Dismuke's 78 RPM Blog

“My Suppressed Desire”
Abe Lyman’s California Orchestra
1928 (UK Brunswick 3890-A)
My Suppressed Desire – Abe Lyman’s California Orchestra

“Sweethearts On Parade”
Abe Lyman’s California Orchestra
1928 (UK Brunswick 3890-B)
Sweethearts On Parade – Abe Lyman’s California Orchestra

“Ooh That Kiss”
Abe Lyman And His California Orchestra
1931 (Brunswick 6208)
Ooh That Kiss – Abe Lyman And His California Orchestra

“You’re My Everything”
Abe Lyman And His California Orchestra
1931 (Brunswick 6208)
You’re My Everything – Abe Lyman And His California Orchestra

One of the things I find interesting about the popular music from the early decades of the twentieth century is how rapidly music styles evolved and fell out of fashion.   As an example here are two records by Abe Lyman’s orchestra recorded just under three years apart (November 2, 1928 and October 23, 1931).   By the end of 1931 the Jazz Age style and frenzy of “My Suppressed Desire” was very much out of date and certainly out of step with the Depression era mood.   While there is a definite Jazz Age influence in “Ooh That Kiss” the mood is much more subdued and there is a far greater emphasis on the lushness of the arrangement – which is even more pronounced on “You’re My Everything.”   Just a few years later musical styles were transformed again with the advent of the swing bands.

One of the factors that drove this rapid pace of change was the fact that there were far fewer media outlets and records were still very expensive to produce and purchase.   Even very large cities had only a handful of radio stations and, in those days, many hours of programing was devoted to non-musical performances.   A radio station with any sort of “oldies” type format was unheard of until several decades later.    And, because records were expensive it was not economically viable to have the sort of back catalogs and specialized niches that we take for granted today.

Therefore, the pressure for both the music and broadcasting industries was to be constantly ahead of the curve in terms of  appealing to the widest possible common denominators of the moment.    A bandleader who failed to stay up-to-date with the latest styles would have soon found himself no longer welcome in the studios of the record labels and broadcasting networks.  Guy Lombardo was a notable exception – his saccharine-sweet style was so unique he was able to remain successful with it for over five decades.   But for a bandleader such as Abe Lyman, who was active from the early 1920s to the late 1940s, survival meant being willing to adapt to the popular mood of the moment.

My copy of “My Suppressed Desire”/”Sweethearts On Parade” is on a pressing issued by Brunswick’s British subsidiary.   Notice the stamp in the label image.   The purpose of this stamp was to indicate that the record label had paid the necessary mechanical royalties on the musical composition.   Such stamps were common on British and European records – though, in many instances, the indication that the royalty was paid was pre-printed on the label thus making a stamp unnecessary.   The catalog number for the American issue of the record was Brunswick 4117.

“Panama”
New Orleans Rhythm Kings
1934 (Decca 162 A)
Panama – New Orleans Rhythm Kings

“Jazz It Blues”
New Orleans Rhythm Kings
1934 ( Decca 162 B)
Jazz It Blues – New Orleans Rhythm Kings

Here are two recordings from a 1934 Decca revival of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, a highly influential early jazz band that was active from 1922 to 1925.   Despite the revival of the name, the only member of the original band present was trombone player George Brunies.

“The One Man Band”
The High Steppers
1931 (Crown 3064 A mx 1151)
The One Man Band – The High Steppers

“Hey Young Fella”
Dick Robertson & His Orchestra;  Dick Robertson, vocal
1933 (Crown 3440 A mx 1964)
Hey Young Fella – Dick Robertson & His Orchestra

“I Thank You Mr Moon”
Russ Carlson & His Orchestra
1932 (Crown 3259 A mx 1612)
I Thank You Mr Moon – Russ Carleson & His Orchmap :: {skin:’black’, animate:true, width:’200′, volume:0.6, autoplay:false, loop:false, showVolumeLevel:true, showTime:true, showRew:true, downloadable:false, downloadablesecurity:false, id3: false}

“Two Buck Tim From Timbucktoo”
Tommy Tucker & His Californians;  Tommy Tucker, vocal
1933 (Crown 3479 A mx 2034)
Two Buck Tim From Timbucktoo – Tommy Tucker & His Californiansmap :: {skin:’black’, animate:true, width:’200′, volume:0.6, autoplay:false, loop:false, showVolumeLevel:true, showTime:true, showRew:true, downloadable:false, downloadablesecurity:false, id3: false}

“When Kentucky Bids The World Good Morning”
The High Steppers
1930 (Crown 3031 A mx 1070)
When Kentucky Bids The World Good Morning – The High Steppersmap :: {skin:’black’, animate:true, width:’200′, volume:0.6, autoplay:false, loop:false, showVolumeLevel:true, showTime:true, showRew:true, downloadable:false, downloadablesecurity:false, id3: false}

These selections come courtesy of guest contributor Matt From College Station (Now From Florida).   When Matt returned for a visit to Texas over the Christmas holidays he brought along a large stack of records for the Radio Dismuke New Year’s broadcast as well as others for me to digitize.

All of these recordings are from the Crown label, a budget priced label sold through the F.W. Woolworth dime store chain.  The label began in late 1930 and ceased operations by the end of summer 1933.

“One Man Band” was composed by bandleaders Ted Weems and Phil Baxter and was first introduced by the Ted Weems Orchestra.   The song was a follow-up on a couple of other highly successful Weems-Baxter compositions “Piccolo Pete” and “Harmonica Harry.”   Whoever originally owned this particular copy must have loved this recording as much as I do  – it is very worn and was obviously played many times with the heavy tone arm and steel needles of the era’s wind-up phonographs.   Happily my  equipment was able to clean the transfer up far better than I had expected given the condition of the record.

“Hey Young Fellow” was introduced in the 1933 Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Clark Gable film Dancing Lady – an early musical talkie that is actually worth watching for more than just the musical numbers.  In the film the song is performed only very briefly by a chorus of burlesque dancers.   This version is a charming Depression era “cheer up” song – and Dick Robertson was a perfect choice for the vocal.

“Two Buck Tim From Timbucktoo” was recorded by a number of bands in both the US and the UK.  This Crown version has some nice hot jazz solos preceding the vocal.

I digitized many more records on both Crown and other labels when Matt visited and will include some in future updates.