[78-L] Kathleen Lane

[Steven C. Barr]

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From: "Geoffrey Wheeler" <dialjazz at verizon.net>
> Referring to Kathleen Lane, Dan Van Landingham says: “My favourite
> recording of hers was Berigan's "'Deed I Do" which I heard back in 1965
> as a 14 year old via the album the "Bunny Berigan Memorial Album".
>
> Other than the 12-inch Victor recording of “I Can’t Get Started,” my
> first real exposure to Berigan recordings on Victor was the Memorial
> Album. I, too, greatly enjoyed “Deed I Do.” I still occasionally see
> the Memorial album, usually not in good shape. Quite a few must have
> been released. It is much harder to find the original Berigan scroll
> and round-gold Victors. It took me perhaps 6 or 7 years to acquire all
> of them. Years ago, Frank Driggs told me that, on average, about 5000
> Berigan Victors were pressed of any given issue. This suggests Berigan
> was not a big seller but sold enough to justify recording him. RCA
> Victor issued several Berigan 10-inch LPs in the early 1950s but took
> forever to reissue all the recordings on 12-inch LP. Some albums have
> unreadable liner notes because the type is reversed out against some
> horrible color.
>
Consider that this was, first, in the middle of the "Depression"...and also
during a period when records were being abandond in favour of radio
broadcasts! Also, note that ARC used to release about a thousand copies
of each Billie Holiday record, knowing that several hundred copies would
be sold; this meant the records would return a predictable profit...?!

Steven C. Barr