to these legends. I’ll even share pictorial proof of his affiliation with these legends.

Sorry to get ahead of myself…

Frank was the drummer. Mike played the trumpet, Joseph the violin, and Louie the piano. In 1909, on opening day at Forbes Field, Frank and Mike were performing in the famous Danny Nirella Band. Mr. Nirella was known as “Mr. Music” at that time and that band was the equal of a Duke Ellington or Count Basie of that era. Now John, do not get me wrong, Frank and Mike were fine musicians, but as life went on, it became a fact that Joe and Louie would continue to make a living by playing professionally until their death. Later on in life, Mike and Frank used their musical talent as a side income.

Circa 1923-1927, the Amen Quartet was performing in elite cabarets (as they were referred to back then), wearing tuxedos and bowties. They performed for the very wealthy aristocrats of our city and played over major radio stations. Joseph Amen’s daughter Gloria (now deceased) referred to that time as the “Amen Era”. Joseph was a classical violinist, who performed with some of the great classical orchestras in the world. During my early research, I saw a clipping where he performed with the New York Symphony. Eventually he wound up playing for The Pittsburgh Symphony from 1938 until his death in 1953. All of the Amens continued to perform around the Pittsburgh area, but just like the Musical Jacksons, one would have to reach super stardom. And in this case, it was Louie Amen.

Musical Amen History Part 2

John, as I told you earlier, I have some old Playbill magazines that are priceless that depict some programs that include the Amen performances.

Back to Louie. He was considered the Liberace of his era-his rapid movement on the keys, his versatility-meaning he could play the piano standing with his back to the keyboard and even playing two tunes with his big toes at the same time.

Around 1950, I recall reading a column by Charlie Danver, a columnist with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It said Louie Amen “…thrilled the PAA members by standing on his head and playing Yankee Doodle Dandy with his toes.” Louie played at the PAA Club (that’s the Pittsburgh Athletic Association in Oakland) from 1938 until his death in 1954. This club was the haunt for such prominent members such as the Mellons and the Scaifes. That is how Louie became their personal pianist at the parties in Ligonier, PA.

On one of my discs, Louie actually dedicates a song to Mrs. Mellon, and his intonation would make one feel that he is playing a harp. Enough said.

I do not know how he landed in New York around 1927, but I can tell you this: It was one hell of an era. With Tin Pan Alley, Broadway was in full swing along with the Gershwins and the Ziegfeld Follies. Louie Amen was about to take his turn on the red carpet of fame. On stage and in musical shorts under the name of Louis La Granna (that was his mother Concetta’s maiden name) he worked with the likes of some of the greatest slapstick and vaudeville comedians in entertainment history. Now mind you, he was an accomplished musician, but that was what was in demand-comedy, humor, musical shorts, all of that combined. It was what the people demanded… on stage and in film. 

Momma Leone’s on West 48^th St. in the middle of Broadway is where Louie landed a job playing for all the great entertainers of the world (too numerous to mention), but just feast your eyes on the Leone’s menu. There he sits at the keyboard as he did from 1928 until 1938-10 long, fascinating years becoming friends and working on Broadway with the list of names that you see along side the photo. It is no wonder why my father cried when Louie was dying from cancer at the old Pittsburgh Hospital. I was 13 years old and I recall his brother Mike screaming at the top of his lungs, “No God! No please! Please! All of that  talent gone gone forever!…”

I believe that was the turning point in my life when I decided to research the history of Louie Amen.  John, I just wish I were in New York where I could get the real scoop on Louie’s career, but I did find out that he made several shorts and appeared at the Roxy Theatre. He married his first cousin. They had no children. She was also an Amen. Also, his brother Frank, the drummer, married his cousin Margaret Amen. The rumor has it that back then some Italians actually thought that there was no one worthy to marry their children, so they married within their own family.  Keep in mind while Louie was making his home in New York, he and his wife Anne were living in the Piccadilly Hotel with the likes of W. C. Fields and Mae West. Back in Pittsburgh the other brothers were busy playing their own musical jobs together and working with other bands around the city.  From my teenage years, I recall a hotel called the Collins Hotel in East Liberty. In the 1920s it was a very exquisite dining spot called The Klemans Inn owned by Mr. Klemans. The 4 Amen boys were entertaining there. Vincent Lopez, who was a Hollywood music conductor, stopped by one evening while in town and heard the Amens perform. He offered them to join his orchestra. Back then, it was unheard of to suddenly leave your family and friends, so they refused the offer.When Louie returned to Pittsburgh, he landed a job at the PAA Club. He would go to work in a tux and a bowtie, performing for the millionaires. I know this because I would go with my father to wax Louie’s car.He was no stranger to me. I remember Louie very well. As a young boy 9 or 10 years old, he used to come to our house on Winslow Street and play our old upright piano. Wow, those fingers would fly over the keyboard. He always called Mary Ann “Chico Marx”. I guess your mother reminded him of one of the famous Marx brothers. He probably knew them well from working on Broadway all those years. If you ever saw a picture of Chico Marx, his ears are sort of rounded like your mom’s were. And her face was sort of round, too. At least I thought that is why he always called her Chico Marx.

Early History of Our Family

John, our family was originally from the Hill District, I believe a lot of the Italians in the 1898-1902 era got off of the train at Liberty and Grant downtown and made their homes in that area. Behind the William Penn Hotel was Virgin Alley, where the De Rosa family began their lives before coming to Larimer Avenue. All of the Amens were originally from that area. My father was baptized at St. Peter’s Church in the Hill District. It is a very interesting history that Pinzey taught me. Names like Caputo, Nirella, Morrone, and Catanzaro are all from the Hill District. The Bonovoglias, they were our cousins who had a produce market in the Hill District.

Some Italians moved to Brookline, others to Bloomfield, etc., etc. What an interesting history Pittsburgh had back then. Mr. Affatigato had the first Italian bank that served our own people. Sciutti Cozza had a funeral home where the Post Gazette is today. Later on they moved their funeral home to Meadow Street. We were very strong in businesses back then, but the Amens made their mark in the music world.

 All of this may not be part of what you want for your web page, but it is a fascinating history that you should know about. My father’s uncle Tony Amen (Ron Anthony’s grandfather) was a barber at the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown-a class place in the 1920s. He taught my father the barber trade, and later on, my father cut hair with Benny Nigro at Frankstown and Lincoln Avenue. What I want you to know is there was another part of life in Pittsburgh before Larimer Avenue, and many of our LA families generated from the downtown area.

The Amens orchestrated a lot of the musical history in the mainstream of what was considered a world class city back then. Oscar Levant was from the Hill District. He was the Jewish classical pianist who portrayed George Gershwin in the famous classic movie Rhapsody in Blue. I understand he and Louie Amen were good friends.

My father’s uncle was Phillip Amen. He was the father of the four musical Amen Boys and he owned The Venezia Hotel and Italian Restaurant at Penn and 11th Downtown. His wife Concetta was blind. My father would drive her around the city. He told me that one day he took her for a long ride and she said to him, “Pinzey, find me a road with no end….”

See John? Those are the memories that stick in my mind. Those are more than precious memories. That is what the Amens were all about-in their music and in their taste for life. I learned much from my father (who was not an educated man, just a vagabond of sorts, but he left me a wealth of beautiful memories).

Let me say this in closing, when Ron Anthony was working with Sinatra, a TV announcer wanted to know what it was like working close to Frank and he replied as only someone with Amen blood could. “Its great working with Frank. I could tell you some beautiful stories. In fact, I could bore you to tears.” John I could go on all night, but it is time to go to bed and get my rest, but I guarantee you those memories will continue to be told because they live inside me. You want stories? You came to the right place. 

Musical Memories of the Amens

Sorry I trailed off, but you can always find a place in your past history in case I am no longer around. I will now attempt to stick to our initial plan.Danny Nirella was Mr. Music around Pittsburgh during the Amen era, along with Joe Morrone’s Amerita Band during the 1918-1958 era. The Amens were pisanos with these fellow musicians and shared the stages at the Old Duquesne Gardens in Oakland, Forbes Field, and even Kennywood Park. Now, keep in mind that during the early years back then, these places hosted worldwide entertainers such as Gene Autry, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor, etc. Mike and Frank Amen carried on this tradition through the 1950s when, as a very young boy, I would see them leaving their home on Winslow St. carrying their instruments.

Louie and Joe continued professionally while Mike and Frank had regular jobs. Joseph Amen, violinist, died in 1952. Louie, pianist, died in 1954. Both were in their early 50s. Other local musicians who had close ties with the Amens were Pap Cacese and The Pupa Family (4 brothers-the last one, Jimmy Pupa, just passed away recently). Jimmy Pupa played trumpet with the great Artie Shaw and the likes of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.

After the Amen era came the likes of other great LA musicians like Danny Constable, Do Do Marmarosa, Frank Cunimondo, and Bobby Cardillo whose son Harry Cardillo now entertains weekly at The William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. As you see, John, everything in the arts is relative. Keep in mind that all of these above mentioned people had ties to a lot of our other local musicians, who achieved world wide fame. They include such greats as Billy Strayhorn, Errol Garner, and Billy Eckstine. All of these families were close neighbors around LA.

I was more than fortunate. I went to “The House” (my alma mater) and I made sure that they knew who I was. I became friends with their families and documented their accomplishments at The Gene Kelly-Billy Strayhorn Theatre. Who better to document this history than one of the Amen Family.

Let me interject for a moment and make it clear: the early musicians played a different music. Later on in the late 1930s, Big Band and Jazz took the forefront, but they were all great musicians in their own way.

John, you would not believe this, but because of you, I am actually doing something I always wanted to do-release my knowledge that has been bottled up in my mind for decades. I myself have done so much in the world of entertainment. I have many stories of great film legends on and off screen. I have partied with some of the greatest entertainers in the world, and even shared movie scenes with them, yet I still remain an Amen in all ways.

Back to the Musical Amen Boys. I was fortunate enough to live and be around the “last years” of their time. My father made sure I knew what they accomplished. Louie and Mike even lived together with their families on Turret St. near Help of Christians Church. Like I said before, they accepted Pinzey as a brother more than a cousin. They loved my dad dearly and I guess I learned to appreciate that as I was growing up. It always amazed me how Louie Amen could be famed on Broadway and return home and live an everyday life.

Of course there are always family problems, but I heard it enough that his wife Anne held him back and was very possessive of him, although she was very close with him and he thought the world of her, too. I remember asking her for his scrap book from Broadway and she got very upset with me. This was several years after his death. All I wanted to do was look at it. She lived by herself and died 45 years after Louie.

One time I asked her who he knew and she just stared at me for a long time and slowly said, “He knew them all…. He knew them all.” For those who are 90 plus and still have sharp minds, those are the ones still around and have a musical Amen story.

Well John I think I have covered pretty much what you are after, although there is so much more to say. Perhaps some of the articles that we scan will tell much more. I am quite sure of that. So let me end this history about The Musical Amen Boys by saying, 

From the great stage and concert halls where they entertained-from the local entertainment spots around Pittsburgh where they held rank with other great musicians-even to the dust gathered on the lost vitaphone shorts which Louie Amen appeared in during his vaudeville appearances (including the loud applause after his performances at the Roxy Theatre in New York) and who but an Amen can lie on his stomach and play two separate tunes with his big toes and take his place in Robert Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

John, we can always do more if you want, but the next writing will be about myself and my films, and my experiences with some of the world’s greatest entertainers.

Mr. Bojangles aka. Pinzey Amen

Continue our family history with my resume, but I should ink that without my father’s story. Nothing I could tell you would have any meaning.

Vincent Pinzey Amen was born in the 1100 block of Penn Avenue just a block away from the Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. As I mentioned previously, we were an old downtown family. My father was a humorous happy man who loved life and loved to make people laugh. That is one of the Amen’s traits instilled in all of our family.

My father never achieved much of an education. He never made much money, but he was rich in so many other ways. John, I have to tell you this because it is a rare quality to be happy and never base your life on monetary things. There is nothing wrong with a person working hard and wanting more for himself and his loved ones, but so many of us lose our way and forget to help the less fortunate. My father (and by the way your father also) had that special quality to help others and always was there to help others. 

Music. How much did Pinzey Amen love music? Well I will tell you something that very few people know. When my father could not sleep, he would sit at the dining room table in the middle of the night and tear open the Italian bread wrapper from Gigante’s or Rimini’s Bakery and take a pencil and begin writing the name of the old tunes he would want to play on his mandolin. He did this many many times like a composer writing lyrics. This is how he found rest and wealth in his lifetime.

And when I said “play his mandolin”, he could play like a man who studied music all of his life. You see, John, it is the Amen ear-we have the feel for music. I do not possess that skill with an instrument, but I can listen to a singer and imitate the sound of that performer. It is a gift we have. That is why you are drawn to your music and it takes your mind and soul to continue to entertain. No matter how hard you try you can not escape its wrath.

Pinzey Amen was just a car polisher-a raggedy, harmless, little man who just wanted to make others happy. No matter where he went in his daily travels, he made people laugh. We should be so lucky to be as rich as my father was. I often wonder if he were around today what he would say about his son working with the stars or his grandson entertaining with a band. How proud he would be of both of us? Character. That’s the word that put the Amens over the top. Character. No doubt about that.

When my father played God Bless America, he played it with tremendous felling. The songs he played on the mandolin had treble. One would think he was a trained musician. On his stone at the cemetery is a mandolin carved with eighth notes. I know you are aware of this. How fitting and rightfully so. Not many people will ever notice this small tribute, but that is not important because Pinzey made others happy. In his lifetime he cut people’s hair for a few nickels. He trimmed toenails for old people who were too old to bend down. He serenaded the sick and lonely in hospitals and on street corners. He took pride in waxing cars and was so proud to see people’s reaction on how their cars sparkled. We should be so rich in our lifetime to be so content with so little. Let me end these memories with a Pinzey Amen poem.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
who the hell do you think you are.
Let Pinzey Amen shine your car,
he will outshine the brightest star.
Amen and amen.

Anthony Herb Amen: A Lover of Entertainment Part One

Okay, John this is my story. It started in 1991 when Ann Listorti told my sister Louise that her son Michael, who was a dollygrip on a film crew, had an inside scoop that Pittsburgh was looking for people to work in a TV movie starring Tony Danza. They needed people that looked Italian.

Well the rest is history. I reported to the casting office at the William Penn Hotel and the casting people nearly lost their minds. When I got home, Diana was screaming. They called you to work with Tony Danza.  Well, little did I know that this would be the start of working with some of the biggest entertainers in the world. Let me just name a few that I have worked with one-on-one and shared the big screen with: Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Woody Harrelson, Richard Gere, Dennis Quaid, James Woods, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ray Liotta, John Cusack, Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, and Benicio Del Toro. John, I could continue forever, but most importantly, it is the stories behind the scenes that are mind-boggling.

Let me give you one example. In 1992 I was working in a movie called Innocent Blood. It was a fifty million dollar budget for Warner Brothers and was directed by John Landis. It was about the Mafia and the Vampires. It starred Robert Loggia, Anthony La Paglia, Don Rickles, and Chaz Palmintieri. We were working 7 freezing cold nights at the Oyster House in Market Square. In between filming, Chaz Palmintieri turns to some of the actors at the bar and says, “I gave Bob De Niro a script to look at. He probably will throw it out.” Would you believe a year later The Bronx Tale was made into a classic film. Chaz wrote the script and starred in it with De Niro.

Recently I did a feature scene with the great Nick Nolte in the Duquesne Club. Let me tell you something, John. After all of these years, I never thought that I would be so engrossed in a scene, but it took me 3 days to come down from that experience. He is such a fascinating actor to sit next to and to play off of his emotions. 

hen I pick up a Hollywood magazine and see some of the stars I have spent time with, ate with, and shared the big screen with, I feel like I am in a time zone-like being in another world of sorts. I have been doing this for nearly 18 years. Besides all of my other involvement in the arts (such as the Dean Martin Committee and the Jimmy Stewart affairs), my past has led me to knowing Regis Philbin, Dennis Farina, George Clooney’s parents, the Sopranos, Rich Little, and Jimmy Stewart’s daughters Judy and Kelly (whom I will be seeing this May in Indiana Pa.)

.John, I will be sending you a resume of my TV and movie work that Vincey put together for me. I use it to get cast in a lot of current work that is being done in Pittsburgh. Later on when I get a chance, I will get together a lot of photos of the AMEN history and I think the feature story that appeared in 8 publications throughout the eastern suburbs can also be used on this web site.

Well, John, I am getting tired about now, but there will be so much more coming your way.  I have not even touched the surface of my experiences in the entertainment world and I love the thought of sharing it with you and the world.