A Salute to Travis Edmonson in His Diamond Jubilee Year
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College and Army Years
PREVIEW
Despite his passion and talent for music, when he attended the University of Arizona, it was not music, but anthropology that Travis Edmonson chose as his major. Its kinship with his hobby of archaeology, as well as a deep and abiding interest in local culture, made the subject almost as natural a choice.
There were, nevertheless, many musical highlights to the college years, and one of these seems only to be enhanced in the re-telling.
Roger Smith, a friend from early school days, was Travis Edmonson's singing partner in those days, before becoming a Hollywood heartthrob and starring in the hit TV series “77 Sunset Strip.” One might say that they were both famous and unknown, and thus their act became legend.
What a gig it was! A long-running one at that. The two made it a regular practice to slip into the shadows outside the women's dormitories and sororities late in the evening, and serenade the ladies with Latin songs.
The picture is so evocative and ultra romantic, it is sure that not one of the girls (all of whom would now be in their seventies) must think of those nights still without a little flutter.
All wasn't clear sailing though. House mothers would often call the police to disperse the intruders, but the usual outcome was that the local gendarme would just stay and listen to the music too. Certainly one would have to have a soul totally stripped of poetry to regard these delightful minstrels and their moonlight concerts as a nuisance.
Travis Edmonson was becoming more and more determined to sing and play the guitar professionally, and he and Roger Smith put together an act which they took on stage with great success. It had been a tough decision to make, going public with their music, and revealing the identities of the elusive and romantic swains whose voices stole hearts from the shadows.
Playing a repertoire of Mexican music, they not only won the University of Arizona talent contest, but also went on to triumph on Horace Height and Ted Mack competitions, the top national talent searches of the day.
It was also in his sophomore year that he took up serious study of the guitar under Luis Ramirez, a former pupil of Segovia. This represented Travis Edmonson's first formal instruction on the instrument, and provided the foundation for a career which took him to the highest levels in show business.
While his gift for `the family business' has been cited countless times, in the end, a decision was made not to take up teaching as a profession, and to let his unique voice carve the path for his life's journey.
Following college, Travis Edmonson served his military obligation, beginning in the infantry, and graduating to Special Services. A spot on the “Arlene Francis Soldier Parade” in New York then led to a long-running stint at San Francisco's Purple Onion.
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