Recent Ancestry Digging

So...In the last week or so, I went back and refreshed my memory of many previous findings on ancestry. Since my last post on the Hager brothers, I had kind of forgotten a few things regarding James and Fred. 

While I went back and refreshed my memory, I found a few interesting things along the way. When I went digging for James Hager last time, I was able to find him in 1900, 1920, 1930, and 1940. Just like with Justin Ring(who I still have not found anything new on) there's a period where nothing shows up on him, but it just happens that the period I'm looking for is quite essential. Luckily on this last dig, I found Hager in the 1905 NY state census, and something very curious came up. Here's the record:

Look at that! 

Even by 1905 James was living with the family, Fred more specifically. That's quite hilarious to me for some reason. I was really hoping that by at least 1905 Jimmy was living on his own but still working for brother Fred at Zon-O-Phone. Well, I guess not. Furthermore, I'm sure Jimmy and his wife Isabelle couldn't have gotten much privacy with old Fred and Clara poking around in their business. So now we know that the Hager brothers remained together until at least 1906, which is interesting. That also makes it more likely that they were both working at Zon-O-phone at that time. That helps. 

I was hoping that Fred still employed Jimmy at Zon-O-Phone, even with the queenie Eddie King overpowering the percussion section in the orchestra, so that turned out to be true. 

So staying on the Hager matter, a few days ago I combed through the many issues of Hobbies that Walsh wrote in, just to see where I could find Hager. Well, well, that was a good idea! Just like Joe Belmont and Billy Murray, Hager was one of Walsh's most valuable sources of information. It was entirely heartwarming to learn this bunch of new information from and about Hager. According to the many letters that Hager wrote to Walsh, Hager was determined to go out and find any information about his buddies for Walsh. He was deeply concerned about his fellow recording stars, and made sure to get his information right. This really warmed my mood for the last few days, as there were so many of these folks who were too bitter and uncaring of their fellow studio workers, but at least one of the most major figures who led them all cared even in his fading years. 

Hager provided most of the viable information we have today on Cal Stewart, which is quite interesting. He just happened to work closely enough with Stewart to have a lot of information to share on him. He also had plenty of information on others close to him, proving himself a very valuable and industrious friend of Walsh. 

That really raised my respect levels for Hager(not that they weren't already high!). 

So after refreshing my memory with all that, I decided to take a shot at finding Charles Prince. 

I know in the past I have proven quite well that I am not a big fan of Mr. Prince and his band, but now that I have the chance to read more about him, I'm so intrigued that I have gained respect and interest in him. The only thing I knew about Prince before my recent dig was that he was born in 1869 in San Francisco(which is already appealing to me as I am partial to California born folks). So as I started digging, I found a few very interesting things. 

The first thing  I stumbled upon was a voter registration list from 1892, and he was still living in SF then! 

Soon I will go out to that address to see if anything Victorian is still there. 

So that's interesting. The fact that this was from 1892 and he was still living in SF means that he wasn't yet working for Columbia. It was around 1892 that most scholars conjugate that he began working at Columbia. So that got me curious, it made me confident that I could find when he moved back east, and maybe debunk the whole "early Columbia" ties altogether. Well, that didn't end up happening. I wasn't able to track when he left SF, but for sure his date of going back east would be around 1896 at the latest. At least I have a hint now, and it's looking promising to debunking the old idea. 

The man himself at the center. 

(I still think that clean shaven young buck in the right corner is Justin Ring)

So that was great to find, but the findings didn't end there. I found Prince in the NY state census in 1905, and something very interesting came up. I found Prince housing a familiar studio face:

What! Prince was housing Henry Burr? Well then! 

So this actually is a very significant find for me. For years I have theorized that these studio managers and musical directors took in some of their less fortunate fellows for say a few days or weeks. Well, seeing this exactly proves that this happened. Never would I have grouped together Prince and Henry Burr, but there ya go folks. So this is exactly what I've been saying about Hylands in the past with "33", where he lived in 1899-1902(or so). Hylands always had extra space for his fellows(though in 1900 we see that he chose to have some wayward young men staying over rather than fellows from work). And thanks to the recent findings on Hager, we know that he also had extra space for a similar purpose. Someone like Justin Ring probably rarely crashed at Hager's place though, as he lived(or at least I think he lived at a certain address) just a few blocks away from Columbia(and Zon-O-Phone, wherever they were in the same area). 

So maybe the Ring-Hager thing went the other way around more often. Hager crashed at Ring's place as he was very close by their work. 

So anyway, that's all I found on Prince really. I found a few more census records from later with his name there, but I didn't really learn anything new or surprising from them. I did find it interesting that Prince was divorced by 1920. Not very often do I come across these fellows who are listed as divorced in census records. Hopefully I will get to the point where I can definitively debunk the previous knowledge that Prince had early ties to Columbia. 

So before I close out here, I'd like to mention a funny anecdote from the article on Charles Prince that Jim Walsh wrote. As the Eddie King stories keep-a-coming, Walsh even had a handful of good ones to tell to add to the pile.

One story goes, that Eddie King was engaged to lead his Victor orchestra in a few pieces before a big baseball game in the mid-1910's. All the Columbia and Rex folks were also there, as they were all good friends and avid fans of baseball. Eddie got out there and did his job, and herded all the boys off the field quick in that insistent way of his. 

As they were marching out, Billy Murray stopped Eddie for a moment and asked why he was leaving so soon, and not sticking around for the game. 

Eddie replied thus: "I'm not a fanatic, like you fellows! I've got work to do."

Of course with that in mind, I drew a cartoon to illustrate this idea. 

Of course there he is with his Zon-O-phone buddies. Again, I have not yet seen a picture of King yet, but am hoping to sometime soon. 

Also, just one more point to make about the cartoon above, in that same piece on Prince, Walsh writes out that Billy Murray recalled Eddie King as "a saturnine person with what the non-smoking Murray calls a 'chronic cigarette cough'[and] was a zealot for hard work". 

So there goes that cartoon explained. 

Anyway, I was in Los Angeles last week and got about 20 interesting records ranging in date from 1902 to 1922. There wasn't anything too outstanding in the mix, though I am proud to own a copy of one of Eddie King's xylophone solos! His mallet playing was really something, quite odd and inconsistent, somewhat similar to his drumming on all those Victor's with Van Eps, so to close out here's one of them just because they're entertaining to listen to. 

https://archive.org/details/78_chinese-picnic-and-oriental-dance_van-eps-trio_gbia0005729a

Hope you enjoyed this! 

The Bowery boy

In the last few weeks, I tried once more to find any new information regarding Justin Ring. Well, just as last time, I didn't really find anything new on paper. well at least in the essential time frame that I am attempting to dig on. However! On my dig, I was curious to see if I could gather anything from seeing what neighborhood Justin Ring grew up in. I compared a few locations of some of these early recording stars, Banta, Issler, Eddie King, etc. The most curious thing I observed is where Justin ring grew up. 

Never could I have expected what I was to find. 

Justin Ring grew up right by the Bowery. 

Well there ya have it folks. So apparently what I had assumed prior to this research on Ring was entirely not true. I guessed that Ring was(based on his relationship with Hager for so long) a more reserved and focused character similar to Banta. I assumed Ring was the more quiet and obedient type, as he did so much work for Hager, Prince, Hylands, and who knows who else. 

Well, none of these could have been true considering where he grew up. 

This finding has completely changed my thoughts on Ring, and as I pointed out in the last post on Ring, maybe that bruise on his face was a common thing with him. There's almost no way he was a submissive obedient little pianist like Banta was, considering he essentially grew up on the Bowery. There's so much lore around those folks who grew up in the Bowery, so many songs, so many sayings and poems. And there's a reason for this. This neighborhood is where all the thugs and fallen folks lived, going way back. Many unfortunate tenement camps were out near there as well in the 19th century. Considering all of this is exactly what is so intriguing about learning that Justin Ring grew up there. 
So, now that I know this, what can we do with it? 
Well, we can place a little Justin Ring amid all the rough folks and lore that we hear on so many records from this era. 

Just as a side note, I observed this piece of information from the 1880 census. 

So, as expected, this has been on my mind a lot lately. As I still don't have any information about Ring in the 1880's and 1890's, though something clearly was intriguing and troubled about him. Observing his childhood neighborhood says a lot. 

(a cartoon I did illustrating my new discoveries on Ring)

But once again, what can we actually do with this information? 
This could be tied to his accompaniment style. I have always been wondering where in the world Justin Ring could have learned to play the rough and wild way that he did, but I guess we kind of have our answer. 
So without a doubt Justin Ring would have heard a lot of interesting music growing up in the Bowery. A lot of that uneasy and wild playing of his was developed from all the rough places he passed through in that area. It also couldn't be helped that he's hear all these things because his father was a musician, who likely played in venues in the area. 

But where else would he have heard such interesting music to develop that style?
It's certainly evident that Ring heard some really rough music. Based on the kind of things he often played on Zon-O-Phone records, he heard black and white musicians. 
Here are a few good examples that illustrate this well:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By7WuiOUrg7YUmpBODV5dXpxbHhjYzlGUmZKdEJDelZCQmtn/view?usp=sharing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP33Ix8sp0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi8K8iKZyXM

So there's a lot to take in with Ring's accompaniments. I have been meaning to write a little bit on how I am almost certain which pianist is Ring. Thanks to a few people sending me transfers of records Ring was on in the 1920's, I have backtracked that style back to most Zon-O-Phone's. In fact, this record here was the one that made me realize which pianist was him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EzduEIiVd0
It hit me like a slap in the face. It became instantly obvious which pianist is him on all those Zon-O-Phone records. He's that extremely pushy and aggressive pianist. I can hardly believe how anyone could keep up with his rush, I've tried dozens of times and always get lost. 

This didn't just mean I was checking all the Zon-O-phone records I knew of, I would be checking Columbia's from post-1900. Since that hit me, I have been listening to Columbia's and Zon-O-Phone records back to back so much more often. It all makes sense(kind of). When I did that post a little while ago regarding company crossover with Justin Ring, it turns out that it wasn't just a crazy idea. Ring may or may not be in that Columbia band(or orchestra) picture, but he's in that big group portrait of Hager's orchestra, that was taken in the Columbia lab.

That sweet young face up in the right corner might be him. I am still unsure, though I do think it is him. 

Despite that, we do know for sure that's him labeled as no.7, and that this picture was taken in the Columbia lab. 
So we know he was at Zon-O-Phone all the time, but what about Columbia?
Just this evening I went back and did some more Columbia-Zono comparisons, and noticed more striking similarities than I have before. In fact, I would wager that the fact Ring worked at Columbia is why he picked up so many Hylands characteristics in his playing.  This all makes sense now, as for a long time I thought I heard many similarities between the pushy accompaniments at Columbia and Zon-O-phone in a certain time frame. I was a bit timid to say anything definitive about it because I would have no ideas as to why these similarities would be present. After looking to see that Ring lived a short walking distance to Columbia, the likeliness of his employment there keeps-a-coming. 
I am not certain when he would have started at Columbia, but I'm thinking it goes as far back as 1900. In 1900, Hylands once again became engaged more often with Pastor's, and was still determined to keep his publishing firm with Spencer going. So this would mean that he'd be at Columbia less than the previous 3 years. So who would they have instead? That little, tanned, blonde headed Bowery boy of course! 
I mentioned in my last post about Ring that he would be the most likely pianist on Zono and Columbia around 1900 to 1905 because he had little responsibilities. Unlike Hager, Ring had no family at home, and was willing to take any money and work that was offered. He'd also be content crashing anywhere for the night where he could work(remember I still haven't found him in the 1900 census).  He kind of pulled a Banta, taking on multiple studio responsibilities, not realizing how tiresome it would become. 
Considering the amount of work he did between 1901 and 1908, I'm surprised he didn't drop dead like Banta, but anyhow, I'm really happy he got himself together and abandoned the double company life by the 1910's. 

Anyhow, that's all I got on Justin Ring since the last post I did on him. I am still determined to find the information I need!  

Anyhow, I would highly recommend digging around on the UCSB disc site, as they have finally added all the lovely Zon-O-Phone's and Columbia's. As expected, I have been quite busy listening to those, as i keep finding new one's every day! 
Just to give you an idea of what I went searching for first, here are a few that I have already saved:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000261902/Zo_cat_C_5260-Little_Nell


https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000135456/140-Ill_follow_thee

This is one of my favorites so far:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000137335/1101-Turkey_in_the_straw

https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000254687/5315-Reels_and_jigs_Selection

https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000263984/Zo_cat_G9467-Melodie


Anyway, that's all I got, I have been engaged to write some more, so I haven't so much to write about here right now. Hopefully I'll find some more new stuff pretty soon. 

Hope you enjoyed this! 

A Portrait of Frank P. Banta

Today we celebrate the birthday of Frank P. Banta, perhaps the most beloved studio musician of the entire acoustic era. 

It's hard to begin with this guy. 

I guess I could just write out an affectionate bio on him, just because I have gathered more information about him since the last biographical post on him. Well, here goes. 

Frank P. Banta was born on March 29th, 1870, the middle child of five. His father John was a woodcarver, a noble profession in Victorian New York, but perhaps more interesting is his mother's story. His mother  Fannie Darrow married first around 1863, but her first husband died quick, so she remarried an old man named John(Frank's father). Fannie was a rich girl, from a prominent old Dutch family of New Amsterdam. Her many sisters married prominent New York men of money, but she married a poor woodcarver in his middle age. Frank was the only musical child in the family, and it began to show quite early in his life. As a young child, Frank began to take up piano tuning, as his perfect pitch rendered him a skilled tuner. He started tuning pianos in factories, before they were sent off for sale. It was in this line that he began to develop a talent for playing the piano. His mother likely took notice of this tendency soon afterward, and got him some piano lessons. Though, it is likely that he didn't remain under the rule of a teacher for long, as his distinct style developed later proves for little training and more natural ability. 

Frank likely kept tuning pianos in his teen's to get some extra money, and also played some gigs here and there too. By 1888, his name was starting to appear in the papers as a specialty accompanist and arranger. His praises were already being sung before he was even 20. By 1890, he was playing in vaudeville houses all over New York, accompanying singers and instrumentalists of all kinds. Around 1892, Banta became associated with banjoist Vess L. Ossman. 

Ossmand and Banta advertised together, 1893. 

Somehow, in that same year, Banta was plucked out of the vaudeville houses to work for the three year old North American Phonograph Company. It's possible that Edward Issler recommended Banta to the North American/Edison management. Banta spent a few months of 1892 getting the training of phonograph accompaniment. Likely under the rule of Issler, Banta learned the phonograph ropes, and by 1893 was ready to work for them regularly. Other than working regularly with singers and other performers, Banta was often brought into the studios by special request of Vess Ossman, as they were still engaged together as an act at that point. Ossman as many recalled, was a very difficult man to work with. Someone as quiet and modest as Banta likely clashed with him often. Despite that, some of Ossman's best recordings have Banta's accompaniment, as they worked together perfectly in spite of their extreme differences. Banta likely learned how to work with these sort of performers by touring with Ossman, and it would inevitably come in handy as his years in the studios went on. 

Around 1895, Banta formed his own orchestra, a small parlor orchestra of about 6 musicians at most. Considering his close partnership with Issler, he formed this group to the striking likeness of Issler's orchestra. Banta's orchestra even recorded many of Issler's arrangements, such as "The virginia skedaddle", and "Her golden hair was hanging down her back". You can hear one of them below:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder11738

Banta is of course the announcer and the pianist. 

Banta' orchestra faded away from record catalogs by 1896, but at that point Banta was secured with Edison. 

By 1896, Banta was with Edison all the time, playing accompaniments for all who worked there, but of course it didn't take long for other companies to jump at him. As his praises continued to be sung by all, the Berliner gramophone company grabbed him in 1897 to replace the increasingly absent Fred Gaisberg. Berliner promised Banta more variety, and his own orchestra again. At Berliner, Banta led the Metropolitan orchestra, or at least sometimes. 

Banta was working for Edison and Berliner at the same time in 1898, seeming to equally balance his time at both. 

He had left the majority of his performing behind at this point, slaving away in two studios seemingly day and night. Some say that during his time recording, Banta was on half the recordings that Edison issued. Half. 

Half would mean thousands, perhaps more than that considering how early he started. 

In 1900, Banta, Arthur Pryor, Christopher Booth, Noble McDonald, and a few more Berliner musicians joined the newly formed Victor company. Each of these musicians made a piano solo for them in 1900 or in the few years afterward. Banta replaced his engagement with Berliner with that of Victor, working at Victor almost as much as he was at Edison. His distinct and steady accompaniments can be heard extremely well on Victors and Edison records during this time. he played everything from classical accompaniments to red hot rag-time. Here are two contrasting examples both from 1901:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbZ3eoZ2ko&list=PLTMwHLAObMju8v9qIAt7IOAXIC5wMgo1A&index=71&t=0s

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder5245

His accompaniments are unmistakable, very steady, dynamic, and full of self taught eccentricities. 

His accompaniments influenced many of his fellow jealous recording pianists. Fred Hager and Justin Ring took especial liking to his pieces. 

This oddity of Banta's was only recorded by Hager's orchestra as far as I can find. 

Hager and Ring even mimicked Banta's smooth style of syncopation and dense chord choices in their own accompaniments. 

He continued to somehow balance all that work for Edison and Victor until 1903, where he had nearly completely exhausted himself with this work. 

During his later time at Edison, it was said that Banta's wife Liz worked in the studio as well. Liz was a studio secretary while Frank played accompaniments until he dropped. Frank and Liz married in late 1895, and their first child was the later famous novelty pianist Frank Edgar Banta. Somehow Frank was able to fit in time for another child in 1901, a daughter named Prudence(maybe that's somewhat related to that illusive middle initial of Frank's). 

Frank's children did not get to know him too well. As he was gone more than most men even in that time. Working for two record companies at once wasn't a family friendly concept in those days. 

Only when he became physically weak and ill from all that work did Frank realize this. In mid 1903, Frank was very weary of all this work, but his constant and determined personality dictated his place in the studios. he continued to show up to work every day he could, even though his asthma was getting worse, and time had already aged him quick, even at merely 33. 

Banta at one of Edison's Shoninger pianos, c.1899.

Banta came into work at Edison until the very day before he died. The day before he died in November of 1903, everyone expected him at work the next day as usual, not giving it much thought. But he died early the next morning. 

His absence rendered the piano at Edison silent that day. Legend has it at the Edison studio that no one came to work that day to mourn his death. 

But his story doesn't end there. When Jim Walsh corresponded with Dan W. Quinn in the 1930's, Quinn continued on to praise Banta. It seemed no one was so fond of Banta than Quinn. Quinn even named his youngest child after him. Now that's respect! 

It's Quinn's kind words and recollections about Banta that kept his reputation around, and it was carried on when Frank Edgar Banta was interviewed in the 1940's. Frank Edgar did not know his father well, he regretfully admitted this when asked about it. He recalled little of his father, but he did remember that his father was very humorous, rather quiet, and unfortunately ardent with work. He did recall his father inviting over many friends from work to play new songs(he didn't drop any studio names, but Quinn was almost certainly one of them, as was Ossman). His father would also sit with him at the piano to show him a few things, but these barely made it into his later developed style. 

Frank Edgar was 7 when his father died, and his sister Prudy only 2. 

Liz did not remarry after Frank died, but she continued to work into her old age. 

Well, with that, how about a few records he's on? His story is quite dramatic and somewhat depressing toward the end, so maybe some of his records could lighten the mood a bit here. 

https://archive.org/details/MyMoneyNeverGivesOutwBanta1902

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder17216

(remember, Banta's name is on the original "Laughing song", he's listed as the arranger)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder15526

Banta was likely also responsible for this piece too. 

https://archive.org/details/Rag-TimebabyPeerlessorch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVy-aq3stM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HmdepXpz00

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder17203

https://archive.org/details/edbw-6950

Happy listening! 

Hope you enjoyed this! 

Piecing together Justin Ring

As with any of these new characters I research, it can be a very difficult start. It has actually been not too difficult to find information on Eddie King, but somehow Justin Ring seems to be the opposite. 

As long as this foxy guy lived, there's little information to dig  through on him. He's mentioned all over the place in newspapers and trade magazines, but there's not much substance to the places he's found. Unlike with Hager, where Ring's mentioned, he's only, well...mentioned. There's not much more. As I have become ever more attracted to Ring's music and lifestyle, finding any vital information on him has become a great source of frustration for me. I just can't seem to track him during the most essential period of time that I'm trying to dig on. 

He's easy to track after 1910 or so, but as you readers would know, I'm trying to piece together his lifestyle while he was at Zon-O-Phone. I have found next to nothing on my searches for Ring before 1910. All of the things I've found on him pre-1910 were solely regarding the pieces of his that were recorded or published by Hager. 

Well that's all great, but I want to know about how he lived outside of the studio. Since I have't been able to trace him in any local New York directories or censuses, I would guess that he lived in a basement or a loft of a publisher. This is the situation as to why George W. Johnson can't be found in many public records. I also have a feeling that this applies to why I have not been able to find Len Spencer in the 1900 census. 

As I'm writing this, I did a little bit of digging for Ring in copyright records, just to see how far back I can track him. The first things start to appear with his long poetic name starting in 1902, which is quite late from what I had expected. The first few things I saw however were very interesting. One of the first things I saw was a piece that was composed by Ring(Ringleben in this case) with lyrics by Cal Stewart. Yes indeed, you heard me right. Good old Uncle Josh. 

Cal Stewart not in his Uncle Josh rags. 

What's ever more interesting about these two first pieces I found with Ring's name on them is that they were published by Hager and Ring. The two of them were publishers for a short time! How interesting. While this is not at all surprising, it does add some kind of added layer of curiosity in the beginning of their nearly 50 year long relationship. Hager did not stay a publisher with Ring for long, as I quickly observed on this copyright record dig. But Ring stayed put as a publisher for a little longer. His vanity firm lasted until about the end of 1904, publishing a few things here and there, such as Hager's "Handsome Harry" and his own "Jovial Joe". 

Another interesting observation on this dig was how Ring kept his long poetic name until quite late. I assumed that he took the short version of his name Justin Ring, almost as soon as he joined Hager at Zon-O-phone. On the contrary, Ring kept the Justus Ringleben Jr on his music until 1905. Only by the time he wrote "Sweet Potatoes" in 1906 do we see slight edits to his name. Even at that point his name is seen as Justin Ringleben on the cover, which isn't too different from the previous covers. It's interesting that it took a little bit of evolution for Justus Ringleben Jr to become Justin Ring. I would guess that Hager was insistent on Ring getting his name a bit more snappy on the music, as he seemed constant with the idea of using his full name on their sheets. 

So, aside from all that, my biggest question is, what was Ring doing when he got scooped up by Columbia and Zon-O-phone? Well, since I can't seem to track him at all before 1902, he must have literally lived the life of a young and hot rambler. You know how the song goes, O, didn't he ramble. 

I'll have a conveniently dated Columbia by Collins and Harlan illustrate my point here:

(the pianist is good old Hylands!)

https://archive.org/details/78_oh-didnt-he-ramble_gbia0075013a

There we go! well, kind of. 

I'd hate to assume that Ring entirely lived that lifestyle, as he lived to be an old man(older than Hager), but it seems the most logical thing to say in considering his freedom and little guidance in life. 

Consider what I know so far about Ring other than the recording stuff. His father was quite old(like Banta's father!), born in Prussia in 1826. His father married a woman half his age in his middle age, having his first son Justin(or Justus) at age 50. Justin's siblings were born later, brother Franz in 1878, and half sister Rose born in 1880. Justin's odd father was a musician, a struggling one it seems from what I gathered from the single census and a few directories I found. So from all of this, I can see Justin and Franz having little supervision. Despite the limited supervision, the boys grew up around music, so naturally at least one of them would become the musician to follow their father. This was naturally Justin, who had his father's name after all. 

That whole story seems intriguing as it is. But there's this huge gap that I'm trying to fill. From about 1890 to 1902, I have no idea what Justin was up to. Maybe he went to music school? Maybe he lived as a rambler until Hager pulled him out of that life and into the studio. So who knows?

While I was digging around, I also went back and looked at that large group picture of Hager's orchestra just because I often do. I noticed something interesting while staring at that picture again. 

I zoomed in to where Justin Ring is of course, seeing if I can notice anything new about him or that interesting crowd right around him. 

Something seemed off when I darkened the picture.

Is that a bruise I see? 

What could that mean? The guy already looks rough, with those sunken tired eyes and thin face. Luckily he could still out-dandy the others with his wild cravat and blond hair. 

But again, what could this mean? Maybe I'm missing something that's more obvious than previously thought. Perhaps something really disturbing regarding him. Well, at this point I have no idea what it could be, and I have no guesses yet. I wish I had some of my signature crazy theories to explain here, but I'd rather not considering the possibilities in this case. Sometime soon I might figure out some ideas of what to say regarding this, but I'll have to judge whether they would be appropriate to share. 

So anyway...I actually would like to revert back to my post a month or so ago regarding Justin Ring's employment for multiple record companies. So I went back and did some staring at that Columbia band(or orchestra) picture from around 1902, just to be assured that that one young guy is Justin Ring. 

The more I look at it, the more I think it's Justin Ring. 

Just today, I went back and listened to more than a dozen Columbia orchestra records, to see what i could decipher of the piano accompaniment. I paired these Columbias from 1902-1905 with Zon-O-Phone's from 1901-1906, and there's definitely some crossover. Not only did I hear the distinct pushy syncopation of Ring in the accompaniment, I could also hear some familiar bad violin playing. By bad violin playing, I mean that of Hager. Three good examples I plowed through today were these: 

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder10947

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder6805

https://ia601406.us.archive.org/25/items/EdwardMFavor/EdwardMFavor-WhistlingReilly.mp3

These three stuck out because the piano is quite prominent, and especially on the last one, the violin comes through somewhat. The Columbia orchestra varied in overall musical quality during this short period, and I am still unsure why. Sometimes they were outstanding, other times they were a mess like the third record listed above. 

Before i say any more, here's my favorite line from that song:

"He's gifted with a whistle that is bound to give him pains, in fact he's like an injun on cocaine"

Quite funny still. I recall years ago using this record as an example for something else thinking it was funny then just as I do now. 

So I listened to a bunch more, In fact, I compared these two records back to back and noticed some striking similarities: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCGNmS7NUAU

(notice how the trio is quite swung and improvised, I would bet money that's the doing of Ring. And yes this is the only recording of dozens I've heard where it was played like that. It's quite ragged actually.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aLah2LkoME

and of course Justin Ring's cake-walk masterpiece that all the studio orchestras recorded. 

So the more of these Columbias I listen to from the post-Hylands period, the more I believe that Justin Ring worked for Columbia and Zon-O-Phone at the same time. It also seems possible that Ring may have been part of the reason that the Columbia orchestra and band recorded so many pieces of classic rag-time in that period(1902-1906). It's curious to note that this also happened at Zon-O-phone in this period(before Eddie King and Ring basically took over Zono in 1909). I mean, doesn't it seem odd that the Columbia orchestra recorded "harmony mose", "peaceful henry", and "Whoa You heiffer"(A hot New Orleans rag published in 1904) between 1902 and 1906? And after that, Prince only took on more basic pieces of rag-time, like "tempation rag" and "Silver bell". 

Similarly, but not surprisingly at Zon-O-phone Hager and Ring recorded pieces like "Cottonfield capers", "The gondolier", "a black bawl"(a chicago slow drag rag by Harry Thompson. Take a listen here!), and "Policy Pete"(a hot cake-walk ). 

So with all this in mind, there's no way that Ring couldn't have been partially the reason for all this really outstanding rag-time. 

Took this picture while at UCSB. This record is some really nice hot rag-time I tell you what! Played at the right slow speed, it's rendered at a perfect cake-walk tempo. 

So I'll have to look more into Ring's actual influence over the influx of classic rag-time at Columbia and Zon-O-Phone(and later edison mind you, they recorded Panama rag! Hear the Edison rendition of it here!) 

I guess I'll leave it here. I need to get another post in by the end of the week, because it's a certain someone's birthday. 

Anyway, hopefully I'll soon find more on Justin Ring, last night was another one of a dozen or so attempts to find him in early census records on ancestry. 

Not much luck, but I am not deterred! I am determined. 

Hope you enjoyed this! 

Newspaper bits and more stories

In the last week, A dear Rag-Time friend sent me a bunch of newspaper clippings regarding Fred Hager and Justin Ring. Aside from these great new bits, I also went digging for more articles about Hager or Ring in editions of Talking Machine World. I find it somewhat difficult find a place to start on all these bits I found and those that were sent to me. Well, I guess I'll have to start with my favorite of the things that were sent along to me. I am always delighted to see new portraits of the ever-handsome and starry eyed Hager, and here's the one I got recently: 

*swoons*

Well, there's no need to explain anything here. It's pretty straightforward. Judging by Hager's appearance, I would date this picture to about 1900-1901. He still looks relatively slim in this portrait, so it's definitely pre-1904. 

Anyway, now moving on to the jewel of what was sent to me. This is quite an odd section compared to the usual stuff that we would typically see regarding Hager, or any of these recording folks, anyway, here you go, from 1922:

What in the hell?

Well all-right then. I guess that says a lot about Hager. I had assumed he was more of a model of propriety and grace, but it seems he was more of the thrill seeker I had stereotyped Justin Ring to be. What's funny is that I bought a copy of that very sheet "Swanee Smiles" not too long ago, knowing nothing of this wild story. Apparently, among those that Hager invited to his so-called gala for this ship's christening was Justin Ring and Otto Heinemann, which is quite hilarious to picture. All of them getting on the boat a little nervous when the thing started acting strange. Of course I can see Justin Ring swimming off much quicker than old beat up Hager. 

To accompany the little bit, there was also this picture(sorry for the bad quality):

From what I can tell, The Heinemann's are to the left and right of Hager and Ring. Ring is that quite tanned guy in the middle(with his arm on Hager! aww..). I'm just going to say it, I find it quite touching to see Hager and Ring so sweet and friendly in this picture. So clearly what their friendship was, it was a good one(I mean, 50 years of friendship is a long time). 

The other lovely thing that was sent to me was a long article about Hager, Ring and a large portion of other record guys going out and basically having a field day. This piece was quite long and full of recording jargon, some of which I still don't quite understand. I had to read through this thing more than once to get a good understanding of all the inside jokes and recording puns. So here's the link to the article from 1921:

https://books.google.com/books?id=x-sqAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA7-PA78&dq=%22Fred%20Hager%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjS8M_E-YDhAhWJ1IMKHbWPAIo4ChDrAQgqMAA&fbclid=IwAR36SD1mZHARhXygyytGRbw4hMvCTb0ql9WDx0bX8INllHsECJ-hb9oNT68#v=onepage&q=%22Fred%20Hager%22&f=false

The one picture I grabbed from this piece was this one here: 

So who are those guys exactly?

Well, according to the caption on the article, its Jimmy Hager and Henry Higgins. Wait what? Henry Higgins? That's the beautiful cornetist with Sousa's and Pryor's bands in the 1890's and 1900's.

(Walter Pryor, Henry Higgins and Arthur Pryor. c.1895)

Why, I'm so glad to see that he held up so well! Still looked good into the 1920's. 

The thing about that picture from the article, is that I knew that was Jimmy Hager the moment I saw it. I recognized that face from the 1902(or so) portrait of Hager's orchestra:

Yes indeed, there's Fred and Jimmy. 

So I guess that Jimmy Hager was a little more involved in recording that I suspected. Or maybe it's just because his brother was the big dog in the recording pack. 

Before I move on the the next few things, at the very end of that field day article, there's a pun about Eddie King, which really was the cherry on top to the elaborate and delicious bit of writing that whole thing was. Nothing beats a pun about that hilarious eccentric Eddie King. So the more I hear about Eddie King, the jokes keep-a-coming, which is entertaining, but creates a somewhat tragic story for a brilliant figure, similar to Hylands. 

So, before i saw all of these lovely things, I went on a dig to see what I could find regarding Hager in various issues of  Talking Machine World. I started digging through each edition of the magazine in the 1920's, and that proved to be promising. One of the first things I found was this here:

So according to the caption, Hager is second from the left. 

This picture was featured in an early 1920 edition. 

A few editions before that, in 1918, I found this interesting group picture: 

This is all the Okeh management right at the beginning of the company. So, if that's true, Hager must be somewhere. Before I looked at the identification of everyone, I wanted to see if I could test myself in finding Hager. Well, he's not hard to spot, even as an older man beyond his recording prime. 

There he is! Looking old and surly in the way that Eddie King was described. 

So, out of my burning curiosity, I kept digging back each year to find more Hager stuff. Hager and Ring are mentioned in pretty much every edition of Talking Machine World going back to 1905, as it helps that Hager had just become a publisher in that year, so his name was on a lot more music then. I saw a few fun pieces on Hager related to recording and not. Around 1911-1912, Hager was doing a lot of work in Boston(around the time of the Phono-cut record endeavor!), so in those editions there are quite a few pieces describing his relationship with members of the Boston Symphony(which is quite interesting, classical historians!). There was a funny bit on how Hager had placed an order for a nice bearskin rug as a gift for the Boston symphony director, but it never came for Mr. director man. It was a joke on the director obviously . 

So n relation to this Boston stuff, I found this curious group picture dated to 1912:

Without any context, I was thoroughly confused. My first question was, where's Hager?

Well, that part wasn't too difficult. I can pick out his face quite easily now. 

So what the hell is this?

The description below the picture stated that this picture was taken at a grand steak dinner that Hager hosted for all the Boston recording boys(so does that mean Justin Ring is hiding somewhere?) to get friendly with each other. Again, this says a lot about Hager, relating back to my previous comments regarding the Hoodoo Motorboat. Hager liked living large, that's all. 

That's really all I was able to gather from this research. Well, I also gathered that Justin Ring stayed looking young and hot into his middle age, which is no small thing. he was only a year and a half younger than Hager, yet he looked much younger into the mid to late 1920's. Just as I gathered from James Hager's draft card, his brother Fred aged much quicker(maybe from that living large thing I mentioned too...). You can see the both of them in this picture here:

Dated 1922. 

Hager is playing violin(with curiously styled white hair...) and Ring is of course on the far right with his hands up. Another example of Ring around the same time:

(Ring with Harry Reser and Nathan Glantz? if any of you know who that saxophonist is, please comment!)

and of course we know this one here:

Even at age 46 he still had all that blond hair and that cute face. 

So yes, Hager didn't stay all pretty for too long, but Justin Ring did. 

So, moving on...Among the things I picked up on my digging in the last week or so, I finally got to hear some more new transfers. When I visited UCSB back in February, there was this one particular record that stood out, and it seems like quite a generic title for it to be as good as it is. 

This is the copy that I got to listen to while there. To my absolute delight, there was a transfer of another copy of this record online! 

(but of course it's transferred way too fast)

https://archive.org/details/78_sand-dance_gbia0041025a

Ah yes, that pure and beautiful sound of Schweinfest and Hylands. Something about their records is ever charming, and I'm not quite sure what it is. It could be the absolute precision and jollity that Schweinfest carried in every portrait of him. 

Somehow, that sweet smile comes through on his records, no matter the accompanist or time of the year. In some kind of way, his reserved personality seemed to blend well with Hylands' outgoing theatrical demeanor. 

This particular Schweinfest and Hylands record is my very favorite at the moment, as everything is perfect, nothing slips, and Hylands plays some really outstanding things to wholly compliment the sole notes of the piccolo. The most amazing thing about this record is that one minor section that begins around 1:01. Schweinfest syncopates while Hylands plays a haunting dance melody. Genius!

Hylands' banjo strumming imitation at the second go-around of "The Arkansas traveler" is also lovely. 

Just a flawless recording, hands down. 

So there were a few Zon-O-Phone's that I also fell in love with. First of all, there's this great 1909 Zono of "Stomp Dance" by the Zon-O-Phone concert band(post Hager's orchestra). So here you go:

https://archive.org/details/78_stomp-dance_zon-o-phone-concert-band-stewart_gbia0079579b

Wow! That's a hell of a record. 

Well, you can't deny the odd charm of Eddie King's shouts and drum pounding. Something about all that makes this record all the better, I mean other than the always great music! This piece is a nice piece of Rag-time, despite the Indian intermezzo tone of the title and shouts on the record. It's got syncopation that seems reminiscent of the 1890's. 

Another Zono issued around the same time was part of this batch I found:

https://archive.org/details/78_i-pagliacci_zon-o-phone-concert-band_gbia0079578a

Again, what an amazing record! Such beautiful harmonies, and powerful ensemble playing. Oh, the beauty of Hager and his musicians. 

I cannot get over how lovely that swell at 1:27 is, it's a great way to hear everyone in the orchestra all together. Those bits of ensemble playing also show off some of what I assume to be Hager's arrangements. The full and dense chords that I associate with Hager's piano playing were all over his arrangements, creating a very complex sound and balanced sound. 

To close off, here's a great record(perhaps my favorite of the batch I listened to), from 1905 of Hager and the Zon-O-Phone concert band playing Arthur Pryor's "Razzazza Mazzazza":

https://archive.org/details/78_razzazza-mazzazza_zon-o-phone-concert-band_gbia0045347a

The best part of this record is that on the second strain you get to really hear the genius of Arthur Pryor's composition with the heavily syncopated trombone counter melodies. That's one thing I wasn't really able to fully appreciate on Pryor's own recordings of the piece. 

The bad percussion at the end is by Eddie King of course. He missed the start of the last strain and was thrown off, making the whole thing sound out of whack. Typical eccentric Eddie King. 

I got a few really great records coming in the mail this week, so hopefully I'll have some time to get a post in about that. 

Hope you enjoyed this!