"THE MISSISSIPPI STOKER" Bert Williams Columbia A801 E- 1906 EARLY BERT
$
30
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Description
MUST I RE-ITERATE the sheer greatness of BERT WILLIAMS (1873 - 1922)? He stands like a Colossus over the world of comedy, with every one of his peers, black and white, ready to extol him. His comic timing, mugging, singing, miming and acting skills were nonpareil. Eddie Cantor famously said, "Everything I know about comic timing I learned from Bert Williams." The mere fact that Bert was the first and only black person to make a series of records, starting in 1901 and continuing till his early death in 1922, should tell you something.
This rare 1906 Columbia recording (held back for a few years), "THE MISSISSIPPI STOKER" has Bert making light of backbreaking labor, even winkingly cluing us in that the "Tap Dance" he "does" toward the end, is really a studio percussionist.
The other side is noteworthy, too - COLLINS AND HARLAN doing Irving Berlin's early hit, "THAT MESMERIZING MENDELSSOHN TUNE." It's their usual blackface schtick, with some VERY amusing dialogue. I love it when Byron Harlan, in drag, says to his partner Collins, "Ah just LOVES dat 'meddlesome' music!"
This original 1909 double-disc Columbia A801 is in remarkably fine E- condition.
*****
These records come from my private collection, which I have been accumulating since 1967, and now am downsizing! My highest priority in these eBay auctions is to give you the best possible idea of a record’s true condition and aesthetic value. I always post at least four clear images, showing the record fore and aft, a close-up of the label, and the whole disc, warts and all. If my purple prose won’t cut it, the pictures will! Shipping is done with expert care. Your record will brave Media Mail in a stout corregated box, between four sheets of cardboard and a couple of “packers.” I hope you are amused by these descriptions, and by the quality of service being offered.
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