Harmonica Almanac – May 3

Pete Krampert May 3, 2015 Almanac

Johnny Puleo

Though he was only about 4 feet tall, Johnny Puleo was a giant of the harmonica. Puleo’s popularity with the Harmonica Rascals was so great that there was a shortage of harmonica-playing midgets. Puleo died on this day in 1983.

Astronaut Wally Schirra died on this day in 2007. Schirra played “Jingle Bells” on a Hohner Little Lady harmonica during the Gemini IV flight on December 16, 1965, thus making the harmonica the first musical instrument in outer space.