America

Reproduced from Maximillien de Lafayette's book "Best Musicians, Singers, Albums and Entertainment Personalities of the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries", Volume V of World Who's Who in Jazz, Cabaret, Music and Entertainment. Pages: 2445-46-47 Published by the Federation of American Musicians, Singers and Performing Artists (FAMSPA). Pages 2328-2340.

THE VERY FIRST RECORDINGS IN AMERICA

EARLY DAYS OF RADIO ENTERTAINMENT WHO’S WHO OF THE VERY FIRST RADIO SINGERS AND RECORDING ARTISTS IN AMERICA

Photo: The magic of the early gramophone. It was America’s greatest delight!

Not all that long ago, the music scene in America was not terribly exciting. Most of the middle classes and all of the upper classes listened exclusively to music written by European composers, including opera. They looked down their noses at anything else. Devout church goers did not even listen to the European music, and allowed themselves only hymns at church, or occasionally at home; they objected to any organized shows, including music, considering them a sin. In rural America, most of the music, other than what the people heard in church, consisted of folk music, which was never written down, but rather passed from one generation to another. Immigrants, living in cities, would indulge in the ethnic music that they have brought back from the “old country.” A century ago things started to change – at a breathtaking speed. Sheet music, wax cylinders, and one-sided discs suddenly appeared everywhere, and despite the opposition expressed by many groups, this light hearted, fun music thrived. It was played by bands all over the country, minstrel shows adopted them, and Broadway took it to its heart. The rides in Coney Island were accompanied by the happy tunes, and they filled the St. Louis World’s Fair. The “popular music” came into its own, and has kept America’s music industry in great shape!

Photos from L to R: 1-Poster of the St. Louis World’s Fair also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, opened on April 30, 1904, to international acclaim. It offered live entertainment and plenty of music. 2-Edison's "Gem" cylinder machine. Early models were designed to play brown wax cylinders.

Other innocent and beautiful delights of the era: Learning how to ride a bicycle, hats, and “Curling Edwardian Hair” fashion…

During the Edwardian times, women simply had to curl their hair to be fashionable. The heated curling tongs that they used were often dangerous, burning the hair and even the scalp, so when Karl Nessler (or Charles Nestlé, as he preferred to call himself) unveiled his new technology in 1906, women were delighted. The Bavarian hairdresser, who had made very successful moves to Geneva, Paris, and New York, created the Nestlé Permanent Wave. A lady still had to sit under the machine, with horrible chemicals applied to her overly heated hair, for up to twelve hours. She still risked a burn. But slowly the process improved, the hair stayed curled for a long time, and the lady did not have to torment herself every day. The strong curls were important also because the hats of the time were so wide, and so heavily decorated, that the hair had to act as a rigid support to simply be able to wear them. By 1911 the hairstyles began to move toward a more natural shape, Mediterranean and Near Eastern styles began to influence the West, and eventually the Grecian style, which gracefully took the hair to the back of the head, was adopted.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

ILLUSTRIOUS FIGURES AND SINGERS OF THE ERA…

From L to R: 1-The prolific bass-baritone Frank C. Stanley recorded on cylinders and single-sided discs, many numbers and favorite tunes from Broadway shows. He never appeared in shows, but remained indispensible to the recording industry because he could read sheet music and his voice was just right for studios. 2-May C. Yers: This image is reproduced from a mid 1898 catalog issued by the Kansas City Talking Machine Company. May C. Hyers was the first African-American female to make recordings. Her records were issued as brown wax cylinders, but none are known to have survived. 3-The baritone Arthur Collins recorded more "coon" songs than any other singer. He cut "All Coons Look Alike to Me" in 1898 for Edison brown wax cylinders, with banjo accompaniment. A few years later he became closely associated with the most popular "coon" song ever recorded: "The Preacher and the Bear.

"Photos from L to R: 1-Len Spencer was the singer who recorded songs with "rag" and "ragtime" in titles on a regular basis in the late 1890s. In the early 1900s, Arthur Collins succeeded Spencer as the recording artist who recorded the newest "ragtime" songs. 2-George Johnson was the most prominent African-American recording artist of the 1890s. His "Laughing Song" was extremely popular on cylinders and on early discs.3-Thomas Mills.

Photos from L to R: 1-Vess L Ossman recorded more ragtime during the music's heyday than any other musician, using innovative music for his own instrument (banjo) that had been written originally for piano. 2- Will F. Denny reigned supreme as a recording artist from 1895 to 1902. Billy Murray replaced him as the industry’s most versatile and popular tenor. 3-Henry Burr was an outstanding singer and a pop phenomenon in the ‘20s.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

SHEET MUSIC

Thanks to sheet music, catalogs, the “New York Clipper Phonoscope”, “Variety”, “Talking Machine World” and various music journals, we became aware of the importance and popularity of marches music, ragtime songs, recordings of brass bands and America’s earliest recording artists. Equally informative and entertaining are the surviving one-sided discs and wax cylinders; they are the echo and talking encyclopedia of America’s musical treasures of the past two centuries. They encompassed all sorts of music ranging from hymns to sentimental songs and ethnic music. Some of the tunes touched our hearts so deeply. We were moved by the theme and the lyrics. Who could forget that song “Hello, Central! Give Me Heaven,” a heart-felt song by Charles K. Harris about a child who used a phone to call her beloved deceased mother! It was the golden era of American music, about America, the beautiful and innocent America, not the America of napalm, wars, Iraq, Vietnam, companies’ hostile take-over, greedy and corrupt politicians, arrogant and pretentious TV anchors and dirty media gossip of today…

Recording technology of the era was not good enough to record opera and classical music

Sailing into the immense library of recorded music and archives of the past two centuries, we discover remarkable and astonishing information about how music was recorded, the technology used, the popular tunes of the era, how much artists were paid, opera and classical music were rarely recorded in the 1890s because the early recording technology was not good enough to do justice to the wealth and treasure of classical works, mezzo-sopranos and contraltos were more recorded than sopranos, what was considered pop, serious music and trend…why opera singers were accompanied only by piano, and not by an orchestra…and stories about female singers who were discouraged from recording because the “female voice” was so refined for the crude level of the recording technology.

The early recording artists in America

Photo: Tenor Billy Jones with bass-baritone Ernest Hare.

The Most Highly Paid singers of the era: Billy Jones and Ernest Hare

In 1919, Billy Jones, tenor (March 15, 1989-November 23, 1940) and Ernest Hare, bass/baritone (March 16, 1983, March 9, 1939) met and created “The Happiness Boys”, and maintained a business office at 1674 Broadway in New York City. They reached the height of their fame in 1929. Strangely enough, they recorded so many tunes under so many names such as “The Interwoven Pair”, Thomas & West, Henry Jones & Billy West, Lester George & Walter Lange, and Blake & Judson, and nobody knew why!? Finally, they decided to use “The Happiness Boys”, because in August 1923, the Happiness Candy Stores who sponsored them on New York station WEAF, felt “Happiness” is very a propos and the new name came to life. In 1929, Jones and Hare became the highest paid singers on the air and received $1,250 a week. Billy Jones made his recording debut in 1918. He recorded with several groups, including the “Crescent Trio”, the “Cleartone Four” and at one time, he managed to replace the legendary Bill Murray in Edison’s early recordings. Ernest Hare made his recording debut in 1918. For two years (1919 and 1920) Hare was Al Jolson's understudy in "Sinbad."He recorded under so many different names such as Robert Judson, Walter Lang, Bob Thompson, Arthur Grant, Bob Thomas, Henry Jones, and Roy Roberts, and God knows why! Jones and Hare were a perfect match. Both had an operatic voice. Their first record was “All She'd Say Was Umh Hum” and became a hit in no time. In the spring of 1921 Jones and Hare recorded “I Like It” for Okeh Records and became an instant hit. By 1924 the “Happiness Boys” adopted "How Do You Do?" as their radio theme song. They continued to work on radio until 1932. By the end of 1932, their popularity faded away, and they vanished from the face of the earth.

BILL MURRAY (1877-1954)

Photo: Bill Murray.

He was the top recording star of the early 1900's. Billy Murray was one of America's best-selling recording artists during the phonograph era. In his heyday, Murray was known as “The Denver Nightingale.” He was one of the most innovative and prolific singers who could sing comic songs, patriotic tunes, jazz, sentimental songs and ragtime. He had a very long list of hits, including “Yankee Doodle Boy” and recorded with giants of the era such as Ada Jones, Vernon Dalhart, George W. Johnson, Joe Venuti and Paul Whiteman. Because he was an expert in acoustics, and since microphones were not in use yet, Murray took advantage of his acoustic expertise and strong voice to record the most powerful and clearest songs of his time. Back then, recordings had to be done acoustically using a horn. Soft sounds did not come clear. Singers had to have a powerful, strong and clear voice to reach the needed volume required during playback. Murray had all the vocal assets to achieve these results. This is what made his style so powerful and distinctive. In 1897, Murray, along with Matt Keefe, made his first wax cylinders for the Bacigalupi Brothers. Later on, he joined the Al G. Field minstrels as a blackface singer and dancer. In the 1920s, new styles invaded the world of music, and microphones replaced the acoustic horns. Consequently, the tender and soft singing style referred to "crooning," became a favorite. Murray’s powerful singing style was no longer en vogue. His popularity waned. The legendary Billy Murray is no longer a headliner. Instead of remaining the ultimate solo singer, Murray began to sing in duets and contribute vocal refrains to dance bands. Billy Murray's death came suddenly on August 17, 1954, while he was attending Guy Lombardo's production of "Arabian Nights" at Jones Beach, Long Island. He was breathing heavily, and told his wife and two of his friends who accompanied him to the show to go inside while he used the restroom. Within twenty seconds, Billy Murray was found dead on the restroom floor.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

Photos from L to R: 1-Joe Venuti, a classically trained violinist who switched to jazz, worked and recorded with Bill Murray, Tommy Dorsey, Red Nichols, Paul Whiteman, the Dorsey Brothers, Bing Crosby, and just about every major jazz figure from the 1920's on. His "Venuti's Blue Four" recordings with Eddie Lang are recognized jazz classics. 2-Marion Try Slaughter a.k.a. Vernon Dalhart, the larger than life and colorful Texan singer left a blooming career in opera to become one of the most popular, versatile and prolific early country recording artists. He had numerous hits, such as “Kinnie Wagner's Surrender” and “Just A Melody”.

PLAYLIST OF THOMAS EDISON'S ATTIC: The Edison National Historic Site and the archives of the legendary Edison Laboratory of West Orange, New Jersey, contained Tin Pan Alley pop songs, ragtime, Vaudeville comedy sketches, flapper dance bands, old-time country tunes, historic classical music, laboratory experiments and other artifacts - all dating from 1888 through 1929. Bill Murray prominently featured on the list.

Artist	Track	Album	Year
Billy Murray	Alec Busby, don't go away	Gold Moulded cylinder 8453	1903
Billy Murray	I'm afraid to come home in the dark	Gold Moulded cylidner 9780	1908
Sam Herman	First meeting Murray & Murray's early career	Interview by Peter Dilg & Lew Green Jr.	1993
Billy Murray	I've got the profiteering blues	Diamond Disc 7243-C	1920
Sam Herman	Kathleen Murray - "The female Jesse James"	Interview by Peter Dilg & Lew Green Jr.	1993
Billy Murray	Which switch is the switch, Miss, for Ipswich?	Diamond Disc 4047-B	1915
Premier Quartet	Moonlight Bay	Diamond Disc 3743-B	1915
Sam Herman	Touring with Billy Murray	Interview by Peter Dilg & Lew Green Jr.	1993
Premier Quartet	Farmyard medley	Diamond Disc 6031-C	1918
Sam Herman	Life in Freeport, NY with Madeline Murray & Billy Murray's death	Interview by Peter Dilg & Lew Green Jr.	1993
Ada Jones & Billy Murray	I'll take you back to Italy - from "Jack O' Lantern"	Diamond Disc 5994-C	1918
Billy Murray & his Merry Melody Men	She's got great ideas!	Diamond Disc 19129-B	1929

ADA JONES

Photo: Ada Jones in 1910.

Ada Jones (June 1, 1873-May 22, 1922), one of America’s earliest recording artists was the top female pop artist of the early acoustic era. She was the most popular female singer of the entire pre-1920 era. Her voice and characters were hand-made for popular tunes, sentimental songs, musical comedy, and Vaudeville sketches. Her powerful contralto voice, versatility in singing sentimental ballads, Irish songs, rags, and Vaudeville sketches contributed to her longevity. In addition to her very successful solos, she frequently teamed up with the elocutionist Len Spencer and the legendary Billy Murray. She recorded for Thomas Edison from 1900-1909. As early as 1882, Jones began to appear on the cover of sheet music. Her recordings in 1893 on Edison brown wax cylinders are among the earliest commercial recordings by any female solo singer. In the late 1890’s, Ada Jones began an illustrious stage performer career, accompanied by colored slide projections; a colorful novelty of the era. Her first recording “My Carolina,” hit the #3 spot on Billboard in May of 1905. Below is a list of her most memorable songs recorded between 1905 and 1909.

1905 - Ada Jones - Keep a little cosey corner in your heart for me.
1905 - Ada Jones - Just plain folks.
1905 - Ada Jones - Can't you see I'm lonely.
1906 - Ada Jones - Just a little rocking chair and you.
1906 - Ada Jones - The moon has his eyes on you.
1907 - Ada Jones and Billy Murray - Smile, smile, smile.
1907 - Ada Jones and Billy Murray - Kiss, kiss, kiss.
1907 - Ada Jones - My Irish Rosie.
1908 - Ada Jones and Billy Murray - Smile! Smile! Smile!
1909 - Ada Jones - Keepaway from the fellow who owns an automobile.

“Vaudeville showcase, sketches and songs by Ada Jones and Len Spencer: Vaudeville favorites”: These Vaudeville sketches were recorded between 1904 and 1910. These routines are performed in a variety of dialects including Afro-American, Jewish, Rural, Italian, Irish, German, and New York Bowery. Most routines ended with a short song related to the sketch.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

LEN SPENCER

Photo: Len Spencer.

Len Spencer (February 12, 1867-December 15, 1914) was one of the earliest American recording artists. He recorded a great number of popular songs in the pre-1920s. His biggest hit was “Arkansas Traveler”. Some of his most popular recordings include: “The Old Folks at Home”, 1892, “Little Alabama Coon” 1895, and “A Hot Time in the Old Town”, 1897.

Other great female Jazz singers of the era, and America’s earliest recording artists…

Photos from L to R: 1-Annette Hanshaw (Oct.18, 1901-Mar.13, 1985). She recorded under various pseudonyms such as Patsy Young, Dot Dare, and Gay Ellis. In 1929, she married Herman "Wally" Rose, Pathe Records executive. In 1932, she starred in “Captain Henry’s Maxwell House Show Boat” on NBC radio, considered by many entertainment historians as the biggest radio production of the era. She was the main rival of the legendary Ruth Etting in the late 1920's until mid-1930's. 2-Ethel Waters (Oct. 13, 1896–Sept. 2, 1977), billed as “Sweet Mama Stringbean” was de facto the first black superstar. In 1933, when Irving Berlin heard her sing “Stormy Weather” at the Cotton Club, he signed her on the spot for his “As Thousands Cheer”, starring Clifton Webb and Marilyn Miller. She opened all the theatrical doors then closed to black performers of the era. She strongly influenced Ella Fitzgerald, Mildred Bailey, Ivie Anderson, Bing Crosby, Lee Wiley, and Connie Boswell. She sang from a low E to high F. In her big hit"Memories of You" she reached a high F sharp. In 1929, Waters made her film debut in the new talking films, singing “Birmingham Bertha” and “Am I Blue?” 3-Bessie Smith (1895-1937). 4-The Brox Sisters, America’s first singing sisters group, circa 1923.

Photo: Marion Harris in 1917.

Before the Boswell Sisters and the Andrews Sisters, were the Brox Sisters, one of the first sister recording acts in America. Stars of Broadway’s Ziegfeld Follies, the Brox Sisters are completely forgotten and totally unknown today. Unquestionably, they were America’s premiere sister singing group of the 1920s.

Marion Harris. (1896-April 23, 1944). She began her recording career in 1916 with a hit “I Ain’t Got Nobody Much” on Victor Records. Harris became popular when she recorded “It Had To Be You” (1924), “Tea For Two” (1924), “I'll See You In My Dreams” (1925) and “The Man I Love” (1927). She has to her credits 130 recorded songs. She was discovered by Vernon Castle, the mentor and original dance teacher of Fred Astaire. Marion Harris married actor Robert Williams (1897-1931) who starred opposite of Loretta Young and Jean Harlow in “Platinum Blonde.” In 1923, and after divorcing Williams, she married Rush Bissell Hughes, son of playwright Rupert Hughes, uncle of Howard Hughes. A 1927 huge scandal involving a sixteen-year-old chorus girl Adele Smith and Rush Hughes ended the marriage on January 5, 1928.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

Bee Palmer was “too much” for her time, and men adored her!

Bee Palmer, a.k.a. The Shimmy Queen, (September 11, 1894-December 22, 1967). One of a kind. A woman who took the stage, the audience, the Jazz era, and the society by storm. She used thick layers of “rouge”; rouge for her lips, that is. Nothing is wrong with that, except that those thick layers of rouge were intentionally mixed with Swedish wax! Asking her about the purpose of such a mix, Palmer replied: “The kiss wouldn’t last more than 2 seconds!” She was referring to men with “bushy mustaches! She hated mustaches and “hairy faces”! Bee Palmer was an accomplished pianist, sophisticated, the most elegant woman of her generation, composer, songstress, daring and risqué dancer, a Ziegfeld’s Follies star, with mesmerizing personality and captivating beauty. And men adored her! Palmer wrote several hits, including “Please Don't Talk about Me When I'm Gone.” In 1918, Palmer appeared in Ziegfeld's “Midnight Frolic”, she sang her own songs and accompanied herself on the piano. But singing was not enough for Bee Palmer. In 1921, she created “The Shimmy”; the most popular dance of the era. Historians and critics described it as vulgar, low class, and “wiggling from the shoulders.” One of the great admirers of “The Shimmy” was Mae West. On March 3, 1921, Beatrice Palmer married her pianist, the 23 year old Al Siegel. And the charade began. Shortly after his marriage to Bee, on November 10, 1921, Al Siegel filed a $250,000 suit against heavyweight champion of the world Jack Dempsey in the Supreme Court of New York, accusing him of having an affair with Bee Palmer. In court, Dempsey testified that he has never met Bee Palmer, and he denied all charges.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

Photo: Bee Palmer seated in second row, third from left, with the cast of Ziegfeld’s 1918 Midnight Frolic on Broadway.

Later, it was discovered that the whole thing was a publicity stunt. Jack Kearns, personal manager of Dempsey was trying to get the champ an acting role in aVaudeville’s stage production. He thought a scandal of such magnitude would help Dempsey in getting an acting role. It did not work. Bee and Al separated over this controversy. In February 1922, Bee and Al made up. Ironically, a few weeks later, Al Siegel began an affair with singer Sophie Tucker. But Bee Palmer was not exactly a saint. She was well-known as a “party girl.” Peers accused her of “sleeping her way to the top.” In 1928, Bee Palmer divorced Al Siegel. In 1933, Al Siegel began a new affair with his student, the future star of the era, Ethel Merman. In 1935, Al Siegel married Yvonne Devoe. Al Siegel, 82, died July 25, 1981 in Laguna Beach, California. In December 1933, Bee Palmer married the 20 year old Jack Fina who had a hit with “Bumble Boogie.” Jack Fina died May 13, 1970 of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. In 1967, Bee Palmer made headlines again when she fell into a downtown Manhattan building construction ditches, while feeding stray cats. Animal lovers and cats owners rushed to the Roosevelt Hospital where Bee Palmer was hospitalized, and many protested against the building owners, waving huge signs and banners in front of the main entrance of the hospital. It was a riot! Bee Palmer died on December 22, 1967 in New York from a breast cancer. She was 73 years old. Her hits included the 1919 “I Want to Shimmie”, the 1926 “What Can I say After I say I am Sorry”, the 1932 “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues”, and the 1934 “Don’t Leave Me Daddy.” She performed with the biggest orchestras of the era, including the legendary Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the Frank Trumbauer Orchestra, and she appeared at the Carnegie Hall on December 23, 1928. She will always be remembered for her extravagant parties and love for life.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

Photos from L to R: 1-Al Siegel, Palmer’s first husband. 3-Jack Fina, Palmer’s second husband. 3-Sophie Tucker, 4-Jack Dempsey, 5-Young Ethel Merman. 6-Mae West; all were part of her extraordinary life and unmatched adventures.

The early Afro-American recording artists

Photos from L to R: 1-Mamie Smith. 2-Perry Bradford and Jeanette.

The early Afro-American recording artists were: Sara Martin, Mamie Smith and Clarence Williams. In 1920, Mamie Smith became the first major singer to record blues songs on Okeh Records with her innovative versions of Perry Bradford's Crazy Blues, and It's Right Here for You.

Photo from L to R: 1-Sara Martin, 2-Clarence Williams at the piano.

The record became an instant success, selling 950,000 records. The success of Mamie Smith encouraged other record companies to find other black female blues singers who could match the talent of Smith. Ironically, Mamie Smith was never considered a Blues singer. In fact, she was a Vaudeville entertainer who started as a dancer in New York in 1913. She was a magnificent and prolific performer with an enormous creativity. She excelled in dancing, comedy, outrageous trapeze acts, and covered herself with jewelry and lavish costumes that put Liberace to shame.

Photos from L to R: 1-Jelly Roll Morton and his Vaudeville partner Rosa Brown in 1914. 2-George Washington Johnson, (1850-1910), in a photograph taken towards the end of his career, and reproduced in the Columbia Record, August 1907.

Clarence Williams was born in 1893 in Plaquemine, Louisiana, and died in 1965 in New York. He had a long and prolific career. For health reasons, he retired in the early forties and spent his last days in the antique business. Clarence Williams is rarely remembered nowadays despite his enormous contribution to music. Many music historians place him in in the league of Jelly Roll Morton. In 1890, George W. Johnson became the first African American to record commercially. A former slave, Johnson was discovered singing on the streets of Washington, D.C., by Berliner recording agent Fred Gaisberg, who later spread rumors that Williams has murdered his wife.

MUSIC AND SONGS: STYLES AND GENRES

Photo: The great Scott Joplin.

The years between 1895 and 1905 were abundant with popular music, and many genres and different styles overlapped. The air was filled with sentimental ballads, musical comedies, Broadway show tunes, ragtime, cakewalk songs, coon songs, Irish tunes, Italian serenades, marches, comic songs, songs from the Civil War, dancing tunes, waltz, polka, you name it. All tunes and songs were mixed up and mingled. For instance, ragtime music was often played as “Tempo di Marcia” (march music) and Polka tunes were called two-step or march music. Sentimental songs were extremely popular, and sold like hot cake. The two biggest hits of the era were: W. C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues,” the most recorded American song, and “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (lyrics by Eben Eugene Rexford, and music by Hart Pease Danks.)

Photos from L to R: 1-Composer and songwriter Hart Pease Danks. Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1834, his first composition was included in William Bradley’s Jubilee, entitled “Lake Street.” Another song, “The Old Lane” was published in Chicago in 1856, and he continued to publish several hundreds. Two songs, “Silver Threads Among the Gold” and “Don’t be Angry with me, Darling,” sold several hundred thousand copies. He has also published books of anthems that were very well received. However, his finances were far from good. The publishers, who made a fortune from each song, paid him only thirty dollars for the copyrights! He never received a dime from royalties! He moved around quite a bit, living in Cleveland from 1858 to 1861, in Chicago from 1861 to 1864, and from 1864 to 1887 in New York City. Hart P. Danks died in poverty in Philadelphia, PA on November 20, 1903. His last written words were “It’s hard to die alone.”2-American composer and cornet player, W. C. Handy, is often called “The Father of the Blues.” The music existed before him, coming from the South in the 19^th Century, but Handy was the first to write and publish the songs using the word “blues” in the titles. His most famous composition is the “St. Louis Blues,” which he published in 1914.

Photo: Broadway in 1894.

It was not always easy to understand and categorize the musical genres of the era. Everything was mixed up. The Italians would sing Sicilian, Caprese and Napolitan songs and mixed the whole thing with Polka. Jews from Latvia, Russia, Ukraines and Germany would sing Jewish songs in German, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew and other dialects and mixed religious songs with ethnic tunes, romantic songs, folkloric dance and some Kozaks tempo. Poles would mix Polka dancing music with Parisian sentimental songs. So did the French, Irish, Armenians, Greeks and Argentinians. And Americans enjoyed all sorts of music and songs ranging from Sousa’s marching band to Broadway shows tunes, Vaudeville’s songs, concert bands, opera, ragtime, African-American rhythms, patriotic songs, and hymns, almost everything. It was a lovely mess. Call it the music fever of the era.

RICH MELODIES ARRANGEMENTS: There was a great variety in the arrangements of melodies. Band arrangements were extremely popular, and audiences loved songs like “Hiawatha” or a ragtime novelty such as the “Maple Leaf Rag” when played by the popular Sousa band. The name “barbershop quartet” was not yet coined, as evidenced by the fact that it was not mentioned on sheet music or in music trade journals; no one wore a barbershop uniform. Many of us associate the barbershop quartet with the 1890s to WWI, but it really was to appear in the 1920s and continued well into the 1940s and even later. Nevertheless male quartets were extremely popular, and even sang the songs we associate with barbershop quartet, such as “Sweet Adeline.” The quartet consisted of the first tenor (the highest pitch), the second tenor, usually the leading voice, a baritone and a bass.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

Photo: Sousa's Band in Johannesburg, S. Africa, in 1910. This band was renowned for rich musical arrangements.

Photos from L to R: 1-John Philip Sousa. He was born in Washington, D.C. on November 6, 1854, the third of ten children. His first published composition, in 1872, was “Moonlight on the Potomac Waltzes,” and he wrote it for a friend who was trying to impress a girl. Despite the fact that he hardly earned anything from it, Sousa was delighted that his work was made public, and determined to become a professional musician. An obstacle occurred when he fell in love with Emma M. Whitefield Swallow, whose stepfather objected to the young musician on the practical grounds that he could never support a wife and family. But nothing would deter Sousa. He promised to come back in two years, financially successful. And indeed, accepting a conducting job in Chicago started Sousa’s amazing career. Highly successful, he returned in two years to Washington, and no objections were made to the marriage. A happy and successful man, he worked well into old age, and on February 1932, at the age of seventy-six, he conducted the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps bands, performing a march he had written in honor of George Washington 200^th birthday. A perfect man for the era, Sousa was considered one of the world’s greatest composers and conductors. 2-Emma M. Whitfield Swallow became Mrs. John Philip Sousa.

NO ONE CARED WHAT THE LOWER WORKING CLASS PEOPLE THOUGHT: Music produced at home took advantage of the new technologies. A music box, player piano, or phonograph, often called a talking machine, were all used. But at that time most music in the home was still produced by someone at the piano, or perhaps accompanying a family member who would be singing, assisted by sheet music. The gradual drop in piano prices helped, since people could afford them, and they bought sheet music in quantities. As a matter of fact, the sheet music industry drove the hits of the day. Here is an interesting quotation from the trade journal Edison Phonograph Monthly regarding the song, "Pride of the Prairie." It appeared on page 16 in the August 1908 issue: "The past summer brought out some clever popular songs, but none to take the public fancy more than 'Pride of the Prairie.' It was heard in vaudeville, in illustrated songs at the moving picture shows; the bands took it up in the parks and passed it on to the orchestras on excursion boats. It is just the stripe of song that starts the gallery whistling." Perhaps the statement was slightly exaggerated, but it’s important because it mentions the public places where one could hear music. The “gallery whistling,” incidentally, refers to the behaviour of people sitting in the cheap seats of the gallery, mostly lower middle class, white collar workers, skilled workers, and tradesmen. The songwriters measured the potential success of a song by these people’s interest. If they liked a song well enough to whistle, the song would be a hit. True, they could not spend money on the one-sided discs or wax cylinders, this was reserved to the more prosperous classes, but their opinion mattered. No one cared what the lower working class people thought. They earned less than five hundred dollars a year, and could not afford any entertainment whatsoever. The one-sided discs sold very well, despite the high prices. For example, Columbia Disc 1792, which is Billy Murray singing “Meet me in St. Louis” sold, in 1904, for one dollar, and delivered only two to three minutes of music. However, the discs drove the prices of the wax cylinders down; they were more fragile than discs, as the buying public was well aware of, so the price dropped from the original fifty cents to twenty-five cents, creating a brisk trade. Another venue, now lost forever, was once highly popular in theaters such as Coney Island’s Wackie’s Theater. It was called “The Illustrated Song. As the singers performed, colored slides, depicting images related to the theme of the song were projected on the screen behind them.

ART&STYLE MAGAZINE online

Photos: Charles K. Harris. The strong sales of his hit "After the Ball," published by the composer himself in 1892, made businessmen aware that incredible profits could be made from popular songs.

SHEET MUSIC WERE ESSENTIAL FOR HITS: As mentioned above, before 1905 sheet music was essential for creating hits, since records were expensive. Of course, if a popular performer sang it before a large audience, the song had a good chance, but sheet music, transcribed for voice and piano, was much more reliable. The sheet music business started with Charles K. Harris’s “After the Ball.” He published it himself in 1893, and the good sales convinced others to join the trend. And so an entire industry was born, with excellent art on the covers, serious promotion, and many salesmen of sheet music, called “pluggers.” The industry’s hub was in Manhattan. At first, many of the publishers concentrated in West 28^th Street, near Fifth Avenue. The William Morris Talent Agency, and The New York Clipper, the Vaudeville’s trade journal, were also there. The place was buzzing with activity and sound, and one day, journalist and songwriter Monroe H. Rosenfeld visited Harry Von Tilzer, who had muted his own piano with paper. Rosenfeld listened to the sound of the piano, and to the competing pianos all over the building and the entire neighbourhood, and commented: “It sounds like a tin pan.” Liking the phrase, Rosenfeld gave the title “Tin Pan Alley” to an article he wrote, and the name stuck. This happened in 1903, and in the 1920s most of the publishers moved to 42^nd street and up. The famous Brill Building was actually built in 1931 at 1619 Broadway and 49^th Street. But even though the publishers moved, they took the name “Tin Pan Alley” with them, and it remained attached to New York City music publishers. Of course, other cities had publishers too. Kansas City, for example, could boast that the popular 1987 song, Hattie Nevada’s “Letter Edged in Black” was published there. And there were also publishers in Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago. But New York had the legendary firms, with incredible sales. These included Von Tilzer, Harms, Feist, Witmark, and Remick, though Detroit-based, had an immense office in Manhattan. Manhattan remained the center of the industry.

ASCAP WINS ITS FIRST BATTLE

Photo: At front, left, Victor Herbert, a plaintiff in the class act lawsuit against Shanley’s Restaurant, with John Philip Sousa, Irving Berlin, Harry von Tilzer, and William Jerome. In the back row, between Jerome, and Tilzer, is attorney Nathan Burkan, one of the original founders of ASCAP. The photo is taken at Pennsylvania Station in New York in 1924. The group was on its way to testify against the Dill Radio Congress bill that would have allowed radio stations owners to play music without paying musicians, composers and singers for their work, including copyrights and royalties. Fortunately, the bill was defeated. It was a great victory for ASCAP. From that moment, the courts confirmed the rights of composers and musicians to receive compensation and royalties for playing their works on the air.

CONTINUES NEXT (PART TWO)