Listening to the Victrola

[Jerry Sacher]

I thin at least one or more of the passengers carries a new-fangled portable victrola with them. Nobody seemed to travel as lightly as we do now.
I can imagine an evening right out of a victrola advertisement of the time. Men and women gathered in a corner of the lounge, the reading/writing room, or even out on deck with the stars and the ocean passing by. Listening to the same opera or the latest musical comedy they would have listened to in New York or London. Of course off to the side, a steward stood ready with coffee/tea and biscuits.

 

[Martin Williams]

A nice idea, Jerry, but a couple of factors may have stood in the way of the kind of merry-making you suggest.

Firstly, I wonder how much an up-to-date Victrola cost in 1912? Bob Godfrey can doubtless provide us with some figures and then set the price into a period context. If I'm right in thinking they were prohibitively expensive, then they would be out of range for most second and third class passengers.

Then again, as you observe, the Edwardian rich were not noted for their habit of travelling light and they had ample means besides to indulge their whims and fancies. Maybe they WOULD have lugged a gramophone with them on their trips abroad...I'm smiling as I type this, recalling the haunting opening lines of 'Out of Africa', narrated by Meryl Streep and set in the years immediately before, during and after the Great War:

'He even took the gramophone on safari. Three rifles, supplies for a month and Mozart'

As you can tell, I've watched the film many times over!

However, I think it is unlikely that any passenger would have played their music in a public room. I'm guessing that our great-great-grandparents had more consideration for their neighbours than to inflict their tunes upon them. I myself start foaming at the mouth whenever I'm forced to listen to rap or hip-hop or some similar musical excrescence, blaring out of some oik's mobile phone or MP3 player, on the Tube or bus or wherever. Besides, the ship's band would have provided LIVE music, either for ambience or for dancing, at various times throughout the day and I gather that their repertoire was fairly up-to-date. This was surely better than the tinny, scratchy sound of even the best gramophones.

But...who knows? The private promenade decks of the de luxe B deck suites (occupied by Ismay and the Cardezas) would have made delightful venues for informal tea-time or evening dancing - not least, because space in the staterooms and sitting rooms would have been too limited for more than two couples to take to the floor at any time.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Since you ask, Martin, the top-of-the-range model in the Victor-Victrola range for 1912 cost $200 (£40), but the cheapest portable was $10 (£2). That was a couple of week's wages for the typical working man in the UK, but not entirely beyond his grasp if he didn't have a large family to support. And easily affordable by middle class families. The Company's ads declared that "no home can afford to be without one", but admitted that they had in mind "homes of wealth and culture". The continuing cost of buying records would be a problem for the less affluent music fan, who would generally make do with a very small collection of favourites. Even in my childhood (1950s) there were plenty of homes (including ours) which had no gramophone. I well recall visits to my grandmother and having to sit through endless repetitions of Gracie Fields croaking 'The Biggest Aspidistra in the Land'. Beats hip-hop and rap, though!
.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

>Gracie Fields croaking 'The Biggest Aspidistra in the Land'.

Good LORD Bob. I remain haunted by that recitation. Merv Griffin had her on his show when she was about 178 years old- it was treated like a Royal appearance, with proper build-up and hushed tones- and she performed it in its entirety. And, for 30+ years the memory torments me at odd hours...

 

[Bob Godfrey]

You too, Jim? But it was worse for me. Her other record was Charlie Jolly singing 'The Laughing Policeman'. For the sake of your sanity, DO NOT visit this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZPkrkT6BVQ

The average price of a double-sided disc in 1912, by the way, was 8 shillings ($2). And Granny believed in getting her money's worth!

 

[Jason Schleisman]

Bob, like a moth to a light source, I clicked the link. I got what I deserved......He haw haw ha!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Serves you right!

 

[Jim Kalafus]

I know THAT piece, too. *sigh*

Regarding the portable Victrola~ had there been one aboard, it would likely not have been played in the public rooms. In much the same way portable boom-boxes made life hell in the 1980s, so too would have the Victrola, unless a general consensus was reached as to what constituted "good music." Given the diversity of backgrounds and ages among the passengers, chances are good that the owner would have been tactfully asked to quiet the device for the common good. Mrs. Candee might well have wanted to listen to "Liebestraum" while I might have chosen the knee-slapping "The Rat Catcher and the Dog Catcher Ride The Elevated" recitation (Hilarious Irish, Black and Jewish dialect in the same 3 minute skit- it's a nightmare) while others might have wanted ragtime or Caruso. A wise head steward would soon have put a polite stop to it.

 

[Inger Sheil]

Thank you, Martin - I'm now having visions of the Astors waltzing around their private promanade to the strains of Concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A. And it's actually rather a poignant image!

Somewhere I have a CD of music hall songs that I've never got around to actually playing, because I don't want to inflict it on others. I bought it because it had a Marie Lloyd original recording, and I'm staggered at the idea that such a thing exists!

 

[Dave Gittins]

Bob's memory's going. It was the biggest aspidistra in the world. The sad thing was that it only fetched half-a-crown when sold to a woodyard.

I haven't heard that disc in years, but oddly enough I heard The Laughing Policeman only the other day on the ABC. It makes Gracie Fields' effort sound intelligent.

I love the old music hall songs. They have a craziness all their own. Favourites include The Houses in Between, O Timothy, Let's Have a Look at it and Don't do it again, Matilda!.

Another great field is the sentimental Victoria and Edwardian songs. Some have been recorded in modern times, so we can weep along with Give me a Ticket to Heaven and its ilk. All much-needed good fun!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

I realised my error after posting, and rashly thought "No worries, Dave won't spot that!"

The makers of gramophones back in 1912 always promoted their 'musical instruments' primarily as a means of bringing opera and the works of the great composers into the home, but they generally added that the latest popular and novelty songs could be enjoyed also. There are plenty of recordings available of Marie Lloyd, Vesta Tilley, Vesta Victoria etc dating from around 1904-07. Generally these early recordings are of a quality which obscures the personality of the artist, but there's a wonderful exception in Ella Shields' performance of Burlington Bertie from Bow - next best thing to being in the front row at the Empire, Leicester Square! But sadly, Dave and Inger, Ms Shields' recording of I'm going back again to Yarrawonga is mostly snap, crackle and pop.
.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

They don't write 'em like this any more:

I'm Burlington Bertie, I rise at ten thirty
And Buckingham Palace I view.
I stand in the yard while they're changing the guard
And the queen shouts across "Toodle oo"!
The Prince of Wales' brother along with some other
Slaps me on the back and says "Come and see Mother"
But I'm Bert, Bert, and royalty's hurt,
When they ask me to dine I say no.
I've just had a banana with Lady Diana
I'm Burlington Bertie from Bow.
.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

>The makers of gramophones back in 1912 always promoted their 'musical instruments' primarily as a means of bringing opera and the works of the great composers into the home

Depends on the venue! The majority of gramophone records were...uh...garbage... and when one looks further down the magazine evolutionary scale, one finds ads targeted at an audience who did not necessarily want to bring Caruso into their own parlors:

And, if you think The Laughing Policeman is awful, cast around on some illegal file sharing sites until you find "Drunk and Nutty Blues," a similarly themed tune from the 20s that featured an incessantly sobbing drunk so annoying that you'll never want to stop hitting him.