Longtime Mummer Emery 'Jim' Ivan, 'Banjo Man of Broad Street, dies at 80

A good part of the unique Mummers string-band sound can be attributed to a South Philly craftsman named Emery "Jim" Ivan.

It was back in the '60s when Jim was marching with the South Philadelphia String Band, playing a mandolin, that he realized the bands needed a better banjo.

So, he made one. One with "lungs."

He explained to Daily News writer Frank Dougherty in a 1992 interview that "lungs" means the "ringing tone needed to carry a melody along the concrete canyon of Broad Street," as Dougherty wrote.

Jim Ivan, one of those Mummers' legends not well known beyond the exclusive precincts of Mummery, died Saturday.

He was 80 and lived in Southwest Philadelphia.

Jim made hundreds of banjos for Mummers over a span of three decades.

He called his creation the Jany, a Hungarian word pronounced like johnny.

Parade watchers can easily spot the instrument. It is long-necked with 22 frets, four more than most tenor banjos. Added frets give the banjo a higher range.

He was born in South Philadelphia to Gergerly Ivan, a Hungarian born in the United States, and the former Elizabeth Toth, born in Abaujvar, Hungary.

"It helps explain my love of stringed instruments," he told Dougherty.

"We Hungarians love our gypsy music. It's in our blood. It flows like Hungary's tokay wine."

Growing up Hungarian on the mean streets of South Philly was a challenge.

He said there was strong anti-Hungarian prejudice in his neighborhood and he often had to use his fists to settle disputes.

It was probably his mother's worries about his street battles that caused her to insist that he find a hobby to keep him indoors.

He took up carving and made balsa-wood airplanes powered by rubber bands. He also became an accomplished musician, studying stringed instruments at First Hungarian Reformed Presbyterian Church.

In 1975, he and his mother visited her hometown of Abaujvar, where he played music for relatives and friends on his Jany.

He told Dougherty, "I played American muisic, Hungarian folk ballads. I did everything but sing because God didn't make me a singer."

Jim graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1945. He enlisted in the Naval Reserves after high school and later went on active duty. He served aboard the USS Capricornus, a cargo ship; USS Chilton, an attack transport, and the ocean tug USS Paiute. He was discharged in 1953.

He quit marching with the Mummers in the '80s, contenting himself with watching the New Year's parade on TV.

In March 1992, he was honored at the Philadelphia String Bands Association's "Show of Shows" at the old Civic Center, where more than 100 Jany players serenaded him as "Banjo Man of Broad Street."

He was a 54-year member of the St. Alban Masonic Lodge.

Jim never married. He is survived by two sisters, Elizabeth Mazda and Mary DiSalvatore.

Services: Masonic service 10 a.m. Thursday at the Pennsylvania Burial Co., 1327 S. Broad St. Friends may call at 9:30 a.m. Burial will be in Edgewood Memorial Park, Glen Mills.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Mummers Museum, 1100 S. 2nd St., Philadelphia PA 19147. *