"Laugh, Clown, Laugh" bonus - I Slouch Corrected (The Elusive Arthur Ball)
(Once I thought that I was incorrect - but it turned out that I was mistaken.)
It turns out that Second Hand Songs was indeed correct, and I was wrong! (Not for the first time, and not for the last time.) As far as we can now determine, the first recording of “Laugh, Clown, Laugh,” was indeed by a performer named Arthur Ball. When nobody could find any trace of such a person - including the great Tim Brooks, who knows more about the history of early sound recording than anybody alive - I assumed they actually meant Arthur Fields, who did record one of the very early versions of that song, albeit for Edison, not Gennett. Alas, it wasn’t until after my Friday substack came out and I made that mistake that Tim did some further digging, and confirmed that there was indeed such an actual individual, and yes, he did make the first recording of “Laugh, Clown, Laugh.”
Here’s what Tim came up with:
First, secondhandsongs.com lists "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" as recorded by Ball on February 11, 1928, and issued on Gennett 6386.
That led me to the unpublished Dan Mahony-Walter Allen Gennett discography, of which I have a xerox. It confirms that this was matrix GEX1076 first recorded in New York on 2/18 and 2/22, but those takes apparently not issued; then recorded again (GEX1076A) on 2/29, with that take issued on Gennett 6386A and later 8003A and 9030B. The artist is Arthur Ball accompanied by The New Yorkers.
Interestingly, the Gennett discography also notes that there was a 2-cent royalty paid to the vocalist (less 10%), and 1/2 cent to the orchestra (less 10%). Most other Gennett sides at this time were either done for a flat fee or at most a one-cent artist royalty, so "Arthur Ball" must have been someone special.
Per American Dance Bands on Record and Film, 1915-1942, The New Yorkers on Gennett was actually the Carl Fenton Orchestra. You quickly say, "Gus Haenschen," right? No. Haenschen sold the pseudonym (I didn't know you could sell pseudonyms) to arranger Ruby Greenberg in 1927, and it was Greenberg who conducted The New Yorkers on Gennett. He used a variety of vocalists, including Jerry Macy and Joe O'Callahan, however here Ball gets top billing and he is just providing accompaniment.
The next few recordings I could find of the song were on Victor (March 1 by Richman, unissued, and March 8 by Waring, issued), Columbia (March 23 by Ted Lewis) and Edison (March 30, by Fields). (Tim also notes that it’s rather unusual that Victor recorded Richman at all, since he was a Brunswick artist during this period. "The Victor ledgers (per Discography of American Historical Recordings) say "master/destroy" for his take 2 there, which is rather peculiar. The don't give a reason why they didn't issue it. Sounds as if they intended to do so ("master"), then changed their mind. Richman was an exclusive Brunswick artist (per 1928-29 catalogs), and from 1926-1930 all of his releases were on Brunswick, so it's unclear why Victor even recorded him. There is probably a story here.”)
Tim: Bottom line, Arthur Ball was a real person and he did apparently record it first, for Gennett, but only a day before Victor made their first attempt with Richman, and a week before Victor got a releasable take with Waring. (Maybe Richman wanted too much money?) Columbia and Edison came later in the month. Sorry, Arthur.
Ball on Broadway:
More info - or more accurately, a general lack of same. The two most extensive reference books on the Broadway musical are A Chronology Of American Musical Theater, by Richard Norton, in three volumes, and The Complete Book of Broadway Musicals by Dan Dietz, in ten volumes. Combining the data from those two very reliable sources along with the the internet Broadway database, we can establish that Arthur Ball was in at least two Broadway shows:
A Lonely Romeo (1919), in which he is listed as a member of a “specialty” vocal group named The Penn Four (Arthur Ball, Clarence Levy, Richard Russ, Jack Keller).
George White Scandals of 1925, in which he performed the song “Rosetime” as a solo vocal while the chorus girls - “sixty rosebuds” - danced, with a solo by the headliner, Alice Weaver. (The stars of the revue, incidentally, were Harry Fox and Helen Morgan.)
Ball on Recordings:
In addition to “Laugh, Clown, Laugh” (Gennett 6386), Tim notes that at the same session as “Clown,” Ball also recorded “Little Log Cabin of Dreams," which was the flip side of Gennett 6386. We also believe that he recorded Irving Berlin’s “Sunshine,” about which Tim has to say:
I'm not sure where "Sunshine" was issued; after that title the Mahony-Allen disco says "See 13598". Per 78discography.com, that matrix 13598 and title turn up on Silvertone 8006, credited to "John Monahan," which sounds like a pseudonym for Ball. However the disco also says "vLB" (=Les Backer), which might be another pseudonym. We're in the pseudonym forest here. So Ball did apparently record "Sunshine," but whether it was issued on Silvertone I'm not sure.
Three other titles by Ball definitely were issued on Silvertone, however, per 78discography.com.
I therefore find at least six titles recorded by Ball, three from the "Laugh" session and three others ("My Wild Irish Rose," "I Love the Name of Mary" and "When I'm Gone You'll Soon Forget") on Silvertone, probably also recorded in the Gennett studio. There may well have been more. David Seubert tells me that he has 15 entries for Ball on Gennett that have not yet been loaded into DAHR. I don't know whether that means titles or takes, however.
Incidentally, the other side of Silvertone 8253 is "When the Sunset Turns the Ocean's Blue to Gold" by Arthur Hall - so the disc has Arthur Ball on one side and Arthur Hall on the other.
Isn't this fun?
(WF: Incidentally, neither of us has actually seen or heard any of these recordings by Mr. Ball - which, in Tim’s case is especially surprising, since, as I said above, he knows more about the early history of the recording industry than anyone alive!)
More On the Ball:
In addition, Tim has unearthed some references in clippings stating that he appeared in at least one edition of the Ziegfeld Follies, but we have been unable to determine which edition. See clippings below, starting in an ad in the Brooklyn Daily Times, April 15, 1928, Ball is listed as performing in the stage show to accompany The Jazz Singer at the Strand on Fulton Street.
Additional clips & data unearthed by Tim: In the Times Union April 25, 1928, we learn that Arthur Ball is part of the stage show for the film Burning Daylight, this time at the Mark Strand Theater in Manhattan. Among his songs are two titles that we know he recorded, “Laugh, Clown, Laugh” and “Sunshine.”
There’s also a clipping from The Omaha Evening Bee News (February 2, 1929) informing us that Ball is part of the Paramount Publix stage show Blossoms (apparently the touring company) and is also going to sing a few numbers as part of “Herbie’s Organ Club,” including several of the very well known songs by his late rather, Ernest R. Ball. (more info below).
Ernest R. Ball:
Arthur Ball was the son of the very prolific songwriter Ernest R. Ball. Ball (1878 – 1927) was a major figure in the actual Tin Pan Alley era on West 28th Street at the turn of the 20th century, and the composer of many songs everybody knows, including "Mother Machree," "A Little Bit of Heaven," "Dear Little Boy of Mine," and "Let the Rest of the World Go By" He also wrote the music to "Will You Love Me In December as You Do In May?" which has a lyric by Jimmy Walker, the spectacularly lovable, eternally corrupt Mayor of New York during the Jazz Age.
Further info is welcome!
(STILL) COMING IN “LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH” PART 2:
TWO VINTAGE 1928 FOREIGN VERSIONS (but not including the 1942 Nazi Propaganda version which ridicules President Roosevelt - unless somebody asks for it!)
THE LOONEY TUNES CONNECTION
IMPORTANT MODERN / CONTEMPORARY VERSIONS
TONY RANDALL!
Special thanks to Elizabeth Zimmer, as always, not to mention Dan Weinstein, and this time especially to the mighty Tim Brooks! (In case you haven’t gotten the message yet, his 2005 book, Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919, is one of the greatest studies ever of the early recording industry.)
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John Kander & Fred Ebb - The Jazz & Pop MixTape
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"Lost Sounds" is an excellent book- and the CD soundtrack accompanying it is even more historically relevant.