Harold Loeffelmacher (March 14, 1905 – January 30, 1987) was an American musician and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...

best known for forming the

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

band known as the

Six Fat Dutchmen The Six Fat Dutchmen was an American polka band, formed around 1932 by Harold Loeffelmacher in New Ulm, Minnesota, United States. The band was known mostly for playing the "Oom-pah" style of polka music that originated from Germany and the German ...

. The band, based in

New Ulm, Minnesota New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,120 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Brown County. It is located on the triangle of land formed by the confluence of the Minnesota River and the Co ...

, traveled extensively and played as many as 335 dates per year, mostly in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. Over a span of 14 years the Six Fat Dutchmen recorded 800 polkas,

waltzes The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wal ...

and

schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina ("chotis"Span ...

s on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

label, and for ten years they were signed by

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

. Loeffelmacher was inducted into the

International Polka Association The International Polka Association (IPA) is located in Chicago, Illinois and dedicated to the study and preservation of polka music and the cultural heritage of Polish Americans who have made this music tradition part of their heritage. The IPA ...

's Hall of Fame in 1975.

Biography

Loeffelmacher was born in 1905 on a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

farm near

Fort Ridgely Fort Ridgely was a frontier United States Army outpost from 1851 to 1867, built 1853–1854 in Minnesota Territory. The Sioux called it Esa Tonka. It was located overlooking the Minnesota river southwest of Fairfax, Minnesota. Half of the ...

. After his family moved to New Ulm, he took violin lessons, then moved to wind instruments, including the

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

. Later he took up the

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, which became his primary band instrument. In 1932, he started "Six Fat Dutchmen," which grew from the initial six to over a dozen musicians. They played the

Nebraska State Fair The Nebraska State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is held annually in Grand Island, approximately 100 miles west of the state capital of Lincoln, which hosted the fair until 2010. The fair usually runs for 11 days, an ...

for 26 straight years. During Loeffelmacher's long career of touring from show to show, it is claimed that he eventually wore out seven buses while accumulating as much as 90,000 miles of road travel annually. In winter while the other band members would break from their hectic schedules and take well-deserved vacations, Loeffelmacher would often continue to perform solo on the bass horn, but his true instrument was the trombone. He performed a dozen times on the long-running nationally televised TV series, ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 195 ...

''. Loeffelmacher died in 1988 at Sioux Valley Hospital in

. In 1990, three years after his death, Harold Loeffelmacher and his Six Fat Dutchmen were inducted into the

Minnesota Music Hall of Fame The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame is located at First North Street and Broadway in New Ulm, Minnesota, United States, in the former public library. It has memorabilia of individual musicians and musical groups, as well as photographs of all who h ...

.Minnesota Music Hall of Fame website
. His son Harold and daughter-in-law Virginia accepted the award on his behalf. His family currently resides near St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2006, 74 years after the band's founding, a compilation CD of the Six Fat Dutchmen's original recordings was produced.

References

–

External links

Minnesota Music Hall of Fame
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loeffelmacher, Harold 1905 births People from New Ulm, Minnesota Polka musicians American people of German descent German-American history Musicians from Minnesota 1987 deaths 20th-century American musicians