Cylinder of the Month
See also the Cylinders of the Month Archive.
For June 1998 . . .
This month: A double feature —
- From 1891, an early brown wax cylinder recording, Five Minutes With the Minstrels played by Voss's First Regiment Band
— and —
- The most popular male & female singing duet of the wax cylinder era, Ada Jones and Billy Murray, demonstrate their appeal in Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine from 1908.
Five Minutes With the Minstrels
| Company |
North American Phonograph Company
|
| Cylinder # |
None
|
| Category |
Band
|
| Title |
Five Minutes With the Minstrels
|
| Performed by |
(Voss's) The First Regiment Band
|
| Circa |
October 2, 1891
|
| Announcement |
"Five Minutes With the Minstrels, played by the First Regiment Band at Orange, New Jersey."
|
This record can be precisely placed and dated,
thanks to a logbook kept from May 1889 through April 1892
by Edison's sound recording engineer, A. Theo E. Wangemann.
In his logbook, "The First Book of Phonograph Records, Edison Laboratory", Wangemann
details the earliest recording sessions during the birth of the wax recording industry.
Title page of Wangemann's logbook
|
Facsimile of page 188 of the logbook
|
These images excerpted with author's permission from Allen Koenigsberg's book on Edison wax records,
Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912, New York: APM Press, 1990.
On October 2, 1891 during the 15th round of recording that day,
F. Voss's First Regiment Band recorded this cylinder.
The recording is announced as being done "at Orange, New Jersey".
Doubtless, that would be Edison's Laboratory at West Orange, New Jersey,
and very likely specifically in the laboratory's music room
(to learn more, click here).
Incidentally, according the archive staff at the
Edison National Historic Site,
Orange was often cited instead of West Orange possibly because neighboring Orange
was the better known locale, plus the area post office was in Orange.
This is an original recording (not a copy from another record)
– best listened to with headphones – with a strong bass (as low as 115Hz)
and a great ambient feel, despite the surface noises
(which, in this case, are not due to mold or mildew but to wear from
repeated plays of the very soft wax which is common in these early brown wax records).
Most recordings of this era have not survived.
Being produced for the coin-in-the-slot
nickelodeon arcades, they were often "played to death", then redeemed by
the arcade operators –
the worn wax recordings making their way back to the manufacturer's wax vat to be made into
new blanks for the next go around.
Did this recording survive because of dissatisfied customers?
Two points in line with this thought:
- No minstrels here: No songs, no jokes, only a band medley.
- "Five Minutes"? – The nickelodeon customers really got shorted here,
as the recording actually gives just 21/2 minutes with the minstrels!
Dissatisfaction in 1891?
If so, then their loss is now our gain, as we can presently enjoy this nifty, well done
number.
|
To hear Five Minutes With the Minstrels —
|
|
To hear an excerpt —
For help playing these sounds, click here.
|
Can you help answer a research question?
If you own or have heard other wax recordings entitled
"Five Minutes With the Minstrels", or "Four Minutes . . .", or "Three Minutes . . .",
or any such similar title, please let early sound recordings scholar
Allen Koenigsberg or
myself hear about it,
as we are researching these early "timed" recordings.
— This cylinder of the month is from the collection of The Library of Congress —
Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine
| Company |
Edison's National Phonograph Company
|
| Cylinder # |
9950
|
| Category |
Duet
|
| Title |
Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine
|
| Performed by |
Ada Jones & Billy Murray
|
| Circa |
October 1908
|
| Announcement |
"Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine, sung by Ada Jones and Billy Murray, Edison record."
|
Ada Jones and Billy Murray each recorded dozens of two-minute solo
performances for Edison – 70 by Jones, 89 by Murray – as well as dozens of titles
for other record companies. But in the relatively few, just 29, Edison two-minute wax
recordings where they teamed up, there was often a certain spark and vitality
present – a one-plus-one-equals-three effect: The sound of recording history being made.
|
To hear Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine —
|
|
To hear an excerpt —
For help playing these sounds, click here.
|
— This cylinder of the month is from the collection of Ira Dueltgen —
To hear other examples of wax cylinders, see the
Copyright (C) (P) 1996-2008 Glenn Sage, Portland, Oregon. All Rights Reserved.
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