Fifty Years Of Laughing Records
by John E. Rutherford
At some time or other most
of
us
have
laughed
at
a
"Laughing
Record".
That
they
were
popular
there
can
be little doubt;
they
were
made by
most
of
the
record
companies
and
were
produced
throughout the
78
rpm era.
The earliest
laughing
record
on
disc that
I have
come across is
"Laughing Song",
performed
by Henry
Klausen
(Victor
62576-B,
issued
somewhere
between
1905
and
1908).
After
an introduction in a foreign
language,
someone tries to
imitate
a
cornet playing "Carnival of Venice"
and bursts of laughter
interrupt
every
wrong
note.
(I call
this kind of laughter "free-form".)
This was the very song that Herbert
Clarke,
famous Canadian cornetist,
had
arranged
and played with such
great success throughout the
world
and,
no doubt, the comparison
made
this laughing record seem even funnier at the time.
In 1912,
Cal
Stewart
(Uncle
Josh)
recorded
"Ticklish
Reuben"
(Victor
17232-B).
This is
a
song
that
has
a
verse of singing followed by laughter in time with
the
music.
(I
call
this
kind
of
laughter "rhythmic".)
On the other
side is "Laughs You Have Met", performed by five
comedians,
one
of
whom
is named Moule.
(I
wonder if
he was any relation to Vanessa
Lee
whose real name was
Ruby
Moule?)
Also around
1912,
an
English
comedian,
Mr.
Billy
Whitlock,
recorded
two
laughing
songs,
"Always
Jolly"
and
"What
a Very
Very
Dreadful
Thing"
(John
Bull
Record,
40549)
in which verses of
singing are
followed
by
rhythmic
laughter.
This same Billy Whitlock
returned to the recording studio in
1950
to
make
"Khaki Boys'
March"
and "Naval Cadets'
March" (his
own
compositions)
for
London Records,
this time
playing
the
xylophone.
He must have been well on in years.
The grand prize
for
laughing
records
has
to
go to Irene
Young
and
Al
Weston
who
worked
for
Columbia, Edison, Cameo,
Starr-Gennett and
probably
Okeh and Grey
Gull.
An
early example of their
work is
"Laugh
and
You'll
Never
Feel
Blue"
(Columbia A1995,
1916),
and I
would call it a
timid
song.
The
laughter
is
not
robust
and
stays with the
beat
("rhythmic").
Their
1918 version of
"Come Join in
Our
Laughter"
(Columbia
A2532)
could be placed in the same class.
In June
of
1921,
Young
and
Weston recorded
"At the Circus" and
"Country
Days" for Edison
(50809).
This is more rhythmic laughter, but
occasionally they break into
free-form - an
interesting prelude to
better things.
In
August
1922,
"The
Okeh
Laughing
Record"
was issued.
The
laughers get no credit, but I think
they
are
Young
and
Weston.
The
laughter is all free-form.
A
cornetist
tries
to
play
a serious
classical air,
makes a mistake
and
a
man
and
woman
burst
into
laughter.
The
cornetist
makes
several tries only to the increased
merriment of the laughers.
All the
laughter here is free-form which is
much closer to real life than
following
a beat or even a tune.
The
laughter is highly
infectious
and
if
the
public
is to be the final
judge, this record was
a
smashing
success.
One researcher estimated
that it sold close to
one
million
copies.
In the same month,
Grey
Gull
issued
a
record
entitled "Button
Buster
(Try not to Laugh),
World's
Funniest
Record".
Again.
no
artists'
names
appear,
but
this
record
has
all
the earmarks of a
Young and
Weston record.
A
trombonist
starts
to play the Quartet
from "Rigoletto",
makes
a
mistake
and
the
laughter
begins
-
all
free-form.
Like the
"Carnival
of
Venice"
record
mentioned earlier,
the choice of music was
very
daring.
The
beloved Caruso had died
just one year before
and Victor had
been
pushing
his recording of the
Quartet as one of the two
greatest
recordings ever made.
In the
"Cameo Laughing Record"
(Cameo
279,
September
1922)
Young
and Weston laugh at
a
saxophonist
trying
to
play "Believe
Me if All
Those
Endearing
Young
Charms".
Although
this
tune
doesn't
mean
much to us today (the
Road
Runner
plays it on the piano to get Coyote
to blow himself up), in the
1920's
it
was a popular concert favourite
and was recorded
by
many
of
the
great
singers
including
Nellie
Melba,
Geraldine
Farrar
and
Lawrence Tibbett.
The
"Starr
Gennett
Laughing
Record" (Starr Gennett 9325, February
1925)
was
the
same,
but
the
saxophonist
played
"When
You and I
were Young,
Maggie",
another
composition that was dearly loved.
In may of
1926,
Charles
Penrose recorded
"The Laughing Police-
man"
(A3197)
and
"Laughter
of
Lemons"
(A3199) which were coupled
together.
The
policeman
laughs
rhythmically
while
on
the
other
side,
the
cornetist
finds
his
instrument
difficult to play while
a boy sucks
on a lemon
amid
gales
of
laughter
(free-form).
(Record
buffs may find it of interest that,
according to the label,
"The Laughing
Policeman"
was
recorded
at
Speed 80.
Did Columbia change over
to
Speed
78
about
May
1926?)
Charles
Penrose was well-known for
his laughing
songs.
In
February
1918,
two
laughing
songs,
"The
Laughing
Curate"
and
"Laugh
and
Grow
Fat
Like
Me", both rhythmic
and both
written
by
C.
Penrose,
were
recorded
on Columbia-Rena by
Fred
Arthurs.
The
voices
of
Arthurs
and
Penrose
are similar!
(Record sleuths:
Was Fred
Arthurs
really Charles Penrose?)
I
am not
too
impressed
with
Laughing
Records
after the 1920's
(perhaps I was
getting
too
old),
but
here
are a few that seemed to
be widely circulated:
In
1932,
Cicely
Courtneidge
made
a
double-sided
record called
"Laughing Gas" (free-form).
Spike
Jones
did "Holiday for Strings" in
1944
(rhythmic)
and
a
"Laughing
Record"
in
1946
(free-form).
In
1954,
Columbia
(40577)
issued
"Santa's
Laughing
Song"
sung
by
"Santa
Claus
and
His
Helpers".
This
record
is
rhythmic
and
stilted,
and
I feel that an era may
have been brought to an end.
This article is far
from being
a
complete
study
of
Laughing
Records, but
based
on
the
above
information
I
shall
tentatively
come to a conclusion:
as laughers,
Irene
Young
and
Al
Weston were the
most prolific,
and
at
their
best
when
they
were laughing naturally
(free-form) at serious tunes played
badly.
(I
wonder if they got that
idea
from
Henry
Klausen?)
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