Tim Gracyk | Cal Stewart "Uncle Josh On A Bicycle" Victor 16068 (1907) Uncle Josh Weathersby, Pumpkin Center @timgracyk | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
Cal Stewart lived from 1856 to 1919.
He was famous for monologues in which he spoke as Uncle Josh Weathersby, resident of the imaginary New England village Pumpkin Center, sometimes spelled Punkin Center, others times Pun'kin.
The state is unidentified but Punkin Center is probably in New Hampshire since Concord and Manchester are pig markets for Punkin Center farmers.
Pumpkin Center was also home to the fictitious characters Jim Lawson, Ezra Hoskins, Deacon Witherspoon, Ruben Hendricks, Lige Willet, Hiram Wood, Hank Weaver, Silas ("Si") Pettingill, town marshall Rube Perkins, and a "widderwoman" called Aunt Nancy Smith.
The nearest town to Pumkin Center is Hickory Corners.
Uncle Josh's most distinctive mannerism is a laugh given after he speaks a few lines. Most monologues open with, "Well, sir..." and hereafter many sentences begin, "Well,..." (pronunciation is "Wall,..."). In the late 1890s Stewart's recordings were characterized as "Yankee dialect stories" and "laughing stories."
Jim Walsh writes that Calvin Edward Stewart "was born in 1856 on a worn-out farm near Charlotte Court House, Virginia" and notes the irony of a Virginia native impersonating a New England character.
Stewart was an understudy for Denman Thompson (1833-1910), who played Uncle Josh Whitcomb in The Old Homestead, which opened in Boston in 1886. The Boston Theatre program for April 5, 1886, announced that The Old Homestead, written by Thompson and George W. Ryer, was a sequel to the play Joshua Whitcomb. That play, which opened in 1876, was supposedly based on a real person, Joshua Holbrook, of Swansea, New Hampshire.
Thompson never duplicated the success of this one, and he was in productions of The Old Homestead for decades. The play--with characters named Cy and Reuben, among others--inspired a vogue towards the end of the nineteenth century for plays that celebrated rural America. Uncle Josh Whitcomb was the model for Stewart's Uncle Josh Weathersby.
Stewart was around 40 by the time he began recording in 1897. During his long recording career, he cut around 120 Uncle Josh songs and skits for various companies. His earliest recording may be "A Talk By Happy Cal Stewart, the Yankee Comedian" (690), cut in New York City on July 9, 1897. He made 20 Berliner discs.
He made brown wax Edison cylinders in 1897, with "Uncle Josh's Arrival in New York" (3875) having the lowest catalog number. He also made brown wax Columbia cylinders.
The January 1899 issue of The Phonoscope described how Stewart promoted his Uncle Josh character: "'Uncle Josh Weathersby' (Cal Stewart) is certainly to be congratulated for the manner in which he is introducing himself to the public. He has spared no expense in getting up his printed matter. His latest venture is a card 11 X 14 inches upon which is an elegant half-tone of himself in Yankee costume, as he appears before an audience, together with a half-tone bust picture, which is a very true likeness. This work is from the press of Imandt Bros."
At first Uncle Josh's wife, Nancy, was played by Stewart's own wife. Labels give credit to "Mr. and Mrs. Cal Stewart." Later, Ada Jones was Aunt Nancy.
Stewart's "Fire Department," issued in February 1902 as Edison Standard 8003, was perhaps the first commercially available gold-moulded black wax Edison cylinder (no new titles were issued on Edison brown wax cylinders after January 1902--the first black wax moulded cylinders did not have the white titles on the rim, which were added in 1904). For a long time it was the only gold-moulded cylinder by Stewart, who would not record again for Edison for a few years.
He made Victor recordings as late as October 20, 1903, and then was exclusive to Columbia for a few years.
The 1910 census shows Stewart residing on West 95th Street in New York City.
In 1916 Stewart and his violin-playing wife, Rossini, lived on Daniels Street in her hometown of Tipton, Indiana. The couple performed on vaudeville stages.
Rossini Waugh Stewart died in New York City on November 25, 1943. The couple had no children.
His last session may have been for Columbia on September 9, 1919, or for Emerson.
At a Victor session for "Train Time at Punkin Center," Stewart suffered what seemed to be a seizure. Prior to that attack he recorded "Uncle Josh Buys a Victrola," issued posthumously in February 1921.
In early October 1919 Stewart fell ill while traveling to his home in Indiana after a tour.
On October 14 he was taken to Chicago's American Hospital and on November 4 was transferred to Cook County Hospital, where he died on December 7.
His cremated remains were buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Tipton, Indiana.
Cal Stewart lived from 1856 to 1919.
He was famous for monologues in which he spoke as Uncle Josh Weathersby, resident of the imaginary New England village Pumpkin Center, sometimes spelled Punkin Center, others times Pun'kin.
The state is unidentified but Punkin Center is probably in New Hampshire since Concord and Manchester are pig markets for Punkin Center farmers.
Pumpkin Center was also home to the fictitious characters Jim Lawson, Ezra Hoskins, Deacon Witherspoon, Ruben Hendricks, Lige Willet, Hiram Wood, Hank Weaver, Silas ("Si") Pettingill, town marshall Rube Perkins, and a "widderwoman" called Aunt Nancy Smith.
The nearest town to Pumkin Center is Hickory Corners.
Uncle Josh's most distinctive mannerism is a laugh given after he speaks a few lines. Most monologues open with, "Well, sir..." and hereafter many sentences begin, "Well,..." (pronunciation is "Wall,..."). In the late 1890s Stewart's recordings were characterized as "Yankee dialect stories" and "laughing stories."
Jim Walsh writes that Calvin Edward Stewart "was born in 1856 on a worn-out farm near Charlotte Court House, Virginia" and notes the irony of a Virginia native impersonating a New England character.
Stewart was an understudy for Denman Thompson (1833-1910), who played Uncle Josh Whitcomb in The Old Homestead, which opened in Boston in 1886. The Boston Theatre program for April 5, 1886, announced that The Old Homestead, written by Thompson and George W. Ryer, was a sequel to the play Joshua Whitcomb. That play, which opened in 1876, was supposedly based on a real person, Joshua Holbrook, of Swansea, New Hampshire.
Thompson never duplicated the success of this one, and he was in productions of The Old Homestead for decades. The play--with characters named Cy and Reuben, among others--inspired a vogue towards the end of the nineteenth century for plays that celebrated rural America. Uncle Josh Whitcomb was the model for Stewart's Uncle Josh Weathersby.
Stewart was around 40 by the time he began recording in 1897. During his long recording career, he cut around 120 Uncle Josh songs and skits for various companies. His earliest recording may be "A Talk By Happy Cal Stewart, the Yankee Comedian" (690), cut in New York City on July 9, 1897. He made 20 Berliner discs.
He made brown wax Edison cylinders in 1897, with "Uncle Josh's Arrival in New York" (3875) having the lowest catalog number. He also made brown wax Columbia cylinders.
The January 1899 issue of The Phonoscope described how Stewart promoted his Uncle Josh character: "'Uncle Josh Weathersby' (Cal Stewart) is certainly to be congratulated for the manner in which he is introducing himself to the public. He has spared no expense in getting up his printed matter. His latest venture is a card 11 X 14 inches upon which is an elegant half-tone of himself in Yankee costume, as he appears before an audience, together with a half-tone bust picture, which is a very true likeness. This work is from the press of Imandt Bros."
At first Uncle Josh's wife, Nancy, was played by Stewart's own wife. Labels give credit to "Mr. and Mrs. Cal Stewart." Later, Ada Jones was Aunt Nancy.
Stewart's "Fire Department," issued in February 1902 as Edison Standard 8003, was perhaps the first commercially available gold-moulded black wax Edison cylinder (no new titles were issued on Edison brown wax cylinders after January 1902--the first black wax moulded cylinders did not have the white titles on the rim, which were added in 1904). For a long time it was the only gold-moulded cylinder by Stewart, who would not record again for Edison for a few years.
He made Victor recordings as late as October 20, 1903, and then was exclusive to Columbia for a few years.
The 1910 census shows Stewart residing on West 95th Street in New York City.
In 1916 Stewart and his violin-playing wife, Rossini, lived on Daniels Street in her hometown of Tipton, Indiana. The couple performed on vaudeville stages.
Rossini Waugh Stewart died in New York City on November 25, 1943. The couple had no children.
His last session may have been for Columbia on September 9, 1919, or for Emerson.
At a Victor session for "Train Time at Punkin Center," Stewart suffered what seemed to be a seizure. Prior to that attack he recorded "Uncle Josh Buys a Victrola," issued posthumously in February 1921.
In early October 1919 Stewart fell ill while traveling to his home in Indiana after a tour.
On October 14 he was taken to Chicago's American Hospital and on November 4 was transferred to Cook County Hospital, where he died on December 7.
His cremated remains were buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Tipton, Indiana.
