Long before "Vic" Emerson became the ruler of Columbia's wild crowd of a staff, Columbia was the building in the picture above. Tall, slim, with not much to show off. In 1888, the Columbia Phonograph Company was officially founded, after being a disbanded group of inventors for two previous years, they at last got together. Once they did, they had to find a way to make and sell their records reasonably. They didn't need to go out and search around for the first of their devoted employees:
He came to them, they didn't come to him. He had been fascinated with the recording device that was the phonograph since its creation in 1877. And when Columbia came to town in 1888, Len was just bound to go and experiment with the stuff that they sold. They didn't know what to do with him at first, as he was a very ambitious young teacher who had lots of money, a wife, and a baby girl at home. So he was just like any of the founders of the company, only that he was younger. Spencer was a very odd character to fit into their staff, as they had not yet met anyone who was willing to do so many jobs at once and create so many new ideas. They had no reason to just not take him in, so they did, but kept him as a clean up boy and an "amateur" salesman. He wasn't amateur at selling the records however, he just had the natural talent for doing it.
They didn't have him record for them for a little while after they hired him, it took until late-1889 to decide to record him. To their surprise, his seemingly loud and deep voice recorded very well with the very primitive machines.
The only way to record Spencer was this way:
(This section comes from the reminiscences of and older founding member of Columbia Frank Dorian written down by Jim Walsh)
This process was a very rough and tiring one for Spencer, especially because this was before he bulked up like Fred Hylands(Thank you Phonoscope!) ten years later. Spencer was tall and stringy-looking when Columbia first took him in. Much like his brother Harry Spencer was.
Columbia was still a small business by 1890 and 1891, as it only had the Marine band come in and record occasionally, such as the very rare and amazing cylinder listed below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxgSRbgHWzQ
The amazing cylinder above is indeed a Columbia cylinder, but I am at a loss as to who that announcer is. I've heard chatter around that it might be Russell Hunting, but Hunting DID NOT WORK THERE! That early.
Here is a better-sounding one from 1891 below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGpOSqCfvig
This one actually says the record company, and the announcer is MUCH MORE distinct.
AAAHH! I know who that announcer is, I just can't pull out the name!
Very loud bass notes! I love it!
By 1893, Columbia had improved its means quite a heap, and Spencer was no longer forced to do all of that useless work to make every single record. They were still located at the same Washington building, but they had improved their staff and recording strategies. They had a much better equipped talent department by this time, they had Fred Gaisberg on many of the piano accompaniments heard from this time that survive.
Here is a wonderful collaboration between Gaisberg and John Yorke Atlee from 1893:
(this cylinder was recorded at Atlee's home late at night!)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8106/cusb-cyl8106d.mp3
Way to go Atlee! Announcing that piano player behind you! That's the way to do it!
By 1894, most of the beloved Columbia staff that we all know already worked there, such as:
Billy Golden, George J. Gaskin, Dan W. Quinn, Russell Hunting, J. W. Myers, Edward M. Favor, you get the point.
One quartet who made a few negro imitation cylinders for Columbia between 1891 and 1895 was the Brilliant Quartette. This group of four has always been a mysterious venture for record collectors to try to dig into. No one knows the exact personnel, and it was never written down on a note anywhere that has survived the decades. The only thing that I can be for sure of who's in it is that Billy Golden was the main singer most of the time, as on this one he is heard yodeling his heart out:
https://ia902205.us.archive.org/12/items/CollectedWorksOfTheBrilliantQuartet/Mary-annMedley1893.mp3
It is also for sure that the other members of this four must have been fellow minstrels of Golden's or even some of his later-to-be recording friends. I even have the suspicion that Len Spencer might be one of those singers, here is another older example below, from 1891:
https://ia802205.us.archive.org/12/items/CollectedWorksOfTheBrilliantQuartet/WayDownYonderInTheCornfield1891.mp3
I cannot understand most of the announcement after " Down Yonder in the Cornfield imitation, sung by the Brilliant quartette... ..." the rest of it is hard to understand, as the announcer is speaking far too fast.
The next mysterious quartette of the Columbia and U. S. Phonograph company staff is the Manhansett Quartette. In this group, only two of the four have been identified.
The main singer is George J. Gaskin, and the second tenor has always been said to have been Gilbert Girard.
Here is it(beware! It's pretty messy!)
https://ia902702.us.archive.org/25/items/us-oldfolks/us-oldfolks.mp3
By 1895 and 1896, it was clear that this business was becoming a very big and competitive field for these talented and creative businessmen. By late-1896 the U S phonograph company was bought out by Columbia, and therefore having all of their current artists and staff into their clutches. So in doing this, this is where "Vic" Emerson comes from. Emerson was the manager of the U. S. company from its creation after leaving boring his job as a local telegraph operator, so this meant that he was inevitably the choice of all of the record talent to have as their manager. When Emerson became the infamous manager of Columbia in 1896, this is where the "Columbia kids" come into action, and where the unsure and primitive days of recording finally ended.
They didn't have him record for them for a little while after they hired him, it took until late-1889 to decide to record him. To their surprise, his seemingly loud and deep voice recorded very well with the very primitive machines.
The only way to record Spencer was this way:
“Spencer’s earlier records were made by grouping four or five phonographs on top of an upright piano with their horns converging towards the keyboard, on which Spencer played his own accompaniment while he sang. He received the munificent sum of ten cents for each accepted record. He was fortunate enough to get three out of every four records accepted and it was possible for him to make as much as $3.00 or $4.00 for each full hour of singing.”
(This section comes from the reminiscences of and older founding member of Columbia Frank Dorian written down by Jim Walsh)
This process was a very rough and tiring one for Spencer, especially because this was before he bulked up like Fred Hylands(Thank you Phonoscope!) ten years later. Spencer was tall and stringy-looking when Columbia first took him in. Much like his brother Harry Spencer was.
Columbia was still a small business by 1890 and 1891, as it only had the Marine band come in and record occasionally, such as the very rare and amazing cylinder listed below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxgSRbgHWzQ
The amazing cylinder above is indeed a Columbia cylinder, but I am at a loss as to who that announcer is. I've heard chatter around that it might be Russell Hunting, but Hunting DID NOT WORK THERE! That early.
Here is a better-sounding one from 1891 below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGpOSqCfvig
This one actually says the record company, and the announcer is MUCH MORE distinct.
AAAHH! I know who that announcer is, I just can't pull out the name!
Very loud bass notes! I love it!
By 1893, Columbia had improved its means quite a heap, and Spencer was no longer forced to do all of that useless work to make every single record. They were still located at the same Washington building, but they had improved their staff and recording strategies. They had a much better equipped talent department by this time, they had Fred Gaisberg on many of the piano accompaniments heard from this time that survive.
Here is a wonderful collaboration between Gaisberg and John Yorke Atlee from 1893:
(this cylinder was recorded at Atlee's home late at night!)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8106/cusb-cyl8106d.mp3
Way to go Atlee! Announcing that piano player behind you! That's the way to do it!
By 1894, most of the beloved Columbia staff that we all know already worked there, such as:
Billy Golden, George J. Gaskin, Dan W. Quinn, Russell Hunting, J. W. Myers, Edward M. Favor, you get the point.
One quartet who made a few negro imitation cylinders for Columbia between 1891 and 1895 was the Brilliant Quartette. This group of four has always been a mysterious venture for record collectors to try to dig into. No one knows the exact personnel, and it was never written down on a note anywhere that has survived the decades. The only thing that I can be for sure of who's in it is that Billy Golden was the main singer most of the time, as on this one he is heard yodeling his heart out:
https://ia902205.us.archive.org/12/items/CollectedWorksOfTheBrilliantQuartet/Mary-annMedley1893.mp3
It is also for sure that the other members of this four must have been fellow minstrels of Golden's or even some of his later-to-be recording friends. I even have the suspicion that Len Spencer might be one of those singers, here is another older example below, from 1891:
https://ia802205.us.archive.org/12/items/CollectedWorksOfTheBrilliantQuartet/WayDownYonderInTheCornfield1891.mp3
I cannot understand most of the announcement after " Down Yonder in the Cornfield imitation, sung by the Brilliant quartette... ..." the rest of it is hard to understand, as the announcer is speaking far too fast.
The next mysterious quartette of the Columbia and U. S. Phonograph company staff is the Manhansett Quartette. In this group, only two of the four have been identified.
The main singer is George J. Gaskin, and the second tenor has always been said to have been Gilbert Girard.
Here is it(beware! It's pretty messy!)
https://ia902702.us.archive.org/25/items/us-oldfolks/us-oldfolks.mp3
By 1895 and 1896, it was clear that this business was becoming a very big and competitive field for these talented and creative businessmen. By late-1896 the U S phonograph company was bought out by Columbia, and therefore having all of their current artists and staff into their clutches. So in doing this, this is where "Vic" Emerson comes from. Emerson was the manager of the U. S. company from its creation after leaving boring his job as a local telegraph operator, so this meant that he was inevitably the choice of all of the record talent to have as their manager. When Emerson became the infamous manager of Columbia in 1896, this is where the "Columbia kids" come into action, and where the unsure and primitive days of recording finally ended.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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