THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 12, 1995 TAG: 9509120049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHERYL BALL, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
WHEN YOU'RE 7, the best things in life are school assemblies. Especially the ones that take up more than one class period.
Of course, students loved to miss class for any reason, but the American Jazz Ensemble was an awaited event every year. The outstanding memory of those musical moments was Guy Taylor playing the theme from ``The Pink Panther.''
For 13 years, Guy's sax wafted the sounds of ``The Pink Panther'' for hundreds of thousands of children across Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. The children responded, and I was one of them.
But now I'm in the job world, one that includes preparing obituaries. One evening last week, the Pink Panther Man's name appeared, throwing me back into second grade.
We craned forward in the seats of Kempsville Elementary School's auditorium, singing with Guy Taylor as he played the ``Pink Panther'' theme We would never forget it.
``Anywhere we went, children would come up to us,'' said Mildred Taylor, Guy's wife. ``They would ask, `Is that the Pink Panther Man?' and I would say, `Sure is!' Then they would look to Guy and confide, `You came to our school.' They loved him.
``Guy loved the kids so much, he danced on the stage with them, and he went into the audience with them.''
But their favorite part of the show was ``The Pink Panther.'' It's what Guy was known for.
Guy played the theme song for the first time 13 years ago. The next year, Young Audiences of Virginia - a chapter of the national organization that sponsors artists like the American Jazz Ensemble - required the jazz group to change their program. That meant no more ``Pink Panther.''
The group began to receive letters from schools dismayed that the song was not played that year. The kids had wanted to hear it again. So Young Audiences allowed the ensemble to keep ``The Pink Panther.''
Gary Gompers, the ensemble's leader, included the song in the program but pretended he didn't want it played. He acted as if he were leaving the auditorium and told Guy not to play the song.
When Gompers returned to the stage, he'd ask Guy, ``Did you behave while I was gone?'' The class tattler would belt out, ``He played the Pink Panther song!'' and Gompers would grimace.
Then the song began to sneak into the middle of other songs - Da-dum, Da-dum, Da-dum da-dum da-dum, da da dee dum. . . There was no way to stop it.
On the weekends, Guy would travel to the Hampton Lodge Campground Church in Coinjock, N.C., to play. ``It was like another family,'' Mildred said. At the end of each service, Guy would play a rousing ``When the Saints Go Marching In.''
Recently, the kids also wanted to see Guy Taylor's impersonation of Louis Armstrong's ``What a Wonderful World,'' which was Taylor's finale for the program.
``Guy would teach the kids to say `Oh Yeah' just like Armstrong,'' Gompers remembered. ``They would wave their hands in the air and form the letters O and Y while yelling `Oh Yeah.' ''
``Guy loved the kids, he felt at home with them,'' Gompers said. And it showed in his actions. After retiring from the Naval Supply Center, Guy joined the American Jazz Ensemble. He also played with Al Runaldue on the Carrie B; with Lou Saks; the Guy Taylor group; Ron, Bob and Co.; and had played with Chick Ciccone and Buddy Myers when he was 16.
``Guy never refused an opportunity to play for churches or anything of that matter,'' Mildred said. ``Anytime he was asked he never refused. He called himself `God's Piper.' ''
For his funeral, he had requested that his nine grandchildren sing ``Jesus Loves Me.''
``They were all singing his song,'' Mildred recalled after Thursday's funeral at Parkway Temple. ``Samantha, the youngest, was in the arms of Jeni when Jeni started crying, and Samantha wiped her tears away. No one's ever been to a funeral with so much love and happiness. It was more of a celebration.''
And one that closed with three selections: ``What a Wonderful World,'' ``The Pink Panther'' and ``When the Saints Go Marching In.'' by CNB