[78-L] Subject: Re: Who was the first . .

[James Tennyson]

The first one I really MET , rather than seeing in performance, was  Edna 
White ...the trumpet virtuoso from the Edison Diamond Disc period.  She was 
in her 80's and I was introduced to her by Martin Bryan , the publisher of 
The New Amberola Graphic. The three of us actually had lunch together and it 
was fascinating beyond measure.  I think she was actually a very good 
musican and she and I quite warmed to each other. especially after  she 
found out that I was attending the Faculty of Music at U of T . Her 
anecdotes were fascinating.  The only cloud on the horizon was the fact that 
Edna was hatching a scheme to produce instructional cassettes  so that young 
musicians could have the benefit of her expertise, and in  her first 
promotional material taht went out  I found myself listed as a faculty 
memeber in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. I thought I 
was going to faint when I read this, since I had just applied to graduate 
school at said instutution and I figured that if this cunning document ever 
floated across a desk in the School of Graduate studies  that my changes of 
being admitted would be that of the proverbial snowball in Hades.
Mercifully none of the material got north of the border, and  now I wish I 
had saved it all! She was a showman to the end, bless her prevaricating old 
heart. She was actually completely  adorable, in her feisty old way.
Another one was Irene Jessner, the soprano who made several Red Seals in the 
late thirties. She was an authentic member of the Facutly of Music at U of 
T. Unlike myself. Ahem.

Jim



I met bandleader Mart Kenney when I was 7, although I don't think I even 
knew
he led a band at that time. He and his wife Norma Locke were nice and 
friendly
and remembered me fifteen years later when I had them do some "centennial"
station breaks. Since I was a CBC brat and most people my parents knew were
actors or radio broadcasters, it's possible there were quite a few who 
recorded
78s and who were introduced casually.

dl

krabgrass at aol.com wrote:
>
> person you met who recorded on 78 rpm records. Do you remember who, when, 
> where and does it remain an important experience in your life?
>
>
>
>
> Dennis Flannigan
>
>