Thun
July 2. »961 (&a< 4) SANDY ( O f J POST— S
Disney composer
to lead parade
During the big band era,
George Bruns played a mean
trombone and worked with
some of the best musicians
around on jobs in the Los
Angeles area.
But he preferred the “good
life” of the Sandy area to the
“ ra t ra c e ” of Southern
California and during the
Sandy Mountain Festival he
will be honored as one the
c o m m u n ity ’s
le a d in g
citizens and share some of
the musical talent which
brought so much enjoyment
to people around the world.
Along with his duties as
grand marshal for the Sandy
Mountain Days Parade, he
will entertain Sunday during
the festivalin Sandy’s Meimg
Park. At 3 p m Bruns will
guest star with his eight-
piece “ all-star” Pacific Nor
thwest Dixieland Jazz Band.
Grand marshal Bruns was
a hometown boy. His grand
668*8258
father, Hermann Bruns, took
a homestead claim of 160
acres in the Sandy area,
near what is now Sandy
Heights through the high
school.
George's father, Ed, was
one of the founders of the
Sandy Land Company and
was elected as the first
mayor of the city of Sandy.
He
a lso
s e rv e d
as
postmaster for a time. The
Bruns family donated land
for several public buildings
in town, including the high
school and the Masonic Tem
ple.
George played tuba while
attending Sandy Union High
School because “ they needed
a tuba player.” In fact, he
started playing for the high
school band when he was in
seventh grade He didn't
play the trombone until after
graduation in the 1940s
Two of George’s sisters
George Bruns (right) will be the grand marshal of the Sandy Mountain Festival Parade.
also live in the Sandy area,
Virginia Hames and Dorothy
Depro.
A fter B runs a tte n d e d
Oregon State College to
study engineering, he had
one of the most popular local
dance bands in Portland In
1941 he had thoughts about
going into the Navy Instead,
he worked in the Navy
shipyard and blew his horn
after hours
In the dance band, which
played five nights a week in
the Rose Bowl of the old
Multnomah Hotel, Bruns
played with such outstan
ding m u sicians as Doc
Severinson, pianist Fred
McKinney and future Disney
Studio crony and trumpet
player Don Kinch
Besides working with his
four-piece dance combo, ra n g e m e n ts for Capitol
Bruns was employed at Records and performances
KOIN and later at KEX as with Tennessee Ernie Ford’s
band
music director
Bruns started working in
But Portland wasn’t the
place io make a fcsg name for the motion picture industry
himself in music, Bruns in 1951 and worked on 12 pro
learned So he headed to the ductions for U P A studio.
In 1952, he went to work for
Los Angeles music mecca in
Disney and developed a
1949
There, he worked a variety close association with the
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of jo b s in c lu d in g a r