1917 BILLY SUNDAY Evangelist NEW YORK TABERNACLE Choir Sail On/ America Black

$

75

A series of great Dixie, Southern and Coon recordings:

Billy Sunday and his massive Tabernacle in NYC.. Even the sounds of 1917 are captured from the building.

Billy Sunday's Tabernacle was located on Broadway and 168th Street and was a mecca for those who wished to hear the words of the great fighting evangelist. He was indeed a spellbinding  performer who would work out a for a while before going on stage to preach.

 Earlier in life he had been a professional ball player and used a lot of his athletic prowess to wow the crowd.

 In his tabernacles located in NYC, Chicago, and several other large cities there would be literally tens of thousands waiting to hear him and listen not only his his most unique message but also the music. There was a large well tuned choir under the direction of Homer Rodeheaver.

  In fact, they even made some records for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1917. Recording a 2500 voiced choir singing several religious and patriotic songs. But with the acoustic recording process (recording by horn) they were not successfully recorded. But they did sell. They are at least a very interesting sonic document of the period.

 Sunday made millions in his various programs and continued in his business till his death in 1935. Although after WWI he started to fade from the public's interest.

But the New York Tabernacle was a huge and amazing structure. Torn down in 1992, a relic of another age. Now that is an area of hospitals and professional buildings. I am adding a few pictures of Sunday, the tabernacle, the huge congregation, and even one of their records made in 1917.

Victor B-19997 2 6/11/1917 Sail on! / Billy Sunday Chorus 
Victor B-19999 1 6/11/1917 America / Billy Sunday Chorus

made for the Victor Talking Machine Company on June 11, 1917. With a chorus of 2500 and two pianos under the direction of Homer Rodeheaver.  In listening to it I can hear a small part of the voices and the basses are pretty much lost altogether. But that was due to the recording process. Still an interesting piece of NYC history.

10" 78 rpm record

EXCELLENT faint scuffs, plays very quiet rare ticks

A SUPERB COPY

William Ashley Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.[1]

Born into poverty in Iowa, Sunday spent some years at the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home before working at odd jobs and playing for local running and baseball teams. His speed and agility provided him the opportunity to play baseball in the major leagues for eight years, where he was an average hitter and a good fielder known for his base-running.

Converting to evangelical Christianity in the 1880s, Sunday left baseball for the Christian ministry. He gradually developed his skills as a pulpit evangelist in the Midwest and then, during the early 20th century, he became the nation's most famous evangelist with his colloquial sermons and frenetic delivery. Sunday held widely reported campaigns in America's largest cities, and he attracted the largest crowds of any evangelist before the advent of electronic sound systems. He also made a great deal of money and was welcomed into the homes of the wealthy and influential. Sunday was a strong supporter of Prohibition, and his preaching likely played a significant role in the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919.

Despite questions about his income, no scandal ever touched Sunday. He was sincerely devoted to his wife, who also managed his campaigns, but his three sons disappointed him. His audiences grew smaller during the 1920s as Sunday grew older, religious revivals became less popular, and alternative sources of entertainment appeared. Nevertheless, Sunday continued to preach and remained a stalwart defender of conservative Christianity until his death.