Since I have been noticing little things from several different records since last evening, I cannot really stay on a single subject this evening. I have been getting back into the drunken utterings of George Graham, and the melodic beauty of the early recorded quartets on cylinders. So the first thing I would like to start with is this guy:
Ah yes, George Graham, the roughest monologist recorded in the first decade of the business.I still don't know what it is about his voice and annunciations of certain words that capivate me. I love his records, even if his voice is rough, unbalanced, and jarring.
The people who came to the exibitions at Columbia must have been puzzled when they saw and heard him in the flesh. How they must have been staring up at him with the most odd looks on their faces. He really had unusual ways of pronouncing certain words, that I have heard from other collegues of his say. Such as these examples:
he often says "fahk" instead of fork.
he said "ay-re" instead of "are" it's a hard one to replicate in writing...
he often said "fer" instead of "for".
he said "cah" instead of car.
you can hear a few of these in this great example of his speech:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000001513/Pre-matrix_B-2164-Forty-seven_dollars
Such a weird dialect. I think it might be Indiana mixed with a generic northeastern dialect. It's hard to tell. If anyone has any ideas, please tell me!
This next thing has to do with Frank P. Banta, and the other Bantas.
Yep, that's Banta.
Well, we all know he was the pianist for Edison and Victor before 1903, and that he was a soulful man usually in seemingly high spirits. From what I have found now, the Bantas lived very confortably in a very nice part of Manhattan in the late 1890's and early 1900's. Which surprised me greatly. As the studio musicians had the hardest job of anyone who worked at the studios, even more tiring than the managers or higher management above them. Yes, Edward Easton(Columbia's main founder) did try to commit suicide in 1908 from his depressed and overworked he was, but he would never know what it was like for his own Fred Hylands ten years before that incident. I'm sure Hylands almost went that far at least once. It really was the hardest job ever, and anyone who can work at it for ten years is a true saint. That's what Banta did. Hylands was only in the recording business for about eight years, maybe more, but that would be about right.
I'm really surprised that it wasn't the recording at Columbia that directly killed Hylands. It contributed, but it wasn't direct. He seemed like he loved all the boys there, which he did, but deep inside him, he hated working there and just wanted to hang himself and leave for good. Same thing for Banta, save for his much better impulsive control, so he didn't utter his complaints and make it somewhat clear that he didn't want to be there. Banta probably didn't say a single word truthful about his thoughts about working at Edison and Victor. He was much more polite and mannered(if you will) than Hylands. He actually had the means to object about working at Columbia:
OOH! Big mistake Freddy!
They probably thought of it as funny, even if he wasn't trying to joke around. Banta had his manners though, as he was contented with his family life enough to not complain. Hylands just had a small flat with his father and wife to come home to after the long recording days, Banta had a wonderful home with two children(as of 1901) and a very caring and loving wife, with two housemaids to tend to him. Hylands hadn't much to look forward to after his long and exhausting days. Banta could have genuine eagerness to get home after a long recording day. Hylands would have a small bite to eat, take some snuff, and go on to bed dugged and drunk. Banta would have a wonderful meal with his family, have a few drinks and go on to bed to rest well for the next recording day.
Last thing for this post, I had an interesting dream last nght about this singer:
Yes indeed, Dan W. Quinn.
He was very kind and comical toward me in my dream, as I'm sure he was normally when speaking to anyone. I had a few great laughs with him, and he set some brown wax cylinders on the table I sat at with him, and somehow Frank Banta.
Anyhow, to close off, here are some early Quinn brown waxes so compliment the vision from my dream:
I love these Quinn records so much. Thanks for performing "Still His Whiskers Grew" with me at Chip's house Ryan(Wishner) I really enjoyed it!
I hope you enjoyed this!
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