Penn (Pennino)

Penn was a ukulele and guitar brand name of the Pennino Music Company. Pennino Music was founded in Los Angeles, California by Jeanette Pennino Banoczi (1922 - 2017) and her first husband Humbert Pennino (1907 - 1955). Jeanette was born Jeannette Bernadette Boulay in Lowell Massachusetts and showed a talent for trumpet playing. In 1940, at the age of 18, Jeanette moved to New York City where she played First Trumpet for the Phil Spitalny All Girl Hour of Charm radio programme until 1945. She decided to relocate to California following a trip to Hollywood to play in the movie "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". She married Humbert Pennino, first trumpet for Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra and they founded and ran Pennino Music Company, the largest wholesaler of musical instruments on the West Coast. During this period Pennino Music Company used the Penn brand for ukes and guitars.