Gems From The Cocoanuts - The Victor Light Opera Company - Victor 35769 (CVE-34523-3) 2/3/1926
with: Rosario Bourdon, director
Millholland (vocalist : contralto)
Fred Patton (vocalist : bass vocal)
Wilfred Glenn (vocalist : bass vocal)
Elliott Shaw (vocalist : baritone vocal)
Royal Dadmun (vocalist : baritone vocal)
Billy Murray (vocalist : tenor vocal)
Carl Mathieu (vocalist : tenor vocal)
Lewis James (vocalist : tenor vocal)
Richard Crooks (vocalist : tenor vocal)
Franklyn Baur (vocalist : tenor vocal)
Helen Clark (vocalist : soprano vocal)
Rose Bryant (vocalist : contralto)
Elsie Baker (vocalist : contralto)
Lucy Isabelle Marsh (vocalist : soprano vocal)
Olive Kline (vocalist : soprano vocal)
Emily Stokes Hagar (vocalist : soprano vocal)
Della Baker (vocalist : soprano vocal)
I do not know who arranged to put this session together, but the Victor people pulled out all the stops to create a musical extravaganza 1926 style. The Cocoanuts was a hit show produced by Irving Berlin that featured the Marx Brothers and cast performing within a Florida scenario. Based on the acoustics this must have been recorded in Victors Church Studio in Camden, N.J. The room was needed considering the stable of Victor in-house vocalists who comprised the Victor Light Opera Company. Rosario Bourdon was the musical director for the entire affair. The tunes presented herein were featured in the Broadway show, however, "A Little Bungalow" the final tune on this record, was not featured in the 1929 talking picture which was the first Marx Brothers movie.
During the 78 RPM era "The Gems" series of recordings were the closest thing to original cast recordings that we have left of stage musicals of the distant past. The series ran from 1909 around 1932, with a single later session in 1942.
