Some interesting titles and Visualizing

When looking through a listing of Columbia cylinders, there are always some very fun and interesting-looking titles all over the page, but of course, not all the needed specifics are given, for reasons I have explained before. Last evening, I was looking through the listing you can find here:

https://archive.org/stream/KastlemusickColumbiaCylinders/Kastlemusick%20Columbia%20Cylinders#page/n3/mode/2up

All of the brown wax listings are amazingly helpful, with many titles listed  would make record geeks want to go right out and search for in their collections of brown wax, and check on Ebay if any of them are for sale somewhere. Really, what I'm saying is that there are listings of cylinders that we all hope are still out there in some way, shape, or form. In conditions good enough to play, is what is really what is needed. Of the many fascinating sections of listings, the 11000 series is always an interesting one, because that was the number system that had all of their special talking records, which, not surprisingly included the "scenes from life" series put out by the Spencer brothers. There are even more that are listed on this page than in the 1900 catalog that had the section of "scenes from life". As you can see only three of them here:

Yes, all of these are hilarious, but gruesome and morbid in their own special ways. Yes indeed, very much akin to the late-1890's doings of these strange Columbia employees. But of course, as expected from the Spencer's, Steve Porter, Roger Harding, Russell Hunting, and Fred Hylands, the "scenes from life" records didn't end with only the above three. You may notice that the numbering of these three cylinders are scattered, and are not exactly numerical, as they weren't exactly beside one another in the catalog. What was 11022? Well, a little something called "The Cock Fight". Ooh. That must be a gruesome one. When I saw that one, I cringed a little, as Spencer always went for "descriptive selections" that were realistic in all the ways they could be. Cock fights were always said to have been brutal(not that "The Dog Fight" isn't a similar story) in a way that dog fights weren't. Think of Spencer describing a fight to the death between two chickens, and getting many of his friends in the studio involved(much like on "The Side Show Shouter"). 

Just to get an idea, here are all three of the selections listed above:

No. 11008

No. 11021(you can hear an earlier different take Here!)

and No. 11024(featuring Collins and Harlan!)

I haven't heard the earlier take of "The Dog Fight" in a long while, and it's very interesting to compare the two takes. The older one has many more people involved, and it's much more casual. By this, it is meant that there's much more talking throughout, and you can hear these two things when they're all talking at the beginning, and when they all cheer. I can pick out Hylands still, even if this one isn't as clearly transferred. I can't really point him out on the post here, because it really is pretty hard to, but I found him. All I can say here is, he can be heard at the beginning after the announcement by Spencer, and toward the end when they let go the dogs for the battle. He probably got all of his studio friends at Columbia together to do this one, more specifically, the older take. Heh, the only problem I have with hearing these "descriptive selections" is that I don't see what it meant to be by Spencer, I see what it actually looked like. I'm referring to how I see all of them in the studio making the cylinder, crammed in weird places and crowded around the horns, yelling and cheering from wherever they are. He must have placed them all over the room, sitting on tables, standing on chairs, and Hylands probably sitting on the edge of the piano's raised platform. Ryan Wishner and I don't see "The Dog Fight", we see them making  "The Dog Fight". 
Here's a sketch of kind of what I see:

Imagine about twenty-five or so people crowded into this room:

And yes, both takes of "The Dog Fight" were made in that room. And also the other two "Scenes from Life" listed. 

Back to some of those fascinating titles and visualizing of them. I'd love to hear "The Cock Fight", though it makes me cringe seeing it alone, as I know that it would be another fantastic "descriptive selection" by Len Spencer. Now, some other interesting titles that are all over this catalog include "The Dime Museum Lecturer", which sounds fascinating, as it's probably by Harry Spencer. Both the Spencer's had been to Huber's Dime museum, as that's most likely the inspiration for that cylinder. Another is "The Talking Machine Exhibitor". Now, that one I have actually heard before! In fact, to share the knowledge, you can hear it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3k1jA8wo8E

Does anyone know who that is?  I have not an idea! This one could be really anyone on the Columbia staff, Russell Hunting, Harry Spencer, George Graham, Len Spencer, or someone even as exclusive as Victor Emerson. It's fascinating nonetheless, filled with some quick comedic lines, and very truthful statements having to to with how Columbia exhibitions were done. Now they didn't have that at Edison! This cylinder is just very bizarre, as I cannot exactly figure out what the purpose of this cylinder was. Was it to advertise(not really)? To describe a scene from life? Well, whatever was its intended purpose, it's a fantastic look into the fun that went on at the Columbia exhibitions. 

Some more fun titles seem to be "The Bureau"(which was by Russell Hunting undoubtedly), and also Hunting's "Hamlet's Soliloquy", which must have also been fantastic. Now to move to the list of the 15000 series, which was the list of the Columbia orchestra. We know of many of the strange descriptive selections that the rowdy Columbia orchestra did in 1898, but what about some of the obscure songs they did in that time? Well, among those included:

 "The New Bully Medley", "The Jolly Coppersmith", "Pomona Waltz" ,"The Jealous Blackbird", "The Alabama Walk-Around", "A Trip on the Broadway Cable"(which is probably a "Descriptive selection"), "Sambo At the Cake-Walk", "Mexican Dance--La Media Noche", "The Village Orchestra", "Poor Jonathan Waltz", "The Darkey Volunteer(s) March"(though it's actually a Rag in a sense),"Charge of the Rough Riders", "The Bugler's Dream"(a descriptive selection), "Hello, Ma Baby", " "On the Midway","My Honolulu Lady", "The Oriental Coon", "Dewey's Return", and of course "You Don't Stop the World from Going 'Round".

Wow, what a list! That's not even close to everything that was listed. For fun, here are a few of those listed above:
"The Jealous Blackbird", recorded mid or late-1897
"The Jolly Coppersmith" recorded in the middle of 1898(with coppersmith effects by Len Spencer)
"The Village Orchestra", recorded in early 1899(featuring Fred Hylands as mister leader man)
"On the midway" recorded in earlier 1898
"The Bugler's Dream" recorded in earlier 1898(featuring bugle calls by Tom Clark)
"Charge of the Rough Riders", recorded in the middle of 1898(featuring bugle calls by Tom Clark, and vocals by Fred Hylands)

By the repertoire that the Columbia orchestra had, it is certain that they reflected the mindset of those who worked there. Not exactly the management, but the employees. Edison was a reflection of its management. The list that I had a link to at the beginning of this post is an amazing way to discover more about the forgotten files of the Columbia phonograph Company, even though the specifics are missing. The long lists of titles by Dan Quinn and George Gaskin are just as interesting, as they are full of comic songs, and popular love songs of the day. There are plenty of these "descriptive selections" that we all hope exist in someone's collection, as every one of them are very weird, complicated in balancing, and full of 1890's mirth! 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

The Edison Orchestra and Columbia Orchestra

Sorry it's been so many days, it's been a little hard to stay on a single subject for a  post, and it's been busy around here. I have been listening to many of the "descriptive selections" that were recorded by the Columbia, Peerless, and Metropolitan orchestras, and just regular selections by these groups. The differences between these three studio ensembles are much more so than many would think, as of course, they did indeed have different people in the groups, and they were under different management by the record companies, and as I have explained before, makes a big difference. The Peerless orchestra was the Edison studio group, regardless or their Edison Concert band, which essentially served exactly the same purpose. The one who led this orchestra was:

Yes indeed, that chap. 

Banta led this group by writing out most of the arrangements, and counting them off, and all else he had to do while leading this group. He must have been aware of the fact that the Columbia orchestra was doing all of the same material at the same time, but with a much looser bound string of rules surrounding their sessions. According to capitalist logic, Banta had to try to compete with those fellows at Columbia for better arrangements and better balancing techniques. Banta encouraged all of the Rag-Time we hear and see listed in the Edison catalog from that time, and that's why there was so much of it. Banta is where we get some of those great Rag-Time arrangements like these: 

Fred Stone's "My Rag Time Baby"(transferred a little too fast though) from 1899

"My Tiger Lily" from 1900

two takes of "Whistling Rufus" from 1899

These are all great examples of Banta's leadership, and even the selections that aren't Rag-Time are just as great, such as the descriptive selections and other popular songs. Two descriptive selections are here:

"The Yankee Doodle Dandy Lanciers" from 1899

"The Midnight Alarm" from 1900.

Now as you might expect, these "descriptive selections" were very popular among the record buyers. Edison orchestra also recorded the extremely popular one called "The Night Alarm", which you can find countless versions of all over the place on records from the late-1890's. I don't exactly know why it was so popular in its day, but it was certainly a fun one regardless, you can hear the earliest example of it I know of here(from 1892!):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder10482

It is unknown how it began to circulate among the record companies, but there are at least 12 different recordings of it I know of. That's really saying something! 

The Peerless orchestra was never known to go out and do any performances, unlike the Columbia orchestra, who was all over the place at exhibitions and performances of Spencer's minstrels, or at lavish affairs at the Waldorf-Astoria. Since Edison didn't really have those fun sort of exhibitions that Columbia had, they didn't invite a handful of artists to come and demonstrate. Though, since Arthur Collins can be heard at the beginning of all but one of the Peerless Orchestra cylinder listed above, he probably had some sort of role in these Edison exhibitions. Collins was essentially at Edison just like how Len Spencer was at Columbia, and later what Ed Meeker became after 1902 at Edison. 

While Banta was getting sick and running the Edison orchestra with all he could to make them better, in a sort of serious way, minus Collins' comical introductions, the Columbia orchestra was wailing away at their antics they were known for. Many of the "descriptive selections" that the Columbia orchestra did in 1898-1900 were actually specific just to them. Such as their rowdy mess called "Charge of the Rough Riders". Now that one is a real kick! This is because of how wild and rowdy it seems, but yet how organised it is. It's one of the most symbolic of all the Columbia orchestra's selections, as it represents everything they were, all they did, and their attitude toward making records and music. You can hear a take here:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder9828

"Forward March!"

Yes indeed Mr. Clark. 

It's just such a contrast to the selections by the Peerless orchestra from the same year. They also had some weirder ones, like "Children's Games Lanciers", as you can hear that here:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8173

Ha! they're all cheering like little kids! Hilarious. 

They also had one called "The Capture of Santiago", which is again referring to Roosevelt and the Rough Riders charging into Cuba. I haven't heard this one yet, but I have seen it listed in several places around the same time as their "Charge of the Rough Riders". The one in the link above is certainly a strange one in the mix, but then again I am not surprised about that, as Columbia's people certainly had some more odd ones in their files. They were hard to compete with, so at this, it left Banta a little at a disadvantage when trying to make his orchestra at Edison better. In reality, the Columbia orchestra had better musicians in its personnel, but the Edison studio orchestra had a mix of just as talented musicians. The thing about Columbia's orchestra is that their musicians had been in the business of recording for at least 7 or 8 years by 1898. They had status. By this I mean that with musicians like David Dana, George Schweinfest, and William Tuson, they were already known as soloists on records by the time the Columbia orchestra was formed in 1897. In fact, you can see all three of these musicians here:

I was studying this picture a few days ago and noticed that Dana is there! The only reason I know this is because of that wonderful picture that was put up on Tinfoil.com recently, this one to be more specific:

Yep, see it now? 
Taking a good look at Dana here was how I figured that he was in that Columbia orchestra picture. It makes sense really, since was was one of those members of Issler's orchestra who dropped out in 1897. As all three of the musicians picture just above were the main three who did this. So in that picture of the Columbia orchestra(actually, that is not everyone in the group! There would be at least four more people if they had the usual amount of instruments that would be on their records) We know that Hylands is there at the piano, looking out to everyone else with those expressive eyes behind those glasses, and with Tom Clark(maybe, I'm not exactly sure, I've never seen a picture of him) holding his right hand up(I don't know why...). Now that is actually why my father and I have come to the conclusion that this was a "staged" picture. What it meant by that? Well, the photographer was getting everything set up in there, and they actually weren't in the middle of making records when it was shot. And actually, much of the setup in realistic with the chairs on tables and such, but not exactly what they would be doing when making records. It's much like many of the studio pictures from that time, in fact I would be confident in saying that all of those studio pictures are "staged". Even the ones from the 1910's and 1920's have a similar story. The only so-called "Studio" picture that isn't really staged is this one here:

They didn't spend fifteen minutes trying to get everyone in the right place for this one. It can be seen clearly. The photographer probably had to yell while he already had his flasher in the air, as the exhibitions were loud and rowdy. He couldn't stand there and fix anything, so at that, what you see here is very candid, no tricks were done like in that other studio picture. Now another thing that's unique about the Columbia orchestra is the fact that they carried much of Issler's arrangements over from the earlier 1890's, such as "On the Midway", which you can hear the 1898 version here:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder7941

The Issler's orchestra take from 1894 is here:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8101

They are a little bit different, but it's funny to think that most of the same musicians were on both of these takes. I forgot to mention that Len Spencer was another Issler dropout, as he was their announcer and sound effects man(though he's not on the 1894 take just above...).  So as you can hear, Spencer is on the 1898 version of "On the Midway", and also if you listen closely, you can hear Hylands kind of singing along with the "Hoochie Koochie" song at the end. Yep, that's him you can hear.

Now saying that brings me to the next part of this post I wanted to discuss. I have mentioned a few times before that there are times on cylinders where you can pick out the voice of Fred Hylands among the mix of other voices(other than the one above). Now the Spencer brothers, Len and Harry, did a series of three records in the late-1890's advertised as "Scenes from life", all of them you can see listed here;

Nothing is said about "The Dog Fight", but that makes sense, as it pretty much is what is said in the title. Yes! Two dogs fighting to the death. Yep, this is 1898. 
Now to begin in finding Hylands, here is Spencer and Gilbert Girard's "The Dog Fight" recorded in c. 1903. Where's Hylands? Well, that voice that's yelling:


"ALL-RIGHT JIMM'EH!"

Yep, that's him alright. 

Why is that Hylands? Well listen to the slight dialect, and how powerful the voice is. It's also a voice that I have heard before on Columbia records, so that is a great indicator. That raspy voice is one that you can hear on this one as well, Harry Spencer's "Side Show Shouter" from 1898. I have explained before where you can hear Hylands on this one(0ther than him playing the organ), but just to refresh this, you can hear him at the beginning, in the middle saying, "I've seen bigger dwarf's 'en 'im!" (It's hard to write how he actually says that...), and he's also yelling at the end being the cops coming up on them. 

I played this cylinder for my former history teacher Mr. Rotenizer this Thursday, and he actually caught one of the things that Hylands yells at the beginning. He caught that Hylands yells "HOT TAMALES!"(in that slightly Chicago dialect) at a lull in what Spencer's yelling at the beginning after the announcement! THAT is hilarious! Also, I think that part of the reason that no one can understand what Hylands is saying at the beginning is because he's pretty drunk. Yep, that really makes sense now doesn't it. Also by how he does that laugh in the middle, oohh... Yep, he's pretty tipsy. Also by how it is very hard to understand what he says at the end acting as the constable, all I can understand is something like:

"Hey!! Ah'll catch ye-o rollahers(?)!"(while swinging around one of those clicker things)

I can't understand him. Well, he's obviously pretty drunk, so that makes some sense. It's still Fred Hylands' voice! 

I hope you enjoyed this!