William Frederick LUDWIG

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William F Ludwig II, who died on March 22 aged 91, ran the company that manufactured the drums made famous by Ringo Starr of the Beatles in the 1960s. When the group made its first American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Ringo was so impressed with the Ludwig drum kit provided that he asked Bill Ludwig to build one specially for him, with the company name emblazoned on the bass drumhead. Ludwig did so, prompting such a huge demand for his products that the Chicago-based firm had to build a 100,000sq ft extension to its factory and recruit a night shift. The original Ludwig Drum Company had been founded in Chicago in 1909 by William Ludwig Senior and his brother Theobald, both drummers. The clumsy old wood pedal, used to accompany circus marches, could not meet the rigorous demands of the new syncopated jazz and ragtime rhythms, and the brothers invented the modern bass drum pedal now used by professional drummers worldwide. By the 1920s it had become the biggest drum company in the world. William Frederick Ludwig II was born on September 13 1916 at Evanston, Illinois. His playing career began at the age of eight, when his father brought home a practice pad on a drum stand, an instruction book, and an oversized pair of sticks. After high school, he attended the University of Illinois and played drums at weekends for $4 a night. As a young man, Bill Ludwig saw the fortunes of the American drum industry rise and fall. The arrival of talking films put theatre drummers out of work and the stock market crash of 1929 forced his father to sell the company to CG Conn in 1930. In 1937, with his father, Ludwig founded the WFL Drum Company. During the Second World War he served in the Navy, where he taught military drumming, as a chief petty officer at the naval station on the Great Lakes. When Conn left the drum business in 1955 it sold the Ludwig name back to the Ludwig family. Bill Ludwig saw the opportunities presented by the British rock and roll invasion of the 1960s. In 1966 the firm's purchase of the Musser Marimba Company, manufacturers of vibes, marimbas, bells, chimes and xylophones, expanded its product range to cover every percussion instrument in the orchestra. Ludwig succeeded his father as head of the company in 1973. Eight years later the Ludwigs sold the company to Selmer. In retirement Bill Ludwig lectured widely on the history of drumming in America. William F Ludwig II's wife, Marguerite, died in 2002. Their son and daughter survive him.

Biography William F. Ludwig II - Written by Bart Elliott https://www.drummercafe.com/featured-musician/drummer-percussionist/william-f-ludwig-ii.html The Ludwig legacy began in 1909 when William F. Ludwig Sr. and uncle, Theobald Ludwig, created the Ludwig & Ludwig Drum Company. The company was originally built around a bass drum pedal that the two brothers had invented for the working professional drummer. And by the 1920’s the Ludwig Drum Company had became the world’s largest drum manufacturing company. William F. Ludwig IIWilliam F. Ludwig II was born on September 13, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, to William Ludwig, Sr. and Elsa Maria Gunkler. William Jr. had one sister, Bettie Ludwig, born 4 years later in 1920. As one might expect, coming from a family of drummers, William Jr. quickly took a liking to the drums. His playing career began at the age of 8 when his father brought home a pair of drumsticks, a rubber practice pad and a large instruction book. William Jr. played percussion throughout his grade school years and at the age of 16 won the National Solo Drum Competition. After graduating from Park-River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, he went on to attend the University of Illinois. There he enrolled in the School of Business Economics and served as solo timpanist with the University of Illinois Concert Band as well as playing drums on weekends making $ 4.00 a night. Around 1937, just eight years after the Ludwig & Ludwig Drum Company had been sold to Conn, William Ludwig, Jr. co-founded, along with his father Ludwig Sr., the W.F.L. Drum Company in Chicago. William Jr. became the Sales and Advertising manager for the W.F.L. Drum Company, designing his first Ludwig catalog in 1939 known as “Big Red” because it had a red cover. His second catalog was the 1940 catalog with a green cover. Both had Ray Bauduc of Dixieland fame on the cover. In May of 1942, Ludwig Jr. was drafted into the Navy and went to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in North Chicago. He was welcomed by an old Ludwig & Ludwig banjo artist, Lt. Eddie Peabody. PeabodyPeabody utilized Ludwig’s skill to train drummers in the art of military drumming. Thousands of soldiers, in 12 drum corps, learned to march to the beat of drummers trained by Ludwig, who reached the rank of Chief Petty Officer. had been chastised by an Admiral for the poor marching habits of their recruits. For the next three years, After completing his service in 1945, Ludwig Jr. returned to WFL Drum Company. He designed the 1947 WFL drum catalog which contained the new Classic line of lug casings and had a picture of Buddy Rich on the front cover. In 1955 Conn exited the drum business and sold the Ludwig name back to the Ludwig family. Under William junior’s guidance, the Ludwig Drum Company once again became the world’s largest drum company. A milestone in the company history came in 1964 when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show with Ludwig drums. The resulting demand for Ludwig drums forced the family to add a night shift at the manufacturing plant. In 1970, William F. Ludwig II became President of the Ludwig Drum Company. The 1980 Ludwig catalog was the last Ludwig catalog written by Mr. Ludwig. Ludwig Industries was sold to Selmer in 1981 and manufacturing was moved three years later to Monroe, North Carolina. Wm. F. Ludwig II worked as a consultant for the firm, and in his retirement spent more time perfecting his lecture/demonstration "A History of Drumming in America". The presentation included a demonstration of the sound effect devices used by theater drummers … and in his demo, Ludwig II utilized the effects actually used in theater drumming by his father, Ludwig Senior. In recognition of his educational efforts and general contributions to the arts, Capital University in 1987 awarded Ludwig an honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree. In his retirement, Ludwig demonstrated how integral a part of the percussion world he really was. He auditioned annually for the Wheaton Community Orchestra, earning the tympani chair year after year and played timpani at his church each Easter Sunday. Though he no longer had a vested interest in the drum company, Ludwig for decades acted as a goodwill ambassador. He appeared regularly at major industry events such as the Chicago Drum Show and Percussive Arts Society conventions. In 1993 PAS inducted him to the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. His father was already a member, having been inducted in 1972. Other than the Zildjian, they are the only father-son members of this elite group. In 2001, Ludwig penned his autobiography, The Making Of A Drum Company, published by Rebeats Publications. He produced the first drafts of his book using the manual typewriter he’d used for his correspondence for over 50 years. On March 22, 2008, at the age of 91, William F. Ludwig II died in Chicago of natural causes. He is survived by his son William F. Ludwig III of Chicago and daughter Brooke Crowden of Irving, TX. William F. Ludwig II was recognized as a leading authority in the manufacturing of all types of percussion instruments. A guardian of the Ludwig family heritage, William F. Ludwig II had an extensive museum of early drums dating from the Revolutionary War, plus collected and cataloged every American drum and accessory patent ever issued by the United States Patent Office, beginning with the Zimmerman percussion patent of 1858. Sources http://www.pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/william-ludwig-ii https://www.drummercafe.com/featured-musician/drummer-percussionist/william-f-ludwig-ii.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1897457/William-F-Ludwig-II.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Drums https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/william-f-ludwig-ii http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/07/local/me-ludwig7 https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/05/07/the-origins-of-ludwig-drums http://collections.nmmusd.org/LudwigArchive.html http://fielddrums.blogspot.com/2008/03/william-f-ludwig-ii-passes.html

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Titel	Familien Klein, Landgraf und Reichenbachs
Beschreibung	Für Ergänzungen und Korrekturen wäre ich dankbar!  Meine Homepage: http://ahnenklein.com/
Hochgeladen	2023-03-27 05:16:05.0
Einsender	Michael Klein
E-Mail	daredevill@gmx.de
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