And now the fifth exciting premiere of Famous Hamsters in History (once again brought to you by State Farm Insurance)!

It is a well known fact that because of their expandable cheek pouches, normally used for storing food, hamsters are naturally skilled at trumpeting. It is for this reason that the creature is commonly referred to as “Nature’s Trumpter.” But, during the Roaring 20’s, as far as Harlem’s discerning crowds were concerned, Beans was the only hamster that mattered.

Born in 1923 to a family of modest means in New Orleans, Louisiana, Beans began performing the trumpet with the small band in his town’s church. (Fun fact: Hamsters in the South go to church.) Hoping to find success at a wider scale, Beans traveled to Harlem where he met up with a pair of like-minded hamster musicians who would become famous in their own right: Sugar “Kid Flash” González and Snooky Young: The Hamster.

On stage Beans developed a distinct style that would later spill over into the human music world. This entailed improvising notes along a predetermined chord arrangement. This style was called “hamster jazz” and was then shortened to “jazz.” During this time, Beans made many recordings, none of which survive today due to the brittle nature of very tiny vinyl records.

After a full life of performing in Harlem’s many hamster jazz clubs, Beans met his untimely end after an on stage heart attack: the result of a particularly long solo consisting of one note, sustained for a full five minutes and twenty-one seconds, at the time of death.

Several years later, Beans’ very tiny trumpet was placed in the Smithsonian museum, and then once discovered, removed.