Burt. Shepard, c.1887-91
It's been a while since I've entered the mysterious realm of Burt Shepard, and since I have had a fascination with him and his records lately, it would seem to be time to finally do a character studies post on him. Not much is known on him, now and even back when he was performing and making records, and this is actually his fault, since he didn't want to talk much when people interviewed him back in the 1900's and 1910's. If he had spoken just a little more a whole lot of the mess of mystery would be nonexistent. He has the same sort of reputation that Silas Leachman has had over the decades. Leachman didn't talk much when reporters asked him personal questions, and had gone almost completely forgotten over the ages and only had a batch of Victor records for few record collectors to know about him. This is exactly the same for Shepard, save for the fact that recently a treasure trove of information has been found on Leachman, and this is still yet to happen for Shepard. Whenever this happens, I want to witness it, and grab everything I can.
His background and upbringing is completely lost to history, since he refused to speak of it, and no one could get anything appertaining to it anywhere. One thing is for sure, he came from somewhere deep in middle America, as his dialect matches up almost exactly with Byron Harlan's, George Graham's, and even Fred Hylands'. All three of those performers came from different places in the midwest, Kansas, West Virginia, and Indiana. The state specifically where Shepard came from may never be known, but it's not New York or anywhere in the eastern U. S. His exact birthdate is also unknown, as that he also refused to reveal, and the date often given for this is just a logical guess, since he first began performing in a minstrel troupe in c.1874(might be earlier...) that came from New Orleans, which may or may not be an indicator of where he came from. From there, but the late-1870's, he was performing in women's clothing, doing singing and minstrel acts and gaining a reputation as a prime female impersonator. In this, I believe there's a photo of him from the same page as the picture above that looks like him almost certainly:
Really do a comparison, and you'll see why I think it's him. (that would mean that there was a typo in the book that this came from...)
This picture just above might either be from the early-1890's, or it's a much earlier image of him from the mid-1870's. The hairstyle looks like the 1870's, as well as the strange choker-necklace thing was a popular style of the mid-1870's. Hmm, after doing some good studying, I think this picture is from around 1875, according to the neckline of the dress, the hairstyle, and the weird choker thing. Really go and study fashion plates from that time, you'll see exactly why I have concluded 1875 as the date here.
Anyway, with this talent, he became a popular minstrel show "middle man" who would, by tradition, not be in blackface. He did perform in blackface as well, and often did parodies of popular songs, that he created. This tradition of song parodies lasted and was luckily able to be caught on recordings in 1901 and 1902, which included his parodies of "Home Sweet Home", "The Swanee River" and even "The Honeysuckle and the Bee" which were all fantastic examples of vaudeville. By the late-1890's he was performing all over the world, performing in England, Paris, Australia, and even South Africa as well. By 1901, he was in the U.S. once more, performing his popular song parodies, doing general vaudeville, and of course, making records! Much of how people know him comes from these hundred or so Victor records from 1901 to 1906, which included many popular British songs that American artists had not yet recorded. Many songs he recorded were also ones that he made up his own lyrics that were parodies all themselves without being labelled as such.
He went back for the crowds of London by 1912, and remained there until he died the next year. In the final time he was in England, he made a few recordings for Victor that was set up ten years before by Russell Hunting. After that, his name and reputation slowly faded off, with only those Victors to truly remember him and hear why he was so highly praised. His personality came through on his recordings, as the few surviving accounts describing him match much of the character that leaks into many of his famous Victor recordings. He was a similar figure to Fred Hylands in appearance, save for being well over six feet tall, Shepard was not Hylands height, but the weight and overall proportions appear to be the same. He was known by the studio pianists of the early days to have been a jolly and kind man, though sometimes complicated and indirect. His likable personality earned him many friends in the business, and didn't keep new people from him.
It's unfortunate that almost none of the basic information on him is lost to history, as it we knew more about him, he's probably more complicated than we could ever have fathomed.
His background and upbringing is completely lost to history, since he refused to speak of it, and no one could get anything appertaining to it anywhere. One thing is for sure, he came from somewhere deep in middle America, as his dialect matches up almost exactly with Byron Harlan's, George Graham's, and even Fred Hylands'. All three of those performers came from different places in the midwest, Kansas, West Virginia, and Indiana. The state specifically where Shepard came from may never be known, but it's not New York or anywhere in the eastern U. S. His exact birthdate is also unknown, as that he also refused to reveal, and the date often given for this is just a logical guess, since he first began performing in a minstrel troupe in c.1874(might be earlier...) that came from New Orleans, which may or may not be an indicator of where he came from. From there, but the late-1870's, he was performing in women's clothing, doing singing and minstrel acts and gaining a reputation as a prime female impersonator. In this, I believe there's a photo of him from the same page as the picture above that looks like him almost certainly:
This picture just above might either be from the early-1890's, or it's a much earlier image of him from the mid-1870's. The hairstyle looks like the 1870's, as well as the strange choker-necklace thing was a popular style of the mid-1870's. Hmm, after doing some good studying, I think this picture is from around 1875, according to the neckline of the dress, the hairstyle, and the weird choker thing. Really go and study fashion plates from that time, you'll see exactly why I have concluded 1875 as the date here.
Anyway, with this talent, he became a popular minstrel show "middle man" who would, by tradition, not be in blackface. He did perform in blackface as well, and often did parodies of popular songs, that he created. This tradition of song parodies lasted and was luckily able to be caught on recordings in 1901 and 1902, which included his parodies of "Home Sweet Home", "The Swanee River" and even "The Honeysuckle and the Bee" which were all fantastic examples of vaudeville. By the late-1890's he was performing all over the world, performing in England, Paris, Australia, and even South Africa as well. By 1901, he was in the U.S. once more, performing his popular song parodies, doing general vaudeville, and of course, making records! Much of how people know him comes from these hundred or so Victor records from 1901 to 1906, which included many popular British songs that American artists had not yet recorded. Many songs he recorded were also ones that he made up his own lyrics that were parodies all themselves without being labelled as such.
He went back for the crowds of London by 1912, and remained there until he died the next year. In the final time he was in England, he made a few recordings for Victor that was set up ten years before by Russell Hunting. After that, his name and reputation slowly faded off, with only those Victors to truly remember him and hear why he was so highly praised. His personality came through on his recordings, as the few surviving accounts describing him match much of the character that leaks into many of his famous Victor recordings. He was a similar figure to Fred Hylands in appearance, save for being well over six feet tall, Shepard was not Hylands height, but the weight and overall proportions appear to be the same. He was known by the studio pianists of the early days to have been a jolly and kind man, though sometimes complicated and indirect. His likable personality earned him many friends in the business, and didn't keep new people from him.
It's unfortunate that almost none of the basic information on him is lost to history, as it we knew more about him, he's probably more complicated than we could ever have fathomed.
Hope you enjoyed this!
It says on google that he was born in 1854, and t when he was on stage, he would sometimes accompany himself on the piano. I read one of you old posts about him saying that his death had something to do with his weight. I think you're right, cause there's a rumor saying he weighed around 300 pounds. If you look up his name on google images, you'll see 2 more pictures of him, one of them is a smaller part of the first one.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there's no way that we'll actually know what his birthdate was, only because he refused to state his age and where he was born(Though it's likely he was born maybe in Louisiana). And yes indeed, he had a similar body type to Fred Hylands, at three hundred pounds certain, thanks to Fred Gaisberg stating this in his diaries. Images of him are uncommon, and I have dug one up recently that I cropped from a Pathe record catalog dated 1901 ish.
DeleteThank you for your comment! Commentary is always appreciated.
Do you know who the most popular recording artist from 1890 to 1930 was?
ReplyDeleteEthe only issue with that question is the fact that that timeframe is very broad. Usually when I figure the "best" of the recording category, I usually split it up by decade or recoding medium. Examples of this include, The brown wax era(1888-1901), piano accompaniment era(1889-1905), first Rag-Time era(1896-1905), second ragtime era(1906-1918), Transitional Jazz era(1916-1924), classic jazz era(1925-1936), an of course the Swing era(1936-1947). It's hard to answer your question with such broad timing involved.
DeleteI could tell you the most popular recording artist of the 4 eras I listed above, but not the entire epoch of the acoustic era.
Then who was most popular in the brown wax era?
DeleteWell, that's a little hard pressed, the most popular of the earlier years was John Yorke AtLee(this would be 1888-1892), and the era most associated with brown wax is where it gets a little complicated. The three most popular were George Gaskin, Dan W. Quinn, and Len Spencer.
Delete-Gaskin was the best-selling
-Quinn had the broadest repertoire
-Spencer made the most records overall(said to have been 62,000 by 1896)
These three stars all stated(save for Spencer) that they were the most popular in the recording business, and it's hard to believe any one of them, because of their obviously arrogant personalities(particularly Quinn). I would Say Spencer hilariously "takes the cake" here, though anyone you ask will give different opinions on who the most popular was. I think it's Spencer because not only had he the most outstanding stamina for recording rounds, he was also dedicated to the mechanical and business aspects of the recording business, being one who discovered many talents of the era succeeding him, such as Billy Murray and Ada Jones(He and Fred Hylands discovered Ada Jones after her 1894 North American cylinders). Again, anyone you ask will say varying things on this matter.
I also say Spencer because of my overwhelming fascination with him.