George Moore

According to his elderly mother, George was too smart to work as a train conductor but had never applied himself. A classical music aficionado who spent his salary collecting rare long-playing records, in his thirties George had developed an entertaining routine playing classical pieces on a paper and comb kazoo. Though George was in general very shy, this was a trick he could be persuaded to perform at parties after he had had a beer or two.

George's older brother was a physics teacher at a high school in Bayshore, New York. At a party at his house, George met a music teacher from the school, Frank Babbidge, who was a composer in his spare time. Babbidge was so taken with George's fluency on the kazoo that he created a concerto for kazoo and chamber orchestra. It was first performed in public at an evening of locally composed music at Hofstra University, and George has been invited to several other Long Island and New York City venues to perform it since. George is so shy about these concerts that he plays sitting in a chair with his back to the audience. For those who have not read the program carefully, this adds to the dramatic and humorous effect, as they cannot see the kazoo. The chamber orchestra starts by playing the opening scherzo of the very traditional sounding piece. Just when you await the first notes of a flute or clarinet, the opening tones of the kazoo are heard, usually followed by a hearty laugh from the audience.

Deirdre Tanaka attended a performance and the piece reminded her of her romance with Paul Banner.