By Doug Boilesen 2023
An 1896 Berliner Gramophone Christmas
ad in Munsey's Magazine featured a group in a private parlor
listening to a home entertainment "Programme."
A 'playlist' was included as part
of the ad and it's one of the earliest phonograph "playlists"
on record.
Munsey's
Magazine, December, 1896 (PM-0910)
The Outlook,
November 28, 1896 (back cover). Note: Earliest known version of
this ad was published in The Christian Work, November 19,
1896 p. 822. (Courtesy Allen Koenigsberg).
PART FIRST
1. LISTEN:
PIANO
SOLO
- Princess Bonnie Waltzes by Fred W. Gaisberg, Berliner's
Gramophone 7" Record No. 253 Z, Recorded February 22, 1896
(Courtesy David Giovannoni, i78s.org).
Princess Bonnie Waltzes,
Berliner No. 253 Z (David Giovannoni Collection)
2. LISTEN:
SONG
- Tenor Solo - Tramp, Tramp, Tramp by Geo. J. Gaskin,
Berliner 7" Record No. 157 Z, Recorded May 18, 1896 (David
Giovannoni Collection, i78s.org).
"Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The
Prisoners Hope." Words & Music by Geo. F. Root, Published
by Root & Cady, Chicago, 1864 (Sheet music from the Giovannoni-Sheram
Collection L-5188).
3. BANJO SOLO by
Titus March - (Not Available).
4. LISTEN:
SONG - Baritone Solo - Star Light, Star Bright by J. W.
Myers, Berliner 7" Record No. 953 Y, Recorded April 18, 1896
(David Giovannoni Collection).
Star Light Star Bright,
Berliner No. 953 Y (David Giovannoni Collection).
"Star Light, Star
Bright, Waltz Song," Libretto by Harry B. Smith. Music by
Victor Herbert. Publisher Edward Schuberth & Co., New York, 1895
(Source Lester
S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins).
5. LISTEN:
RECITATION,
Imitation
of a Street Fakir by Geo. Graham, Berliner 7" Record
No. 638 Y, Recorded May 23, 1896 (David Giovannoni Collection).
6. MALE QUARTETTE
- Medley, Mary Ann - Not Available.
7. SONG -- Plantation
Shout, Bye, Bye, Bye, Ma Honey by Billy Golden, Berliner 7"
Record No. 727, Recorded November 4, 1895 - Not Available.
8. CORNET DUET --
Short and Sweet - Not Available.
9. SONG -- La Marseillaise
by Signor Ferruccio Giannini, Berliner 7" Record No. 901,
Recorded May 4, 1896 - Not Available.
PART SECOND
10. SONG -- Banjo
Solo - Medley of Jigs and Reels - Not Available.
11. SONG -- Tenor
Solo - Down in Poverty Row by Geo. J. Gaskin - Not Available.
12. MALE QUARTETTE
- Blind Tom (Negro Shout) Sung by The Brilliant Quartet
- Berliner 7" Record No. 0647 nt (This record marked April
24, 1899) - Audio not yet available.
Blind Tom, Berliner
No. 0647 nt (David Giovannoni Collection).
13. LISTEN:
RECITATION
- Departure - Poem by Eugene Field read by George Graham
- Berliner 7" Record No. 646 Z, June 17, 1896.
(Note: Eugene Field
also wrote the words for the 1889 sheet music "Little
Boy Blue" which was later recorded (LISTEN) on a
Zonophone record (sung by Ethel S. Smith, DAHR
"before October 1911), and not part of this 1896 programme.
"Departure"
by Eugene Field read by George Graham, Berliner No. 0647 nt (David
Giovannoni Collection)
Well, Bill, shake
hands and say goodbye
'Afore you go
away.
We hate to see
you leaving--
We'd much rather
have you stay.
Mother and me
is gettin' old--
She can't be with
you long.
She's been failing
for some time now
And will never
be as strong as she was
'Afore the ague
laid her up so long in bed,
And more than
likely when you get back
You'll find you
mother dead.
Her cold lips
were quivering
When you went
to say goodbye,
And tears splashed
on her pillow
When she asked
you if you'd try
And be a good
boy for her sake,
Bill, when you
get far away.
We hate to see
you leaving--
We'd much rather
have you stay.
Well, Bill, your
train's a-comin!
Here's some stuff
the children sent--
Driftwood more
than likely.
And me and mother
went
And had our pictures
taken so as to give you one
To remember us
by in after years
When we'll be
dead and gone,
And here's a little
Bible mother sent to give to you.
We didn't have
much money
But I reckon it
will do as well as if we wasn't poor
And had more change
to spare.
So take, Bill,
with mother's love and try to keep it
Where it'll always
be the handiest
When you get far
away.
We hate to see
you go, Bill.
We'd much rather
have you stay.
(Train sounds
of engine departing)
WATCH
video created by Tim Gracyk which includes all the words of
poem as they are spoken on the record.
Eugene Field (1850
- 1895) - Poet, newspaper writer, and humorist whose poetry for
and about children is still widely read today. (Courtesy Denver
Public Library).
14. DRUM
AND FIFE
(Descriptive) The Spirit of '76, Berliner 7" Record No.
705 Z, Recorded December 5, 1895 - (David Giovannoni Collection).
15. LISTEN
SONG:
Baritone Solo, I Want Yer, Ma Honey by Dan W. Quinn, Berliner
7" Record No. 190 Y, Recorded February 21, 1896 (David Giovannoni
Collection).
"I Want Yer
My Honey," Berliner No. 190 Y (David Giovannoni Collection).
"I Want Yer Ma
Honey," Words and Music by Fay Templeton. Publisher T.B.
Harms & Co., New York, 1895 (The
Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins).
16. LISTEN:
RECITATION,
Side Show Orator by Geo. Graham & Band, Berliner 7"
Record No. 625 W, Recorded November 30, 1896 (David Giovannoni
Collection).
Side Show Orator
by Geo. Graham & Band, Berliner 7" Record No. 625 W (David
Giovannoni Collection).
17. LISTEN:
SONG - M.
Farkoa's Great Success, French Laughing Song, Berliner 7"
Record No. 1302, Recorded May 8, 1896 (David Giovannoni Collection).
"Laughing Song"
by Maurice Farkoa (in French), Berliner 7" Record No. 1302
(David Giovannoni Collection).
18.
LISTEN: SONG - Baritone Solo, Say Au Revoir, But Not Good-bye
by J. W. Myers, (Berliner 7" Record No. 188 ZZ by Albert
C. Campbell) - (David Giovannoni Collection).
"Say Au Revoir"
Sung by Albert C. Campbell, New York. (Berliner 7" Record
No. 188 ZZ, David Giovannoni Collection).
"Say Au Revoir
But Not 'Good-bye," Words and Music by Harry Kennedy.
Kennedy Publishing House, Brooklyn, N.Y, 1893 (The Lester S. Levy
Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins).
