1932 WLS Family Album: Mac and Bob (Lester McFarland and Robert Gardner)

Mac and Bob

(Robert Gardner and Lester McFarland)

Curator's Note: Lester McFarland and Robert Gardner were heard on WLS from 1931 to 1950. You can see a later photo of Mac and Bob in the 1941 WLS Family Album.

"Mac and Bob," our sweet harmony singers, are Lester McFarland and Robert Gardner, originally of Gray, Kentucky, and Oliver Springs, Tennessee, respectively.

Sixteen years ago the two boys met each other while they were studying music in the "Kentucky School for the Blind." Mac was an artist on the piano, cornet, trombone, guitar and mandolin, consequently he became a music teacher, while Bob made his livelihood as a piano tuner, having a perfect ear for pitch and tone.

About 10 years ago they teamed up as a harmony duo and their singing soon attracted the attention of phonograph record companies. To date, they have recorded at least 200 songs with sales totaling over a million.

While Mac and Bob are both blind, the boys do not capitalize upon their misfortune, choosing to gai n the favor of their audiences solely through the merits of their entertainment. When Mac and Bob learn a new song, the notes and words are read to them and they punch them out on a sheet using the "point system," as their names are written at the top of this page

The smaller plcture at the right shows Mac and Bob and Hugh Cross entertaining the crippled children at Riley Hospital, Indianapolis, Ind.

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Created by Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)