[Dixielandjazz] Re: Last Dollar performed by Blanche Calloway

[Bill Haesler]

Note to DJMLers: This is boring discographal stuff and may offend some
listmates. It is posted in the hope that we can locate the additional
information needed. Most of you can tune out now.
8>)  Just kidding. 

Dear Giddy Gidd (George?),
You have certainly opened up a can of worms here!
I can confirm the following from my research sources:

*"Last Dollar" (Nichols). Blanche Calloway And Her Joy Boys.
Victor 22862 (mx. 69789-1) 18 Nov 1931.

*"Last Dollar". Eddie Droesch And His Orchestra.
Recorded at Columbia on 5 Nov 1931 and issued on Clarion 5407-C, Harmony
1388H, (not 1389 as given by you) Velvet Tone 2467-V  and Okeh 41532 [as
Buddy Campbell & His Orchestra]. All Columbia Phonograph Company
budget-priced labels.
 
The Harrison LP- U reissue of "Last Dollar" by Eddie Droesch And His
Orchestra also includes the note (as Buddy Campbell And His Orchestra, the
Okeh pseudonym). No composer is given, although the Clarion mx no. (35116-2)
is quoted on the LP.
Okeh 41532 (mx. 405103-A) has been reissued on 'Ben Selvin Volume One' of
The Old Masters CD mb 102. No band credit, composer is given on the
discographal insert.

As your fellow collector friend says "they are exactly the same". Indeed.
They are aurally identical. I have both.
Ross Laird and Brian Rust's 'Discography of Okeh Records, 1918-1934'
confirms that the Okeh mx. 405103-A was transferred from Columbia mx.
W351126. 
I have access to an, as yet, unpublished tune/composer listing for Okeh
which claims that the composer as given on the label of Okeh 41532 is Red
Nichols!
This is mentioned in Rob Bamberger's notes to TOM mb102, which implies that
he has seen the label of the Okeh.
I have checked several sources of Red Nichols compositions, but "Last
Dollar" is not listed. Which is not to say that he did not compose it.
How Red Nichols came to be credited with authorship of this song is anyone's
guess. Maybe he did write it. Although it must remembered that he was a big
name in show biz and recording at this time and may have 'acquired' it. Many
others (Mills, Melrose, Ellington, et al) did this.
I suspect that you had the same doubt when you saw the Nichols' name, so
looked further for a more logical answer and came up with Alberta Nichols.
Unfortunately, apart from the surname, there is no evidence (yet) that she
was involved. 
I believe the dates given above are correct and not all as quoted by you.
As a general rule numerical date references in discography, such as 5/11/31,
should never be used. To the Americans this is 11 May 1931. To the rest of
us it is 5 Nov 1931. Too easily misinterpreted, as in the Ben Selvin example
in Tom Lord's disco quoted by you.
I have involved my mate, DLMLer Anton Crouch, in this research and he agrees
with the above conclusions.
However, (as you say) we need to find someone with the Droesch/Campbell 78s
to check the composer credits on the labels.
Or, somehow, find someone with the sheet music. If it exists.
And to locate a complete list of Red Nichols' compositions. Perhaps there is
there is one in the recent book, 'The Red Nichols Story. After Intermission.
1942-1965' (Scarecrow Press).
Kind regards,
Bill.