kenny weir Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 http://www.archeophone.com/product_info.ph...ts_id=90#Tracks Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s [ARCH 1007] $16.99 $13.99 New York City, 1896. A man walks into a bar. He sits down, orders a beer, and laughs long and hard at the bartender's newest story. It's a good tale, though a bit too bawdy to repeat at home. The next day he goes into the same bar, gets his beer, and drops his change into a phonograph. He's listening through rubber tubes to a man telling a story similar to the bartender's. Without warning Anthony Comstock's defenders of decency charge into the bar, push him aside, destroy the record, and escort the bar's proprietor to jail for promoting indecency. Obscene Recordings from 110 Years Ago The commercial recordings on this CD are the only known copies that Comstock's men missed. They were preserved by long-time Edison Recording Manager Walter Miller and are now in the vault of the Edison National Historic Site. Scarcity and suppression have kept them silent for a century. They were stories told readily in the bar; yet they became legally actionable offenses when fixed in wax and played on a phonograph in that same bar. Brace yourself. Just because they are from the Victorian era does not mean they are tame by today's standards—far from it. Pioneer Recording Artist Goes to Jail They are so indecent that Russell Hunting was imprisoned in 1896 for making and selling them. Up to that point Hunting had been doing a brisk trade selling his bawdy cylinders to the exhibitors on Coney Island who had certain "discriminating" customers. Although he recorded under pseudonyms such as "Charley Smith" and "Willy Fathand," his voice was so well-known through his "Casey" routines that he was identified as the creator by aural evidence alone. Hunting's recording career never fully recovered, and he left the U.S. in 1898 to make a fresh start in England. Cal Stewart and James White Join in If you think you've heard every Cal Stewart routine, think again. In two unique recordings from early in his career, Cal Stewart assumes his familiar Punkin Centre dialect in "Learning a City Gal How to Milk" and performs with an Irish accent in "The Tapeworm Story." James White, who rose to prominence in the Edison organization as the director of many of its early films, performs the most bawdy routines in this collection. "Sim Hadley on a Racket" is a piece that White inherited from Hunting, and he surpasses his mentor in making it filthy. Uncut, Uncensored, and in the Proper Historical Context Recently retrieved from the vaults of the Edison National Historic Site, these extraordinarily scarce recordings are presented in their unexpurgated entirety. They allow us to hear uncut and uncensored what new technology made possible and the protectors of public morals made illegal: indecent performances driven out of town, out of business, off the public stage, and into the privacy of unmixed company in the home. Bawdy Home Recordings A second collection of cylinders heard on this CD was made at home by an amateur who delighted in reciting obscene jokes, limericks, songs, poems, and stories into the horn. What this tells us about late Victorian America may be shocking to some—these are extremely racy recordings and are not for the faint-hearted. But for historians and folklorists, these are primary documents of a poorly studied tradition. We've indexed the separate texts on these home recordings into different tracks to aid in research. And for all our audio samples below, we have judiciously selected non-obscene excerpts. A Special Critical Edition Phonograph historian Patrick Feaster and the Grammy-award winning team of co-author and co-producer David Giovannoni and co-producers Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin tell the whole story for the first time anywhere. At 60 pages, the CD's oversized booklet stands alone as a work of its own merit. It features several full-length articles, complete transcripts of all the recorded material, selections from the 1893 convention of phonograph dealers, and extensive footnotes. Plus the usual attractive design and previously unpublished illustrations you expect from Archeophone. It may be indecent—but it sure is classy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CD Details Catalogue number: ARCH 1007 UPC: 778632900509 Running length: 59:16 / 19 cylinders -- 43 tracks Booklet: 60 page larger format booklet Tracks recorded: ca. 1892 - 1900 Contains racially derogatory language Parental Advisory: Contains explicit language -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track Listing 1. Learning a City Gal How to Milk—Cal Stewart (ca. 1897-98) 2. The Tapeworm Story—Cal Stewart (ca. 1897-98) 3. Gimlet's Soliloquy / The Rascal Detector—Unknown [2 indexed tracks] (ca. 1892) 4. The Whores' Union—Unknown (ca. 1892) 5. Boarding the Folsom / A Few Conundrums—Unknown [2 indexed tracks] (ca. 1892) 6. Out of Order—Russell Hunting (ca. 1895-96) 7. Did He Charge Too Much—Russell Hunting (ca. 1895-96) 8. Reilly as a Policeman—Russell Hunting (ca. 1895-96) 9. Sim Hadley on a Racket—Russell Hunting (ca. 1895-96) 10. Sim Hadley on a Racket—James White (ca. 1896-99) 11. Michael Casey Exhibiting His Panorama—James White (ca. 1896-99) 12. Dennis Reilly at Maggie Murphy's Home After Nine O'Clock—James White (ca. 1896-99) 13. Young Cylinder "A": Stroll on Capitol Hill / A Hard Head—Home Recording [2 indexed tracks] (ca. 1897-1900) 14. Young Cylinder "B": The Virtues of Raw Oysters—Home Recording (ca. 1897-1900) 15. Young Cylinder "C": Jokes, Riddles, Verses, a Limerick, and a Toast—Home Recording [8 indexed tracks] (ca. 1897-1900) 16. Young Cylinder "D": More Verses and Jokes—Home Recording [9 indexed tracks] (ca. 1897-1900) 17. Young Cylinder "E": The Lady's Friend / a Song / The Irishman's Prayer / a Joke—Home Recording [4 indexed tracks] (ca. 1897-1900) 18. Young Cylinder "F": Verses and Songs—Home Recording [4 indexed tracks] (ca. 1897-1900) 19. Young Cylinder "G": Poem: "I Sit Here Thinking, Will, of You"—Home Recording (ca. 1897-1900) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 What Clem said. I've been eying Archeophone's offerings for a while. Time to take the plunge soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny weir Posted May 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 if the future's fucked, at least the past is rockin'. edc parts unknown You got it. I'm putting any disturbing side issues aside and going with the flow of all my current and forseeable future listening being music made by dead folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Looking forward to seeing Dusty Groove's review of this one.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny weir Posted May 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Looking forward to seeing Dusty Groove's review of this one.. He he. Maybe one of our resident Bastard mimickers can do the job for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 (edited) Looks tempting. I'm all for old ditties about tapeworms and city gal milking. It will make a nice companion piece for my Ivor Biggun LPs. Edited May 31, 2007 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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