Anton Mervar

Born in Slovenia in 1885, where he learned the art of accordion making. He completed his apprenticeship at Lubas & Sohn in 1912 and immigrated to Cleveland where he worked as a laborer while manufacturing and repairing chromatic and diatonic button accordions in his spare time. He saved his money and by 1921 was able to build a shop on St. Clair Avenue. Besides housing his accordion business, the building served as a retail music store where he sold phonographs, records, and other musical instruments. In addition, Mervar acted as a consultant and talent scout for the record companies—Victor, Columbia, Okeh, and later Continental (6). Among those he recommended were the Hoyer Trio, the Mary Udovich And Josephine Lausche duet, Louis F. Spehek, Sr., and Anton Štrukelj. The Hoyer Trio’s earliest OKeh recordings (made under the name Šimončič Brater) and the Columbia reissues of them include on the labels the words “Harmonica izdelal A. Mervar” (Accordion made by A. Mervar). One of the Hoyer Trio’s recordings—“Samo da bo likof ” (Everything for a Bargain)—is a comedy sketch which describes a visit by Matt Hoyer to Mervar’s Music Store for the purchase of an accordion. In it, members of Chicago’s "Adria" Singers act the parts of Mr. and Mrs. Mervar. Application of techniques he learned in Europe gave Mervar’s accordions a distinct and unique sound which has not been duplicated. He and his wife died in an automobile accident in 1942.