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The Esquires


The Esquires - Man from Adano / Gee Whiz It's You - 7

Man from Adano / Gee Whiz It's You - 7"
Capitol - 1964


Michael Panontin
The Esquires have managed to work their way down to the bottom of history's trash heap, but they were at one time responsible for a number of important milestones. The Ottawa group were one of the first Canadian bands of the early rock and roll era. They were recipients of the first RPM award in 1964. And even more importantly, it appears that these five lads gave us the first music video ever shot in Canada.

The Esquires formed in 1962 and by the following year had joined the musicians' union and were scoring regular weekend gigs at the old Pineland Dance Pavilion. The group alternated between Shadows-style instrumentals and sappy pre-Beatles pop tunes crooned by singer Bob Harrington. After Ottawa Journal columnist Sandy Gardiner passed along a demo tape of theirs to Capitol Records A & R man Paul White, the guys became one of the first rock and roll acts to ink a contract with a Canadian major label.

Capitol wasted no time getting the boys into the studio and by early '64 they had issued a couple of singles (each with an instrumental on the top side and a vocal track, as Bob Harrington and the Esquires, on the flip). It was the second of those two records, the curiously catchy 'Man from Adano', that netted the band their second entry into the history books.

Enter Mac Levin, a local entrepreneur who ran Regent Vending and Amusements, a company that was importing a newfangled sort of jukebox from Europe called the Scopitone. Scopitones was manufactured in France and played a 16mm film of each act in addition to the music. The only problem was that all of the available songs were in French or Italian, hardly a big sell in the mostly anglophone capital city. So Levin corralled the Esquires into filming 'music videos' of their second single to use in his jukeboxes. The two films, the first of their kind in Canada, are naive beyond belief but serve as an eye-opening window into the nascent Canuck music scene.

'Man from Adano' is the better track and the more interesting video, with the Esquires sporting both spiffy suits and some well-rehearsed choreography, enough to draw the attention of a fawning Latin-looking young lady. With a set that looks like something out of an old-school Italian restaurant and an ample shot of the young lady's cleavage, you almost expect the girl's father to jump out and slap the guys upside the head and say, "Hey, whadda you lookin' at?!". 'Gee Whiz It's You' is a bit of a snoozer, but at least here the young girl, looking more urbane in cropped slacks and a sleeveless top, gets to show off a few dance moves on the floor with Harrington.

'Man from Adano' was a sizeable hit in the Ottawa area. But that hardly mattered as the Esquires discovered the Beatles soon after, replacing Harrington with Don Norman and scoring a #9 hit nationally with their Merseybeat clone 'So Many Other Boys' later that year. The folks at RPM definitely took notice, awarding the Esquires the first ever RPM Award for Top Vocal Instrumental Group that year.

Unfortunately, the thrill wore off quickly, as Norman split from the band acrimoniously, taking with him guitarist (and founding member) Gary Comeau and forming a new band called Don Norman and the Esquires. But when the remaining members protested - legally, that is, with a lawyer and a lawsuit - a judge awarded them the name and Norman had to rename his group Don Norman and the Other Four. Undaunted, the Esquires, or what was left of them, soldiered on with two more singles on Columbia, including a rough-and-tumble rendition of William Hawkins' 'It's a Dirty Shame' that is certainly worth tracking down.
         
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