C. "Sandy" Riner

C. Sandy Riner �Mr. Banjo� Young Sandy with his banjo and a friend Sandy with the �Hicksville Nuts� The first Shriner banjo Band at the Sahib Temple Boggstown Inn and Cabaret 1992 - 1996

�Mr. Banjo�, Clarence �Sandy� Riner, was born in Indiana in 1922 and began the study of the piano and the banjo at seven. After several years of lessons, it was apparent Sandy was a serious student and his teacher said he would benefit from a better instrument. So in 1934 his father presented him with a Gibson TB-5, an instrument on which he still performs.

At age thirteen his mother moved to South Bend and he was asked to join a band that played for local square dances and also performed on the CBS affiliate WSBT program, the �Hayloft Jamboree.� Sandy had his first taste of show business and was influenced by Leroy Longnecker, a magician/ventriloquist who was also a fine banjoist. �Leroy the Great� first showed Sandy the possibilities of having an �act� that mixed other forms of entertainment with playing the banjo. Longnecker and Sandy usually closed each broadcast with a banjo duet.

In 1939 he moved to Fayette, Ohio to live with his father and finish high school. He also found a new band and became a member of Art Griffin�s Blue Diamond Orchestra of Toledo, Ohio.

In 1942 he began a thirty-nine month tour of duty with the Army Air Corps. During his service period he did a great deal of performing for the troops, often appearing as a member of a well-known Air Force Group, �The Crew Chiefs�. After the war, he returned to Indiana working for Mishawaka Trailer Supply, where he became General Manager and then Vice-President of that company.

Sandy continued to perform, first joining a brother act that billed themselves as the �Hicksville Nuts�. Then he began producing �The Sandy Riner Show� for a local television station in Elkhart, Indiana. The program attained such popularity that it survived even though it was scheduled against the hit show, �Gunsmoke.�

Sandy continued to mix careers, serving as President of the Indiana Mobile Home Association in 1958 and as their Entertainment Chairman for 15 years where he met and booked such entertainers as Frank Fontaine, George Jessel and Red Buttons. When Sandy�s employer sold Mishawka Trailer Supply in 1967, he moved his family to Florida and soon began a full-time career in music and entertainment. He was a solo performer and played with a Dixieland band in a variety of venues in the southeast region. In 1975 he teamed up with Horace �Big Sut� Sutcliffe on string bass. Their act had music, comedy, vocals and audience participation that made them a popular team in Florida.

Sandy became a popular entertainer in the banjo community, headlining the MABE event three times releasing his first solo banjo LP, �Sandy�s Touch� in 1979. A Shriner since 1950, he formed the Sahib Banjo Band for the Shrine Temple in 1983. In 1988 he served a two-year term as President of FIGA (the Fretted Instrument Guild of America) and performed at the International Banjo Festival in Germany with Buddy Wachter, Cynthia Sayer, Lowell and Debbie Schreyer and others. In 1990 Sandy teamed with Buddy Wachter to record �Together,� an album of banjo duets.

For the summer seasons of 1992 - 1996, Sandy did his act at the Boggstown inn in Boggstown, Indiana, playing banjo solos and telling humorous stories about his �family� back in Crumstown, Indiana. Audiences loved the regional comedy about Uncle Ora, Aunt Lizzie, brother Lazy Ollee and his cousins, Tinina and Twitchell.

Sandy�s musical career is best expressed in his own words, �The love of music and good friends will last forever.�