- Ernest and Clarence Iverson
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Contents
Norwegian-American entertainers
Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid 1940s
Ernest and Clarence Iverson were popular radio personalities in the Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. Ernest (1903–1958) was known as Slim Jim. His brother Clarence (born 1905) was the Vagabond Kid. Together they performed an eclectic mix of music ranging from country western and Tin Pan Alley to gospel hymns and Scandinavian ballads.[1]
The Iversons, who were born near Binford, North Dakota, came from a large Norwegian-American family. When their mother died in 1910 their father hired a Norwegian immigrant housekeeper named Molly Rood. She not only taught the boys how to play the guitar but also a significant part of their Norwegian-language repertoire.[1]
Radio personalities
Zenith radio, circa 1937Ernest Iverson left the Midwest as a young man and after an injury in the oil fields of Texas made heavy work impossible, he turned to radio for employment. In Wichita Falls and Omaha he established himself as a radio personality and singer. Then he headed north and got a job on a Minneapolis radio station.[2]
By the early 1930s Ernest and his younger brother Clarence had reunited and formed an act as Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid. During their heyday in the 1930s and 1940s the Iversons not only had a daily radio show but also performed live with their own band. Their half-hour radio broadcasts usually ended with some words of inspiration and a song of faith. Listeners might hear “It is No Secret”, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” or “The Old Rugged Cross”.[1]
The brothers were fixtures on Twin Cities radio until Clarence entered the army in 1943. After seeing action in France, he once again teamed up with his brother Ernest. In 1948 Clarence left show business. For many years he and his wife Frances operated a nursery in Blaine, Minnesota. They moved back to their hometown of Binford, North Dakota in 1970.[3]
One of Slim Jim's longtime sponsors was the Town Market Furniture Company, whose working class clientele were well suited to the unpretentious performer. Some of his other sponsors were less reputable. Hamlin's Wizard Oil, the underwriter of an early songbook, was nothing more than a patent medicine company. One of its advertising slogans was “Cures all pain in man or beast”. Crazy Water Crystals was in reality an overpriced laxative.[4]
Slim Jim continued as a solo act in the 1950s. He had a daily radio show and hosted the television program “Slim Jim’s Westerners”. He was much in demand for live performances and made a number of records. His death in 1958 was mourned by thousands of fans. Ernest Iverson was inducted into the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting's Hall of Fame in 2003.
Recording artists
Hamlin's Wizard Oil 1890Slim Jim was not a prolific recording artist. In the early 1950s the FM Recording Company released a few of his songs. Later on he had a couple of singles on the Soma label. One of his most popular efforts was “The Drifting, Whistling Snow”, an inspired take-off on the 1955 country western hit “The Shifting, Whispering Sands”.
After Iverson’s death in 1958 Soma Records released an album, which collected his studio work and some unreleased material with his brother Clarence. The tracks included comic dialect songs, the plaintive ballad Jeg Er En Fattig Liten Dreng (I Am A Poor Little Farmhand), Nikolina — in both Norwegian and English — and the gospel hymn “A Beautiful Life”. The LP “Slim Jim Sings Nikolina And Other Favorites” was available in Midwestern record stores until the late 1970s.[5]
In 1980 Howard Pine, who had worked on Slim Jim’s radio show, released the first of four albums taken from the artist’s broadcast performances.[6] As recently as 2006 he released the CD "Rocking Chair Radio" with twelve more tracks by the singer. These live recordings from the early 1950s were remastered from acetate discs made by Slim Jim’s sound engineer. In 1980 Clarence Iverson came out of retirement and recorded an album, produced by Pine, called “The Vagabond Kid Sings Great Grand Dad”. [3]
Musical repertoire
Hans Christian Andersen 1836The Iversons were transitional figures, who bridged the gap between Scandinavian immigrants and their American-born descendants. The brothers' 1939 songbook was mostly in English but had a few Norwegian songs such as Kom Til Den Hvitmalte Kirke (The Church in the Wildwood) and Det Døende Barn (The Dying Child), whose author was Hans Christian Andersen.[7]
Slim Jim and the Kid were songwriters with such titles as “My Gal with the Pretty Red Hair” and “Can I Play my Guitar in Heaven” to their credit. Their 1937 collection of cowboy and mountain ballads, however, had only a handful of original songs. Among the old favorites in the book were “Silver Threads Among the Gold”, “Frankie and Johnny” and “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. [8] On the radio the Iversons would even sing current hits like “When It's Lamp Lighting Time in the Valley” and “Mockin' Bird Hill”. A program might also have “Play a Simple Melody” by Irving Berlin or the romantic “The West, A Nest And You”.
Slim Jim, although not overtly political, was clearly on the side of the working man. His 1931 songbook [9] included “They Go Wild Over Me”, an adaptation of “The Popular Wobbly", which in turn was a parody of the 1918 hit “They Go Wild Simply Wild Over Me”. The author of “The Popular Wobbly" was the Finnish-American labor activist T-Bone Slim.
The Iverson Brothers published songbooks in 1931, 1937 and 1939. All three are on file at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Ernest and Clarence acknowledged their Norwegian roots with songs like Ungdoms Mynder (Memories of Youth) and Jeg er saa glad hver julekveld (I am so glad each Christmas Eve). Just as easily they could poke fun at themselves and their countrymen with “Scandinavian Hot Shot” or “John Johnson’s Wedding”.
The Iversons were also influenced by artists of an earlier generation. Nikolina had been a huge hit for the Swedish immigrant singer Hjalmar Peterson. Slim Jim and the Kid recorded the song in English, and their version has remained popular with generations of Scandinavian-Americans.
The Snoose Boulevard Festival
Fifth Street and Cedar Avenue 1890The Snoose Boulevard Festival was held in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis from 1972 through 1977. In the late 19th century Cedar Avenue became known as “Snoose Boulevard”, a nickname often given to the main street in Scandinavian communities. The term derived from the residents’ fondness for snus (snuff), an inexpensive form of tobacco. The event, which celebrated the area’s Scandinavian past, featured the music, food, and arts of the immigrants who had once lived there. It also highlighted the careers of Olle i Skratthult (Hjalmar Peterson), Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid (Ernest and Clarence Iverson) and the Olson Sisters (Eleonora and Ethel Olson).
The headline performer was the Swedish-born singer Anne-Charlotte Harvey. In conjunction with the festival she recorded three albums of folk tunes, emigrant ballads, hymns, waltzes and comic songs. The non-profit Olle i Skratthult Project sponsored the annual celebration and the recordings. [10] Harvey’s albums, produced by the renowned ethnomusicologist Maury Bernstein, included six songs from the Iverson Brothers' repertoire.
A Beautiful Life (recorded by Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid)
Jeg er saa glad hver julekveld- Each day I'll do a golden deed
- By helping those who are in need;
- My life on earth is but a span,
- And so I'll do the best I can.
- CHORUS:
- Life's evening sun is sinking low,
- A few more days and I must go
- To meet the deeds that I have done,
- Where there will be no setting sun.
- The only life that will endure,
- Is one that's kind and good and pure;
- And so for God I'll take my stand,
- Each day I'll lend a helping hand.
- CHORUS:
- Life's evening sun is sinking low,
- A few more days and I must go
- To meet the deeds that I have done,
- Where there will be no setting sun.
- William M. Golden 1918
The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
They Go Wild Simply Wild Over Me 1918The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project has streaming audio and mp3 downloads for several songs published by Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid. A link to the web site is provided below.
- 1931 songbook
- They Go Wild Simply Wild Over Me - Billy Murray
- 1937 songbook
- Grandfather’s Clock - Edison Male Quartet
- The Little Log Cabin In The Lane - Metropolitan Quartet
- Lorena - Metropolitan Quartet
- Silver Threads Among The Gold - Harry Ellis
- There's A Mother Always Waiting At Home - Will Oakland
- When You and I Were Young Maggie - Walter Van Brunt
- Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight? - Frederick Gunster
- 1939 songbook
- Aa Kjøre Vatten Aa Kjøre Ve - Carsten Woll
- Gamle Norge - Carsten Woll
References
- ^ a b c A Passion For Polka: Old-Time Ethnic Music In America by Victor R. Greene, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).
- ^ Viking Magazine (Minneapolis: Sons of Norway, December 1978).
- ^ a b The Vagabond Kid Sings Great Grand Dad liner notes by Howard Pine, (St. Paul: Hep Records, 1981).
- ^ The Swede From North Dakota liner notes by Howard Pine, (St. Paul: Hep Records, 1980).
- ^ Slim Jim Sings Nikolina And Other Favorites (Minneapolis: Soma Records, c.1962).
- ^ Peeking True Da Keyhole (St. Paul: Hep Records, 1980).
- ^ Slim Jim and The Vagabond Kid Song Collection (Minneapolis 1939).
- ^ Slim Jim and The Vagabond Kid WDGY Songbook (Chicago: M. M. Cole Publishing Company, 1937).
- ^ Two Hundred Old Time Favorite Songs (Omaha: Ernest N. Iverson, 1931).
- ^ Seward Profile April 2005.
External links
Snoose Boulevard articles
Photos
- Slim Jim at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting.
- Slim Jim at the Minnesota Historical Society.
- Slim Jim at the Minneapolis Photo Collection of the Hennepin County Library.
Snoose Boulevard photos at the Minnesota Historical Society
Recordings at the Internet Archive
- Ernest and Clarence Iverson. Audio files and more. UPDATED 11/13.
- Slim Jim radio transcriptions. Audio files and more. Four tracks by the Vagabond Kid.
- Snoose Boulevard artists.
- "Songs Of The Wobblies".
The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
- Iverson songs. Enter song title (no apostrophes) in Keyword Search window.
Streaming audio
- Norwegian songs at the Library of Congress.
PDF files at the Internet Archive
- Iverson Brothers Scandinavian songbook. 15 songs in Norwegian and Scandinavian dialect.
- Concordia. Norwegian-American hymnal published in 1917.
Sheet music
- "Play A Simple Melody" sheet music at Indiana University.
- "The West, A Nest And You" sheet music at the University Of Colorado.
Song lyrics
Categories:- American comedy musical groups
- American country singers
- American radio personalities
- American people of Norwegian descent
- People from Griggs County, North Dakota
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