Harry & the Muse

Harry Dichter is a waiter at Philadelphia's Ambassador Vegetarian and Dairy Restaurant (pickled herring, lox salad, borsch, carp). The customers know that he is fast, polite and can instantly memorize a complicated order without making a mishmash out of it. What many do not know is that Harry, at 53, is also a man of music. He is one of the top collectors and publishers of American music in the U.S., although, as he admits, "I can't read or play a note."

The Browser. Dichter was born in Russia and moved with his family to the U.S. when he was eight. When he finished grade school he went immediately to work, but he kept a taste for books. Browsing in secondhand shops, Dichter learned that there was money in rare editions. While other waiters took their money to bookies. Harry diligently invested in books. For a while he operated his own shop by day. waited on tables by night. He became interested in American music, read all he could find on the subject.

In 1947 Dichter compiled an impressive catalogue of old American sheet music, began selling it to collectors. Then he decided that reprints of the sheet music would find a greater audience. His first big publication was an edition of delicate melodies titled Seven Songs for the Harpsichord, by Musician:Politico Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791). Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, had sent his work to George Washington, received a polite acknowledgement from the President: ". . . what alas! can I do to support it? I can neither sing one of the songs nor raise a note on any instrument to convince the unbelieving." The Slider. Dichter's stock of old sheet music (copies available at $1 and up) follows the U.S. right through the Civil War to the eve of World War I, pausing frequently along Broadway and Tin Pan Alley. Among his titles: The Old Union Wagon; Give Us Back Our Old Commander; Mother, Is the Battle Over?; Come Down Nellie to the Old Red Barn; Don't Give Me Diamonds, All I Want is You; Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself, but Leave His Wife Alone. Collector Dichter's latest publication promises to be his biggest hit to date.

Called Baseball in Music and Song, the folio contains 14 reproductions of spirited polkas, quadrilles, marches and ballads from the middle to late 1800s, all dedicated to the glorification of baseball.

There are the misadventures of Catcher Kelly in Slide, Kelly, Slide! But something was the matter Sure I couldn't see the ball And the second one that came in Broke my muzzle, nose and all.

There is also the plight of a diamond dandy in Tally One for Me: I soon will stop my "balling" For my heart is led astray 'Twas stolen by a nice young girl By her exquisite play.

One tune, Hurrah for Our National Game (1896), sums up the feeling of America's early baseball fans: The Gamester may boast of the pleasures of play, The Billiardist brag of his cue, The Horse jocky gabble of next racing

day,

The Yachtman discourse of the Blue.

The patrons of Racket may feast on its joys,

Whilst Cricket its lovers inflame.

Croquet's very well for young ladies and boys

But give us the National Game.

Then hurrah for our National Game,

hurrah, Here's a cheer for its well-earned

fame . . .

His baseball chores out of the way. Collector Dichter is currently preparing reprints of Roman Catholic litanies (1787), and an Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes, In a Plain and Easy Method, with a Collection of Times in Three Parts, by the Rev. Mr. Tufts (1726). So far, Dichter has not made any money on his musical ventures, but he says: "I feel I'm doing a job. I'm the first in the field." For the time being, he is holding on to his waiter's job at the Ambassador. Later, "If the music goes well," he may wait on tables only two or three days a week.

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