The Victor Light Opera Company sings "Gems from No No Nanette" on Victor 35756, recorded in April 1925.

This is one of Victor's earliest "electric" recordings.

Singers are not credited on the label, but the following were used on a regular basis for Victor's many "Gems From..." releases around 1925: Della Baker, Olive Kline, Lucy Isabelle Marsh, Helen Clark, Elsie Baker, Richard Crooks, Lambert Murphy, Royal Dadmun, Clifford Cairns.

The group of singers who recorded for Victor, from mid-1909 into the 1930s, medleys from popular light operas, musical comedies, revues, and even early musical motion pictures was known collectively as the Victor Light Opera Company.

Typically a chorus of voices opens a performance, a few soloists or duos are given less than a minute each to deliver the chorus of a hit song from the featured musical show, and the chorus returns to deliver the finale.

Soloists are not identified on labels for Victor Light Opera Company productions, which is curious. Had individuals been identified on labels, the company might have been more widely regarded as an all-star ensemble of record artists.

Victor Light Opera Company productions sold well when first introduced in 1909 and remained popular throughout World War I and into the 1920s. Victor's 1922 catalog, printed in late 1921, lists nearly 60 Victor Opera Company or Victor Light Opera Company productions available, some being several years old by this time.

Victor's 1923 catalog shows only 34 titles, suggesting that demand for medleys was declining. In 1920 six new productions were issued on three discs (35694, 35697, and 35697).

The advent of electric recording gave new life to the "Gems From..." series. Two of the best-selling Victor Light Opera Company discs were made at the beginning of the electric era: "Gems From 'Rose-Marie'" backed by "Gems From 'No No Nanette'" (35756), and "Gems From 'The Student Prince in Heidelberg'" backed by "Gems From 'The Love Song'" (35757). Sessions were in April 1925.

Principal soloists from 1925 to 1930 include Lewis James, Franklyn Baur, Elliott Shaw, Wilfred Glenn, Richard Crooks, Lambert Murphy, Della Baker, Olive Kline, Gladys Rice, Elsie Baker, Royal Dadmun, and Billy Murray. Singers who made up the Revelers (James, Baur, Shaw, Glenn) were invariably used. In the electric era a couple of "Gems From..." productions are credited to the Revelers, not to the Victor Light Opera Company.

Victor Light Opera Company productions are little appreciated today. Lyrics are nearly impossible to understand when sung by an ensemble singing into a recording horn, especially when tempos are brisk (Victor did print lyrics for in its monthly supplements).

Nonetheless, they were influential, inspiring other companies to organize similar groups. In 1910 Columbia followed Victor's example by forming the Columbia Light Opera Company, which made its recording debut on July 26, 1910, with selections from The Mikado, issued on A5229 in November. The company usually used the phrase "Vocal Gems, From...," in contrast to Victor usually using "Gems From..."

In July 1910 Edison's National Phonograph Company issued on wax Amberol 465 "Favorite Airs from 'Mikado'" as performed by the Edison Comic Opera Company, consisting of Harry Anthony, Steve Porter, and three fairly obscure female singers (Edith Chapman, Edna Stearns, Cornelia Marvin). The influence of the Victor Light Opera Company became clear a year later when "Pinafore Airs--No. 1" was issued on wax Amberol 795 as performed by the similarly-named Edison Light Opera Company ("Pinafore Airs--No. 2" was issued on Amberol 820 in November 1911, followed in successive months by "No. 3" and "No. 4").

A similar ensemble was the Brunswick Light Opera Company. Pathé called its company The Imperial Light Opera Company. Even the small Empire Talking Machine Company, maker of Empire discs, had an Empire Light Opera Company.





Gems from No No Nanette on Victor 35756 (1925) Victor Light Opera Company early electric

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