Sol Hoopii’s Novelty Trio perform Iniki-Malie b/w Mauna Loa

3/23/28, Columbia 1363-D (145900 and 145905)

Here are 4 custom 6 inch souvenir records I recently found that were made at Rockaways’ Playland, an amusement park that no longer exists. The 4 records look the same, and only one of them had anything written on it, “Sept 6 1949 Addie & Anna singing to Geo and Will” The song on that one is easily identifiable as “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby”. The others are harder to identify. Although a google search led to a 1967  newspaper clipping attributing “Heart of a fool” to “Terrence Pelletier”

“Heart Of A Fool  In the heart of a fool that is broken  And tossed like a ship at sea, There’s a story old That’s never been told Of the wreck you made of me. Like a baby will break all its playthings, You broke love’s golden rule. Though you’ve been untrue, There’s a prayer still for you Down in the heart of a fool.  TERRENCE PELLETIER Greenfield”

… Obviously the song was around before 1967 if this lady at Rockaways Playland knew the melody in 1949 (assuming all 4 records were made around the same time)

I found this record at the Housing Works Bookstore in SOHO. The recording is on a 10 inch metal disc with some sort of a plastic surface. The surface was flaking off so the recording is only partial. But it is really good quality. I am guessing it is a commissioned copy of a recording from the Carnegie Hall’s library. From what I’ve heard, in the 40’s and earlier record labels etc sometimes made one-off lathe cut copies of out of print recordings. If it is a one-of-a-kind recording of some sort, you are welcome internet. The number 3 at the top makes me think it was part of a set of the whole performance.. But I only found the one damaged record.

Later in life, Hawaiian steel guitarist Sol Hoopii became a born-again Christian and spent many years traveling and using music to help him evangelize.  During that time he made several records. Here are a few from my collection. These aren’t as “hot” as his earlier work, but there are a couple upbeat b-sides.

This last side “To You, My Lord, Aloha” was an adaptation of the song “To You, Sweetheart, Aloha”. I found this record on ebay and amazingly it was autographed on the paper sleeve. In trying to verify it’s authenticity, I realized the other signature on the record label itself was a of a man named Ray Odegard who toured with him apparently accompanying him on piano. I found a newspaper clipping in an online archive that dates their tour together to withing a couple months of the date on Sol’s signature. The inscription reads “Aloha Neu Loa (very much love) to Sister Jensen Sol Hoopii 3/17/50 John 15.13“.  Sol died 3 years later on November 16, 1953.

here’s a video clip of him from near this time:

Sol Hoopii and His Novelty Trio perform Eleu Mikiki b/w Ka Ulula

Here’s another Sol Hoopii record I haven’t seen on any compilations:

6/18/1930, 78rpm  record, Columbia #40020-D, (149845), (149846)

Eleu, Mikimiki (King)

Ka Ulua

2 tracks on one side of a floppy cardboard record. Hit of the Week Records were produced between 1930 and 1932. Here’s one I found. There was a considerable crack at the beginning of this record and I had to do some sound editing to fix it..

Lullaby of the Leaves

Betty Boop

I found these records at a thrift store in Philly. $1 each. I knew the Firehouse Five Plus 2 as being made up of Disney Animators including Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas. Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band shared a member (Saxophonist George Probert) with the Firehouse Five. These 3 records, all on the same record label, must have been donated at the same time. Lucky me.

(each mp3 is one side of a record)

Firehouse Five Plus 2  Goes South (L-23) (1954)
Side A – Alabama Jubilee, Basin Street Blues, Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old Kentucky Home
Side B – I’m Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston, At A Georgia Camp Meeting, Original Dixieland One Step

Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band (Goodtime Jazz No. 1) (LP-9) (1953)
Side A – That’s a Plenty, Bele Street Blues, Wolverine Blues, Coney island Washboard
Side B – Pretty Baby, St Louis Blues, Some of these Days, Dippermouth Blues

Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band (Volume 2) (1953)
Side A – South, Sailin’ Down Chesapeake Bay, Melancholy, Chicago
Side B – Peoria, Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans, All the Wrongs you’ve Done to Me, Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me

My Wonder Girl – Coral Sea – Fox Trot b/w Grieving for You – Feather Your Nest – Fox Trot
Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra
Victor #35703-A/Victor # 35703-B
1926(?) 78rpm record
Played on a Victrola VV-IV with a Voctor #2 Reproducer

Here are several Theodore Roosevelt Speeches I own on Edison Cylinders and Victor 12 inch 78rpm records. These were recorded around 1912 when he was  running for president against William Taft and Woodrow Wilson as the leader of teh Progressive Party (aka The Bull Moose Party)

The video below is the The Liberty of the People played on an acoustic Victor VV-IV Phonograph with a Victor #2 Reproducer:

Don’t Bother To Cry b/w I’ll Hold You in my Heart by Eddy Arnold and His Tennessee Plowboys

5/18/47 RCA-Victor 20-2332-A/20-2332-B

Western swing 78rpm record from the mid-1940s.