Frank Braidwood, the Cowboy Baritone

[Harold Aherne]

I've grown to like the vocal style of Frank Braidwood, a singer who recorded for Edison in 1926-27. The labels of his DDs bill him as "The Cowboy Baritone" and he was pictured in Western garb on one of Edison's monthly supplements (seen near the bottom of http://www.gracyk.com/diamonddisc.shtml).

There's really not much information available about him. The Internet Movie Database shows a Frank Braidwood who appeared in a dozen films from 1918-25, including THE CIRCLE (1925), where he shares a prologue scene with Joan Crawford. But here's where things get a bit tricky.

The movie Frank Braidwood's real name appears to have been Francis Braidwood. He was enumerated in Los Angeles in the 1920 census under that name, he was a 21-year-old native of Scotland and his occupation was a motion picture actor. There was also an American Frank Braidwood (born in January 1898) in each federal census from 1900 to 1940, but there are no indications of show business involvement.

So, is the Cowboy Baritone the same as our Scotsman, or a blue-collar worker from New Jersey who may have had a short flirtation with show business? Whatever his identity, he put songs over very nicely, as with "When the Red, Red Robin...":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1Ef8e6118

[Victrolacollector]

Oh Frank was a great singer, he really had that voice, I happen to own a copy of his recording #52000 "My Sunday Girl" and "Rosy Cheeks" (ironically the start of the 52000 series matrix). I have done some research on him, and I show that he lived to I think 1977 if my memory is correct, it seems after 1930 he disappeared from the entertainment scene.