February 2005

February 24, 2005
 
 

 
Dream Kisses
Ipana Troubadours
Harold Lambert, vocal                         1927
(Columbia 1188-D mx 144916)
 

A Room With A View
Ben Selvin And His Orchestra              1928
(Columbia 1693-D mx 147730)
 
 

The two most prolific 1920s era dance bands in the recording studios were the Ben Selvin Orchestra and the Sam Lanin Orchestra.  Both recorded under dozens of pseudonyms for virtually every American record label in existence at the time. 

The Ipana Troubadours was a Sam Lanin band that appeared from 1925 - 1931 on the popular Ipana Troubadours radio shows - one of network radio's earliest programs.  Ipana was the name of a once popular brand of toothpaste.  Today, you will have to travel to Turkey if you wish to brush your teeth with Ipana. 

"Dream Kisses" is a very catchy tune composed in 1927 by MK Jerome and Jack Yellen.   On a future update, I will feature another really nice recording of this song by  a Victor Talking Machine Company in-house band also called The Troubadours.

"A Room With A View" is a Noël Coward composition from the C.B. Chochran revue This Year of Grace which opened at the London Pavilion on March 22, 1928.  The American production opened in New York's Selwyn Theatre on November 7, 1928.  (The Selwyn Theatre is now known as the American Airlines Theatre.)  "A Room With A View" was the production's hit tune.  Noël Coward openly admitted that he "stole" the song's title from the famous E.M. Forster novel of the same name.

I think both of these recordings are outstanding examples of late 1920s dance band music. 
 

 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 
 

Orpheus In Hades - Overture Parts 1 & 2
Victor Symphony Orchestra                      1924
(Victor 35741-A, 35741-B)

Gaite Parisienne - Overture, Tortoni
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
Efrem Kurtz, conducting                            1938
(Columbia 70582-D mx CAX 8291)

Gaite Parisienne - Finale
The London Philharmonic Orchestra          1938
(Columbia 70582-D mx CAX 8291)
 

I am very fond of the music of French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach. 

The operetta Orpheus In Hades (Orphée aux Enfers), which also known as Orpheus In The Underworld, opened  in Paris on October 21, 1858 and is one of  Offenbach's most famous works.    I think the overture is very beautiful.  Unfortunately,  I was unable to locate an electrically recorded 78 rpm version in my collection - so, for now, this 1924 acoustic version will have to do.   If and when I come across one I will include it in a future Extra.

Gaite Parisienne is the name of a ballet commissioned  in 1938 by Count Etienne de Beaumont.   Composer Manuel Rosenthal was hired to arrange the ballet's musical score which consists of a medley of tunes from Jacques Offenbach operettas.   The ballet debuted on April 5, 1938 in a performance by the  Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Theatre de Monte Carlo with choreography by Leonide Massine.  Gaite Parisienne is still occasionally performed and is worth seeing just for the music alone. 

February 17, 2005
 
 

Down Where The Rajahs Dwell
Louisiana Five                         1919
(Emerson 10116 mx 4696)
 

Weary Blues
Louisiana Five                         1919
(Emerson 10116 mx 4738)
 
 

Here is another really nice record that I picked up in the estate sale that  I mentioned last week. 

The Louisiana Five was one of the very early jazz bands.  Its most prominent member was clarinetist Alcide Nunez.  The group was only the second New Orleans jazz band to make commercial records, cutting their first recording a few months after the release of the world's first jazz record by the Original Dixieland Jass band.   For more information as well as photos of the band, follow this link. 

"Down Where The Rajahs Dwell" is a song I was previously unaware of.  I love it.  Very catchy - and fun - number.  One of the song's composers was the band's drummer and manager Anton Lada.   The other composer credited was someone by the name of Skidmore. Sadly, from what I can determine in my reference material, the song was quickly forgotten and was not widely recorded.

Both sides of these selections  were recorded in late 1919 with the record being issued in early 1920. 
 

 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 
 
 
 

For whatever reason, the paper record sleeves on old British records were often of better quality and were frequently much more attractive then those produced by the American record companies

 

Lily Of Laguna
Foster Richardson, vocal                  1927
(Zonophone 5120 mx YY10152)

Little Dolly Daydream
Foster Richardson, vocal                  1927
(Zonophone 5120 mx YY10153)

Asleep In The Deep
Foster Richardson, vocal                  1930
(Zonophone 5924 mx YY19038)

Neptune
Foster Richardson, vocal                  1930
(Zonophone 5924 mx YY19039)
 

Here are some British records from the Zonophone label featuring popular songs from the late 1890s. 

Foster Richardson was a popular concert singer in Britain during the late 1920s and 1930s.   You can view an old British cigarette card image of him as well as a brief biography at this link. 

I have always thought that "Lily Of Laguna" was a very pretty tune. Unfortunately, the lyrics make use of what we today euphemistically refer to as the "N-word" - and for that reason, I have been reluctant to include a rather nice version of the song by Whispering Jack Smith in the Radio Dismuke playlist.  I have very little patience for people with a racist mindset and the radio station playlist does not provide me with much opportunity to put the recording in context.  In many respects, the early 20th century was a grand and glorious era.   But it certainly wasn't when it came to people's attitudes towards and treatment of racial minorities. 

"Lily Of Laguna" dates back to 1898 and was composed by Leslie Stuart, a British songwriter who wrote a number of minstrel type songs.  "Lily Of Laguna" was his most famous composition and has been recorded by a variety of artists over the decades. 

"Little Dolly Daydream" was another successful Leslie Stuart minstrel song which dates back to 1897.

"Asleep In The Deep" was also published in 1897 and was written by American composer Henry W. Petrie.  The song's lyrics are by Arthur Lamb.  "Asleep In The Deep" was Petrie's most famous and enduring composition and is still occasionally performed.

I had some difficulty finding information about the song "Neptune."  The label merely lists "Gordon" for the composer credit.  Try typing "Neptune" and "Gordon" into Google and see what you get.    I finally located an online copy of an old sheet music version which indicated the song was composed by Stanley Gordon with lyrics by Clifton Bingham.  The copyright date on the sheet music is 1909 - but that could merely be the copyright date for that particular arrangement.  I have so far not been able to determine if that was the year the song was first published.  The song's full title is "Netptune! (Lord of the Sea Am I!)"

February 10, 2005
 
 

 
 
 
 

I'm Still Caring
Harry Reser's Rounders                     1929
(Edison 14032 R mx 987 B)
 

Walking With Susie
Picadilly Players
The Rollickers, vocal                         1929
(Edison 14023 R mx N947 C)
 

Susianna
Picadilly Players
Happy Jack, vocal                             1929
(Edison 14023 L mx N740 B)
 

The One In The World
Picadilly Players
Phil Dewey, vocal                             1929
(Edison 14032 L mx N985 C)
 

This week's selections come from two extremely rare records that I came across at a recent estate sale here in Fort Worth, Texas.  I learned about the sale from fellow record collector Matthew Orwat, a student at Texas A&M University in College Station.   Since Matt was the one who told me about the sale, we reached an agreement that I would get to tag along but he would get first option on buying any records.

The vast majority of the records consisted of uninteresting and extremely commonplace easy listening stuff from the late 1940s.   Suddenly, while flipping through an album of utterly unremarkable records, I found myself staring at something I could hardly believe I was seeing.   I looked at Matt and said: "So,  you said that you have always wanted to have an Edison Needle Type Electric?  Well, now you own one."   Moments later, I discovered another one a few sleeves away in the same album. 

Needle Type Electrics were a conventional 78 rpm record sold by Thomas Edison for only a few months in 1929.  Previously, the only disc records that Edison made were the quarter inch thick Diamond Discs which could only be played on Edison machines.   The Needle Type Electric was Edison's last ditch effort to save his floundering record business which had been in steady decline throughout the 1920s.  A few days after the stock market crashed in October 1929, Edison closed down his phonograph and record division.   Because the records were only made for a short period of time and did not sell well, they are extremely difficult to find and even releases with utterly uninteresting musical content are prized by collectors.   After all my years of collecting, I only have three in my collection.

For obvious reasons, Matt exercised his right to first dibs on both of the Edisons.  However, he very kindly allowed me to borrow the records long enough to digitalize them for this update.  Matt has managed to build up a rather successful business on ebay selling  records that either do not fall within his collecting interests or duplicate what he already has.   Any items that he happens to have up for bid can always be found at this link.   Matt is definitely an ebay record vendor I can recommend in terms of competence in grading and packaging - and, of course, integrity.  Don't expect him , however, to be putting the two Needle Type Electrics up for auction any time soon. 

The recording of "I'm Still Caring" features a nice banjo solo by Harry Reser in the same "bubbly" style that he featured on his popular radio program The Clicquot Club Eskimos.  Clicquot Club was a well-known line of carbonated beverages and the company wanted the music on the program it sponsored to be "bubbly" like its product.  Reser's was one of  the more prolific recording bands of the 1920s making records for many different labels under a variety of pseudonyms. 

The Picadilly Players were an in-house Edison studio band led by trumpeter Mel Morris.  "Walking With Susie" is a very catchy song from the film Fox Movietone Follies of 1929.  Sadly, no copies of the film are known to survive.  I really like the vocal on this recording by The Rollickers, a successful 1920s vocal group that also made recordings with other dance bands of the era.

 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 

Capitan Betty (Captain Betty)
Marimba Centro Americana de Guatemala             1917
(Victor 18292-A)

Besame (Kiss Me)
Marimba Centro Americana de Guatemala             1917
(Victor 18292-B)
 

Here is one of the records that I bought at the above mentioned estate sale.  I am a big fan of the old 1910s era marimba band recordings - especially when they play ragtime. 

I have no idea whether or not the band on this record was actually from Guatemala - but it wouldn't at all surprise me if it merely consisted of Victor Talking Machine Co. studio musicians. 

"Captain Betty" was published in 1914 and composed by  "Lionel Baxter" a pen name that composer J.S. Zamecnik sometimes used.   Zamecnik wrote a lot of songs specifically for orchestras that accompanied silent films.  Apparently, "Captain Betty" was one such song - but I have not been able to find out the name of the movie it was written for.

Unfortunately, I do not have any information about "Kiss Me."  Nor do I know whether the song's  Spanish title or the English was the original    Because the song titles on the record are listed in Spanish,  the space on the label usually devoted to composer credits is used to provide the English translation of the titles.   There was a song called "Kiss Me" published in 1916 which was composed by Hugo Felix with lyrics by Anne Caldwell.  But I have no way of  knowing whether or not it is the same song.   Regardless, I think the song featured on this record is very charming. 

---

February 3, 2005
 
 

Lady Butterfly - Medley
The Great White Way Orchestra            1923
(Victor 19035-B)
 

Love Tales
The Great White Way Orchestra            1923
(Victor 19122-B)
 

You Gave Me Your Heart
The Great White Way Orchestra            1922
(Victor 18964-B)
 

When Winter Comes
The Great White Way Orchestra            1922
(Victor 18995-B)
 
 

The Great White Way Orchestra was an early 1920s dance band comprised of Victor Talking Machine Company studio musicians and was directed primarily by Hugo Frey, a pianist who formerly worked for the Joseph C. Smith band. 

"Lady Butterfly Medley" consists of two selections "Wonderful You" and "Sway With Me" from the 1923 musical comedy "Lady Butterfly" which opened at New York's Globe Theatre on January 22, 1923 and ran for 128 performances.  The Globe Theatre's name was changed to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1957 and is still in operation. 

I think "Love Tales" is a pretty tune and I will be keeping my eye out for other versions of it, if they exist.

 
 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 

Gipsy Love
International Concert Orchestra                       1928
(His Master's Voice C1402 mx A27844)
 

Sweetheart
International Concert Orchestra                       1928
(His Master's Voice C1402 mx A27845)
 
 

Here are a couple of nice waltzes from two gypsy-themed Viennese operettas.  Both are from opposite sides of a 12 inch British His Master's Voice disc.

"Gipsy Love" comes from Franz Lehar's operetta Ziguenerliebe which opened January 8, 1910 at Vienna's Carltheater.  The operetta was most successful in its London production which opened under the name Gypsy Love on June 1, 1912 at Daly's Theater where it ran for 299 performances.   The American production of Gypsy Love which opened at New York's Globe Theatre on October 17, 1911 was not successful and closed after only 31 showings. 

 My spelling of the song as "Gipsy Love" reflects the British spelling of "gypsy" as listed on the record label. 

"Sweetheart" is from Johann Strauss' highly successful operetta Der Zigeunerbaron  which opened at Vienna's Theater an der Wien on October 24, 1885.  The operetta's American production under the name The Gypsy Baron opened on February 15, 1886  at New York's Casino Theatre.  The theatre, which was demolished in 1930, was located at 39th Street and Broadway.  The operetta is still occasionally performed. 

I do not have any information about the International Concert Orchestra but I suspect the name is merely a record company pseudonym.  Based on the fact that the record's matrix numbers do not match the standard His Master's Voice numbers, my guess is the recording was probably a European import, possibly from Germany.   If anyone has access to a European discography and can say for sure, I would be interested in knowing. 

Note: A visitor from Canada was kind enough to write me and let me know that he has seen recordings by the International Concert Orchestra relased on Canadian Victor with composer credits given to Nat Shilkret, a music director for the American Victor Talking Machine Co. which was also loosely affiliated with the British His Master's Voice label.