The Cook Labs records, which date from 1939-2002, document the activities of audio engineer Emory Cook and his label Cook Labs. The contents include business records, materials relating to recording artists, photographs, and production materials, as well as phonograph records, master recordings and unpublished recordings produced by or associated with the Cook Labs label. The collection also contains two interviews conducted with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer. There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.
Scope and Contents note:
There are two primary components of the Cook Labs records: the records, master tapes and other audio recordings, and the related paper files.
The Cook Labs records contains about 150 of the 200 released Cook recordings, and 739 master tapes. In addition, there are 330 unpublished tapes.
The the paper files include acquisition materials; business correspondence; recording reports; various production notes on records produced; news articles both about and by Emory Cook and Cook Labs; copyright, licensing, and trademark materials; photographs, correspondence, contracts, and other materials relating to recording artists; production materials for each Cook Labs release; and other miscellany. Many contracts are signed by both Cook Labs and the artist. Correspondence is primarily between business associates.
Two interviews were done with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer; both interviews are included in the Cook Labs records.
There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.
Arrangement note:
Many of the items in this list have been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been grouped together to create seven series:
Series 1: Business Papers, 1939-1990
Series 2: Recording Artists, 1949-1981, bulk 1950-1959
Series 3: Photographs, undated, 1957
Series 4: Production files, 1948-1995, bulk 1952-1963
Series 5: Objects, undated, 1908-1964
Series 6: Audio Interviews, 1990
Series 7: Audio Recordings
Biographical/Historical note:
Emory Cook (1913-2002) is widely regarded as a highly influencial audio engineer. Born and raised in Albany, New York, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1932. After his discharge in 1934 he obtained his degree from Cornell University and began working for Western Electric in the Audio Engineering Force. During World War II, while still at Western Electric, Cook supervised the creation of a fire-controlled radar "Trainer," for which he received a Commendation from the Service.
In the late 1940's, convinced he could do better than what was on the market, Cook began experimenting with making his own audio equipment. Cook Laboratories was started in 1945 when he developed a new cutting head to be used in record production. Future development of equipment brought about the discovery that he could record frequencies as high as 20,000 hertz, more than any other recording company at the time. He cut a record of piano and organ music to demonstrate this discovery, and took it to the 1949 Audio Fair in New York. When he demonstrated the record with the hopes to sell the recording equipment, he found that people were much more interested in buying the record itself. Shortly after, Sounds of Our Times, later called Cook Records, was born.
Cook Records collected many different sounds and was mostly aimed at the devoted high-fidelity listener. Cook believed that hearing was a sense often overlooked by people, and he wanted listeners of his albums to be able to hear things they might otherwise miss. In a New Yorker profile by Daniel Lang in 1956, Cook claimed that hearing was "always being kicked aside in favor of sight… There's a time and a place for everything, and that includes sound." In order to encourage listening, he put out many albums full of everyday sounds, such as Voice of the Sea, an album of noises of the ocean and Eye of the Storm, recorded during a thunderstorm. One of the most successful albums was Rail Dynamics, an album of steam trains pulling in and out of a station.
Cook Records also produced traditional music albums from its plant in Stamford, Connecticut. The label produced everything from organ music to folk, flamenco guitar, calypso and steel band. Cook had little interest in name musicians and instead searched high and low for anything he thought might be an interesting contribution to his label. He even invited listeners to send in their favorite sounds, some of which he eventually recorded.
Cook had such a large interest in Calypso music that he set up a second pressing plant in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. There he pressed calypso and steel band music for both a Trinidadian and American audience, and most albums sold well in both countries.
In addition to the wide range of music Cook recorded, he was also an inventor. It was Cook who first came up with the idea of pressing records with powdered, rather than solid, vinyl, a technique he dubbed "microfusion." This technique not only saved money, but cut out many of the traditional crackles and pops associated with records.
He also developed the binaural system of recording and playing records, which he thought was superior to the more commonly used stereo method. Binaural was more precise than stereo, and it required placing two microphones six inches apart, approximately the space between two ears, during the recording. It was then played back with a special two-needle playing arm. Binaural recordings were thought by Cook to best duplicate the original sound.
Emory Cook died at the age of 89 in 2002 after a long hospitalization.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
COOK RECORDINGS - NUMERICAL LISTING:
001 20,000 Cycle Demo (1949) COOK00001
002 Night Rain and Surf COOK00002
003 Specimen Heart Beats COOK00003
004 Katydids, Frogs and Forrest Birds
E101 Grenada Stories and Songs (1957-58) COOK00101
E102 Amazon Sound: Yacu River Tribes (Rituals and Rites) (1954) COOK00102
E103 Music of St. Lucia (1953) COOK00103
E104 Rada (1958) COOK00104
E105 JOSE RAMON FORTUNE AND OLGA MAYNARD Nancy Stories (1956) COOK00105
106 Afro-West Indian Cultural Practices (1957-58) COOK00106
107 ESCOLA DE SAMBA DE BRAZIL The Boli, The Cocolute, and Brazil (1957-58) COOK00107
901 Steelband Jump Up Boys Town, Tropical Harmony, Silvertone COOK00901
904 THE ESSO STEEL BAND Esso Steelband of Bermuda (1958) COOK0904
906 LORD MELODY Lord Melody Sings Calypso (1958-59) COOK00906
911 TOM CHARLES AND HIS SYNCOPATER ORCHESTRA Fete for So! (1959) COOK00911
914 LORD MELODY Again! Lord Melody Sings Calypso (1957-58) COOK00914
916 Calypso Cross Section Young Killer, The Mighty Bomber, Small Island Pride, The Mighty Wrangler (1957-58) COOK00916
920 THE MIGHTY SPARROW King Sparrow's Calypso Carnival (1959) COOK00920
927 LORD MELODY Calypso through the Looking Glass (1959) COOK00927
928 CLARENCE CURVAN His Drums, His Orchestra COOK00928
930 Belly to Belly Clarence Curvan, Johnny Gomez, Tom Charles, Fitz Vaughn Bryan (1960-61) COOK00930
931 LORD MELODY Lord Melody, 1962 COOK0931
1000 TITUS MOODY DDDs of Binaural (1952) COOK01000
1011 The Christmas Music Box (1950) COOK01011
1012 Music Boxes of Long Ago (1950) COOK01012
1013 CHARLIE MAGNANTE Accordion Pops Concert (1954-55) COOK01013
1014 CHARLIE MAGNANTE AND LaVERGNE SMITH His and Hers (1954-55) COOK01014
1020 SAM ESKIN Sam Eskin's Songs of All Time COOK01020
1021 GROUPE MI-O Un Ti Bo (1958) COOK01021
1022 LAVINIA WILLIAMS' GROUPE FOLKLORIQUE Haiti Confidential (1958) COOK01022
1023 The Ramayana (Hindu Ceremony) (1961) COOK01023
10120 Music Boxes, Carousels, and Hand Organs (01012 and 05010) (1950-53) COOK10120
10248 The Voice of Mexico Gustavo Zepoli, Trio Leones (01024 and 01080) (1954) COOK10248
10251 SEAN McGONIGAL AND ST. COLUMCILLE'S UNITED GAELIC PIPE BAND Kilts on Parade (01025 plus solos) (1950-53) COOK10251
10271 CARLOS MONTOYA AND THE JOSE GRECO TROUPE Fiesta Flamenca (selections from 01027 and 01028) (1952) COOK10271
10289 CARLOS MONTOYA Montoya (selections from 01028 plus) (1952) COOK10289
10301 EDWARD AND JOSEPH VITO The Harp (selections from 01030 and 01031 plus) (1951-54) COOK10301
10326 Cafe Continental Ruth Welcome, Dick Marta, and Anita Ast (selections from 01026 and 01032) (1951-52) COOK10326
10350 Nickelodion and Calliope (selections from 01035 and 05010) (1950-53) COOK10350
10500 REGINALD FOORT The Theater Organ COOK10500
10501 MICHAEL CHESHIRE Pipe Organ in the Mosque (selections from 01050 and 01051) (1952) COOK10501
10523 REGINALD FOORT Percussion and Pedal (selections from 01052 and 01053) (1952) COOK10523
10545 REGINALD FOORT The Organ at Symphony Hall (01054 plus) (1954) COOK10545
10579 REGINALD FOORT Foort Pops (selections from 01057 and 01058) (1956) COOK10579
10646 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Tempo Vivace: Symphonic Masterpieces of Dance & Theater (selections from 01064 and 01066) (1955-56) COOK010646
10657 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Two Classical Symphonies: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (01065 and 01067) (1955) COOK10657
10659 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Two Classical Symphonies: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Haydn Symphony No. 100 (01065 and 01069) (1955-56) COOK10659
10683 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Modern Orchestral Textures (01068 and 01063) (1955) COOK10683
10850 RUPERT Cook LabsEMENDORE BAND Le Jazz Trinidad COOK10850
10867 Before and After Willie Rodriguez (selections from 01086 and 05007) (1953-54) COOK010867
10889 RED CAMP Horizontal & Upright & Downright & Dunright (01088 and 01089) (1954) COOK10889
10890 The Castiliane Johnny Gomez Band, John Buddy Williams Band, Girl Pat Steel Band, And Grand Curacaye String Orchestra (1956) COOK10890
11312 BRUCE PRINCE-JOSEPH AND HUFSTADER SINGERS The Forgotten Pedal Harpsichord and Hufstader Singers (01131 and 01092) (1953) COOK11312
11815 TONY ALMERICO'S PARISIAN ROOM BAND AND LIZZIE MILES Clambake on Bourbon Street (1954-55) COOK11815
50130 Tour of Cook Labs COOK50130
70889 RED CAMP Popular Piano and Combo COOK70889
80134 LUIZ BONFA Waterfall: Guitar COOK80134
80417 MARIMBA ORCHESTRA Waterfall: Children's Music COOK80417
80680 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Waterfall: Symphonic COOK80680
XX1 Audio Follies Sampler COOK00XX1
XX2 Calypso Jazz Sampler COOK00XX2
Series 10 Cook Series 10 COOK_Series10
Series 30 Cook Series 30 COOK_Series30
Series 60 Cook Series 60 COOK_Series60
Series 70 Cook Series 70 COOK_Series70
Series 80 Cook Series 80 COOK_Series80
Series 90 Cook Series 90 COOK_Series90
Series 100 Cook Series 100 COOK_Series100
Series 300 Cook Series 300 COOK_Series300
Series 301 Cook Series 301 COOK_Series301
Series 302 Cook Series 302 COOK_Series302
Series 303 Cook Series 303 COOK_Series303
Provenance:
The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired the Cook Labs Records in 1990, when Emory and Martha Cook donated their company records to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Anthony Seeger, then Director of Smithsonian Folkways Records, received a call from Mr. Cook in the summer of 1989 offering to donate the Cook label to the Smithsonian. Dr. Seeger visited him in August of that year to view the contents of the collection, and the Smithsonian received custody of the collection in May 1990. In return for the donation from Mr. Cook, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage agreed to keep the record titles available and to store the papers in the archives.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Topic:
Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Papers documenting the life and career of Shirley May Jones, stage name Shirley Leonard, an exotic dancer from Cincinnati, Ohio. The papers, photographs, and clippings document her childhood, early life, and professional career.
Scope and Contents:
Papers documenting the life and career of exotic dancer Shirley May Jones, stage name Shirley Leonard, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Leonard performed primarily throughout the Midwest but also worked in Florida, California, and Louisiana. The collection includes family, performance, venue, and publicity photographs, photographs of other entertainers (some inscribed), correspondence, clippings, a childhood scrapbook, sheet music, recorded music, printed materials, home movies, and financial and business records such as contracts and wage slips.
Arrangement:
The papers are divided into five series.
Series 1: Personal Papers
Series 2: Business, Financial, and Legal Records
Series 3: Performance Materials
Series 4: Photographs
Series 5: Audiovisual Materials
Biographical / Historical:
Exotic dancer, active during the 1940s and 1950s.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts related to this collection including some of Jones' costumes and accessories.
Provenance:
Purchased by the National Museum of American History from Cowan's Historic Americana Auction in 2005. Addendum donated to the Archives Center in 2006 by Kathleen D. Connick, a relative of Shirley May Jones.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow. Researchers must use photocopies of scrapbooks due to the fragility of the originals, unless special access is approved.
Technical Access: Viewing film and listening to audio disc recordings is only possible by special arrangement, please inquire.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection consists of eight scrapbooks and five posters documenting the burlesque career of Irene Jewell (stage name Ricki Covette), who at 6'8" was billed as "The World's Tallest Exotic Dancer." The albums contain clippings; letters; certificates; photographs, including photographs of her act; ephemera, such as postcards, travel brochures, postcards, and decals, from her travels; advertisements; and theater programs.
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbooks and posters documenting the burlesque career of Irene Jewell (stage name Ricki Covette), who at 6'8" was billed as "The World's Tallest Exotic Dancer."
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1: Scrapbooks
Series 2: Posters
Biographical / Historical:
Born in 1925 in rural Alberta, Canada, Irene Jewell aspired to become a singer and dancer. Moving to the United States in the 1950s, Jewell began a thirty-year career in show business, including theater, small parts in television and film, but especially burlesque, under her stage name "Ricki Covette." Billed as "The World's Tallest Exotic Dancer" at 6'8" and the "Glamazon," Covette's career spanned the peak of burlesque's popularity; her career highlights included headlining at clubs, including an 82-week stint at the ShoBar in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a solo act world tour in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Americans. Besides her burlesque career, Covette also had parts in theater, including playing the role of Gymnasia in the 1963-1964 tour of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and appearing in the 1966 film The Swinger. After she left show business, she started a successful second career as a real estate broker in the Los Angeles area and travelled with her husband, cinematographer Stuart Jewell, shooting footage of nature and culture. In 2010 she appeared in Leslie Zemeckis's documentary, Behind the Burly! Covette died in February 2016.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2014 by Irene Jewell (stage name Ricki Covette).
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Social Security numbers are present and have been rendered unreadable and redacted. Researchers may use the photocopies in the collection. The remainder of the collection has no restrictions.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Community Life Search this
Michaels, Dewey, 1898- (theater owner, director, producer) Search this
Names:
Palace Burlesque Theatre (Buffalo, N.Y.) Search this
Extent:
0.33 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Clippings
Photographs
Place:
Buffalo (N.Y.) -- photographs -- 1920-1970
Date:
late 1920's-1967
Scope and Contents:
Newspaper clippings; advertising brochures; and photoprints of performers at the Palace Theatre (including studio publicity portraits). The majority of the items are silver gelatin photoprints. Some photographers are listed below as index terms. Subjects of photographs include strippers and comedians; photographs of women include portraits as well as full-length figures, nude or in costume.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series. Arranged alphabetically by subjects' names within categories.
Biographical / Historical:
George Dewey Michaels (1898-1982) was owner, director, general manager and producer of the Palace Burlesque Theater in Buffalo, New York until it closed on September 29, 1977, when Michaels was 79 years old. Michaels started in the business when he was 19 years old. Through the years, he featured Abbott and Costello, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, Red Buttons, and Sammy Davis, Jr. who was then a dancer with the Will Master Trio which included his father and uncle. The Palace Burlesque was part of a 40-city circuit. Michaels was married in 1920 to Phyllis Boasberg. She died in 1969, leaving two sons and one daughter. On December 4, 1980, Michaels donated a backdrop, used in the theatre, to the Smithsonian. The backdrop had a musical theme with a clarinetist and notes rendered in extravagant art nouveau. Michaels was then 83 years old. Other backdrops were distributed to other theatres and collectors. They were 60-100 years old, painted in Diamond Dye, and worth about $1,000 apiece.
Related Materials:
Theatrical backdrops and director's chair located in the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life).
Provenance:
Collection donated by Mr. Dewey Michaels, January 31, 1981.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection consists of vaudeville and burlesque materials including original scripts for comedic bits, blackouts, scenes, skits and sketches, joke files, promotional materials, photographs, business records, and press clippings dating from the 19th century to the late 20th century.
Scope and Contents:
Collection provides a comprehensive overview of vaudeville and burlesque performance material rather than documenting individual acts or performers. The materials were collected by Henry "Buddy" Arnold Graf Jr. and primarily include original scripts for comedic skits and sketches not only written by Graf but by other performers and writers.
The collection documents the career of Henry "Buddy" Graf, an actor, producer, director, and business manager. Graf wrote a sizeable amount of his own material but also pulled from the collected scripts of other vaudeville and burlesque comics. Graf and his company performed mostly in Florida and the mid-west and had a long term performing relationship with Bearcreek Farms in Indiana. Graf's material is a window into the non-professional world of theater (non-union) in the late 20th century.
The scripts in this collection collected by Graf and George Cahill were created and performed by early vaudeville and burlesque actors, writers, and booking agents including Gus Flaig, Billy Foster, Leo Stevens, and Izzy Hirst, and others. The scripts date from 1844 with the bulk of scripts being written and performed from the 1910s through the 1940s. The material was performed in venues across the United States.
Graf also collected a sizeable amount of scripts by vaudeville actor and booking agent Jess Mack dating from the 1940s-1980s. Many of the scripts were written on whatever material was available, such as hotel stationery, scraps of paper, or in notebooks, documenting the creative and constantly changing nature of the life of a travelling vaudevillian and changes in performance from venue to venue, year to year.
Each foldered script may include plot synopses, written dialogue, cues for movement, alternate versions, lists of props, copies of song sheets, and musical scores. Many are bound in hand-stitched volumes. The format of the volumes varies because they were the personal copies of different actors and agents. Some volumes are indexed by title while others are indexed by topic.
Additional material includes joke files, promotional materials, photographs, and press clippings. The collection is arranged into thirty-two series; each series is keyed to the collector of the scripts and materials in that series. These collectors may have also been the writers, actors, or producers of the scripts in their series.
"This is a collection of approximately twenty-four (24) cubic feet of vaudeville materials. About 90% of it consists of original scripts for a wide variety of comedic skits and sketches. Additional material includes joke files, promotional materials, photographs, and press clippings. The scripts were created by early (1910s-1940s) vaudeville actors and booking agents such as Gus Flaig, Billy Foster, Leo Stevens, and Izzy Hirst; additional scripts were added by vaudeville actor and booking agent Jess Mack (1940s-1980s). Like more "respectable" plays -- and despite their relatively short length -- vaudeville skits and sketches had titles, like "The Presentation Scene," which were very familiar to performers and theatergoers alike. Most of the scripts in this collection have been bound into hand-made volumes. These are rare, ephemeral items, reflecting the creative and constantly-changing nature of the performances – many scripts were written on whatever material was available, such as hotel stationery, and some volumes are hand-stitched together. Each script includes all of its elements -- plot synopses, written dialogue, cues for movement, alternate versions, lists of props, copies of song sheets and musical scores, and so on. The format of the volumes varies because these were the personal copies of a number of different actors and agents. Some volumes are indexed by title, for example, and some are indexed by topic, such as "animals," "flirtation," "golf," and so on. Non-script material includes joke books, "A Complete List of Scenes and Black-outs," and an unknown amount of photos, clippings, and promotional materials.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into thirty-two series:
Series 1: Henry "Buddy" Graf, 1844-2000, undated
Series 2: Arliss, Jules, undated
Series 3: Berry, Bert, undated
Series 4: Binder, F.F. (Fred "Falls"), undated
Series 5: Bronson, Milt, undated
Series 6: Brown, Ernie (Toby), undated
Series 7: Burke, Herbie, undated
Series 8: Clas, Irvin V., undated
Series 9: Clexx, Harry (Henry Thomas), undated
Series 10: Cook, Johnny (John S.) and Bohn, Charles ("Peanuts"), 1936-07
Series 11: Dew, I., undated
Series 12: Flaig, Gus and Beall, Howard, undated
Series 13: Flaig, Gus, 1921-1954, undated
Series 14: Foster, Billy, 1929, undated
Series 15: Hagen, Billy, undated
Series 16: Hayes, Jack, undated
Series 17: Hill, G.B., undated
Series 18: Hill, Joe, undated
Series 19: Hirst, Isadore, 1927-1928, undated
Series 20: Kane, Johnny, undated
Series 21: Kaplan, Eddie, undated
Series 22: Leason, Jess, undated
Series 23: Lewis, Freddie, undated
Series 24: Mack, Jess, 1937-1969, undated
Series 25: Plant, Vic, 1921-1925, undated
Series 26: Romig, Jack, undated
Series 27: Sherman, Robert, undated
Series 28: Stanley, Joe B., undated
Series 29: Taylor, Bob, undated
Series 30: Van, Earl, undated
Series 31: Wilton, Joe, 1920, undated
Series 32: Unattributed, 1945-1952, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Henry Arnold "Buddy" Graf was born 1929 August 30 in Chicago, Illinois at the Norwegian-American Hospital to Henry A. Graf and Evelyn Warner. His father was an electrician at the time of Graf's birth but Graf claimed he grew up in the theatre. As a child in vaudeville he played with the children of some of the vaudeville families such as Donald O'Connor and Sammy David, Jr. He received formal schooling up to the tenth grade.
Graf served in the United States Air Force from January 1949 to October 1952. He was stationed at Sheppard AFB, Texas and then later at Chanute AFB, Illinois. He served as a "Basic Airman" with a mechanic and engineering specialty, and recived a Good Conduct Medal. The most significant assignment during his enlistment was with the 9th Periodic Maintenance Squadron. He was discharged at Travis AFB, California in 1952.
In later life he became a comic, writer, and producer, his style being primarily burlesque with a touch of vaudeville.
Graf met his wife, Carol, in St. Louis, Missouri. A program biography from the 1980s states, "Buddy started his career in show business when he was seven years old. His father put his name on the callboard and he was in business running errands for the acts that appeared at the Stratford Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Buddy's father was the stage manager, Bob Hope was the Master of Ceremonies. His playmates were Donald O'Conner and Sammy David, Jr. They became friends while they and their families were playing at the Stratford. As time went on Buddy gained experience from the management side of show business as well as the technical and artistic side, the latter as a scene comic. Buddy soon became involved with the rebirth of vaudeville with his own creation, "Giggles Galore". The show ran for five years and did over 2000 performances. He was with Will B. Able's 'Baggy Pants and Company', and performed with 'The Best of Burlesque'. In 1990, he completed a six year run at the Goodtimes Theatre at Bearcreek Farms in Indiana, where he starred in 22 new productions and over 2500 performances. Buddy's wife Carol is the buisness manager for Monkey Biz Productions, and she is the technical director for the show. Buddy and Carol invite you to let your hair down, forget your problems, and let's have some fun the old fashioned way . . . with 'Monkey Business'.
Graf suffered a heart attack on stage but survived after being fitted with a pacemaker, leading him to dub himself the "Bionic Comic." Graf died on 2000 August 20 and was buried in Valhalla Cemetery, St. Louis County, Missouri. Carol died 2013 May 20 and is buried beside her husband in Valhalla. Their shared gravemarker reads, "And in my final moment, may I hear You whisper: 'When you made My people smile, you made Me smile.'"
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
George E. "Mello" and Neva Satterlee McNally Vaudeville Collection, NMAH.AC.0760
Billings-Merriam Family Vaudeville Scrapbooks, NMAH.AC.0079
Ed Hayes and His Banjo Girls Records, NMAH.AC.1333
Thomas Currier Vaudeville Collection, NMAH.AC.1120
W. Oscar Sullivan Papers, NMAH.AC.0072
Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 4, NMAH.AC.0300
Groucho Marx Collection, NMAH.AC.0260
Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Theater and Motion Picture Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.1211
Bobby Short Papers, NMAH.AC.0946
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: James Madison, NMAH.AC.0060
Duncan P. Schiedt Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.1323
Enoch Steen Collection, NMAH.AC.0206
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Theater, NMAH.AC.0060
Harpo Marx Papers, NMAH.AC.1290
St. Felix Sisters' Scrapbook, NMAH.AC.0294
Materials at Other Repositories
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Special Collections and Archives, Gaming Studies, collection focusing primarily on gambling and casinos and includes material related to entertainment and vaudeville
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections, American Vaudeville Museum Collection
University of California, Santa Barbara Library, Milt Larsen Variety Theater Collection
University of Pittsburgh, Hillman Library, Curtis Theatre Collection includes about hundred skits and bits from comics, including Billy Foster, some of whose scripts are in the Graf collection.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by George N. Cahill to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in 2019.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Henry "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
These scripts were either written, performed, or produced in Isadore Hirst's theaters. Materials are arranged alphabetically by title.
Biographical / Historical:
Isadore Hirst was born September 5, 1897. He was the owner and manager of three burlesque theaters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Bijou, the Trocadero (his flagship theater), and the Walnut Street
Theater. He was also manager of the I. Hirst Circuit which was a chain of thirty-five burlesque houses in the East and Midwest. (A circuit or wheel was an association of theater owners all using on a rotating basis the same schedule of shows.) "(Issy or Izzy) Hirst was already turning out burlesque shows on the Columbia by 1923, one half of the Howard and Hirst producing team. After his initial purchase of the Trocadero and the Gayety Theaters in Philadelphia, he began the more formal organization, the Independent Burlesque Circuit, incorporated as the Independent Burlesque Association (or I.B.A.), but mostly referred to as the Hirst Circuit by performers and producers. . . .. Hirst died in 1948 but the circuit survived for another half a decade, under the direction of his widow [Betty Palmer] through the mid-1950s." Hirst died December 28, 1948.
(Source is PHD dissertation by Elisabeth Wellman (Ohio State University) which has a timeline of American burlesque circuits.)
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Henry "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
These scripts were either written by or performed by Eddie Kaplin. Materials are arranged alphabetically by title.
Biographical / Historical:
Eddie Kaplin (original birth name Abram Kaplan/Kaplen) was born 4 November 1905 in New York City, New York. Kaplin was a comedian, active during the 1930s and stage director at George Jaffe's burlesque theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The United States Census of 1930 shows him at age 25 living in Brooklyn with named spelled Kaplen, working as a dancer at a theater. His father's name was Jacob (spelled Kaplan in the 1920 census). Kaplin died in 1995.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Henry "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Introduction --How it all began --Minsky's barker --We're the dollies of 42nd Street --Daisy scene --Gypsy song --Adam and Eve --Backstage dressing room --Pickle persuader bit -- Courtroom scene --Monkey cage --The great Rajah -- Balloon salesman --My first suitor --The candy pitchman -- The virgin drummer --We're the dollies of 42nd Street (reprise) --Powder my back --The burlesque comics --Wedded bliss --Lent --The mink coat --The nightgown --The radio repair man --The drunk --The streetwalker --The stockholder --When the nude is a prude --Street interviews -- Opening night at the winter garden --My heart is still downtown.
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-LP-0624
StereODDITIES, Inc..1
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
Stereoddities 1962
General:
Program notes on container. Performer(s): Burlesque routines and music; book and lyrics by Eli Basse ; music by Bobby Kroll.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Low quality tape of Burlesque "Stag Show" introduction by an MC at the Chicago Sherman Hotel, known for burlesque since the 1920s. No music or performance on tape.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Likely misnamed tape, 3/14/1953 recordings of monkey house at the Chicago zoo, with aquatic birds, and a session of street sounds. No burlesque material, but recorded same date as some found on FW-ASCH-5RR-4772.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
