Victor 45347 – Will Rogers – 1923

Posted on August 15, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Will Rogers was America’s most complete human document. He reflected in many ways the heartbeat of America.

— Damon Runyon

The great American humorist Will Rogers, circa 1935.

On this day, August 15, eighty years ago, the great American humorist, movie star, vaudevillian, and cowboy, Will Rogers met his tragic fate with the famed aviator Wiley Post near Point Barrow in Alaska while surveying a route from North America to Russia in Post’s cobbled together airplane, with Will intending to pick up some new material for his newspaper column along the way. The flight went well until an engine failure caused the plane to take a nosedive and crash into a lagoon.

In his life, Will Rogers, born November 4, 1879 in Oologah, Indian Territory, was one of the biggest and brightest stars of the Roaring Twenties. He became a cowboy in his early life, and later turned to vaudeville, starring in Ziegfeld’s Follies, with his trick roping a major attraction. By the end of the 1910s, Rogers had become a Hollywood movie star, and would appear in seventy-one pictures from 1918 to 1935. What Will Rogers is probably best remembered for however, is his wit, which he expressed in his newspaper column from 1922 to 1935. Befriending another of the greatest stars of the day, Charles Lindbergh, Rogers took an interest in aviation, which would be his downfall in 1935. Will Rogers in his day became something of a folk hero, representing classical American values, and an innocence of bygone days, and his death sparked nationwide tributes.

On Victor 45347, recorded February 6, 1923 in New York City, Will Rogers gives us “A New Slant on War” and “Timely Topics”. The record was released in March of 1923 and remained in the Victor catalog until 1927, it was later reissued as Victor 25126 on August 25, 1935, ten days after Will’s untimely demise.

With the Great War still fresh on the nation’s mind, in “A New Slant on War”, Will gives us, as the title would indicate, some humorous thoughts on war, why we have them, and how we can prevent them in the future.

A New Slant on War, recorded February 6, 1923 by Will Rogers.

While “Timely Topics” may not seem so timely anymore, Rogers’s monologue is still remarkably relevant, brimming with gems of his timeless witticisms.

Timely Topics, recorded February 6, 1923 by Will Rogers.

Brunswick 4677 – Harry Richman with Earl Burtnett and his Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra – 1930

Posted on August 10, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Today, August 10th, marks the 120th birthday of one of my favorite vaudevillians, Harry Richman, so for your listening pleasure today, I present one of my favorite records of all time, one of the best of the many excellent songs by Irving Berlin, the great “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in its original iteration, performed by Richman, the song’s originator. This is about as close as you can get to an “original recording” from an age when songwriters wrote their songs and all the record companies made their own records at about the same time.

Harry Richman, born Harold Reichman on August 10, 1895 in Cincinnati, Ohio, spent the bulk of the 1920s working the vaudeville circuit. In 1926, he became a hit, starring in George White’s Scandals, and by 1930 scored himself the starring role in the motion picture “Puttin’ on the Ritz”. The movie was not a huge success, due in part to Richman’s “overpowering” personality, but the movie’s titular theme song was a hit record for Richman. Richman continued to perform as usual after that, debuting in 1932 what would become his radio theme, “I Love a Parade”.

Irving Berlin first penned “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, which would later become one of his most famous compositions, in May 1927, but did not publish it until December 1929. Its lyrics tell of the at the time common occurrence of White people visiting Harlem for the jazzy atmosphere cultivated by its black residents, a Jazz Age account of a time when, as Langston Hughes put it, “the Negro was in vogue”. About fifteen years later, Berlin revised the song’s lyrics with more timely lyrics about the opulent lifestyle of Park Avenue dwellers, which are more commonly remembered today.

On Brunswick 4677, Harry Richman sings “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and “There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie” from the motion picture Puttin’ on the Ritz, accompanied on both by Earl Burtnett’s Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra. Both sides were recorded January 30, 1930 in Los Angeles, California. The Biltmore Hotel Orchestra consists of Fuzz Menge on trumpet, Fran Baker on cornet, Lank Menge on trombone, Hank and Gene Miller on clarinet and alto sax, Fred Stoddard on clarinet and tenor sax, Earl Burtnett on piano, Bill Grantham on banjo, Harry Robison on string bass, and Jess Kirkpatrick on drums.

On “A”, Richman sings, well, if you can’t figure that out yourself by now then you sure haven’t been paying much attention!

Puttin’ on the Ritz, recorded January 30, 1930 by Harry Richman.

And on the flip, Richman sings his own collaborative composition, “There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Chérie”.

There’s Danger in Your Eyes Chérie, recorded January 30, 1930 by Harry Richman.

Updated on June 24, 2016.

Spotlight: Chick Bullock

Posted on August 2, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

From early 1930s "Perfect" record sleeve. An illustration of the only known photograph of Bullock in his prime.

An illustration of Bullock in his prime, from 1930s “Perfect” record sleeve.

One of the most prolific male vocalists of the 1930s was Charles “Chick” Bullock. With his relaxed style and smooth tenor voice, Bullock recorded innumerable titles with groups ranging from sweet dance orchestras like Waring’s Pennsylvanians and Ed Kirkeby to hot jazz bands like Cab Calloway’s orchestra and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, even Antobal’s Cubans as “Chiquito Bullo”, as well as his own group, the Levee Loungers. Over the course of his career, Bullock worked with many, if not most, top musicians of the 1930s, recording hundreds of sides. In fact, if you pulled out any record from the ARC labels (Banner, Perfect, Romeo, et al), there’s a good chance you’ll see “vocal chorus by Chick Bullock”.

Charles Sibley Bullock was born September 16, 1898 in Butte, Montana to British parents William (b.1858) and Emily Bullock (née Sibley) (b.1872), an engineer and teacher, respectively, who met and married after emigrating to the States. Though his family wanted him to pursue a career as a doctor, he was destined for a life in the show business. His first job in the entertainment industry had him working as an illustrated song performer between acts on the vaudeville stage. Later, he worked his way from venue to venue into motion pictures, scoring a few small parts in silent films, but soon found he preferred singing, and left Hollywood to pursue a career in music. In Salt Lake City, Bullock met Mary Newton, whom he would marry soon after.

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Columbia A3943 – Clara Smith – 1923

Posted on June 26, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

This particular record is one of a group that got me started in collecting, a group originally owned by my great-grandmother and her father. I believe this one in particular was my great-great-grandfather’s, and like many from that bunch, it has seen better days. If you ever wondered whether a white family from Texas in the 1920s would buy vaudeville blues records, there’s your answer.

This record also has the great distinction of being the first record by “Queen of the Moaners” Clara Smith. Smith, of no relation to Bessie or Mamie, was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1893, and most details regarding her early life remain a mystery. In the late 1910s, she toured the TOBA circuit in vaudeville before moving to Harlem in 1923, where she began recording with Columbia Records. While in vaudeville, Smith gave a young Josephine Baker her first break in 1920, and she was good friends with Bessie Smith until a night in 1925 when Bessie got drunk and beat her up. Clara Smith continued to record until 1932, and died of a heart attack three years later in 1935.

Columbia A3943, made several months before Columbia’s race series began, was recorded exactly 92 years ago on June 26, 1923 and features “I Got Everything a Woman Needs” and “Every Woman’s Blues” performed by Clara Smith with piano accompaniment by the great Fletcher Henderson. Rejected takes of these tunes were recorded a month earlier on May 31.

First up, Clara moans Stanley S. Miller’s “I Got Everything a Woman Needs”, about Emmaline down in South Caroline who was “a vampire through and through.” This is the sixth take of the recording, the only one issued, according to the DAHR.

"I Got Everything a Woman Needs" recorded by Clara Smith, June 1923.

I Got Everything a Woman Needs, recorded June 26, 1923 by Clara Smith.

On the flip, Smith sings “Every Woman’s Blues”, also written by Miller. This one is take five out of six, also the only one issued.

Every Woman’s Blues, recorded June 26, 1923 by Clara Smith.

Spotlight: The Boswell Sisters

Posted on May 28, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

“I am still Crazy over those Boswell Sisters. Bless their hearts. They are from my home town, you know? Fine Girls. They think I am the Last word.”

— Louis Armstrong letter to friend, 1933

From sheet music for “Roll On, Mississippi, Roll On”, 1931.

It would seem criminal to start the Spotlight feature with anyone but trio that perhaps created the jazziest interpretations of the popular music of the 1930s, the Boswell Sisters. Stars of record, screen, and radio, those “syncopating harmonists from New Orleans” simply could not sing a bad song (and could even make a bad song good). With over one-hundred recorded tunes and an established career in radio from 1930 until their untimely break-up in 1936, and an inimitable style that has never been matched, they were among the greatest musical stars of the Great Depression.

Martha Meldania (born July 9, 1905), Constance Foore (born December 3, 1907), and Helvetia George “Vet” (born May 20, 1911) Boswell, born to Meldania Fooré and Alfred Clyde “A.C.” Boswell made up the Boswell Sisters. Martha and Connie were born in Kansas City, and Vet was born in Birmingham, but the family moved to New Orleans when the children were young. The sisters had an older brother, Clydie (born 1900), who died tragically in 1918 during an influenza outbreak. Around the time Vet was born, young Connie was either involved in a coaster wagon accident or stricken with polio, leaving her completely immobile for a short time, and unable to walk properly for the rest of her life.

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