[78-L] Cany Anyone Identify this Singer

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Sultanof" <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
> This thread brings up a question that's been on my mind for years since I
> started listening to music from this era.
>
> Clearly there were some singers who made records who were horrible 
> singers.
> They've been mentioned so there's no need to list them. How did many of 
> them
> continue to record if they were that bad? Let's remember we are not 
> dealing
> with the big band era, where a bad singer could sink the fortunes of a 
> band,
> or the rock and roll doo-wop era, where many of those groups were just 
> plain
> out of tune. Were the sales of records with these singers that strong to
> warrant them continuing to record?
>
> Back in the twenties and thirties, weren't there listening booths or other
> ways people could hear records before they bought them? Wouldn't someone
> hearing a horrible singer pass up such a record. Or are we talking about a
> style of singing that was popular in certain segments of the population 
> that
> just sounds terrible to us today?
>
This in turn brings up another question (I've asked before, but no one 
answered?!):

In the twenties (and, I assume, into thethirties)...stores who sold machines 
and
records were dealers for one particular brand; that is, if you visited a 
Victor
dealer they would have Victor (and Bluebird from 1932?) records and 
machines.
At that time, virtually ALL the record labels issued their version(s) of all 
the
currently-popular song hits.

So...when was the first appearance of record stores which offered all (or 
nearly
all) of the available record labels? I have a c.1941-2 flyer from a record 
store
in Toronto which lists many (most?) record labels.

Keep in mind that it was during the mid-thirties that younger record buyers 
wanted
not only hit tunes, but specific versions thereof...!

Steven C. Barr