One thing that is truly fascinating about Columbia cylinders from the 1890's is the fact that the beloved staff that we all know is that they all participated in hundreds of little productions of the records. These little productions ranged from vaudeville acts to Minstrel shows, all condensed onto a single cylinder, often coming in a series of five to seven cylinders. These productions are a real mix of fun little acts that are much like hearing a performance on the stage. That's what they wanted to have the listeners hear anyway.
Sometimes, like every old record, little things slip out that can be identified by who's voice or hands(when clapping) are present at the recording session. It's hard to believe, but Hylands' voice was in fact recorded on Columbia cylinders, you would just have to find the right ones(that still exist!). Between jokes and monologues, cheers and claps can be heard on hundreds of Columbia cylinders. This rarely thought of fact was not nearly as relevant on Edison cylinders, as they didn't have the brilliant minds of the Spencer brothers and Russell Hunting on their staff to regulate and spread innovative ideas.
Hylands was almost always the one to get the last clap in on the applauses that they did on the minstrel records he just happen to be on, this can be clearly heard in the one below:
(the piano at the beginning! Damn!)
On the last joke's applause, the last little click! In the background is exactly what I'm talking about. It's Hylands in the back behind them, not really sure of how long the clapping was supposed to go for. These sort of things happened quite a lot with him, as he was in his own little "perch" or nest behind all of the commotion below him.
By the usual angle of the horns, to the piano, you can heard reasonably well the claps from farther behind the loud ones of the singers, crowded around the horns, much like the picture below:
(sorry I keep using this picture...it's so perfect for demonstrating everything!)
From these minstrel records, one can easily hear how their room was set up, as these were recorded smack-dab in the middle of 1898, when the picture above was taken. Here is the other one I have found:
This one is not as fun, but the terrible sound of Columbia's old piano(i.e. refer to picture above!) is very clear on this one, and Len Spencer's announcements are always a treat to hear, but Spencer's speaking in general on this one sounds a little off if ya ask me...(Hylands was probably in the same state as Spencer was on this cylinder, a little tipsy,
as usual).
So those two cylinders were from 1898, probably recorded around the same day in fact! But how about some later examples of Hylands cheering out from his"piano nest". He still had his own little area behind the singers, even if they weren't exactly recording at the same angle as they were in the picture above, but it usually went that way.
Now, I know that I have shared this one before, but this is an extraordinary example of Hylands' Mike Bernard-like tendencies behind singers:
This one is always a go-to for Hylands with me, as it is VERY hard to keep up with his plying behind Quinn, and he's playing in the wonderful key of D-flat.When they all cheer at the last chorus, the voices of Harry Spencer, Len Spencer, Hylands and who knows who else can be heard. If only Hylands' voice could be picked out of the heap easier!
This next one is another fun one by Dan W. Quinn
Well, that's Quinn above, but it's quite a few years before this next record, seven years before in fact!
here you go, a vaudeville sketch by Dan W. Quinn and Fred Hylands(he's the "professor" on this :-D) from 1900:
This one above is a particularly priceless performance, as it's a great old cylinder by Dan Quinn, but you get the whole of the staff in the recording room participating.
And Hylands. Oh! How he's having way too much fun back there! You can hear him laughing back there and clapping his fair and dainty hands, between the jokes and singing.
And from how muffled it is, it is very likely that the "Encore, Encore!!!" at the end is piped by you know who from his little "nest" behind Quinn. And the last clap is always from Hylands. He wanted to be heard, and how he made sure that he was! Even if someone like Dan Quinn was in front of him, and his nest was high up behind the horns.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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