Anyone have original Florence Foster Jenkins Melotone 78's ?

[Victrolacollector]

I don't think I could bear to part with my copies... even though their price probably will peak with the current buzz about the movie. I found my copies in an album at a thrift store in Wilkes-Barre about 30 years ago...


Is there any extant documentation indicating how many copies were produced ?

I don't find much about Melotone Recording Studios on the internet... most searches lead me to info about the circa 1930 label that was part of the ARC concern.

I would hold onto them if they were mine.

[Wolfe]

For what it's worth, Melotone also recorded and cut the lacquers for the Asch/Stinson 78 RPM album by Richard Dyer-Bennett (The 20th Century Minstrel). Of course, those recordings were released as conventional shellac pressings.

Best wishes, Mark

[Wolfe]

For what it's worth, Melotone also recorded and cut the lacquers for the Asch/Stinson 78 RPM album by Richard Dyer-Bennett (The 20th Century Minstrel). Of course, those recordings were released as conventional shellac pressings.

Best wishes, Mark

How about the Richard Dyer Bennett Ballads album ? Or is that what you're referring to?

[Henry]

Thanks for the youtube link, Frank. I'll watch it in segments, since it's about 90 minutes long.

There's a new biography of FFJ reviewed in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/books ... dline&_r=0

Some details in the review seem at odds with the Wiki article and with the documentary in the link Frank posted.

[De Soto Frank]

One of the great things about Collup's documentary, are a number of archival interviews with primary sources, such as Cosme McMoon himself...


Most primary sources seem to agree that Mme. Jenkins took her singing very seriously, and genuinely felt that she was a truly gifted singer. She was not joking around like Anna Russell or Spike Jones.

She was devoted to opera and the musical arts, and did raise a lot of money to benefit the various music clubs to which she belonged, and to the Metropolitan opera.


I am a bit curious as to how much her personality and general health were impacted by living with syphilis; she lived far beyond most people who had contracted the disease in those years before successful antibiotic treatment.

[victorIIvictor]

Wolfe wrote, "How about the Richard Dyer Bennett Ballads album ? Or is that what you're referring to?"

Yes, that's the one, the full title of which is "Ballads By The 20th Century Minstrel." Thanks for reminding me of the specific title.

https://www.discogs.com/Richard-Dyer-Be ... se/8181902

Best wishes, Mark

[victorIIvictor]

Henry wrote, "Slightly O/T, but twelve tracks of FFJ recordings have been issued on RCA Victor Gold Seal CD 09026-61175-2."

Even more O/T, perhaps, Mrs. Jenkins only bequeathed us 9 recordings, and only eight of those are on the RCA Victor CD. (There, the balance consists of a "Faust Travesty" by other artists).

The fanatic, therefore, will require Florence Foster Jenkins & Friends: Murder on the High Cs on Naxos Nostalgia, which not only restores the piano introduction to Bell Song (inexplicably cut from the RCA Victor CD), but also includes Valse Caressante, her ninth recording. To fill out the CD, there are misguided recordings by artists of the stature of Lauritz Melchior and Alexander Kipnis.

Best wishes (????), Mark

[Wolfe]

Wolfe wrote, "How about the Richard Dyer Bennett Ballads album ? Or is that what you're referring to?"

Yes, that's the one, the full title of which is "Ballads By The 20th Century Minstrel." Thanks for reminding me of the specific title.

https://www.discogs.com/Richard-Dyer-Be ... se/8181902

Best wishes, Mark

Not the same. The RDB Ballads set (which includes "Barbara Allen" and "John Henry") has a different track list and an Asch scribe in the runout area of the records. Manufacturers repres. Stinson Trading Co.

[CarlosV]

I have a 10 inch RCA LP with the greatest (?) hits of this renowned artist, see below
[img][IMG]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m577/tutuvia/1c405519-b918-4bcc-bf60-6b8efebfc862.jpg[/img][/img]

[FloridaClay]

I have a 10 inch RCA LP with the greatest (?) hits of this renowned artist, see below
[img][IMG]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m577/tutuvia/1c405519-b918-4bcc-bf60-6b8efebfc862.jpg[/img][/img]

Carlos, the link you posted appears to contain malware!!!!

Clay