[Dixielandjazz] Re: Venuti & Friends (was Birds and fish)

[Bill Haesler]

Dear Joe,
Sorry to be a little late with this reply to your query.
The Joe Venuti & Friends sides, "Onyx Club Review" and "Non-Skid Manure",
were recorded by American Record Company (ARC) for 'Tests Only' pressings.
There is no doubt that they were deliberately done, but for private
enjoyment only.
It is said that Joe Venuti would have made a great stand-up comic.
ARC was formed in 1929 and was an amalgamation of the Plaza, Pathe and Cameo
record companies, who each owned cheap record labels including Banner,
Domino, Regal, Perfect, Romeo and Lincoln. ARC was acquired, along with
Brunswick, by Consolidated Film Industries and records were marketed under
the Brunswick and Vocalion names and several cheaper labels including
Perfect and Melotone. Columbia (later CBS, now Sony) bought the whole lot in
1938.
ARC's 'Test Only' series (prefaced TO and XTO for 12" discs) was used for
demo discs, custom and personal recordings, internal technical recordings,
sound effects, specials for senior staff and similar purposes. Fortunately
file cards have survived for most the records, as have some unissued masters
and pressings. It is not known when the series started but the earliest
known examples date from Nov 1931 and ran through to Jan 1939, resulting in
excess of 700 masters.
"Onyx Club Review" (with the Dorsey brothers, Manny Klein, Arthur Schutt,
Carl Kress [belches], vclists Will Osborne and Victor Young) was made on 24
Jan 1933 at a record date by the ARC-Brunswick Studio Band which produced
"Hey Young Fella/I Wake Up Smiling/Linger A Little Longer In The
Twilight/Spring Is In My Heart Again/Hallelujah, I'm A Bum" (all issued as
by the Will Osborne or the Dan Ritchie Orchestra). It was pressed for 'Joe
Venuti c/o Victor Young' and copies made available to the musicians
involved. Apparently it was the warm-up/rehearsal for the waltz "I Wake Up
Smiling" which started it all. Fortunately the engineers recorded the
proceedings. 
"Pagliacci" was cut at the same session and features Manny Klein introducing
Venuti in Yiddish and ends with an argument from Venuti in Italian. So far
as I know this remains unissued. A later "Pagliacci" (including Venuti,
Victor Young at the piano, the Dorseys and Stirling Bose) from a 12 Dec 1933
Victor Young Orch session came out on a Lucky 78 in 1981.
Pages 57 and 75 of Arnold Shaw's '52nd St. The Street of Jazz' (1977) have
accounts by Joe Helbock (who owned the Onyx) and Manny Klein regarding the
making of these sides.
"Non-Skid Manure" (with Bunny Berigan, Manny Klein, the Dorseys, Venuti,
Carl Kress, Joe Tarto and Stan King) was recorded in several parts
(including the TD solo "Echo In The Valley") on 8 April 1933 at a two-tune
Mildred Bailey session and remixed and recut on 19 April for 'Joe Venuti c/o
H Grey'. This is all spelt out in some detail on page 320 of Robert D
Stockdale's 'Tommy Dorsey. On the Side' (1995).
"Onyx Club Review" and "Non-Skid Manure" were issued in 1981 on Lucky 7000,
a vinyl 78 produced in Hollywood, and found its way on to several LPs, which
have been in my collection for may years. Both have just been reissued by
Mosaic on an 8CD set 'The Classic Columbia and Okeh Joe Venuti and Eddie
Lang Sessions', along with the later "Pagliacci" and "Onyx Club Review #2".
All definitely MKOM.
Very kind regards,
Bill.