VICTOR 78 RPM Record 16147 Spencer & Girard “The Stranded Circus” / “Thim Were T

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VICTOR 78 RPM Record 16147 Spencer & Girard “The Stranded Circus” / “Thim Were The Happy Days” Steve Porter.  VG + Visible Condition, light scratches, scuffs, mostly at the end.  Play is very good.  Early example of recorded vaudevillian humor. 

Leonard Garfield Spencer (February 12, 1867 – December 15, 1914) was an early American recording artist. He began recording for the Columbia Phonograph Company, in 1889 or 1890. Between 1892 and 1897 he recorded extensively for the New Jersey Phonograph Company and its successor the United States Phonograph Company. He specialized in vaudeville sketches and comic songs, but also sang sentimental ballads popular at the time. He returned to Columbia in 1898 for an exclusive contract then began recording for Berliner Gramophone (disc) records in 1899 and continued with Victor and Columbia as discs became the dominant format in the early 1900s. He began performing with banjoist Vess L. Ossman in 1901 and with Ada Jones in 1905. He is best remembered today for his vaudeville-style comic sketches, such as the "Arkansaw Traveler", combining clever turns of phrase, ironic elocutionary delivery, sound effects and music to create colorful dialogues featuring itinerant Southerners, auctioneers, circus barkers, and Irish, Jewish or Black Americans. As the popularity of Len's style of humor waned in the latter part of the decade, he opened a booking agency called "Len Spencer's Lyceum" in New York. He died of a heart attack while working at the Lyceum on December 15, 1914.

Stephen Carl Porter (1864 – January 13, 1946) was an American pioneer recording artist, who recorded prolifically for numerous recording companies in the 1890s and early 1900s. In the 1890s he performed as a baritone singer in vaudeville, as a member of the Diamond Comedy Four with Albert Campbell, Jim Reynard, and Billy Jones, who worked as song pluggers in "Tin Pan Alley" for the music publishers Joe Stern and Edward B. Marks.  He was also an entrepreneur who helped establish the recording industry in India in the early years of the twentieth century, and successfully marketed a new form of hearing aid. He was born in New York City. Porter first recorded with the Diamond Comedy Four and Diamond Quartette for Stern and Marks' Universal Phonograph Company in early 1897.  In later 1897 he began recording for Berliner Gramophone with the Diamond Comedy Four and Diamond Four, and solo, and for the Columbia Phonograph Company with the Greater New York Quartette (with Harding, Spencer and Depew) and solo. His solo recordings of "On The Banks Of The Wabash", "She Was More To Be Pitied Than Censured" (1898), "A Picture No Artist Can Paint" (1899), "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" (1900), and "The Little Brown Jug" (1900) sold well.

In 1901, after an attempt to set up a motion picture company with fellow recording artist Russell Hunting failed, Porter established the American Phonograph Record Company of Brooklyn, with William F. Hooley and Samuel H. Rous of The Haydn Quartet as co-directors. However, this again failed, and in 1902 Porter sailed to London, where he recorded for Waterfield, Clifford & Company before joining the Nicole Record Co.. He worked there both as a recording engineer and as a performer, recording comic tunes, ballads and old standards, before sailing to India with John Watson Hawd to set up a recording business for Nicole Frères in Calcutta. Porter then traveled around India and Burma, finding musicians to be recorded in Nicole's Calcutta studio. He finally returned to the US in 1905.

After his return, he recorded as one member of the Columbia Male Quartet, known after 1906 as the Peerless Quartet, who originally also included tenors Henry Burr and Albert Campbell, and bass Tom Daniels. Porter remained with the quartet until 1909.[4] However, Porter increasingly performed as a comedic artist, becoming popular for his Irish characterizations and skits. He recorded many of these for Edison and Columbia after 1906, an example being "Pat O'Brien's Automobile" (1908).

After 1909, Porter recorded mainly as a member of the American Quartet, with Billy Murray, John Bieling, and William F. Hooley. Their most successful recordings included "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" (1911), "Moonlight Bay" (1912), "It's A Long, Long Way To Tipperary" (1914), and "Over There" (1917). Porter also continued his entrepreneurial activities, filing a patent for a new form of record in 1911, and in 1916 established a business, the Port-O-Phone Corporation, to market a new type of acoustic hearing aid. Unlike his previous enterprises, this was a relatively profitable undertaking, and the hearing aids were successfully marketed around the world.

Porter left the American Quartet in 1919, although his recording career continued into the 1920s. The Port-O-Phone Corporation suffered a near-collapse in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and was wound up a few years later as its models were superseded by new technology.

Steve Porter died in 1946 at the age of 81

The scratches on the left of every photo are my broken glass on scanner – not on item. Images of artists etc. are for information only and not included in auction, record & sleeve only.

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We will pack securely but are not responsible for shipping company damage if uninsured.

1 record - $4.70 Add $1 for each additional record (+ insurance if required). (USA ONLY) (Int?l use eBay calculator and I will adjust to get cheapest rate) 

E++, Visibly nearly new with no visible signs of wear or damage.

E+, Looks and plays like new with only few signs of handling and play.

E Still very shiny, near new looking, with slight visible signs of wear and a few nearly inaudible scuffs and scratches

E- Still shiny but without the luster of a new record, few scuffs that have little or no effect on play, some light scratches.

E- - Mostly shiny but with even less of the luster of an E- record, more scuffs than E-that have little or no effect on play, light scratches with some light noise.

VG+,  Slightly above average condition 78 in which scuffs and general use has dulled the finish somewhat. Wear is moderate but playing is generally free from distortion. Surface noise not overly pronounced.

VG, An average condition 78 - moderate wear throughout, but still very playable and enjoyable. Surface somewhat dull with noise and scratches audible but not intrusive.

VG-, Quite playable still, but with some distortion and may have some graying in loud passages. Music remains loud in most passages. Surface noise and scratches well below music level.

VG- - Quite playable still, but with distortion and most have some graying in loud passages. Music remains loud in most passages. Surface noise and scratches noticeable and may be loud at times.

G+  Quite worn and scratched, but music level is still higher than surface noise. Grey may be throughout but still serviceable. Music begins to sound muffled.

G Not so good. Wear and scratch damage extensive. Listening can become uncomfortable as music and surface noise probably blending. Lowest level music can be understood.

G-, Music barely audible over surface noise & listening is uncomfortable. Record is borderline unplayable.

See Description, A wildcard grade that can be used when standard grading does not apply or when a record (or item) has special attributes (or defects) that can affect how the item is assigned a grade.