Digging into Leachman, and other Chicago Eccentricities

(Leachman, c.1898-1901, from Charlie Judkins)

Under the kind obliging of a friend of mine, I will do another post outlining Silas Leachman, including all of the new information on him that has been found within the last few years. 

When I mentioned that "treasure trove" of information in my last Burt Shepard post, I meant all of the basic background information on Leachman was made available to everyone, as before that, he a was very mysterious figure in the early recording business. It seemed someone did all of the census record findings and newspaper searching to find everything. Whomever that was, you cannot be thanked enough! Much like Burt Shepard, there's a lot about Leachman we will always wonder about, and will probably never know. Leachman was one of the few early recording stars who was genuinely a genius musically, and technically, which was very uncommon. You many argue that the Spencer's deserve that spot and title as well, but Leachman really takes the prize on this matter. 

It's really fascinating to consider that Leachman was not only just a local eccentric in Chicago, but he was also involved with the show business in the area, as he knew all the other famous eccentrics, and just others who passed by the city while he was there. Chicago seems more and more like the true Rag-Time melting pot as I study these encounters, as pretty much every one of the earliest Rag composers lived in Chicago at some point in the early or mid 1890's, which includes some of the popular New York performers as well, not just composers. Leachman just happened to be right in the middle of it, and luckily for him, all of these composers, performers and publishers found him interesting and took quick interest in him. It's not that strange to see a piece of Chicago music published in 1893-1896 mentioning Leachman on the cover, or anywhere in the music's pages. Local Chicago talking machine advertisements would mention him often as well. I have mentioned before in my Chicago posts that Leachman encountered "Bill" Krell, as my dad called him once(It was strange to hear someone call him that!). This was W. H. Krell:

Krell in 1895 

As I have come to notice recently, Krell actually had a Fred Hylands-like figure, which is strange to think, but if you really take a good look, you can notice it. Of course, at first glance, Krell looks like a handsome-faced, blond-haired German chap, it doesn't help that this is the only photograph there is of him, so far as I know.

A cartoon I did mocking several Chicago eccentrics of the mid-1890's, including Krell, Fred Hylands and Bert Morphy(who was also a famous cook!)

We Rag-Time freaks know him as the man who wrote "Missisippi Rag", which was the first tune to formally have "Rag" in the title, in the use of music terms that is. Krell was a young and new bandleader in 1892 and 1893 in Chicago, dearly wanting to get on the same terms as the other local military bands, since he had grown up among band competition of that sort. In 1893, he met a kind local eccentric named Silas Leachman, and wrote a tune dedicated to the former mayor of Chicago who had died during the Exposition of that year. Leachman must have sung this tune at performances by Krell's band in 1893 at the fair, in memory of the mayor. From there, Krell and Leachman had connections, and among the performers Krell endorsed, Leachman was probably one of them. Fred Hylands and Ben Harney were others among the long list of performers.  Leachman's connections earned him a lot of work with the local Chicago Talking machine company, and performing work in the city. Those thousands of brown waxes he made at home from 1892-1899 really give you a idea of how busy and demanded he was by Chicago record-buyers. The fact that he was mentioned more than once in The Phonoscope also tells you that he was a popular subject of gossip among the Columbia clan. He was not involved in all of their antics, but he was experimenting much like they were at the same time, in fact, he was doing things that none of the famous Columbia studio geniuses thought of, such as recording his voice in four different ranges and creating a quartette from only his voice(you can read the section from The Phonoscope here.)  
Other than being a famous recording star, Leachman was also just a local gambler and enthusiast. Among his local activities included owning a race horse, and being the epitome of a Kentucky dandy(of which this is personified in Roger Harding's hilarious 1901 recording here). He would dress in his best and go out to the races, being one of the warmest society swells at the track (Hmm, sounds like some other swells we know from Columbia...), with this fame and wealth from recording and horse races, he also became a policeman, for which he became even more well-known. We know that once he became chief of personnel for the Chicago police, that was when his recording career faded away. He was making all of those Victors when this new era in his life began, and when the pervious one was slowly ending. 

It's hard to believe that when he was making all of those Victors that just after then, he wanted all of that to be forgotten. Every one of his Victor's is amazing to hear, since they seemed to catch more of him than the few surviving brown waxes he made. It would seem that his brown waxes allowed him to be more wild, but the Victor's made him become someone else sometimes, though still keeping some of his prized humor from the brown wax era. His times at Victor were also where he could reconnect with some of his old Chicago eccentrics, like Fred Hylands, and Frank Banta(though Banta only came for a brief time in 1895, and maybe in passing before that while touring with Ossman). It is certain that he was able to reconnect with Hylands, as without a doubt, he was one of those strange and young "rag" pianists of the mid-1890's. I have always had the feeling that Leachman must have been hard to work with in the studio, and not really in the same ways that Arthur Collins and Henry Burr were. Leachman's issues in the studio came from how he remembered songs and recordings, as it's important to remember that he learned everything by ear. He was also constantly imitating other popular singers that the studio pianists would have known, which must have really been a kick to the pianists. Among the singers he imitated, I've heard Len Spencer, George Gaskin, Billy Golden and Arthur Collins. He was certainly good at imitating them, as Billy Golden was the hardest to imitate of all of them, and he did that often. 

I can tell that he heard a lot of Len Spencer. Heh! Who didn't? 

Many of his records imitate things that Spencer did only, and it helps that many of Leachman's Victor's were of Coon songs. Billy Golden is also another to consider that he heard often, as he did a recording of "Turkey in the Straw" in 1901, and he certainly took from Billy Golden's famous version of unknown origins. Here's Leachman's take on Billy Golden's famous specialty. It's funny that Banta's on piano here, as he would have known only how to accompany Golden's version, and would have been unsure of how Leachman wanted to do this. Leachman must have dissected every chorus of Golden's version to do this. Though as we know, the final verse was completely improvised on Leachman's Victor, which is extraordinary. That look on Banta's face when Leachman told him he was going to improvise the last verse must have been priceless. Leachman's ear must have been amazing, as he could probably hear things that most people couldn't, and could decipher Billy Golden's "Turkey in the Straw" better than anyone ever could. It has become a sort of pun how no one can fully transcribe Golden's lyrics to"Turkey in the Straw", and I think that Leachman could actually do it, so I wonder about how accurate Leachman's interpretation actually was. We will perhaps never know. Like I said, there's a lot about Leachman we will never know. 

It's frustrating how he wanted his whole recording thing to be forgotten, as that was why for so many years almost nothing was known about him,  and why much was probably lost since then. Leachman must have been like Len Spencer, complicated to the point of where none of us modern collectors will understand, and contradicting to many contemporary accounts. A lot of it doesn't make sense. With all of that about Leachman it's alright that he wasn't part of the Columbia clan, because if he had left Chicago earlier, he probably would have been, and that would have killed him, literally. 

Maybe we'll find more information on Leachman someday soon, and hopefully, some of his complicated nature will make more sense. That's not guaranteed though, much like Spencer's impossible personality. 

Hope you enjoyed this! Sorry about not posting for many days, staying on a single subject become hard to do within the last week or so. 

*Who ever you are viewing in Russia, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog! Thanks for the great heap of views within the past week!*

Character Studies--Burt Shepard(c.1853-1913)

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. 

Hope you enjoyed this! 

A Christmas related post(and new found items of interest!)

Well, It seems to be that time of the year anyhow, and I just had a Christmas party last evening, so I think it's about time that I did a post dedicated to the holiday time that it is now. I know of a few holidays related cylinders/discs, and the one I am thinking of at the moment is the classic rendition of  "The Sleigh Ride Party" by the Greater New York Quartette. You can hear the cylinder here. I am not exactly sure of the personnel on this one, but I hear Steve Porter, Roger Harding, and maybe Len Spencer, but I don't think it's early installment of the quartette. It doesn't really seem like it's 1897 to me, it seems like the second installment of the quartette, with Harding, Porter, Jones and Hargrave, rather than Spencer, Jones, Porter, and Harding. I could be wrong. If it was recorded in later 1897(as suggested in the video), than Spencer would be on the cylinder, if it was from mid-1898, then the second installment of the group would be on it. I hate that this group was so confusing, as Len Spencer couldn't stay with a single group for very long, and he was making too many solo records to make time for singing in the Greater Quartette regularly. 

But of course, I have to say, listen to Fred Hylands on the piano behind them! You know he was loving this round, because it was such a fun selection anyhow! 

It must have been so much fun at Columbia in the late 1890's around Christmas time, as all the exhibitions must have been all decorated for the holidays, and they must have all had a good time(like they always did!), popping open champagne and such. Anything they did at Columbia around Christmas must have been really fun! Even if it must have been freezing cold in late 1897, 1898, and 1899, it still must have been enjoyable despite that. They'd all just have to show up to the studio all bundled up in their furs and capes.  One can just see some of them come in through the front doors of their studio(on the second floor of an office building mind you), dusted with powdered snow on the collars and shoulders of their sealskin coats, and shivering from the snow and cold. It can also be imagined the few studio workers who went down to the basement to fire up the furnace. I can see Hylands and Spencer going to to that, with Spencer trying to get a damn match lit in the wet cold air. It must have been a great sight, everyone all dressed up, awaiting anxiously for the furnace to get the place warm, and for all the artists to thaw their frost-bitten fingers and toes.

Edison's studio must have been a similar story, even if it wasn't as welcoming and warm-atmosphered(if you know what I'm saying!). There, you get Walter Miller with his foggy glasses, Frank Banta almost freezing himself to death behind the piano, before each take trying to get his hands warm. Edison's studio was colder for a longer time in the days, as the furnace was only certain areas of the whole plant, and it was not very close to the main studio. At least at Columbia the whole space wasn't very big, so the studio rooms themselves would get warm. 

Anyhow, enough about the visual of Columbia around Christmas time, which I hope was a good description for all of this, I think you get the point. Back to some records! 

This next one is actually another take of the last one, but by a different quartet, and this time, it's the Invincible Quartet. This group consisted of Arthur Collins, Byron Harlan, George Seymour Lennox, and Frank Stanley. Here is their rendition of Steve Porter's "Sleigh Ride Party". This one is from 1902, and it again has Fred Hylands on the piano behind them. That must have also been a fun session! Those quartet sessions when they did those sketches must have been a riot, with all sorts of things going on at once. This must have been the case with many of Porter's sketches for quartets. 

For this next record that is Christmas/winter related, it is time to listen to something by Silas Leachman

The title of the song is not really Christmas related, but the song itself is about riding in a sleigh in the falling snow, in the winter. It just seems like one of those holiday songs for some reason. Anyhow, here is Leachman and Banta's(?) "Whoa Dar Mule" from 1901. The jingle bells paired with "Hear Dem Bells" is really great, and the piano accompaniment is fantastic! I am unsure who the pianist is, I am really on the fence about this one, it's more likely Hylands though. Just somehow, that record seems like it works for the holidays, I don't know why, but it does for some reason. 

Here is another fun Christmas record by Burt Shepard

Yes indeed, the mysterious Burt Shepard. Anyhow, here is his wonderful rendition of "The Robin", with all his annunciations clear as a bell. Not much needs to be said here, as everything is said to the fullest by Shepard. 

Now to get a little off-subject, I found some interesting pictures in this last week, that I must share. Just to-day, I found another picture of Burt Green! 
Here you go:

Sorry it's so small. But that's it! There's a clearer image of Green from about 1910. He was a real good-looking guy! Seeing him more clearly makes the image of him and Hylands going out and drinking even more hilarious! Here's a small image of Hylands to get that image:

Yes, I can imagine it now... And how funny it is! 

Anyhow, here's the next picture I found this week:

(found from this stunningly informative website here!)

I bet some of you might be able to guess who this is. If you do know, that is awesome! If not, it's Russell Hunting. There's a million things that came into my head when I first saw this picture, I first saw the reminiscence of his Shakespearean days in his stare, and his tired and worn eyes. The next important thing that struck me is that there's a stamp on the left side of the picture, so that indicates that this was most likely his passport photo. That gives more of a focused date somewhat, indicating the early 1910's. Either way, I absolutely love this picture, and is pretty much sums up Russell Hunting. Not much needs to be said, as that look on his face says everything. He wasn't ashamed of his criminal past, and you can tell. 

Anyhow, these next two pictures go together, as they are both of Columbia's high official/paymaster Frank Dorian(also from the website listed in the link above!):

in 1892

and in 1894
Ahh yes, Frank Dorian, that man from Columbia when they began in 1889, who was their first paymaster and studio manager. He looked very stereotypical Victorian, and it almost made me laugh at how Victorian he looks! His facial hair says all of the Victorian jargon, and him recalling the old studio days as an older man. He later had a moustache though, which was also very Victorian-looking. He was the man who set up the Paris office for Columbia in August/September of 1897, which was a big thing for them, as this is why at one point in later 1897, we record nerds hear "For the Columbia Phonograph company of New York and Paris" as the announcement closer. Frank Dorian recalled much of his early recording days in the 1930's, when he was still working with Columbia vaguely, and giving advice to all of those new-fangled electric era recording engineers. I still want to see all of the interviews that Jim Walsh had with Dorian, as I have read only sections of them, and they're all great! If anyone knows how to find those in full, please contact me! 

And to close off, here are two of Burt Green and Irene Franklin's record from 1912(with Burt on piano! Sounding just like Hylands as always!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fab97EcWDRw

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder13864

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! And happy holidays to all, no matter what it is you celebrate! Stay warm ;-D (because it's terribly cold out here in California right now!)

Some Tales and Yarns of the old studios

As a collector and early recording nerd, I have been told many theories and tales about these early recording stars. Some are true, and some are unconfirmed. As expected from performer types, many ideas and yarns were "spoken a little too highly"(quoting Burt Shepard!). I oftentimes question some of the things that certain artists said when they were ever asked about their days in the recording studio. Just like any stories, some sound more realistic than others. This is why the book They All Played Ragtime is now being looked back on for its legitimacy on historical content. It is a wonderful and fascinating book, which gave unique perspectives on all the early Rag-Time and on the most popular stars of the era. The truths behind some of the tales are being considered by the most esoteric of Rag-Time researchers now. The Rag-Time stories are more varied and diverse than the studio stories, and that can be expected, as the Rag-Time stories are more like stage tragedies. The studio stories are a mix of comedic tales, and legal troubles. 

Here are a few stories of both categories:

-Edward Easton, founder of Columbia, was in so deep of a depression that he stepped on some railroad tracks to attempt suicide. This was back in 1908, and luckily, a man close by caught him by the collar just in time before the train whacked him. 

-Fred Hylands' sister Etta had several children(from several marriages!), and created a vaudeville act with her kids in the 1900's and the early teen's. She played piano, while her girls sang popular songs. Etta was also an overall Vaudevillian like Fred, but she wasn't as funny, said the critics! Etta was even contracted for the White Rats actor's union in 1911(ha! Under Fred's obliging of course!). 

-Ada Jones remembered one specific thing about Len Spencer, other than having to stand on a box next to him when they made records, she remembered a scar on the side of his face. He told her that it came from a terribly foolish knife fight in his youth. You might be able to see it here:

(right under his lower lip next to the center of his chin, very hard to see, but I can notice it slightly)

-Russell Hunting's legal trouble of the mid-1890's earned him respect and honor for his bravery in going against the rules of obscenity. 

-Vess Ossman's temper was so short and fiery, that any singer or accompanist who was in the room with him when he broke a banjo string was in terrible luck, and was constantly frightened that he might get angry about any little thing. He wouldn't beat his accompanist, be he could get almost too close to doing it. He wanted things done his way---OR ELSE!

-Len Spencer and Fred Hylands got into some bets in the late 1890's. And one of those bets was to see if Len could get to that fad of the late-1890's which was the ancient Roman physique. Len was already very tall, hence being just over 200 pounds, he wanted to see if he could get enough muscle to get to Fred's over 250. Here is the evidence of this queer notion:

Publisher friends, what 'er ya goin ta do? According to his daughter Ethel, Len did indeed achieve that goal, and he got his money from Fred by the end of the summer of 1899. Nice way to waste some money Fred...

-Fred Hylands was regarded as one of the best accompanists of his time(no foolin!), was well liked by all the performer communities he got into, and hundreds were said to have attended his funeral. Similar to Frank P. Banta, but he was never mentioned in the best accompanists of the time, even though he should have been. 

-Arthur Collins:

Was in many failed troupes in the late-1880's, but after all that failure, he was set up as a minor character in Francis Wilson's shows, and later DeWolf Hopper's. While on Hopper's troupe, Collins was in his oriental burlesque Wang, and may have been in an early production of El Capitan.

-Len Spencer was connected with many composers and performers outside of the recording business, but one of the most odd ones is his possible connection with DeWolf Hopper. Len Spencer sang ALL of the vocal selections from El Capitan , even imitating Hopper very distinctly, word for word. In 1898, Hopper heard tell on this and came to Spencer once and told him what he thought of it. That they were finely made, and some other comments that have not been disclosed. Here is one of them(with Fred Hylands on piano!):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8009/cusb-cyl8009d.mp3

Anything from El Capitan that isn't the main march is very rare to hear ever! 

-Silas Leachman was said to have wanted his days of making records to go completely forgotten. While he worked his long term at the Chicago Police department(from c. 1910 to 1936), whenever anyone spoke to him about making records years back, he would refuse to talk about it, and would act like that never happened. They all knew it was him though.

-Fred Hylands was a very popular stage manager and musical director, so one would ponder upon all the tight-legged girls and abbreviated dressed dames around him, such as Anna Held:

and Lillian Russell even

Did he ever allow his eyes to wander around, if you know what I mean...

I don't know personally, but I really do wonder. He did do this line of work until he died, so I will forever question this fact. I'm only saying this because Fred's wife went off and married another actor man two years after Fred croaked. It is Fred Hylands I'm talking about here, and thinking of what he was like, I'm unsure if any ladies(other than his wife, who didn't really get to be very flirtatious with him) would take an interest to him.

Hmm... ... 

-Russell Hunting kept his Shakespearean ways until he died, as he was said to still have done monologues in this style into his days after being Pathe's manager, which was the mid-1920's.

There are dozens more of these stories, and I may have repeated some from other posts, even if I really tried not to. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

More about Burt Shepard

A good young researcher posted a kind comment on this blog this evening, and I would like to fulfill his kind obliging by doing a post fully dedicated to the great Burt Shepard.

There he is, the comical genius himself, in c.1890-92

I don't know what the exact year of Burt Shepard's birth was, and no one does really, as when he was interviewed, he never stated, and he specifically didn't state it. To most scholars and geeks, he was born between the years of 1852 and 1854, and probably in the midwest somewhere(quite possibly in or near New Orleans even). It's hard to know with him, but he was certainly from the midwest. But where exactly, we may never know. I have the slight suspicion that he might be from New Orleans is because of the fact that it was there that he got his first performing job. In c.1873-74, he joined a New Orleans based minstrel troupe and stayed with them until 1878. In that year, he was off in a minstrel troupe in Philly. He performed in several minstrel shows from 1879 to the mid-1890's, and at one point in 1892, he began his own show for a season or two. He wasn't just one of the minstrels in blackface of the shows, he also performed as the pale-skinned middle-man of the show, moderating and setting up the jokes, much like Len Spencer did on all of those Imperial Minstrels records, from 1894-95 and again in 1896-1901. You can hear one of these here from 1898(with Len Spencer, Steve Porter, Roger Harding, and Fred Hylands). I can certainly see and hear Burt Shepard doing what Steve Porter did on those cylinders with Spencer. 

In 1897, he went on a long trek around the world, which started first with England, where he made a few of his first records. He then stated that he went to Australia, Paris, and South Africa. He did make a few records for Pathe(pronounced "Patt'e" by Shepard on one announcement I have heard!)when he was in France, as a few can be found in various places online. 
When he was back in the U.S. in 1900, he was making records for Victor. 
This is where most of his remembrance comes from, his Victors and few Zon-O-Phones. 
Perhaps one of his most discussed records is his monologue, "The Boy and the Cheese", which was numbered A-7 on the Victor label. It was his first record, and it has been debated to being the first Victor commercially released. It has been debated, because for years, it was believed that Dan Quinn's Victor A-9 "Strike Up the Band" was the one, but later this place in Victor History went to Shepard's "The Boy and the Cheese". After he made this record, which sold reasonably well for a while, he was a "regular" in the studio. 
He was a favourite with all the studio workers, and he was a real riot to see in general. He was always said to be a jolly man with a slightly crude sense of humor, who wouldn't seem that way when first seeing him. He took on some really fun songs, that really suited his personality very well. 
Here are a few good ones:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002633/Pre-matrix_B-3490-Other_things_too_numerous_to_mention
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002642/Pre-matrix_B-3499-It_was_beautiful
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200002948/B-1652-The_robin
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000001155/Pre-matrix_B-1692-Thats_where_she_sits_all_day
https://ia600308.us.archive.org/23/items/BurtShepard/BurtShepard-Smoke.mp3

I know I already did a whole bunch of comments about Shepard's record of "The Robin", but I just cannot get over how he pronounces certain things and how midwestern his dialect sounds. In many ways, he really sounds quite a lot like Byron G. Harlan, and Harlan was from Kansas and Iowa. If only Shepard stated any hints as to where he might be from! It really is pretty much impossible to know where he came from with him not saying where he was from. Who knows why he didn't state this? That, we will also never know. 

Anyhow, he remained in the recording business until 1906 in America, and went off to England in 1908 up until the year of his death, in 1913. It's ironic, Shepard died in England the same year that Fred Hylands did, and for all I know, they may have run into each other! I am not really sure of what Shepard died of exactly, but it must have been tied in somewhat with his weight. Fred Gaisberg recollected quite a lot about Shepard, as he came into the Berliner London studio quite a lot in 1898 and 1899, he recalled Shepard being a real sight to witness when he made records, as a fat and jolly man with a great sense of humor. It would seem that Gaisberg would have heard of Shepard's death, as well as the early Victor executives that were left in 1913, and mourned him, just as all the Edison staff did with Frank P. Banta back in 1903. Shepard's records are highly prized to collectors nowadays and go for hefty prices when they surface. I haven't any myself, but I know collectors who have dozens of them, just like Silas Leachman's records as well. 

I hope this helped out the kind student who commented on my last Burt Shepard post! I hope you enjoyed this! 

More differing observations

I meant to share a few more things in my last post, but I just really wanted to focus on Vess L. Ossman, as I hadn't any time to do a post yesterday. I have had a lot of different early recording artists on my mind lately, so it's been hard to stay on a single one for an entire blog post. The first thing I would like to point out is a record by Ruby Brooks:

That's Brooks cropped from the 42 Edison artists picture from 1900. Now this cylinder is great in many ways, but Brooks was not the best banjo player in the world. Brooks' time was all over the place and he wasn't nearly as smooth on the banjo as Ossman or Fred Bacon. Anyhow, here you go from 1902 with Frank P. Banta's piano accompaniment:

https://ia802609.us.archive.org/30/items/CollectedWorksOfRubyBrooks/StarsAndStripesForeverMarch1902_64kb.mp3

Did you hear it? 

Banta counted them off at the beginning! Oh my god! On an Edison cylinder! How rare. 

I was going through my music on my Ipad during art class yesterday and I came across this one, which I had heard before, but I had never noticed the weird sound between the announcement and the start of the music. It was identical to the sound that can be heard on many Metropolitan orchestra performances on Victors, and that has been identified as Frank P. Banta counting them off. This cylinder is great all around, and the strong bass notes really make the record have a unique sound. 

The next thing I would like to talk about involves my friend Craig's favourite early recording artist:

Burt Shepard. 

I love his records just as much as my friend Craig, minus the fact that he has practically ALL of Shepard's Victors. He was a man of jovial disposition, and loved what he did. He was beloved by all the crowds with his almost dirty parodies of popular songs and comical piano accompaniment. So to start with my spiel on Burt Shepard, here is the first example:

https://ia800308.us.archive.org/23/items/BurtShepard/BurtShepard-Smoke.ogg

I love this record. The piano accompaniment is wonderful, and Shepard really makes it perfect. His monologues are also an interesting mix of comedy and odd dialect. Such as this one here:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100001677/Pre-matrix_A-1703-My_wifes_relations

Stutter-stutter-stutter. Love it. 

He had the most queer speech. I just don't know how to identify it. I know that he's from the mid-west, but where exactly, he never disclosed. His dialect sounds similar to Byron G. Harlan's thick slurred speech from his Kansas origin of birth. This next one really reveals his crooked speech and all else:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200002948/B-1652-The_robin

Oh yes, he was a hick alright. Just listen closely. 

I just found this record as I was writing this, so now I really know how he spoke. Hmm. I can't really think of much to say about this record, it's pretty extraordinary. He really executes it perfectly. You can just see the crooked words by how he says them. They cannot exactly be written in the dialect, but you can hear it. Other than Shepard being a female impersonator in the 1870's and 1880's, his recording years were really great as well, as that's the only way we get to hear him. We never will be able to see him in his full female attire, which is really a shame. He must have made a great lady. As he can get that way sometimes:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002633/Pre-matrix_B-3490-Other_things_too_numerous_to_mention

This is an example of his parody skills:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002639/Pre-matrix_B-3496-My_old_Dutch

Hmm, that piano is not normal to the usual style, or balance. That gets me slightly suspicious. He was a good pianist I have been told. I have also been told this about Dan W. Quinn, but that doesn't really mean that Quinn can be heard playing piano on lots of his records, even though I never can doubt what records exist to-day from this time period. There's plenty of records from the earliest days that aren't supposed to exist, but they still do. Records like this include Russell Hunting's only surviving smut cylinders, and the one record that S. H. Dudley's wife made in 1900. It's surprising really, "all" of Russell Hunting's smut cylinder were destroyed in 1896 and 1897, except for a few. Thanks to Walter Miller(the manager of Edison's company)for some reason, for keeping them in his private collection. Why did he do this? We all really want to know, but we probably never will. Hunting probably didn't find out that any of his smut cylinders survived until years after he left the recording business, or he kept some to himself and never told anyone about them, and now they're hidden somewhere waiting to be discovered. It's hard to know. I still don't understand how a copy the record S. H. Dudley's wife made still exists. There's so many things that would object its existence, but it's managed to beat the overwhelming odds. The record's existence in the first place was under Dudley's command, so whatever it was to make him delete the record from the catalog permanently, it was sudden and all from his odd impulses. 

I hope you enjoyed this!