Help Needed Identifying A Brown Wax Cylinder

[SonnyPhono]

I did this awhile ago with some brown wax cylinders I couldn't identify and it worked pretty well. I have another group of early cylinders that I bought at a local auction and am now going through to see what titles are in the bunch. I have only played about 10 or so and at this point, there are 4 that I can't tell the title, artist or company for that matter. Here is the first one. It's interesting as there are voices long before the announcement. Does anyone have any ideas about title, artist, company or why the announcement starts so late on the cylinder? Any help is much appreciated as always!

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAVLPShQzKU[/youtubehd]

[gramophoneshane]

A tale of old ????
By F. E. Hemley
And it does sound like the speciality company of Bartlesville Illinois.
Sounds to me like some sort of comic recital about batchelors and old maids lol.

[Lucius1958]

As I've noted, the title is most likely "A Sale of Old Bachelors": some vague references here and there seem to support that.

The performer's last name might be "Henry" or "Henley", or even "Heinrich"....

The company name suggested seems to be pretty accurate.

Perhaps you might start by researching old directories, and perhaps historical societies, of the city mentioned, to see whether they have any further information or documents....

-Bill

[kirtley2012]

Sounds like "a sale of old batchelors" by f.e Hanley

[SonnyPhono]

Thanks for the help! The suggestions were pretty accurate. The title is indeed "The Sale Of Old Bachelors". It is an example of the time period's poetic satire. Now that I have the title, I will try to use it in my search for the artist and hopefully that will lead to the company it was recorded for. I will keep this thread updated with any information I can find. For now, here is a transcription of the poem cited on the cylinder.

THE SALE OF OLD BACHELORS

I dreamed a dream in the midst of my slumbers,
And as fast as I dreamed it, it came into numbers,
My thoughts ran along in such beautiful metre,
I'm sure I ne er saw any poetry sweeter,
It seemed that a law had been recently made,
That a tax on old bachelors pates should be laid,
And in order to make them all willing to marry,
The tax was as large as a man could well carry,
The bachelors grumbled and said twas no use,
Twas horrid injustice and horrid abuse,
And declared that to save their own hearts blood spilling,
Of such a vile tax they would not pay a shilling,
But the rulers determined them still to pursue,
So they set the old bachelors up at vendue,
A cricr was sent through the town to and fro,
To rattle his bell and a trumpet to blow,
And to call out to all he might meet in his way,
Ho forty old bachelors sold here to day,
And presently all the old maids in the town,
Each in her very best bonnet and gown,
From thirty to sixty fair plain red and pale,
Of every description all flocked to the sale,
The auctioneer then in his labor began,
And called out aloud as he held up a man,
How much for a bachelor Who wants to buy,
In a twink every maiden responded I, I,
In short at a highly extravagant price,
The bachelors all were sold ofl in a trice,
And forty old maidens some younger some older,
Each lugged an old bachelor home on her shoulder,

Lucretia Davidson

[edisonphonoworks]

That is a really neat recording! The sound quality does suggest mid 1890s, it has a slight Columbia ring to the recording blank. Certainly the title is a Sale of Old Bachelors. The company would of been near Elgin IL. Since it was a short poem, the recording engineer would have placed the stylus more to the right side. The space between the talking and the announcement, it almost sounds like the person is just about to go home, but he will make another last recording? If it was something made for a coin slot mechanism, perhaps this did not matter as you could set the reproducers position to ignore the first grooves. Sometimes people just record a few seconds on a blank part of a cylinder, as each cylinder machine came with a recorder, perhaps they were going to play the cylinder back, if they were using a standard speaker, accidentally had it in the record instead of play mode. I always find these kinds of records more interesting than perfect experienced companies.

[SonnyPhono]

The space between the talking and the announcement, it almost sounds like the person is just about to go home, but he will make another last recording? If it was something made for a coin slot mechanism, perhaps this did not matter as you could set the reproducers position to ignore the first grooves. Sometimes people just record a few seconds on a blank part of a cylinder, as each cylinder machine came with a recorder, perhaps they were going to play the cylinder back, if they were using a standard speaker, accidentally had it in the record instead of play mode.

I can't quite make out what the first person is saying, but it's definitely something about "home". The coin op mechanism theory is interesting. Are there known examples of voices before the announcements on cylinders that were known to be recorded specifically for a coin op mechanism? I thought when I first heard the voices that they were probably a home recording in the dead wax at the beginning of the cylinder. But the short conversation that is heard doesn't sound like it had much purpose and wasn't done with much emphasis like you would typically hear on a home recording. It sounds more like a candid exchange of a few comment between two individuals which would lead me to believe it was accidental. Interesting either way though.

I haven't been able to find the artist in my online searches. I tried about every spelling variation that sounded like the name in the announcement. Also, I can find plenty on the poem's history, but not one reference of a cylinder record with that title. I guess I will try to search for info about the company it was recorded by/for and hopefully will turn up something about this cylinder.