More about Burt Shepard

A good young researcher posted a kind comment on this blog this evening, and I would like to fulfill his kind obliging by doing a post fully dedicated to the great Burt Shepard.

There he is, the comical genius himself, in c.1890-92

I don't know what the exact year of Burt Shepard's birth was, and no one does really, as when he was interviewed, he never stated, and he specifically didn't state it. To most scholars and geeks, he was born between the years of 1852 and 1854, and probably in the midwest somewhere(quite possibly in or near New Orleans even). It's hard to know with him, but he was certainly from the midwest. But where exactly, we may never know. I have the slight suspicion that he might be from New Orleans is because of the fact that it was there that he got his first performing job. In c.1873-74, he joined a New Orleans based minstrel troupe and stayed with them until 1878. In that year, he was off in a minstrel troupe in Philly. He performed in several minstrel shows from 1879 to the mid-1890's, and at one point in 1892, he began his own show for a season or two. He wasn't just one of the minstrels in blackface of the shows, he also performed as the pale-skinned middle-man of the show, moderating and setting up the jokes, much like Len Spencer did on all of those Imperial Minstrels records, from 1894-95 and again in 1896-1901. You can hear one of these here from 1898(with Len Spencer, Steve Porter, Roger Harding, and Fred Hylands). I can certainly see and hear Burt Shepard doing what Steve Porter did on those cylinders with Spencer. 

In 1897, he went on a long trek around the world, which started first with England, where he made a few of his first records. He then stated that he went to Australia, Paris, and South Africa. He did make a few records for Pathe(pronounced "Patt'e" by Shepard on one announcement I have heard!)when he was in France, as a few can be found in various places online. 
When he was back in the U.S. in 1900, he was making records for Victor. 
This is where most of his remembrance comes from, his Victors and few Zon-O-Phones. 
Perhaps one of his most discussed records is his monologue, "The Boy and the Cheese", which was numbered A-7 on the Victor label. It was his first record, and it has been debated to being the first Victor commercially released. It has been debated, because for years, it was believed that Dan Quinn's Victor A-9 "Strike Up the Band" was the one, but later this place in Victor History went to Shepard's "The Boy and the Cheese". After he made this record, which sold reasonably well for a while, he was a "regular" in the studio. 
He was a favourite with all the studio workers, and he was a real riot to see in general. He was always said to be a jolly man with a slightly crude sense of humor, who wouldn't seem that way when first seeing him. He took on some really fun songs, that really suited his personality very well. 
Here are a few good ones:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002633/Pre-matrix_B-3490-Other_things_too_numerous_to_mention
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002642/Pre-matrix_B-3499-It_was_beautiful
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200002948/B-1652-The_robin
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000001155/Pre-matrix_B-1692-Thats_where_she_sits_all_day
https://ia600308.us.archive.org/23/items/BurtShepard/BurtShepard-Smoke.mp3

I know I already did a whole bunch of comments about Shepard's record of "The Robin", but I just cannot get over how he pronounces certain things and how midwestern his dialect sounds. In many ways, he really sounds quite a lot like Byron G. Harlan, and Harlan was from Kansas and Iowa. If only Shepard stated any hints as to where he might be from! It really is pretty much impossible to know where he came from with him not saying where he was from. Who knows why he didn't state this? That, we will also never know. 

Anyhow, he remained in the recording business until 1906 in America, and went off to England in 1908 up until the year of his death, in 1913. It's ironic, Shepard died in England the same year that Fred Hylands did, and for all I know, they may have run into each other! I am not really sure of what Shepard died of exactly, but it must have been tied in somewhat with his weight. Fred Gaisberg recollected quite a lot about Shepard, as he came into the Berliner London studio quite a lot in 1898 and 1899, he recalled Shepard being a real sight to witness when he made records, as a fat and jolly man with a great sense of humor. It would seem that Gaisberg would have heard of Shepard's death, as well as the early Victor executives that were left in 1913, and mourned him, just as all the Edison staff did with Frank P. Banta back in 1903. Shepard's records are highly prized to collectors nowadays and go for hefty prices when they surface. I haven't any myself, but I know collectors who have dozens of them, just like Silas Leachman's records as well. 

I hope this helped out the kind student who commented on my last Burt Shepard post! I hope you enjoyed this!