[78-L] Info on Bernie Schultz and Whitey Kaufman

[Harold Aherne]

Of the dozens, if not hundreds, of little-known bands that recorded during the 
20s, I am particularly drawn to the recordings of these two bandleaders. There's a
real joie de vivre in Schultz's "Show Me That Kind of a Girl" and Kaufman's "Paddlin' Madelin' Home", among their other sides. The delights of their recorded legacies, 
as well as the paucity of information on either man or the bands they led, encouraged
me to do some basic research on their lives. Using the resources of ancestry.com, I came 
up with some preliminary information.
 
Bernie Schultz led an outfit called the Crescent Orchestra in Davenport, Iowa
during the mid-1920s and made five recordings for Gennett in July 1927 (see 
http://www.redhotjazz.com/schultz.html). Schultz was still living in Davenport
at the time of the April 1930 census, which reveals that he was 31, still an orchestra manager, owned a radio (not too surprisingly), and had a wife named Dorothy and a daughter named Marilyn. Using the information on where his parents came from I traced
him backwards through the previous census records. In 1920, 21 year-old Frank
Bernard Schultz was already working as a musician. The 1900 census reveals that
he was born in September 1898, but I have not been able to locate any further
information on his lifespan or his activities after 1930.
 
Whitey Kaufman recorded for Victor from 1922 to 1927, including test records and
rejected masters (see http://www.redhotjazz.com/kaufman.html for recordings). His 
given name was Marlin, which allowed me to find him in the 1920 census. He was
20, living with mother Nora and sister Grace, and employed, although I can't make
out what's written under "occupation". The 1900 census indicates that he was born
in September 1899; social security records give his dates as 5 Sep. 1899 to March 1984. 
Newspaper records in the Google archive indicate that his band was active in Pennsylvania until at least 1935.
 
Has anything substantial been written about these men or their bands in the 
various record research publications? Was Whitey Kaufman ever interviewed about
his career, or did anyone ever speak of him? Certainly the "paper trail" type of info 
that I've provided doesn't quite account for how wonderful their bands really were and how
they must have enthralled their listeners, whether live, over the radio, or via the phonograph.
 
-Harold