Western Fair's London Tribute To Frank Serratore

One day some years ago the Western Fair decided on having a tribute to London musicians and noted personalities that came from this area. Tommy Hunter was one of the guest artists and several other musicians were also included in this program.  Rob McConnell came by and did a couple of numbers as did Bert Niosi.

The master of ceremonies was Gordie Tapp.  Gordie has always been associated with London and I believe he was born in a small town near here.

I've always enjoyed Gordie's humour and every time I tried to tell him a "new" joke he would tell me the punch line before I could barely begin.  The musicians in my band at the Grandstand also knew him and it was always a friendly gathering of would-be-comedians whenever we all got together.

One of my musicians was Frank Serratore and everyone knew him and his Shoe Repair Shop. Frank was with me for many years on baritone sax and to talk about London's history is to include his name in so many of these musical endeavours.

Well, Gordie told us that he would occasionally drop in on Frank, not necessarily to have anything repaired but just to chew the fat.   On the matinee at the Western Fair, Gordie mentioned Frank to the audience.  Most likely a lot of them knew who he was.   Gordie then told the story about how during the war he had left a pair of shoes at Frank's and had forgotten all about them.

Anyways, he said that one day he recalled leaving them there and when he was visiting Frank one day he brought up the issue of the long-forgotten shoes.

He said to Frank, "Frank. During the war I left a pair of shoes here.  I know it is asking a lot but I was wondering if by any chance they're still here?"   Well, those of you that remember Frank's small shop it was a chaotic mess of boxes right to the ceiling. Most of them were covered in years of dust and Gordie says he left them during the war years.   This would have been well over 30 years ago. 

 Well, Frank was agreeable to see if by some stroke of luck he could find Gordie's shoes.   He went scrambling through box after box, when finally after a considerable amount of time, he found a box that might be Gordie's.  The name on the box had faded after all these years. He turned to Gordie and asked, "Gord, tell me, were they brown?"   Gordie said yes. "Were they wing-tipped?" "Why yes". said Gordie.  "Well" said Frank", "I think these are yours. By the way Gordie, do you want them full soled or half soled?"

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