Honolulu Guitar Club
Canton, Ohio - November 4, 1933
Photograph by Dimit Brothers, Alliance, Ohio
8” x 10” print, Collection of Old Hat Records
Banjo, mandolin, and guitar clubs flourished on college campuses and in communities across America from the final decade of the 19th century through the 1930s, giving amateur musicians a chance to learn and play the popular music of the day. Here we see the Honolulu Guitar Club of Canton, Ohio, thirty strong, all wearing their Sunday best and proudly brandishing their instruments. The club’s name no doubt resulted from America’s ongoing fascination with Hawaiian music, first introduced to the mainland in 1915 at the Panama Pacific Exposition.
Hanging behind the Canton group is a banner for Willys-Overland cars, apparently the club’s sponsor, though how much longer that sponsorship continued is doubtful. In 1933, the year of this photograph, Willys-Overland fell victim to the Great Depression, declared bankruptcy, and ceased automotive production for a period of three years.
Arthur M. Dimit founded his photography studio in 1926 in Alliance, Ohio, a few miles east of Canton, and three years later brought his brothers Ralph and Wilbur into the business. Dimit Brothers Photography specialized in school, civic group and wedding portraits, and continued to operate until 1972.
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