Uploaded November 2011 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
THis is the Very First Victor Recording ever sold commercially (A7) or simply 'Monarch Record #7'. It is called by two names: 'Limberger Cheese' or 'A Boy and his Cheese' as shown on this copy. It's a monologue of Burt Shepard (Although some sources erroneously report it is George Broderick) telling about a prank he pulled on his parents that got out of hand. Recorded on November 23, 1900, there are only 6 confirmed recordings that were ever made by Victor beforehand, but none of these were sold and none are known to have survived.
Here is the actual dialogue, for those who have trouble understanding the speaker. It's not so much that the recording is poor as the fact that the diction and vocabulary is very archaic, and most people don't recognize the words. The first few seconds are very scratchy and hard to interpret.
(?One day when I went down to the grocer last saturday?) the grocer behind the counter gave me a (?object?) wrapped in a sliver of silver paper which he told me was a piece of limberger cheese.
When I got outside the shot I opened the paper, and when I smelt what was inside I nearly expired!
I took it home and put it in the corn bin.
In the morning I went to see if it was still there...
Nobody had taken it!
I thought about what I could do.
Father and Mother were getting ready to go to church.
I put a piece in the back pocket of father's trousers, and another piece in the lining of ma's (archaic piece of clothing).
I walked behind them as we were headed to church, and it was beginning to get very warm...
When we got into the church, father looked anxious, and mother looked as though something had happened.
After the first hymn, mother told father not to sing, but to keep his mouth shut and breath through his nose.
After the Prayer, the first deacon threw 'out common stink?' and the people in the pew of ours got up and went out.
After the next hymn, 'Mrs Bricks who was a mother?' started to spin a bout and air herself out.
After the second lesson some of the church wardens came down to see if there were any dead rats in the building (HA).
Some more people in our pew got up and went out, putting their hankerchiefs to their noses as they went.
The pastor ended but a quarter of the prayer when moving the meeting outside where there were much more sanitary conditions than the church (HAHA!)
As for mother and father, mother told father they better go home and (???)
Father told mother to go immediately home and change before he gagged.
When they got home, they both went into the front room and the stink then came down.
Mother told father to put the cat out of the room. She thought she was going to be sick!
See was sick before father could get it out! HA HA HA!
Mother then turned round and muttered she thought the canary bird was dead.
She told her father not to stick so near the fire Because it made it worse.
Father told mother to go smother herself!
Just then our servants came in and asked if they should open a window, as the room smelled very close.
Father went upstairs and changed his clothes to have a hot bath.
Mother took father's clothes and fastened them to a dram to be ventilated somewhere that was too high for me!
Father came in about 10 o'clock in the evening to wish me good night, with a razor strap in his hand.
I got under the bed.
The people next door thought we were beating carpets in our house.
I can't tell just where it ended.
I had to take my cheese out to the farmer's field.
No more limberger jokes for me!
THis is the Very First Victor Recording ever sold commercially (A7) or simply 'Monarch Record #7'. It is called by two names: 'Limberger Cheese' or 'A Boy and his Cheese' as shown on this copy. It's a monologue of Burt Shepard (Although some sources erroneously report it is George Broderick) telling about a prank he pulled on his parents that got out of hand. Recorded on November 23, 1900, there are only 6 confirmed recordings that were ever made by Victor beforehand, but none of these were sold and none are known to have survived.
Here is the actual dialogue, for those who have trouble understanding the speaker. It's not so much that the recording is poor as the fact that the diction and vocabulary is very archaic, and most people don't recognize the words. The first few seconds are very scratchy and hard to interpret.
(?One day when I went down to the grocer last saturday?) the grocer behind the counter gave me a (?object?) wrapped in a sliver of silver paper which he told me was a piece of limberger cheese.
When I got outside the shot I opened the paper, and when I smelt what was inside I nearly expired!
I took it home and put it in the corn bin.
In the morning I went to see if it was still there...
Nobody had taken it!
I thought about what I could do.
Father and Mother were getting ready to go to church.
I put a piece in the back pocket of father's trousers, and another piece in the lining of ma's (archaic piece of clothing).
I walked behind them as we were headed to church, and it was beginning to get very warm...
When we got into the church, father looked anxious, and mother looked as though something had happened.
After the first hymn, mother told father not to sing, but to keep his mouth shut and breath through his nose.
After the Prayer, the first deacon threw 'out common stink?' and the people in the pew of ours got up and went out.
After the next hymn, 'Mrs Bricks who was a mother?' started to spin a bout and air herself out.
After the second lesson some of the church wardens came down to see if there were any dead rats in the building (HA).
Some more people in our pew got up and went out, putting their hankerchiefs to their noses as they went.
The pastor ended but a quarter of the prayer when moving the meeting outside where there were much more sanitary conditions than the church (HAHA!)
As for mother and father, mother told father they better go home and (???)
Father told mother to go immediately home and change before he gagged.
When they got home, they both went into the front room and the stink then came down.
Mother told father to put the cat out of the room. She thought she was going to be sick!
See was sick before father could get it out! HA HA HA!
Mother then turned round and muttered she thought the canary bird was dead.
She told her father not to stick so near the fire Because it made it worse.
Father told mother to go smother herself!
Just then our servants came in and asked if they should open a window, as the room smelled very close.
Father went upstairs and changed his clothes to have a hot bath.
Mother took father's clothes and fastened them to a dram to be ventilated somewhere that was too high for me!
Father came in about 10 o'clock in the evening to wish me good night, with a razor strap in his hand.
I got under the bed.
The people next door thought we were beating carpets in our house.
I can't tell just where it ended.
I had to take my cheese out to the farmer's field.
No more limberger jokes for me!
