B.A. Rolfe & His Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra - Birmingham Bertha

Another selection from my Small Cache of Edison Lateral Cut Recordings.
B.A. Rolfe was a highly sucessful Dance Band Leader of the mid to late 1920's. At the height of his career, he rivaled Paul Whiteman, both in Size, Salary, and Popularity. Up until 1928 Rolfe's Orchestra had been the "Palais D'Or" Orchestra - which was the name of the popular Restaurant/Ballroom he played at in New York. In late 1928 his band began playing on Radio three times a week and was sponsored by Lucky Strike Cigarettes - hence the name the Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra. His career as a bandleader began to falter by the mid 1930's and by 1940 he had retired from music all together. He died in Massachusettes in 1956.
Although this recording is quite different than the better known version done by Ethel Waters - who was the Star of the all-talking, all-singing motion picture "On With the Show" (which the song was featured in), it is still a charming rendition and features the vocals of Vaughn Deleath, who was a huge superstar in her own right in the 1920's, earning the nickname "The Original Radio Girl".
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Category:

Music

Tags:

• 1920's
• Jazz
• Dance
• Thomas Edison
• Vaughn Deleath
• Lucky Strike
• Cigarette
• Radio
• Record
• Advertising
• Prohibition
• 1929
• New York City

[fromthesidelines]

Edison {who was virtually stone deaf at the time} made the transition to "lateral-cut" recording near the end of his days as a record producer; five months after this was recorded, he abandoned the commercial record business (including the last of his Amberol cylinders, still marketed in rural areas) to concentrate exclusively on "cylinder" dictating machines, which his company continued to produce for decades, after his death in 1931.

[gmmix]

It's always a treat to hear an Edison Needle-Cut recording. Great sound and a good rendition. Thanks for this significant posting.

[Bigband78]

I missed this one,Thanks

[roybo1930]

Just AWSOME!!!!!!!!!