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who was dorothy kingsley?

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2024 6:37 pm
by phonograph guy3435
I've found multiple records by Dorothy Kingsley, but very little info on her. She has one record, "Move on Mr moon" where she sounds suspiciously like a higher-pitched ada jones. here's a link to one of her songs

https://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/deta ... 6&r=6&of=7

Re: who was dorothy kingsley?

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2024 7:56 pm
by OrthoFan
There's a reference to her in Popular American Recording Pioneers--1895-1925 -- https://books.google.com/books?id=q4mXh ... or&f=false

Dorothy Kingsley on two Edison Standard cylinders sounds remarkably like Jones. On Zon-o-phone 1078 Kingsley even performs a song that Jones recorded for various companies, “Do You Know Mr. Schneider?” However, Kingsley’s career was too brief for Jones to have worried about her as a rival. Kingsley was not a pseudonym for Jones. Documents at the Edison National Historic Site show that Jones was paid $1950 for the business year ending on September 30, 1908; Kingsley was paid $85 for making two cylinders. Otherwise nothing is known today of Kingsley except that she also made a few Victor, Zon-o-phone, and Indestructible records around the same time she worked for Edison. As little is known of Madge Maitland, who made one Edison cylinder, “Is Everybody Happy?” on 9210. The January 1906 issue of Edison Phonograph Monthly reports that she is “well known on the vaudeville stage” and states, “Miss Maitland’s coon dialect has never been excelled by an Edison singer.” But Maitland’s recording career began and ended with this one cylinder, posing no threat to Jones.

HTH,
David

Re: who was dorothy kingsley?

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2024 8:38 am
by phonograph guy3435
thanks! ive had a hard time finding her info :)