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| Vic and Brother Rob on guitar, Bayside Queens. |
In March of 1942, my brother Robert began to take guitar lessons. Before long we became a duo.
You Are My Sunshine was one of our first songs A short time later — on August 24, 1942 to be
exact — we moved from Corona to 58-28 217th Street in Bayside Hills. My dad still kept the store
in Corona. I formed my first band shortly thereafter: Don Mielola on trumpet, Milton Zene, and
Curtis Field. The band tooks its name from a popular song of that era: Personality.
We rehearsed on average once a week. We performed on the stage of PS31, in Bayside, playing
In the Mood, Blue Moon, and ending of course with Personality.
The audience responded with a great round of applause.
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| Concetta Franconero... |
At that time I started to draw business cards for myself on scraps of gray cardboard. I listed myself
as an accordionist and the leader of the band. All through the mid-40s we were getting small jobs.
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| ...aka Connie Francis. |
One night I played a solo job at the Knights of Columbus near the Lady of Sorrows Church in Corona.
A man approached me and said "You have a competitor, a girl accordionist who plays and sings quite well."
Her name was Concetta Franconero. Later on the world would know her as Connie Francis.
During this time Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong, Bill Kenny of the Ink Spots and the great Count Basie
gave my brother and I much encouragement when they came into my father's grocery store. (Armstrong
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| Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong Lived in Corona, Queens from 1943 until his death in 1971. |
lived in Corona from 1943 until his death in 1971.) We even made grocery deliveries to Count Basie's
home in St. Albans.
In 1946, I graduated from PS 31 to Bayside High School. One evening, we had a party at an original Howard Johnson's
on Northern Boulevard in Flushing, where I played for my high school teachers and classmates.
They were quite surprised at my performance.
1947 approached quickly. This was a turning point in my musical career. My father Leo sold the house in Bayside,
closed the store in Corona, and moved the Maffeis to Bayville on the North Shore of Long Island.
Next page: Bayville, here we come!
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