“Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Paul Small, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12292)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea]
“Fate Introduced Me To You”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Paul Small, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12292)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – Fate Introduced Me To You]
“Come To Me”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Elmer Feldkamp, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12217)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – Come To Me]
“Within This Heart Of Mine”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Elmer Feldkamp, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12217)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – Within This Heart Of Mine]
“I’m With You”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Tony Sacco, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12236)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – I’m With You]
“I Don’t Know Why”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians; Russ Lyon, vocal
1931 (Melotone M 12236)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – I Don’t Know Why]
“Dancing On The Ceiling”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegian; Tony Starr, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12311)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – Dancing On The Ceiling]
“The Wooden Soldier And The China Doll”
Sleepy Hall And His Collegian; Tony Starr, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12311)
Sleepy Hall And His Collegians – The Wooden Soldier And The China Doll]
“One Hour With You”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Smith Ballew, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12331)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – One Hour With You]
“We Will Always Be Sweethearts”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Andrea Marsh, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12331)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – We Will Always Be Sweethearts]
“Gosh Darn”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Bill Coty, Harold van Emburgh, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12355)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – Gosh Darn]
“The Roses Are Red The Violets Are Blue”
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians; Harold van Emburgh, vocal
1932 (Melotone M 12355)
Sleepy Hall & His Collegians – The Roses Are Red The Violets Are Blue]
“Sleepy Time Gal”
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra; Sleepy Hall, vocal
1937 (Variety VA583 mx M485)
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra – Sleepy Time Gal]
“That Old Oaken Bucket”
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra; Paul Dillon, vocal
1937 (Variety VA583 mx M486)
Sleepy Hall And His Orchestra – That Old Oaken Bucket]
“Sleepy Hall And His Collegians” was a recording pseudonym for the in-house studio orchestra on Brunswick’s budget priced Melotone subsidiary label. The use of recording pseudonyms was extremely common on bargain labels in the ’20s and early ’30s. To buy a recording of a big name artist one had to pay full price of 75 cents verses 35 cents (or three for a dollar) for most bargain labels.
Sometimes recording pseudonyms were named after actual musicians who very often had little or even no participation in the recordings issued under their name. This seems to have been the case with Sleepy Hall And His Collegians. There actually was a musician known as Sleepy Hall – he was a banjoist whose real name was John Nelson. But any connection between the real life Sleepy Hall and these Melotone recordings is apparently either non-existent or unknown.
The last two recordings come from the late 1930s Variety label, a short-lived label founded by music publisher Irving Mills. According to Brian Rust’s American Dance Band Discography, no details are known about the personnel involved in the recording session. However, by 1937, the use of recording pseudonyms had largely faded away as a result of Decca’s 1934 entry into the American market offering recordings by name artists for 35 cents. This makes me wonder if perhaps the real Sleepy Hall was the bandleader and vocalist credited on the label.
Radio Dismuke
I am very impressed with your collection of 78 rpm records. I have a 1949 Philco radio/phonograph cabinet, and the phonograph only plays 78 rpm records, so I have come to realize how difficult it can be to track ones down which are of listening quality after seven to eight decades. Still trying to connect the phonograph to the cabinet speakers, though.
Hello, Actually…… SLEEPY HALL was a REAL person. I have his photo with his name in a 1920’s PARAMOUNT BANJO catolog posing with his banjo….he was, at least in the 20s, a banjo player. The catolog is full of photos of artists and orchestra advertising the PARAMOUNT BANJO USED BY MOST BANDS OF THE DAY…………
Sleepy Hall was a very REAL and entertaining person..he roomed with my father at Yale in the early 1920’s…he would often go to NYC to play banjo with among others, Paul Whitman….the thrill of this young man’s life…..But the thrill of my life was in the 1950’s when my Dad ..Martin Bovey and I stopped in to see his former roomate in Great Falls, MT….he was working for the U S Postal Service….we sat on his porch while he rattled off “Kitten On The Keys” etc….WOW….I am almost 90