Tim Gracyk | "All Doing A Little Bit" Will F. Denny on Columbia Phonograph Co. 6316 cylinder (c. 1901) comic song @timgracyk | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 19 hours ago.
"All Doing A Little Bit"
Will F. Denny
Columbia Phonograph Co. 6316
I think of Will F. Denny as the Billy Murray of the recording industry at the century's turn--that is, in the years before Murray himself became a regular in East Coast recording studios by late 1903.
Denny, like Murray, was prolific, upbeat, adroit, interesting.
Will F. Denny, a native of Boston, was born around 1860. The tenor performed on vaudeville stages and recorded prolifically in the first decade of the commercial recording industry, specializing in comic numbers.
He began recording in 1890. An article titled "Famous Record-Makers and Their Work" in the December 1891 issue of The Phonogram states, "Mr. W.F. Denny, who has been employed by the New England Phonograph Company for over a year, early developed a talent for popular music, and appeared first as a public singer at the Academy of Music, where he sang with great success the then popular song 'The Pretty Red Rose.'"
The New England Phonograph Company was established in 1890 in the Boylston Building in Boston. The 1891 article, duplicated in the Fall 1971 issue of Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal, also states, "After the termination of Mr. Denny's contract with this company he began to 'star,' visiting all the best theatres and music halls in the country. Mr. Denny's voice is a tenor of pure tone and much pathos, and his articulation is extremely wonderful. As a vocal record maker it is claimed he has no equal in this country, and although his services have been sought by others, he has devoted his spare time entirely to the New England Phonograph Company."
He was best known for performing topical songs (not hymns, not sentimental tunes), able to sing at a fast pace with words remaining distinct.
He also recorded parodies, such as "Parody on 'Because'" (Edison 7379). He rarely recorded the standard or sentimental numbers covered by such colleagues as George J. Gaskin, Harry Macdonough, and Albert Campbell.
In the early 1900s he may have viewed Billy Murray as a rival comic tenor, both singers notable for versatility and clear enunciation. Denny's recording career was in decline when Murray began working for Edison, Victor, and Columbia in 1903.
Most of his pre-1900 recordings are Edison and Columbia cylinders. He began recording for Columbia in 1897 or early 1898 (he is not in the June 1897 catalog). Columbia's 1898 catalog lists a few dozen Denny titles, many with a British flavor, such as "A Pity To Waste It" (6325) and "What Ze English Call Ze" (6351).
An 1899 catalog of cylinders duplicates an agreement dated May 1, 1898, indicating that Denny, along with more than a dozen others who signed the agreement, was exclusive to Columbia. The arrangement lasted a year.
He made over two dozen Berliners. On at least two discs, 0124 and 0129, he signs his name as "Will F. Denney" (note extra "e"). He cut a handful of titles in July and August of 1897. Nearly two years passed before he returned on May 2, 1899, evidently soon after his exclusive arrangement with Columbia ended.
He was one of the last singers to make Berliner discs in America. Within weeks of his last session, the company was essentially forced by an injunction to cease production.
Denny recorded 24 takes for Victor on September 11, 1901. It was his only Victor session. Ten titles were covered, each one recorded for a seven-inch disc and a ten-inch disc.
He worked most often for Columbia in his final years. His last record for the company was "You'll Have to Get Off and Walk," issued in July 1907.
He made Zon-o-phone discs in this period, and his last records were Zon-o-phone discs. A Zon-o-phone catalog dated May 10, 1901, lists five titles sung by Denny. For Zon-o-phone he made one of the earliest records of "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (5934). His last Zon-o-phone was "All the Girls Look Good to Me" (1048), issued in July 1908.
He worked in vaudeville and died in Seattle while touring the Pantages Circuit. The October 10, 1908, issue of Variety reports, "Denny's illness began September 22, when he suffered a sudden seizure in his dressing room at Pantages Theater, Seattle. He was immediately rushed to Providence Hospital in that city, but paralysis seemed to have developed, and although he soon recovered consciousness, death followed..."
He died on October 2, 1908, and is buried in Philadelphia.
"All Doing A Little Bit"
Will F. Denny
Columbia Phonograph Co. 6316
I think of Will F. Denny as the Billy Murray of the recording industry at the century's turn--that is, in the years before Murray himself became a regular in East Coast recording studios by late 1903.
Denny, like Murray, was prolific, upbeat, adroit, interesting.
Will F. Denny, a native of Boston, was born around 1860. The tenor performed on vaudeville stages and recorded prolifically in the first decade of the commercial recording industry, specializing in comic numbers.
He began recording in 1890. An article titled "Famous Record-Makers and Their Work" in the December 1891 issue of The Phonogram states, "Mr. W.F. Denny, who has been employed by the New England Phonograph Company for over a year, early developed a talent for popular music, and appeared first as a public singer at the Academy of Music, where he sang with great success the then popular song 'The Pretty Red Rose.'"
The New England Phonograph Company was established in 1890 in the Boylston Building in Boston. The 1891 article, duplicated in the Fall 1971 issue of Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal, also states, "After the termination of Mr. Denny's contract with this company he began to 'star,' visiting all the best theatres and music halls in the country. Mr. Denny's voice is a tenor of pure tone and much pathos, and his articulation is extremely wonderful. As a vocal record maker it is claimed he has no equal in this country, and although his services have been sought by others, he has devoted his spare time entirely to the New England Phonograph Company."
He was best known for performing topical songs (not hymns, not sentimental tunes), able to sing at a fast pace with words remaining distinct.
He also recorded parodies, such as "Parody on 'Because'" (Edison 7379). He rarely recorded the standard or sentimental numbers covered by such colleagues as George J. Gaskin, Harry Macdonough, and Albert Campbell.
In the early 1900s he may have viewed Billy Murray as a rival comic tenor, both singers notable for versatility and clear enunciation. Denny's recording career was in decline when Murray began working for Edison, Victor, and Columbia in 1903.
Most of his pre-1900 recordings are Edison and Columbia cylinders. He began recording for Columbia in 1897 or early 1898 (he is not in the June 1897 catalog). Columbia's 1898 catalog lists a few dozen Denny titles, many with a British flavor, such as "A Pity To Waste It" (6325) and "What Ze English Call Ze" (6351).
An 1899 catalog of cylinders duplicates an agreement dated May 1, 1898, indicating that Denny, along with more than a dozen others who signed the agreement, was exclusive to Columbia. The arrangement lasted a year.
He made over two dozen Berliners. On at least two discs, 0124 and 0129, he signs his name as "Will F. Denney" (note extra "e"). He cut a handful of titles in July and August of 1897. Nearly two years passed before he returned on May 2, 1899, evidently soon after his exclusive arrangement with Columbia ended.
He was one of the last singers to make Berliner discs in America. Within weeks of his last session, the company was essentially forced by an injunction to cease production.
Denny recorded 24 takes for Victor on September 11, 1901. It was his only Victor session. Ten titles were covered, each one recorded for a seven-inch disc and a ten-inch disc.
He worked most often for Columbia in his final years. His last record for the company was "You'll Have to Get Off and Walk," issued in July 1907.
He made Zon-o-phone discs in this period, and his last records were Zon-o-phone discs. A Zon-o-phone catalog dated May 10, 1901, lists five titles sung by Denny. For Zon-o-phone he made one of the earliest records of "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (5934). His last Zon-o-phone was "All the Girls Look Good to Me" (1048), issued in July 1908.
He worked in vaudeville and died in Seattle while touring the Pantages Circuit. The October 10, 1908, issue of Variety reports, "Denny's illness began September 22, when he suffered a sudden seizure in his dressing room at Pantages Theater, Seattle. He was immediately rushed to Providence Hospital in that city, but paralysis seemed to have developed, and although he soon recovered consciousness, death followed..."
He died on October 2, 1908, and is buried in Philadelphia.
