DESCRIPTION:
The Whistler and His Dog
Music by Arthur Pryor
Arthur Pryor's Band
Whistling by Harry MacDonough and S. H. Dudley
Recorded May 6, 1913, Camden New Jersey
Victor 17380

Arthur Willard Pryor (1870 -- 1942) was a trombone virtuoso, bandleader, and soloist with the Sousa Band. He was a prolific composer of band music, his best known composition being "The Whistler and His Dog". He played his first solo with the Sousa Band at age 22 during the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. During his 12 years with the Sousa Band, Pryor estimated that he played 10,000 solos. From 1895 to 1903 Pryor was assistant conductor of the Sousa Band. After leaving the Sousa Band, he formed his own band, which made its debut at the Majestic Theatre in New York City on November 15, 1903. The Pryor Band toured until 1909, when he decided to settle down and make Asbury Park, New Jersey the home of the band. Also at this time he became a staff conductor and arranger for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey. For 25 seasons Pryor played summers at Asbury Park and spent his winters performing in Miami, Florida. He retired from music in 1933 and entered politics serving one term on the board of freeholders of Monmouth County, New Jersey. He came out of retirement to return to the Asbury Park boardwalk for a nightly series of concerts when he unexpectedly died at the age of 71 in 1942.

Pryor's most popular composition was "Whistler and his Dog", written in 1905. Inspired by his boyhood pet bulldog named Roxy, the song included a very popular whistling strain and ended with a dog bark. In time Pryor got so tired of requests to play it that he wrote a piece called "Sammy and his Missouri Mule" which he hoped would take some of the attention from it. But Sammy had a whistling part too!