The Gentlemen might travel to 30 locations from the day before to the day after Valentine's Day, visiting schools, hospitals, private homes, beauty salons and restaurants, or wherever the unsuspecting sweetheart happens to be, Bacher said.
When they arrive at a destination in their black trousers and bow ties, their red lamĀ vests all aglow, people stare and wonder "who are these four guys in uniforms?" he said. A few seconds later, as the air rings with the sweet, old-timey strains of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," their purpose becomes clear.
The Gentlemen of Harmony are members of the BucksMont Squires of Song, a barbershop chorus that merged long-standing choruses based in Levittown and Abington about eight years ago, Bacher said.
Three of the group's quartets deliver the singing valentines every year as a fund-raiser. In addition to the songs, they offer their captive recipients a rose and a personalized card, usually printed with "I love you" and a nickname, Bacher said.
Willow Grove resident Nelson Leek travels the valentine circuit with his quartet, Fourever. Reactions range from smiles to blushes to tears, he said, but some stick in his memory - like the time a woman hired them to sing to her husband on their first anniversary - Valentine's Day.
"We came in. She called him upstairs, and we sat him down and sang our songs, and he cried through them," Leek said. "That's difficult - four guys trying to sing and watch another guy cry."
Restaurants are always unpredictable. Once, after Leek's quartet sang to an employee at the Inn on Blueberry Hill in Doylestown, the manager paid the four to stay and wander like minstrels from room to room, Leek said.
