to open in a few months in Amsterdam. The manager said Mr Heck wanted Louis Bannet and his Rhythm Five to headline on opening night. The following week, the band headed back to Holland to begin rehearsals-for the opening.
One evening while on a break from rehearsals, Louis and the band were visited by an old friend, Hein Frank, along with some of his female companions. Louis hadn’t seen Hein in several years. Hein said he was following Louis’ career and even felt a sense of pride - after all, he was the one who had suggested Louis pick up another instrument. One of Hein’s girls requested a song, something by Louis Armstrong. Louis picked up his horn and led the band in The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea. He sang not like Louis Bannet, but like Louis Armstrong. His impersonation was uncanny, and Maurits suggested he try it out in front of a larger audience. So that weekend at a performance at the Pschoor nightclub, Louis repeated his impersonation: the audience went wild. The next day in a review of the show, a newspaper writer praised the performance and crowned Louis ‘the Dutch Louis Armstrong’.
Ironically, around this same time, Louis Armstrong himself was embarking on a tour of Europe. He had shows planned for London, Denmark, Paris, and Belgium. The last stop on the tour would be Amsterdam.
Two weeks later in Rotterdam, Leentje Bannet was sitting in her kitchen with her son Isaac. As Isaac leafed through the newspaper, he came across a picture of his brother Louis in an advertisement announcing the grand opening of Heck’s Cafe. He showed it to his mother and suggested that he escort her on opening night and that they keep it a surprise. Leentje Bannet had never seen Louis perform with his band. In fact, the last time she had seen him play was when he performed at Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday celebration at the Conservatory. On the night of the Heck’s Cafe opening, she put on the dress she usually wore for Rosh Hashanah. She and Isaac were given a table by the front of the stage. As the lights were dimmed, a spotlight hit the stage and the Rhythm Five took their places. Finally, Louis walked out on to to the stage to a rousing ovation. ‘I looked out at the audience and welcomed everyone to the club. I noticed my brother waving to me, and then I saw my mother sitting beside him. I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I was going to open with an Armstrong song, but I hope you don’t mind, my mother is sitting right over there and I’d like to play a song just for her." So I picked up my trumpet and played My Yiddishe Momma.’
The next morning, Louis joined his mother and brother for breakfast. Isaac opened the newspaper to a review of last night’s show at Heck’s and read it aloud. The writer ended his story by saying that ‘Louis Bannet, the Dutch Louis Armstrong, has a beautiful future ahead of him.’
Several weeks later, Louis was in his dressing room at Heck’s. ‘It was the last night of the engagement,’ Louis recalled. ‘The stage manager knocked on my door. I heard this deep, raspy voice ring out. "So you’re the Dutch Louis Armstrong. Well, it’s nice to meet you: I’m the American one." It was Armstrong himself. It was fantastic.’ They took out their horns and jammed. At one point, Armstrong proudly showed Louis the Jewish Star of David he wore in honor of the Karnovskys, a Russian-Jewish family he worked for as a child in New Orleans, who provided the funds for his first cornet.
The Dutch Louis Armstrong would soon be wearing a Star of David of his own, although it certainly couldn’t be called an honor.
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