The Okeh Laughing Record

[happyfilmluvguy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRSoabZ79qM

 

[CharlieH.]

Let there be canned laughter!
Say, wasn't there a record where Rudy Vallee inexplicably cracks up during a song? I believe it was released under a specialty label.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That was Vallee's recording of "The Drunkard Song," made for Victor in 1934 -- he couldn't keep a straight face at the cornball lyric, and the band began egging him on by making faces back at him, leading him to start laughing hysterically. But somehow he made it thru the number, and it was later released with a special white label.

For several years after that, Vallee would recreate the breakdown in his live performances, complete with carefully-choreographed hysteria.

The OKeh Laughing Record, by the way, was a German recording imported to the US around 1920, and was one of the top-selling records of the decade. Bootleg copies were sold under many different labels over the years, and it was still turning up in one version or another well into the fifties.

 

[jamespowers]

That was Vallee's recording of "The Drunkard Song," made for Victor in 1934 -- he couldn't keep a straight face at the cornball lyric, and the band began egging him on by making faces back at him, leading him to start laughing hysterically. But somehow he made it thru the number, and it was later released with a special white label.

For several years after that, Vallee would recreate the breakdown in his live performances, complete with carefully-choreographed hysteria.

The OKeh Laughing Record, by the way, was a German recording imported to the US around 1920, and was one of the top-selling records of the decade. Bootleg copies were sold under many different labels over the years, and it was still turning up in one version or another well into the fifties.

Wasn't this used in a Daffy Duck Cartoon? I remember the doctor and the nurse were next to this guy who needed rest of he would explode or some such thing. Elmer Fudd got punched quite a few times in that one.

Regards,

J

 

[LizzieMaine]

Close -- it was a 1955 Walter Lantz cartoon called "Shhhhhh", one of the last cartoons directed by Tex Avery. The actual OKeh Laughing Record was featured on the soundtrack, "by special permission." This short shows up on the DVD box set of Lantz cartoons just released this week!

 

[CharlieH.]

The Drunkard Song... gotta keep my eyes open for that one!

And wasn't Spike Jones' recording of Flight Of The Bumblebee all laughs too (literally, that is)? I think I heard it a long while back.

 

[Fletch]

I had never heard this in a quarter century of 78 collecting.
I know now that I didn't miss a blessed thing. Thanks, Happy.

 

[Fletch]

That was Vallee's recording of "The Drunkard Song," made for Victor in 1934 -- he couldn't keep a straight face at the cornball lyric, and the band began egging him on by making faces back at him, leading him to start laughing hysterically. But somehow he made it thru the number, and it was later released with a special white label.

#24739A was the release number. E(dward) "Ted" Wallerstein was then chief of Victor Records (and an accomplished calligrapher, or so they'd have had us believe).

Here's the original OKeh label for the Laughing Record:

In German speaking countries it was known as Original Lauf-Aufnahme. But Google Images failed to cough that one up.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Last year I found and bought an original copy of the Okeh Laughing Record. I had heard the recording through "archive.org" earlier that year. A friend of mine is a long standing record collector. Since he had helped me find another rare (and usually expensive) record of "Little Joe Can Sure Sing", which was an album with Joe Pesci under the name Joe Ritchie. The only two copies I found were $200 and he found one for $40, so he recieved the Okeh record as a Chanukah gift.

I only hear it once. My turntable didn't spin it properly and there is a shop down the street that had a reproduction phonograph. I took it there and myself, the owner and her friend all listened to it. The other side was a gypsy song of some sorts. That record cost me $8. I hope it's safe too!. lol

Oh and this recording is great for parties! It creates a spontaneous bout of laughter every time. If you need a good laugh, the Okeh recording is a great option.

 

[Dread Scott]

The Okeh Laughing Record is hilarious... I have it only on a CD 1920's compilation, though.

Now, LizzieMaine, I have a question for you - Why are they laughing?

I don't know the answer, but I've always wondered. Of course, I am also too lazy to try to find out, it seems.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The woman on the Laughing Record is a German comedienne by the name of Luci Bernardo, and I've always figured the laughing was something she'd come up with in her stage act. Or it could be that the cornet player, one Otto Rathke, came to the studio that day without his pants. Either way, nobody seems to know for sure!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I have the "song" on a 20s compliation CD. Always thought it was interesting. It creeps out one of my friends, though.

 

[RetroToday]

Somewhere in my 78 collection I have a Victor white labeled record that has three tracks on both sides that are mixed laughter, mixed applause, cheering, etc. Can't find it at this moment to be exact, it's buried.

I like to put it on from time to time to creep out my friends or I play the applause track to "pat myself on the back" for accomplishing something.
Well, not really, I'm just joking about that second use for the record!

I always wondered if it was ever used as a soundtrack when the old silent films were played, the label looks of that era. Have to do more research on it.

 

[Fletch]

Somewhere in my 78 collection I have a Victor white labeled record that has three tracks on both sides that are mixed laughter, mixed applause, cheering, etc. Can't find it at this moment to be exact, it's buried.

Probably "Victor Pict-Ur-Discs" or "Pict-Ur-Music" - used for silent film accompaniment in 1928-'29. RCA soon took over Victor and got rid of this line of business, as it was in direct conflict with their Photophone sound-on-film technology. (Brunswick did something similar called "Mood Accompaniment" before being taken over by Warner Bros.)

The idea probably didn't need much killing off, as you needed a dedicated soundman cuing up various Pict-Ur-Disc tracks on anywhere from 2 to 4 turntables. It required careful rehearsal, and would have cramped up the average projection booth something fierce. Read more here.

After this, RCA supplied "For Theatre Use" records (yellow labeled) as intermission music during the early '30s. Instrumental takes by name bands sometimes appeared on these discs.

 

[RetroToday]

Probably "Victor Pict-Ur-Discs" or "Pict-Ur-Music" - used for silent film accompaniment in 1928-'29. RCA soon took over Victor and got rid of this line of business, as it was in direct conflict with their Photophone sound-on-film technology.

You're absolutely right Fletch! I remember that "Pict-Ur-Disc" title on the record. I will have to dig it out and take a picture for the forum.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Fletch]

Hey, thanks, please do.

(Anyone else notice a subtly pun in the name "Pict-Ur-Music"? It could mean "Picture Music" or "Picked Your Music." Or am I grasping at straws here?)

 

[dhermann1]

Pict - Ur - Music

Actually, this is music that originated in Scotland and Mesopotamia, in very ancient times.

 

[Fletch]

Good one...if I weren't in such a corrosively cynical frame of mind right now, I'd almost have smiled.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The Okeh Laughing Record is hilarious...

And either reefer or ether were present that day. :eusa_doh:


The laughing male voice on the record would be very much at home in Disneyland's "Haunted Mansion."



.

 

[RetroToday]

Hey, thanks, please do. (Anyone else notice a subtly pun in the name "Pict-Ur-Music"? It could mean "Picture Music" or "Picked Your Music." Or am I grasping at straws here?)

Hi Fletch.

Cool, ya' never know what puns were in their head. But, Victor did definately "pick your music" for you for a number of years - censorship surely ran high.

Here's the images I promised of the one disc that I have. Cheers!