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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 50 years ago

The Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival (which has evolved into today’s Musicfest Northwest) was in its 17th year in 1962. It opened with a special concert at Whitworth College featuring the 128-member honors band and the Lewis and Clark Brass Quartet, which had been named outstanding small ensemble.

Yet the critic for The Spokesman-Review declared that the concert “sputtered like a wet firecracker instead of going off with a bang.”

Not because of the music, which he said was of high quality. The problem, he said, was the embarrassingly small audience turnout.

How many were there? “Less than 400,” he said, a number that doesn’t sound too shabby by contemporary standards.

From the tourism beat: Spokane County Sheriff William J. Reilly wrote a front-page editorial urging law officers and the general public to be polite to tourists in the coming summer. He urged everyone to “put forth special efforts” to show pride in our “friendly atmosphere.” He predicted more tourists “than any time in history.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1812: English poet Robert Browning was born in London. … 1942: U.S. Army Gen. Jonathan Wainwright went on a Manila radio station to announce the Allied surrender of the Philippines to Japanese forces during World War II.