Cover Story

 

The Singing Titans on USO Tour - 1971

University of Detroit Chorus lives on in members' hearts

For more than two decades, the University of Detroit Chorus was one of the most prominent groups on campus. In its heyday, it had more than 100 students per year. Chorus Director Don Large was a big part of the group’s success. He was an accomplished composer and skilled musician. He was well known in show business and had a music radio show on WJR, “Make Way for Youth.”

At U of D, he took over what had previously been known as the Choral Society. Students would practice five days a week from noon to 1 p.m. with additional rehearsals in the evenings and prior to scheduled events.

Large would take show tunes and popular songs of the times, such as “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” and classics, such as “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and make an arrangement for each section of the chorus. He rewrote melodies in four- to six- to eight-part harmony and also published his original music. At performances, the chorus at times would feature soloists, duets, quartets and quintets, along with choreography.

One of the soloists who made a guest appearance was Marie Sabbe, who sang in the mid ’50s. Large was so impressed with her range as a coloratura soprano that he sought out solo performances for her.

“I had issues with stage fright,” Sabbe said. “When I auditioned for Don, I let loose with all that I had because he was so reassuring and supportive. I knew it was sink or swim. Once I could sing for Don, I got over my stage fright.”

Sabbe wanted to become a professional singer. She won a Grinnell contest to sing at a DSO performance on Belle Isle. She also was part of a special chorus that Large put together to sing for Queen Elizabeth’s 21st birthday when she visited Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

She met Tom Pfeiffer ’56 in the chorus, and they married before she finished college. Fifty chorus members came to their wedding and took to the stage to sing for the other guests. Many other students also met in the chorus and married.

The chorus put on a concert every fall and spring for students, faculty and their families in the ballroom of the Student Center. The chorus also performed locally—in 23 functions during the period from February to June 1964. The main accompanist was Vanetta Doughty.

Based on requests for shows, Large would often form smaller groups to perform at various events. The group performed 45 concerts in 1954. A segment of the group, “The Singing Titans,” performed around the state and around the world—often singing for the troops. The Department of Defense paid for the flights of these USO tours, and members of the group slept in the officers’ quarters.

One of the nine-week trips—held from Thanksgiving in 1972 to January 1973—took Bill Kolis ’75 and other singers to the Azores Islands, Belgium, Germany and Holland. Other tours were conducted in the summer.

In late summer, members went to a chorus camp in Brighton, Mich. to practice before the season began. “It was a fun time,” recalled Kolis. “The chorus was like a social organization,” he said. “I learned how to deal with other people. I learned how to run events.”

The vast size of the U of D Chorus was a publicity magnet for the University. In addition to singing at local events, members of the chorus also traveled by bus throughout Michigan and to Midwestern states to perform. Large and a faculty moderator, such as Joseph Foley, S.J., or John O’Neill, S.J., would accompany the group. Wherever concerts were held, people would open their doors to the performers and house them for the night.

Large looked for every opportunity to get his students on stage, and they often performed on radio and TV. Highlights included singing on the Ed Sullivan show, a Danny Thomas TV special, and the Dinah Shore show. They performed at the Montreal Expo in 1967 and sang with Duke Ellington in 1970.

“Don loved us,” said Elaine Tokarski ’65, ’67. “He would have parties in his basement. He had pictures of ‘his kids’—that would be us—on the walls. He really cared about us. He often asked us to give support to those in the group who needed it. He was like a second parent to us.”

At the practices and performances, both the chorus and audience were positively transformed, Tokarski noted. “When different chords come together in harmony, it’s a beautiful blend. There’s a good feeling, a great sound. If anyone was feeling blue or needed help, he (Don) would put people together. He drew out each other’s gifts and knew how to bring out the best in us.”

In the 1970s, Large established the U of D Alumni Chorus so that former members could continue singing for the University. Since then, alumni have reunited the group at various times.

Bob Schmitz ’69 started the first U of D Chorus reunion in the late ’90s. Since then, Tokarski and fellow graduate Andrea Bates-Baier have taken on the planning for the two reunions held annually. At the 2011 reunion, the alumni sang in the C&F Chapel on the McNichols Campus and had a special dinner. Last year, alumni went on a Detroit riverboat dinner cruise.

Meanwhile, chorus alumnus Gerald (Jerry) Gruska ’63 is bringing photos and songs from the chorus to life through an online archive housed on the UDM Library website’s “special collections.” He thanks Kenneth Large (who sang with the chorus in the ’60s) and Linda Ebright for sharing a slide collection of the chorus and other material that belonged to their late father. It has taken many months for Gruska to digitize the Don Large material. The full collection—with MP3s, scanned photos and many of Large’s arrangements—will be online later this year (research.udmercy.edu/find/special_collections).

If you were in the chorus and wish to get in touch with the group, please email Bob Schmitz at sekndbass@aol.com.