Columbia's crazy staff

Columbia's recording staff prior to 1900 was a real odd mix of oddities. From the Shakespearian actors to the minstrel nuts. Their manager must have been quite a handful to be able to somewhat deal with all of these "weirdos".

that's Columbia's manager for ya. It clearly states his name. 

The funny thing about Emerson is that all of the staff hated him. And since they all shared this hatred, they all could gang up on him when they wanted to do something for him. So to be kind to this reportedly asshole of a manager, they bought him various things on his birthday, invited him to the dinners that they hosted, and just tried to be as polite as possible in his presence. 

he must not have known how the minds of these eccentrics worked, as he was the type of manager who could get involved here and there and wasn't mentioned when he simply wasn't around. 

Columbia's staff had a little bit of everything in say, 1898. 

clearly this can be seen in the images below:

Russell Hunting was Columbia's criminal and monologue expert

"Freddy" Hylands, of course, was their pianist(anyone recognize the costume?)

Len Spencer was their Coon song king /chief recruiter/ trademark announcer

luckily his name is shown here, so Denny was their most vibrant comic song singer

Harry Spencer was their recording engineer/sound effects guy and the invention fanatic

J. W. Myers had several roles at Columbia, but if I could just say one, I would say that he was the record dictator. 

Dan W. Quinn was the older dandy swell and lesser known pianist 

Steve Porter was their rich guy and true progressivist.

with such and odd mix of minds and workings, arguments were almost certain, but a few of them were just too kind to get into such barbaric things. The only ones who would have dealt with literally everyone on Columbia's  staff was not only the manager, Mr. Emerson, but the pianist, Fred. Hylands. 

I hope you enjoyed this!

Studio Rules(the "Loaded" records)

It has been speculated by early records collectors which of the earliest records had the artists a little bit"loaded" if you will on them, it's something that I know has crossed the minds of every record collector. Whether they deny it or not, most of the great recording artists of the 1890s are slightly drunk on most of their records that can be heard to-day. It's a fact, you may just notice it once, or you may be like me who notices it as though it's a pattern(which it was). The few who I notice this the most with is these few:

George Graham

George P. Watson

you all know Mr. Spencer

"Freddy" Hylands

Why these four? Well, George Graham was notorious for getting so drunk at some Berliner sessions that he would collapse onto the floor if not held up. George P. Watson sounds loaded on most of his early Columbia's. Where should I start with Spencer...Well, I know by his deep age lines and gray hairs that he was a drinker, and this can be heard on many of his Columbia's and even a few of his Victors(not many of them though...) Just compare a few of his records with each other and you may notice a few differences, significant ones... Now Hylands is a different story, as I have mentioned him so many times on this blog, he was a sensational pianist don't get me wrong, but if you listen to a different take of the same selection, recorded on the same very day, the piano playing seems to diminish as the takes go along. As this is also especially relevant when Hylands is accompanying Len Spencer, as the two of them were practically made for each other, music wise.  

It is clear from these records where the great artists that all of us record collectors know and love, that rules in the recording studios were very loose and practically invisible. So this means that recording studios allowed drinking, smoking(durr...obviously), and who knows what else! Columbia was particularly the most open in the 1890s and even in the first few years of the twentieth century this tradition still existed(as Arthur Collins can seem a bit off on a few of his columbia records in 1900 to 1903, and Hylands is clearly on piano on those records). I'm sure that being in the recording studio with a loaded Len Spencer and Fred. Hylands must have seemed like a disaster until the music got going, they were so used to the recording process that they could still get it going after two glasses of beer(and that's beer in that time period!) As I'm listening to one of Spencer's Victors as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that his logic must have been something like this: 

"I can't sing in my best coon dialect without a little drink engineer boy."

(he would have know the recording engineer's name, I'm just making a point here) 

Hylands and George P. Waston must have been the same way, as piano players can be pretty messy when they play slightly drunk(I have heard this enough to understand this...) Spencer's(as well as Hylands') time also stutters when they're loaded, as I'm on a different Victor by Spencer at this very moment, and he's more alert and quick-speaking(as that's how he was when he was sober). Hyland must have also been overly-anxious to play his specialty Ragtime when he was loaded, as he was quick and shaky when he played drunk. Here's the way to describe Hylands when he recorded a take pretty "wasted":

he was loose, rough, and willing to play out the ivories. His playing was slurred, hands were extremely anxious, to the point of heavy trembling which caused his fingers to lose their place and his time was broken when a solo was thrown at him. He felt divine, but the recording engineers could only cringe at his horridly audible mistakes. 

that was how I described George W. Johnson's "The Laughing Song" with Hylands on the piano, recorded for Columbia in 1898. There are several records i would like to mention here, but the onely other one i feel that i MUST mention is Blue American record no. 31046. 

Why do I mention this odd records on a rather obscure label? 

well, my dear friend Craig Ventresco played me this American 31046 record one time when I was visiting him, and it was the most awful record I had ever heard! But it was a historic example of a record that must have been accidently issued as the wrong take. This record is the Invincible quartet(Arthur Collins, Byron G. Harlan, George S. Lennox, and Frank C. Stanley) singing(barely) the great old tune "Shame on You" with just horrible piano accompaniment, which to how awful it is, it's probably either Frank Stanley or Byron Harlan. It wasn't very well balanced, and the chorus of the song is so out of tune that it makes ya wonder. All four of them must have been completely wasted...

anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this!

"King of The White Rats"

many of you who follow my blog may be able to guess who this is by the title of the post, but for those who don't know, 

it's Fred. Hylands. 

I titled this post after the name of the actor's union that Hylands became an advocate for in the early teen's. So he was becoming a major performer and musical actor in the late naughts and early teen's. In 1909, he signed a deal with the White Rats Actors' union as they were called who were starting up a new experiment with showing some short films at their performances at the time that Hylands was signed off to them. Apparently, this small community of performers and theatre musicians hosted many of the shows that Fred. and his wife Marie were both performing in. This community must have loved Fred.'s ideas and likings in what should be performed, as they were the main people who kept him employed for the last few years of his rather short life. 

From what I've read, the White Rats Actor's union did the funeral services for him when he died in late 1913. I'm sure that Fred.'s old friends like Len Spencer and Vess L. Ossman probably attended the funeral as well, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. 

And speaking of this, my dear friend Marty Eggers(who is on tour at the moment) called me in the car last night and we started chatting about this whole Hylands thing, as he is one of the people who had helped me with all of this stuff, so we get to the cause of Hylands' death and so forth, and Marty says to me,
"Heh, you're probably going to set some flowers on his grave someday. Ha, and maybe play piano at the place." 

It was more of a joke, but that got me thinking...

hmmm....

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Daniel W. Quinn (1860-1938),Columbia's dandy

Daniel W. Quinn was born in New York in 1860, Quinn never stated his exact age(all due to his vanity...). So according to one of his living descendants, the family moved to San Francisco around c.1865-67 and they lived there until the late-1870's, then back they went to New York.  So he was not very well trained as a singer, as the only training he seemed to have had was when he was a boy in the local church choir. After his childhood, he still held on to the desire to perform and play the piano. Quinn married his wife of 55 years, Mary Jane Ritchie in 1883 and they went on to have five children. Here's a kind of odd thing, his youngest child, who was born in 1901 was named after Edison's beloved house pianist of the late 1890's Frank P. Banta, so his name was Frank Banta Quinn, what d'ye think of that? 

Apparently to Quinn's letter's to Jim Walsh in the 1930's,  Quinn first became a recording artist completely by accident in 1892, as he was just engaged to entertain a sort of board meeting in Hoboken, but one of the members brought one of these new-fangled phonographs to joke around and record some novelties. But to their surprise, Quinn's voices recorded rather well, even if they thought of it just as a joke to dare him to record something. 

Not long after this "mistake", the boys who dared him recommended him to the few phonograph companies in the area. 

He was an immediate hit. 

The recording managers loved him, his dandyish personality, his piano playing, dedication to all kinds of music, and of course, his voice. 

Even though his singing wasn't the best, it makes him more authentic as a slightly amateur singer. He was apparently a great sight-reader, and learned literally everything, whether he liked it or not. Which he said that many of his fellow recording artists were not the best sight-readers(such as J. W. Myers and George J. Gaskin). Quinn is always an interesting character to fathom to me, as in all of the SEVERAL pictures that are out there of him, he always looks perfect, even in his old age he had the same look to him:

always had a perfect face, flawless hair, and all of these factors literally display his vanity. He was nothing like Len Spencer on his opinion of his looks, Spencer hadn't the time to bother with such things, which is why he always looked rough in all those picture of him(I'm sure that they had a little of "cleaning up" to do with Spencer even...) He was a part of Columbia's elite staff, but he was also an independent, as a booking agent and performer, he wasn't like the many of his fellow in recording who joined forces to create these many small businesses.

Dan Quinn is often considered one of the "Big Three"in recordings of the 1890's, when these three are listed, Quinn's name is most often listed second.

*this post is dedicated to the few descendants of Mr. Dan W. Quinn, which I know that there are some out there*

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Columbia's beloved pianist(part 2)

"Freddy" Hylands

(from author's own art) 

we are again with the part 2 of the post from yesterday. So to pick up from yesterday, Hylands was still on good terms with Len Spencer and Harry W. Yeager, and he was still Columbia's busy pianist. 

1900 was, however, the year that his firm Hylands, Spencer, and Yeager folded, for only a single reason: Len Spencer couldn't fully commit himself to the business. 

Typical Len Spencer, he got himself into as many profitable things as possible, and if the venture wasn't constantly creative, he would just leave it behind altogether. 

Hylands must have gotten really pissed off at Spencer when he had had enough of him not wholly committing, as the drawing above(by the author) represents. 

He still remained Columbia's pianist, still playing behind the banjo players, singers, and even in the famed Columbia orchestra where Harry Spencer did the announcements. So on the records by the columbia orchestra where they sing or shout things, it's the band doing this---with Hylands' voice somewhere in the heap of voices.

Hylands didn't write another tune until 1904 because he was still committed to the boys at Columbia, and that was the year that he was believed to have ceased the position of house pianist. It must have been a sad good bye for the many early singers who still were prominent at Columbia. I'm sure that Hylands still was a distant friend of Spencer's after his time at Columbia, as Spencer became more prominent in the city of New York as the years went on. Spencer must have booked hims for a show here and there. And he must have heard word of Hylands' death in 1913, which I'm sure he paid his dues to him. 

After his rather long venture in recording, Hylands became more of a theatre personality, and continued that inspiration that Len Spencer had most likely given him to explore all the fields and media of the entertainment business, from performance to film making. 

He was just as busy as the men he dealt with at Columbia after 1904, performing, publishing, writing musicals, and managing shows here and there. 

The recording business really inspired Hylands to expand into all the fields of entertainment that existed in that time, all thanks to this wild mix of eccentrics like Len Spencer, Dan W. Quinn, J. W. Myers, and Roger harding. 

I hope you enjoyed this!

Columbia's beloved pianist(part 1)

"The Indiana Ragtimer" (author's art, set in c.1899)

Frederick Hylands, a person I only guessed about a year and a half ago, now I know as much as there is out there about this pianist. He was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in February of 1872 to parents who had rather typical occupations in this time period. His father was a railroad engineer, and his mother a loving housewife. He and his sister Ethel(born in 1875 in Ohio) were both musically gifted from a very young age. Hylands had the most amazing ear that his parents must have noticed when he was only a toddler. He and his younger sister travelled around the midwest in the late 1870's and 1880s as the "Infant Prodigies" on the piano and in musicals. To add to Fred's early genius, he compiled and arranged his own musical when he was only 15(this was in 1887). 

As his success expanded, so did his father's ideas, his father, Charles, opened a grocery store/saloon also around 1887. This was another way to add to Hylands' early Ragtime oriented background. As primitive forms or Ragtime existed in the late 1880's and early 1890's, young Fred most likely heard many itinerant pianists(black and white pianists!) who played this new, catchy type of music. As well as the common popular music of the day. 

By 1893, his family had moved to Chicago where the big world's fair was happening. This was another way for Fred. to get some more ragtime background by hearing this type of music where is was apparently first introduced. He likely, also while living in chicago, ran into performers Silas Leachman and W. H. Krell. If Hylands ever ran into Leachman, he must have been fascinated with how he recorded his own records and his documented wonderful performances in blackface. Leachman may have been a influence on Hylands, as he was a popular recording artist, as a pianist and singer, so this idea must have sparked some early interest in the phonograph for Hylands. In 1895, he married and English actress and performer named Maria Stevens with whom he often performed with many times.

By 1897, he was in New York working for the same vaudeville troupe that the famous Mike Bernard was known for being the pianist for. This must have created an odd atmosphere in the stages they played at, seriously! Two master pianists who were all in to the Ragtime fad, and they were both in early, by that I mean 1895. While working at this stage, he also must have run into the famous "Creator of Ragtime " Ben R. Harney, who was also an occasional member of this troupe. The Ragtime was in his blood by this time. Then not long after he reached the east coast, Len Spencer must have heard him play somewhere in New York. At first meeting Hylands, it must have been an awkward, but perfect encounter, as the two were like two peas in a pod(when they worked together that is). Len must have given him that look notorious with him...

Hylands must have been welcomed to Columbia's staff in the best possible way, as they always loved him. And he never seemed cause any problems(unless he was loaded...). He was well-loved and respected by all the staff at Columbia, even their supposedly awful manager(Victor H. Emerson). He must have gone after every new Rag, even  the tunes like "Mississippi Rag" "Rag Medley" "Maple Leaf Rag" "Hello My Baby" "The Pride of Bucktown" etc. and played the tunes for his friends. 

After all was well for a while with Hylands at Columbia for about a year or so, his fellow staff members began to mess with him here and there, working him till his hands were in pain. It has been documented that J. W. Myers did this sort of thing the most(that section's proof is in another previous post). 

J. W. Myers, the man who worked the hell out of Hylands, and made a joke of it. 

(you suck for that Myers!) 

Hylands worked almost every day at the columbia studio, playing for alternating artists, playing for as long as seven hours a day and sometimes leaving hastily for a performance. But oh how his money piled up from this! This was truly a profitable business, especially by pairing up the two, recording and performing. 

By 1899, he was well known as Columbia's house pianist, and played all sorts of engagements that the staff organized all over the eastern United states. He was also likely a part of Len Spencer's minstrels(first installment) who actually got gigs and performed all over the place as a minstrel troupe. Hylands was likely Spencer's pianist and most likely played in blackface. He also must have done sketches onstage with Spencer. 

somewhat hard to imagine him in blackface...

(It's Spencer by the way) 

As well as all of these other mentioned things, Spencer promised Hylands that he would commit himself to a publishing firm in March of 1899, this is where the firm that's notorious in my Blog: 

Hylands, Spencer and Yeager

This firm sounded like a wonderful idea in combining recording, booking, and performances all into one at first, but it seems that it did not stay that way. As Spencer and Yeager were very busy booking the minstrels and recording, they couldn't fully dedicate themselves to this venture. Spencer occasionally brought in some great new ideas and performers to endorse(such as Byron G Harlan and Ada Jones...yes! Ada Jones!). So in considering this, Hylands did most of the real publishing work. I'm sure that he must have gotten "pissed" at them for not showing up on many of the business days that they had, as The Phonoscope said that they were open every day. 

This somewhat bust of a publishing firm was completely dissolved by the middle of the next year, 1900. It must have been an interesting scene when Hylands probably yelled at Spencer for not committing himself to the big and rather expensive venture. But that is typical Len Spencer for ya. He would commit himself to something for a time, but if the commitment wasn't repeatedly stimulating and creative, he would just leave it behind. If he couldn't continue to work, he wouldn't find any use in it. 

Hylands was still on good terms with everyone at Columbia, even after 1900. he still came in to record almost everyday, keeping his profits up, and his hands working the ivories. 

Part 2 comes to-morrow

I hope you enjoyed this!

Len's invention, 1899

I wonder if anyone can find the original patent for this?

Anyhow, finding this little thing in The Phonoscope, was pretty surprising to me, I didn't know that Spencer was an inventor before I found this. So this machine must have been really interesting to fathom, it's not particularly a sound+ film machine, and it's not just a coin phonograph, so i don't know what to call it. But it's nothing short of genius, and nothing different for Spencer I'm sure. The boys at Columbia must have had a great time with Spencer when he unveiled this thing(this will be a scene in my novel by the way!). He must have had to explain the rather odd concept of this machine, which to what it described in the section above, I think that this picture below kind of represents it: 

(the guy kinda looks like Steve Porter!)

But like I always do, I also did a piece of art to represent the thing, with its inventor of course! 

pretty similar heh? 

Alright, so Spencer must have had some real inspiration to make up this oddity. What i'm wondering is if any of these machines survive to tis date(which I slightly doubt). But this whole inventor thing wasn't uncommon among these eccentric recording artists, as Steve Porter was an inventor, but was in the 1920's. Spencer must have wanted to improve the process of the "Phonograph Parlors", so he must have taken apart a machine and figured out how to make something better of it. And after experimenting with this, Len and brother Harry must have also experimented with early sound film, as Harry had lots of experience in the film business and all of it's gadgets. And Len could fit things together and take them apart if needed. And if the boys at Columbia ever put a major film event together, you bet that Hylands would be playing the piano, and the Spencer brothers would be operating the sounds effects!(also planning to have this scene in my novel)

I hope you enjoyed this! 

George J. Gaskin (1863-1920)

"The Tobacco Chewing Tenor", Mr. George J. Gaskin.
heh, before I found this picture of him, I didn't realize that after 1900 he was slightly on the heavier side, never coulda' guessed!

As Gaskin's birthday was a few days ago I though I should do a post on him. Now, Gaskin has never really been one of my top ten, but he's one of the "big three" of the 1890's, who are often listed as George J. Gaskin, Dan W. Quinn and Len Spencer(and in that very order as well). He made the most records of any of the singers of the 1890's, his record count goes well over a thousand, and he was just as busy as the other two of the three, but his devotion to this business didn't kill him(like Len Spencer). Even though he could have lived longer,(he died in 1920) I'm sure if he didn't have the "Jones" for tobacco, I'm sure he would have lived at least as long as Dan Quinn. 

Gaskin was a typical Irishman of his day, but he was from a little more of a middle class Irish family, as the Irish were often treated as horribly as the blacks in the 1880's and 90's. Gaskin was not just a recording artist, as to a few obscure accounts, he was a skilled carpenter aside from his duties as a recording artist. And he said himself that if the phonograph had not been invented, that's what he'd be doing, back in Ireland, as he was born there.
Gaskin was the type of man who indulged himself in the sporting life of the 1890's, similar to Len Spencer and Russell Hunting(but Hunting was wise about it) As you can see in comparing the picture of Gaskin above to the one below:

he looks like almost a different person in this one compared to the other one from a little after 1900. The one directly above sees him as more of a small and slightly meek-looking tenor. The one directly above is from 1896.
And the first picture sees him as a big and powerful man, much like Hylands or Spencer. And it's only about five years of a difference of these two pictures, and he seemed to have changed quite a good amount in that relatively short time.
Gaskin was mostly known for singing Irish songs, but he was also a minstrel performer(not the best mimic if ya ask me...) as he recorded several of George Evans' tunes(often known as George "Honey Boy" Evans) in the late 1890's, but after 1900, Gaskin's recording was less frequent, he was still recording, but not nearly as much as he was in 1897. Even when he disappeared from the recording business by 1906, he must have still been in Vaudeville, possibly picking up work from the several friends of his who were booking agents. By this time, Gaskin had mounds of money, so he hadn't much to worry about. he did attempt to record a few things in 1915 and 1916 however, but these records are very obscure and didn't really get very far. So as I've said, he died not much longer after these records were sold, so he certainly could have lived longer than he did. That's what becomes of the sporting life, in our current times and in the latter part of the 19th century as well, Gaskin was one of the many victims of this sporting life and dirty business that he got himself into.

I hope you enjoyed this!

Len and "Harry" Spencer

I know that all of you know about Len Spencer. BUT how many of you know about his younger brother Harry? I would assume that a few of you have heard that name come up before if you're an early record geek like me. Harry(his real name was Henry) Spencer was seven years younger than Len, born in 1875, he came in a bit later to the recording business. He recorded mostly recitations, and occasionally recorded with his brother. Harry had more of a dramatic flair in his blood, rather than the minstrelsy that Len had. I have not yet seen a photograph of Harry, but I know that there is one out there.

Here's the two brothers:

Len 

and brother Harry(kind of)

(from my own artwork)

For YEARS, I couldn't tell the difference between Len and Harry's voices, because, at first hearing them, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. But one of my kind friends told me how one can tell them apart, even if it's just one of them. So what my friend told me was that Harry had a deeper voice and a thicker dialect(which was a mix of a bunch of things, so I'm not sure what to call it...) like Len's, and also on the few records where he announces for the Columbia orchestra is a black dialect, his laugh and mimicry is very much different than Len's, one is listed below:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/7000/7105/cusb-cyl7105d.mp3

another example of Harry's voice(a better one in my opinion) is listed below, a slightly haunting record to my mind(recorded in 1898):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/11000/11735/cusb-cyl11735d.mp3

(Len is probably doing some of the other voices on this one)

Harry was not as popular as a recoding artist as Len, but he certainly had more of a broad spectrum of the film business and the machinery that goes with the phonograph. He was a wild soul just like Len, and he was more than likely to have had syphilis, as he was reported to have gone "mad" later in his life(though, he did live a whole lot longer than Len, hmm...). 

In the late 1890's, Harry was a purchasing agent of the various gadgets and latest inventions on the market, he was advertised several times in The Phonoscope in 1897 and 1898:

this proves the whole "broad spectrum" thing I mentioned earlier. Interesting to see that the Kinetoscope is mentioned here...

Harry had always kind of been trailing behind his big and beloved brother Len, and I have the feeling that this sort of thing must have been so when they were growing up together. As Len was the oldest child, he was the most loved and independent, so Harry as the youngest child, must have gotten a heap of attention, but was treated a little differently. 

They were both wild men, but Len always beats Harry by a mile in every aspect of their craziness. Len got all the women, drugs, and more of the money to be had. 

Harry got the more severe type A mess, the real eccentric mind-set, and the madness. 

Considering these points, I don't know who to go for.

Henry C. Spencer Jr. 

(February 14, 1875-August 29, 1943)

I hope you enjoyed this! 

"The King of Coon Shouters"

some of you may know who I mean by the title of this post. But some may not, so to be fair, I will say that I mean Silas F. Leachman. Leachman's records are always very fun to listen to, no matter which one it happens to be. This is the only known photograph of Mr. Silas Leachman:

This is most likely from the 1890's

(sorry it's so small...)

He's s true "hillbilly", he's got the name for it, and he's from rural Kentucky. His records are so few, but each one is a treasure, I have one myself, and I absolutely love it! He was a "one man show" as some would say, as in the 1890's by playing piano, singing and running the machines all at once, recording thousands of  brown wax cylinders, and made his living off of selling these records to the Chicago Talking machine Company. He did this from 1892 to about 1900. From 1900 until 1904, he made his famous wonderful Victor records, which are all wonderful and rare! (The piano on many of them sounds like Freddy Hylands by the way!) He often took from fellow recording artists(who he didn't associate with) like Arthur Collins and Len Spencer, which is clear by him doing the things that they were known for doing differently on their records. So by hearing this, he must have not been able to read music very well, if at all. Also because he often improvised lyrics and/or mixed them up several times of records. I would assume(as I'm listening to records by Leachman as I'm writing this) that when Hylands was on the piano on his Victors, that he helped him with the music for it, as Hylands was much more of a master at reading music and transposing the music to different keys and improvising the hell out of tunes! 

It must have been fascinating to see Leachman sing with the accompaniment of Hylands, as they were two musical geniuses together to play out to the solemn recording horn and engineers that ran the sessions; The one that i'm listening to as I'm writing this very sentence os a great example of their occasional partnership at Victor and how well it worked: 

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000582/Pre-matrix_B-1129-Quit_that_tickling_me

Hylands misses a few notes in the left hand if you listen to it close enough. 

It has been said that Leachman was such a musical genius that it you played a record for him(even a brown cylinder!) he could play the entire accompaniment of the record exactly! He had the most extraordinary perfect pitch, that's basically what that means. But he couldn't read the music. So i'm sure when he was new at Victor and Hylands was his pianist for the day, he must have set the music in his hands and wanted him to sight read it, but Leachman must have told Hylands something like:

"I'm sorry Fred'rick, I can't read this."

I'm sure that that sort of thing must have angered Fred. at first, but then again, two musical geniuses can work things out, doesn't matter what the circumstances are. I have heard alternate takes of the same records by Leachman, and every alternate take is different, the singer, and the pianist(making the possibility of Hylands even stronger). Leachman's records are always very desirable by record collectors, and especially his home recorded brown cylinders. Even though he made thousands of them, only less than 100 have survived to this date, and one is lucky enough to hear a single one. (I have heard two of them)

I hope you enjoyed this! 

"Digging up the dirt"

My dear friend Cliff Kennedy said to me at the West Coast Ragtime Festival last year that I could be the next Jim Walsh(which in itself is possible, as I'm working that way already), but he said that i'm doing one thing that Walsh refused to do as sticking to is old-fashioned ways, 

"Digging up the dirt"

Some of you may not entirely know what he meant by this, but what this means is that I'm finding all the more negative points about these recording artists, making them true human beings in the history written down of them. I'm sure most of them wouldn't like me doing this, but i'm making their lives more complete, with all their faults and with all the details the record researchers shied away from. I'm finding their flaws, their eccentricities, habits(good and bad), and personal information that wasn't previously known. 

Here's some of the notes I have made of this "dirt"and who it belongs to:

Len Spencer(I have the most "dirt" about him):

-married three times, in 1885, 1892 and 1895

-had five children(possibly others)

-possibly a heavy drinker or alcoholic

-possibly also a smoker

(mind you, this last one is only a theory that my friend Craig and I have discussed SEVERAL times before, and I'm sure it's been a rumour since the time period itself, it was probably passed down in various unknown ways)

-most likely had Syphilis(not sure if is was hereditary) 

Dan W. Quinn:

-married in 1882 

-had five children

-very likely a drinker

-notorious occasional asshole in the recording studio

-highly racist and/or offensive to the few black recording artists there were in this time

-a "dandy" in his time period 

Vess L. Ossman: 

-married in 1890

-had more than four children(exact number is unknown)

-notorious for having a HORRIBLE temper for small things 

-also a notorious asshole, but this time when it came to money

-it was been said that is was bad luck to be in the studio when he broke a banjo string

-treated the Dudley brothers(George and "Audley") awfully and didn't keep them working when they needed it

So this is only a fraction of all of the "Dirt" I've dug up about these performers/recording artists, I have found at least one thing negative about everyone in my catalogue, whether it be a performer like DeWolf Hopper or a recording artist like Byron G. Harlan i've got em all covered! If there's any recording artist in particular you're curious about, DO ask me! I will take your questions. 
*I cannot thank Tom Hawthorn and Cliff Kennedy for all they've done to help me, thank you guys!*

I hope you've enjoyed this!

Steve Porter's recreation time

 There were several little things in The Phonoscope that hint at the seemingly elaborate recreational life that early recording artist and innovator Steve Porter(1862 or 1864-1936) had outside of the recording studio, which not only was his time, it was a chance to invite his fellow recording artists for the "'phone's"(as George J. Gaskin once called them) to his summer home which was said to have been at Coney Island in the late-1890's. He really only invited the obvious suspects of the Columbia phonograph company. Here's a picture of Mr. Porter when he was at the beginning of his recording career around 1897:

(This image was from a Berliner catalog from about 1898)

The sort of "usual suspects" he invited would have included:

"Vic" Emerson(Columbia's manager), Dan W. Quinn, Len and "Harry"Spencer, Vess L. Ossman, George J. Gaskin, "Freddy" Hylands, Russell Hunting, Billy Golden, Roger Harding, J. W. Myers, George P. Watson, and maybe George Graham 

Here are the two best examples of this odd blunder from The Phonoscope: 

(From the July 1898 issue of you know what)

(From the August 1899 issue of you know what)

Interesting thing to think here. Porter moved to Dyker Heights at Coney Island in 1899, and around 1904, it has been documented that Len Spencer moved there as well, hmm....

Must have been an expensive place to live. (much like it is in San Francisco to-day) Clearly with all of these pricey pastimes, I have come to think that Steve Porter may have been one of the few of these early recording artists to have been born into high wealth and status. This was unusual, as a majority of them were either immigrants or from the midwest or south, and had to work for years at several jobs before the recoding companies took them in in the 90's. 

Steve Porter had that same sort of odd workings as Len Spencer and Fred. Hylands had, in the fact that they wanted to experiment with every new thing that came about, even film making. But Porter seemed to have been a little more civilized about the whole thing, and he didn't over work himself either. And he probably wasn't an Alcoholic, like a few of his fellow recording artists, and I'm not calling out who they most likely were... YET!

The "dirt" as my dear friend Cliff Kennedy calls it will be revealed in another post. 

I hope you enjoyed this!

Frederic or Frederick?

It has long made me curious and kicked up lots of arguments about how Fred. Hylands' first name was actually spelled, as in The Phonoscope it's spelled "Frederic", but on all the census records and virtually everything else that has been documented on him, it's spelled "Frederick". So it could just be a typical census mistake that they don't spell his name correctly, because who knows, his wife Maria and his Father could only have been home when the census taker came to their door(it's likely that this is the case). Here's some picture  to show the confusion here:

(from the July 1898 issue of The Phonoscope)

his name spelled "Frederic" 

(1900 census)

According to this, he lived with his father Charles, who was still at this time a Railroad engineer, and his British wife Maria who was an actress. His name is spelled "Frederick" here. Interesting mix if ya ask me...

(1910 census) 

he lived alone in 1910, as a free boarder in a boardinghouse full of eccentric theatre people, but he's the only musician of out the heap. 

The only reason that this rather small thing has kicked up several arguments with me is because he seems to have more of an English background, which would fully apply to the "Frederick"spelling of his name, but his own buddies in The Phonoscope have his name spelled as though it has more of a Germanic flair to it, rather than English. 

(From a piece of my own art work of Hylands)

I have the feeling that Hylands may be a bit German, was he looks slightly like W. H. Krell(composer of "Mississippi Rag", 1897) who was a solely German brass music man.

(W. H. Krell, the German brass boy of Chicago)

 And occasionally on some cylinders he's on(when the song is a waltz) he throws in some of the random "Viennese hesitation"in the waltz tempo, and for those of you who know what I mean here, you will find this very fascinating  to hear. Here is one example that you can clearly hear it: http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/6000/6707/cusb-cyl6707d.mp3

really try to follow along with his tempo here, sounds a bit hesitant and broken, somewhat similar to the Viennese in the time period and decades before, as this song was from the 1870's.

Among the millions of things he must have picked up on his journeys around the country as a child and teenager, he may have heard this sort of thing as heard in the link above, as well as early styles of "Rags" as the word was reportedly used as early as the 1880's(in this context) in the area around Kansas city. 

"Frederic" Hylands must have been playing  at these early "Rag Times" at boardinghouses in the midwest as early as 1888 or 1890. It's very likely, and his advanced but rough touch on the piano, especially when it comes to Ragtime, proves this obscure point. 

I hope you all enjoy my "Rant" of some sort!

A Big Birthday!

I think a few of you may know who's birthday it is to-day!

That's right! It's Leonard G. Spencer's 148th birthday! Born in 1867!
He would be flattered to know that there are still people who remember and appreciate his recordings and accomplishments a hundred years after his death. He did a whole lot more than most people credit him for, he was really one of the first musical business entrepreneurs. Aside from a recording artist, he was all of these things:
an inventor, minstrel man, minstrel troupe manager, dramatic performer, elocutionist, amateur film-maker, record salesman, author, pianist, arranger, recording engineer, FreeMason(also a member of several other groups similar to this)
This is all I can remember at the moment, but there were a few more things I would put here, but i cannot pull them out of my brain. He certainly was the most broad of all the earliest earliest recording artists, in the fact that he had very progressive ideas, and in many different fields, from business, to art, to politics. He was quite a ladies' man, always having the best of luck with the women, even if his first wife died only a few years after they married in 1885(yes, 1885, he was only 18!), he was single for a year after her death, so that must have been an interesting year...
He came from the most interesting background of all the early recording artists, as I have explained on this blog previously, his parents must have forced the best possible education on the three Spencer children. And yes, Len DID have a younger sister! And most old record collectors know of Len's younger brother "Harry" Spencer who was also a somewhat prominent recording artist, who just followed along behind Len in the recording business, and found that the amount of "pies" Len had his fingers in was enough, after Len died in 1914, Harry ran the business he kept at the time, and couldn't understand how he could handle the amount of work he had, it was just too much a single person could take.
After his first wife died in 1891(Margaret Agnes Kaiser), he remarried a nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Norris in 1892, and apparently, they were separated until about 1895, where shortly after they legally remarried, they had their first child together. Here's a list of Spencer's children, who were all girls by the way!:
Sara Allen Spencer(1887-1891)
Myrtle Lincoln Spencer Allen(1895-1921)
Constance Spencer (c.1896-98)
Ethel Leonora Spencer Yarbray(1898-1981)
Clara Barton Spencer(1902-1965)

Lucky man! he lived in a household with all women!
He was such a busy man in the recording studio, so he reportedly didn't see his family too often, but he did move them all a few times from Washington to Coney Island. Ethel Spencer reported most of the information that is known to-day about Spencer to Jim Walsh in the 1940's, but she didn't dare to say the negative things that she would have seen in Len when she was a child, as it was a societal custom not to release negative information about a prominent member of any community, but i'm sure that she told Walsh pretty much everything, even some negative points. The negative points that she told Walsh were not written down due to his old styled ways of not releasing negative information.
To how aged and "beat up" his face looks in the few photographs of him, it looks very much like he was a smoker, and it has been documented that he was some drinker. he must have also at least tried out the drugs that were "in" at this time period as well, not to just be purely negative here...

But he is an interesting character to fathom, rather "freakishly large"(as my father calls him and Fred. Hylands) at about 6 foot two or three, and at around 250 pounds in 1899(Thank you Phonoscope!), with a practically colourless complexion always white as snow, long hands and fingers, wild hair black as jet with strands of pure gray and white, a perfect dandy figure, thick and dark black eyebrows, and of course, had the most deep and mesmerizing blue-green eyes, which a single look from him was said to have been like a hit to the face.
His female-oriented energy must have been a somewhat awkward "vibe" that many of his friends in the recording business must have found VERY unusual, those like George J. Gaskin or J. W. Myers must have treated him as a friend, but also a a major eccentric, as he could be identified as that in his day. They all knew it. But they couldn't boss him around, he was the type that had to get his way, or he would be PISSED!
Hey if, I were one of his fellows, I would be somewhat afraid of him, but also very kind and friendly to him.

He was a true wild gentleman who will never be forgotten, as long as music is in existence. 
His baritone voice shall live on forever.
(even with all his negativities) 

I hope you all enjoyed this!

Len Spencer's odd connections

I'm sure that all of you will know who these two significant people are, in case you can't pull out the names at the moment, the top one is the United States' 20th president James A. Garfield, and the lower is the great nurse, and early suffragette Clara Barton. You may be wondering why I have these two prominent historical figures pictured here, and why that is, is because I will speak of the connections that the prominent Spencer family had to these two greats. 

Len Spencer came from the most interesting---and complicated background of all the earliest recording artists. It's a fact. He grew up in a family of intellect, earnestness, and very strong women. His mother was an early domineering woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted, even if it meant being shunned by everyone in the city of Washington. And his aunts and uncles were young in the civil war era, also with women who became professors of law(can you believe that!).

Len's mother even addressed the republican national convention in June of 1871 with this statement:

"the right to use the ballot inheres in the citizens of the United States."

She was referring to the fact that she had tried to send in her vote for the next election, and failed due to the law at the time, furious, she stated this, saying the truth, and that there was not a reason why women shouldn't be able to cast their votes. After she led this movement(which some 75 women were involved in) she became the operator of the red cross in the city of Washington from 1877 to 1882, thus, the strong connection to Clara Barton, which I'm sure Len met her when a teenager, and possibly some times after that. Len also named his youngest girl(born in 1902) after Clara Barton.

    Len's middle name is Garfield for a reason.

    When James Garfield was the governor of Ohio, he became well acquainted with the old Ohio family which was the Spencer's. And after Henry(Len's father) and Sara first child was born in 1867, Garfield was rumored to have become Len's godfather. So in this somewhat odd connection, Garfield must have held the baby Leonard and coddled him at some early point(CRAZY thought huh!).

Quite a while ago, I drew this picture to illustrate the idea on paper:

Len's uncles were all Civil war veterans who survived well into his rather short lifetime, so it must have been interesting for him when he was in his youth, because Len may have been somewhat "rebellious" teenager, if you ask me, as he went into a completely different field that not a single member of his family was in at the time of his upbringing, and even prior to his birth. I'm sure that his parents thought his unusual talent(for the family anyway...) was great, as they let him try his hand at performing and singing when he was young, and he must have found that idea much better than becoming a college principal, or a law professor(though, he DID have the mindset and looks for it...). 

Even if he did try that out as a student teacher in his late teen's and early twenties, he must have found that unenjoyable for him, even as he was a young married man at the time. I do think it's interesting that he became a student teacher at such a young age, then again, he must have been very bright as a child, as that seemed to have run in the family. Len must have been very complicated as a youth, as on one end you have his refined and intelligence, and on the other you have his rather sinful and somewhat rebellious means. He must have realized he was meant to be a progressive at a young age, and the inventive and curiosity hit him early when the phonograph came on the scene fully in 1886, he wanted to find a new thing to excel at(as I'm sure he got bored with certain things quickly when he was a younger man), and this "thing" was the Phonograph! Officially adding a venture that had never before seen in the Great Spencer clan! 

I hope you all enjoyed this great history!

"Burt" Shepard

(This picture of Mr. Shepard was taken in c.1889-92)

        Most of my record collector friends will fully recognize this name suggested in the title. "Burt" Shepard as he was called, though I'm sure that "Burt" was shorter for something else, but to this date is unknown. He refused to release the information of his birth, so the date that is usually sourced is only a guess, and that year is said to be 1853 or 1854(though most sources say 1854). He may have been from the mid-west or the south, as he began his long performance career in New Orleans in 1874, which upon hearing that, I became a little suspicious... Anyhow, Shepard started off as a female impersonator as his first standing role in the 1870's. He seemed to carry that queer talent into his days in recording for Victor. if you want to hear some of his fantastic records, here you go:

http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1908/

          He made several other records, not just for Victor, but it's preceding company as well, Berliner. Starting as early as 1898. He began recording for Berliner on his London tour in 1898. It is said that he toured in minstrel companies to Paris, South Africa and even Australia. He joined several minstrel companies in the 1880's, and in 1892, he had one of his own. He was already well known by the time Victor decided to record him in 1901, both as a pianist, and parody singer. It is believed that Mr. Shepard may be playing his own piano accompaniment on at least a few of the Victors he recorded, which to what has been documented about him, is indeed very likely. 

            After his Victor years were done by 1906, not much has been documented about what he did from there, but it's likely that he performed for at least a few more years afterward. All that has really been said is that he died in 1913, and that year HAS been confirmed. 

            His relatively few records are highly desirable to early record collectors, and even alternate takes of the same records by Shepard are also highly collected. I haven't any of my own, but I have friends that have almost all of his records, even the issued alternate takes of each. 

I hope you all enjoyed this!

toying around with pictures

I discovered something new to-day that can help me "clean up" these wonderful rare images I have buried in my computer.
I have been having so much fun "cleaning up" these images! I wanted to showcase a handful of them with the originals. If anyone is a collector or making a youtube video, you may use these.

this is the original of this:

After my clean up: 

Original image: 

It is a great picture though, I did think it was a little bit faded, however.

here's the clean up of it:

This picture of Byron G. Harlan was taken around 1917.

(This one cleaned up VERY nicely!)

this next one is another picture of Edward M. Favor, this one was taken in c.1893

original image:

cleaned up:

(it looks unreal!)

the next one is an image that most record collectors have seen before, of Len Spencer that is. 

Look at how it looks after I"worked" on it!

Original image: 

cleaned up:

really brings out his black hair, and strands of gray. 

The next one is again a picture of Mr. Spencer, and it's one that all you have seen before if you somewhat follow my blog.

here's the original:

the clean up:

it looks sharper, not faded, and his eyes look even more menacing!

the next one is also a picture I have used before, but I seriously thought that it could be fixed and look great, so here's it.

Original:

cleaned up:

I made it look more to Mr. Quinn's liking, I'm sure he would like it more. 

This next one is one that you've all seen before, but looked somewhat better after I did some work on it. 

original:

cleaned up:

it now looks like it came from the cover of sheet music!

(that may be what it's from, but i'm unsure...)

the next one is Dan W. Quinn again, but a good one!

original:

clean up:

it just outlines his face better, and I prefer that these pictures look like they came from sheet music or newspapers, just my own opinion. 

the last one involves a character I have not mentioned on this blog before, Mr. Frank S. Mazziotta, who was one of Columbia and Edison's few piccolo players, in their house orchestras. 

original(from a page from The Phonoscope):

cleaned up:

this one looks fantastic! I couldn't believe how it looked after I fixed it. 

I did dozens more, but I do not wan to hog up the entire page with this one post, so this is all I want to show for now. I may do some more later. 

Do Tell me which one you think cleaned up the best!

I hope all a' ya enjoyed these!