The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

They breed in dark corners of antique shops! Along with certain McCormack records.

oldphonographsteve wrote:Wow this is interesting! I must admit that I have seen Whispering by Paul Whiteman quite a lot as well. Another record I have seen very often is Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.

And those Alma Gluck / Louise Homer duets - like Whispering Hope. The very common Caruso and McCormack records. Amelita Galli-Curci, the Victor Military Band, etc.

Subject of a whole 'nother thread.

Nat wrote:They breed in dark corners of antique shops! Along with certain McCormack records.

That is probably the most humorous way to put it. A little anecdote: I once got a Victrola filled with its original albums and records. I was ecstatic hoping to find some early ragtime, maybe some Billy Murray, something a long the lines of that. But no, they were all sentimental ballads by John McCormack. Almost every single one!

-Steve

Nat wrote:They breed in dark corners of antique shops! Along with certain McCormack records.

I think their larval form is Little Wonders of "The Jolly Coppersmith"...

Bill

They breed in dark corners of antique shops! Along with certain McCormack records.

This concept actually kind of worries me now. Imagine if something were to go terribly wrong, and records started turning up with good old Alma Gluck crooning:

Three o'clock
In the morning
We danced the
Whole night through
And daylight soon
Will be dawning
Just one more
Waltz with you

I said the melody
It's so entrancing
It seems to be
Made for us two
I said that I
I could just keep
Right on dancing
Forever dear
Dancing here with you...


I...I just don't think I could live with that.

What about Paul Whiteman's La Paloma? seems to be almost as abundant as Whispering and Three O'Clock in the Morning.

One song that I see quite frequently - recorded by multiple mid-20s bands - is Always by Irving Berlin, and almost all recordings are in ¾ time.

But if we look a little ahead in time, Harry James gets the award with I Heard that Song Before, Trumpet Blues and I'm Beginning to See the Light.

And Flight of the Bumblebee and Trumpet Rhapsody. Harry James is probably the current king of the overabundant junk store 78's.

I also seem to have many copies of Three O'Clock in the Morning on Edison DD where you can find it on piano by Ernest L. Stevens where the subtitle is "That Bewitching Waltz", The Club De Vingt Orch., and sung as a duet by Eliz. Spencer and Charles Hart, 51087 which has a red star. It seems to have been a hit in the 1921-22 era.

It's funny how tunes we think of as very famous, such as Charleston, rarely turn up in record collections, whereas something like That's My Weakness Now turns up everywhere!

Charleston is a perennial collectible, however.

Three o'Clock in the Morning is a beautiful melody for one.. It came out when the world was a different place and became a favorite quickly. My grandmother always loved to hear it and when as very young child we went to Farmers Clubs or Grange Halls on Saturday Nights for dances it was something you always heard along with "Good night Sweet Heart" which is still a favorite of mine. They almost always played it as a closing number to let people know the dance was about over.

Larry