1909 EDDIE MORTON I'd rather Be a Minstrel than MULTI MILLIONAIRE VICTOR 16697

$

40

A series of great  PERSONALITY Records from Movies, Vaudeville, Minstrel and Humor  on 78 rpm Victrola Records

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Famous Vaudeville Act Eddie Morton "The Singing Cop"
Eddie (or Ed) Morton, was an American singer and comedian who recorded during the ragtime era. Known as "The Singing Cop", he has been described as "one of the most extraordinary performers of the early recording industry.

Eddie Morton  

 

Great Early Duet by BILLY MURRAY and Ada Jones 

I'd rather be a minstrel man than a multi-millionaire
Chas. J. Orth (composer) 
Cecil Mack (lyricist) 

Ed Morton (vocalist : baritone vocal) 
5/28/1909 Camden, New Jersey [unconfirmed] 1 Master Victor 16697

Cheer up, my honey
Bright eyes
Karl L. Hoschna (composer) 
Otto Harbach (lyricist) 

Ada Jones (vocalist : soprano vocal) 
Billy Murray (vocalist : tenor vocal) 
Description: Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra

9/8/1910 Camden, New Jersey [unconfirmed] 2 Master Victor 16697

Orig Issue Victor 3 line patent 10" 78 rpm record 
Condition:
EXCELLENT close to PRISTINE faint scuffs,   plays EXCEPTIONALLY  quiet  faintest hiss

A SUPERB COPY

Edward Farren Morton (May 15, 1870 – April 11, 1938),[1] usually credited as Eddie (or Ed) Morton, was an American singer and comedian who recorded during the ragtime era. Known as "The Singing Cop", he has been described as "one of the most extraordinary performers of the early recording industry."[2]

Biography
Eddie Morton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of actor C.H. Morton, who was in the original cast of The Black Crook.[3] From about 1898 until about 1905, he worked for the Philadelphia Police Department, leading to his later billing as "The Singing Cop".[2][4] He then became a variety performer, and in 1907 appeared at the Madison Square Roof Garden in New York City in the cast of The Maid and the Millionaire, a musical comedy. The following year he toured as part of M. M. Thiese's Rollickers burlesque show, and then became a popular attraction in the vaudeville shows run by Benjamin Franklin Keith and Sylvester Z. Poli.[1]

He first recorded, as a gruff-voiced comic baritone, in 1907, and over the next few years recorded for Victor, Columbia, Edison, Zonophone and other companies.[4][5] His successes included "That's Gratitude", "Just a Friend of the Family", "In The Right Church, But The Wrong Pew", "You Ain't Talking To Me", "The Party that Wrote ‘Home, Sweet Home' Never Was a Married Man", "What's the Matter with Father?", and "Oceana Roll", first released in 1911 on the flip side of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" by Collins and Harlan.[2][5] As a Tin Pan Alley "song plugger", many of his songs also featured in the repertoires of rival performers Arthur Collins and Bert Williams, including "coon songs". He also wrote some of his own comic material.[6]

Morton did not record after 1917, but continued as a popular vaudeville attraction until 1926. He then retired to run a golf club and a restaurant, Ed Morton's Little Bit of Broadway, at Wildwood, New Jersey. He died of a heart attack in 1938 at the age of 67.[1][6]


Billy Murray newspaper ad from 1919   William Thomas "Billy" Murray (25 May 1877 - 17 August 1954) was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century. While he received star billings on Vaudeville, he was best known for his prolific work in the recording studio, making records for almost every record label of the era. He was probably the best selling recording artist of the first quarter of the 20th century. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of immigrants from Ireland. He became fascinated with the theater and joined a traveling vaudeville troupe in 1893. He also performed in minstrel shows early in his career. He made his first recordings for a local phonograph cylinder company in San Francisco, California in 1897. He started recording regularly in the New York City and New Jersey area in 1903, when the nation's major record companies as well as the Tin Pan Alley music industry were concentrated there. In 1906 he waxed the first of his popular duets with Ada Jones. He also performed with Aileen Stanley, the Haydn Quartet, and the American Quartet (also known as the Premier Quartet), in addition to his solo work. He had a strong tenor voice with excellent enunciation and a more conversational delivery than common with bel canto singers of the era. On comic songs he often deliberately sang slightly flat, which he felt helped the comic effect. While he often performed romantic numbers and ballads which sold well at the time, his comedy and novelty song recordings continue to be popular with later generations of record collectors.
Murray's popularity faded with changes in public taste and recording technology; the rise of the electric microphone in the mid 1920s coincided with the rise of the crooners. His "hammering" style, as he called it, essentially yelling the song into the recording horn, did not work in the electronic era, and it took him some time to learn how to soften his voice. While he continued to work, his singing style was considered "dated" and less in demand. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he also did voices for animated cartoons, especially the "follow the bouncing ball" type which incorporated songs from his salad days. He also did radio work. Murray made his last recordings in 1943 and retired to Freeport, Long Island, New York in 1944. He died in nearby Jones Beach.