The only man of African descent on the Columbia staff---George W. Johnson.
He was a jolly man, very pleasant and mild-mannered most of the time. But had the unfortunate disposition of being the only black man on their staff. With all so-called the white "rulers" of the studio, they wanted to keep their importance high in the studio. Len Spencer was kind enough to advocate for Johnson and help him along if he got into any trouble, which was in some ways one of the most generous things he did. More so than him giving $500 to various charities when he died. Helping Johnson became one of Spencer's duties starting in 1894, when he first found him and took him in to make minstrel records. Spencer gave much of his profits made from these well-selling records to Johnson, which was a kind thing for him to do, but he could have done more. Having Johnson there did bring some discomfort to some of the highly conservative members of the staff, and had him treated as an inferior oftentimes in the studio, which can be disappointing to historians who first learn of this. It makes sense really, and gives a truthful reality into the time period that this all took place.
Johnson was a kind and amiable man, with a somewhat troubled personal life, he tried to make up for it as best he could by being kind to everyone in the studio. His personal life had become a subject of many a rumour in 1898 and 1899 among the Columbia and Edison staff, but many of them were just trying to spread mush about him, only because of his race. Many of the staff members were harsh on him, which was wholly not needed, entirely. Certain staff members were harder on him than others, and of course whenever one of the Spencer's were in with him, a sense of comfort immediately alleviated any tension that had built up. Spencer was a kind chap to Johnson, much more so than some of the other "regulars, as Spencer really wanted to help out Johnson, and make sure that he could live a reasonable life. Spencer did what he could really, as he was all over the place, having to "put out fires" and such. Johnson was just trying to get by, only singing four songs for the phonograph. In 1898, Columbia had him set. He worked mostly for Columbia in 1898, which was partially because of Len Spencer's wants from him and from the record sales. Dan W. Quinn disliked Johnson, as well as Edward Favor, Vess Ossman , George Gaskin, J. W. Myers, and especially Fred Hylands. They were open about their disregard for Johnson, though it's small observations that can be used to prove this. Whenever Johnson came in at Columbia, Hylands would already be there inevitably, smoking or drinking something, awaiting the next artist to come in. Johnson never came in the mornings, for reasons unknown by everyone on the staff. When Johnson came in to Fred Hylands, Johnson would always kindly greet him, and Fred would greet him with a feigned expression of kindness. Hylands owned the room when Johnson walked in, he took all liberties he could to own the room when Johnson was there to make records. He drank like a sailor, took in more drugs, and played his heartiest and roughest Rag-Time always, when Johnson came to sing(or laugh) for the phonographs. It was an unfortunate thing really, that Hylands would display his disregard for Johnson is such crude indirect ways, it would be considered cruel now. Johnson probably knew of Hylands's true thoughts of him, which must have made working with him troubling, and sometimes uneasy. Johnson wasn't in much luck after 1901, as his popularity on the phonographs and Graphophones dropped dramatically, only with his remakes of "The Laughing Song" selling by then. It wasn't looking too bright for him, and he was starting to become desperate for more work by 1904. Luckily, after he made a few more records in 1905 and 1906, dear old Len Spencer found him once more and took him in to his vaudeville house. Spencer had become a prominent booking agent and Lyceum owner by 1906, and in looking for employees, he went back to find Johnson. He provided for him just as he did in the late-90's, but he was a little less reasonable this time around, he employed him as his doorman. He was living there peacefully and quietly,where Spencer never acknowledged him again. He was careful with what he paid him, being that Johnson was supposedly a hard drinker, and would be gone for days at a time if he paid him more than usual. Spencer could have done more overall. A few weeks after Johnson had passed, Spencer finally learned of it and was surprised to hear of it. Upon hearing tell on it, he and a few other workers at the Lyceum went up to where his room was and Len must have said something like,
"My god. He is gone..." and they then set to work cleaning up the remains of Johnson's things, finding all sorts of vermin and trash. This must have set Spencer into a deep sorrow, deep in his soul, he felt a terrible pain about this, though his demeanor seemed only in disgust, just to keep his tears away. Just less than a month later, Spencer croaked, which in many ways seems almost like an ironic thing, that Spencer and Johnson died in the same month, of the same year. Johnson's story is still a hard one to listen to now, and will always be as so, with hope, his laughter will live on.
And hopefully, nothing like this will break a person's life like Johnson's again. He deserved better.
Here is his famous:"Laughing Song" from 1898, with Fred Hylands displaying the attitude I spoke of before.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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