- The Revelers
:"Not to be confused with American rock band of the late 1990s, "The Revelers", or early 1960's U.S. rock band "The Revels"
The Revelers were an American quintet (four
close harmony singers and a pianist) popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Revelers' recordings of "Dinah," "Old Man River ", "Valencia," "Baby Face," "Blue Room," "Birth of the Blues," "When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba," and many more, became popular in the United States and then Europe in the late 1920s.All of the members had recorded individually or in various combinations, and formed a group in 1925. The original Revelers were tenors Franklyn Baur and Lewis James, baritone Elliot Shaw, bass Wilfred Glenn, and pianist Ed Smalle. Smalle was replaced by Frank Black in 1926. The group (with Black at the piano) appeared in a short movie musical, "The Revelers" (1927), filmed in the
sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. This one-reelshort film , recently restored by "The Vitaphone Project," shows the group performing "Mine," "Dinah," and "No Foolin'." A second short, filmed the same day with another three songs, awaits restoration.Baur was replaced by Frank Luther and then
James Melton (later aMetropolitan Opera tenor).Radio
The Revelers were stars on radio and in vaudeville, as well as in the recording studio. On radio they were regulars on "
The Palmolive Hour " (1927-31).Ring Lardner observed, "Under any name, they sound as sweet." Lardner outlined his "perfect radio program" for "The New Yorker " magazine, and found a place for The Revelers along withPaul Whiteman andFanny Brice .They had a recording contract with Victor (later
RCA Victor ) but made extra money by moonlighting under pseudonyms for other labels (such as "The Singing Sophomores" onColumbia Records and "The Merrymakers" onBrunswick Records ). An example of what The Revelers sounded like is "I'm Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston" on the CD "The Roaring Twenties" (ABC 838 215-2) from the series "Robert Parker's The Golden Years." The German groupThe Comedian Harmonists formed in 1927 after hearing some records of The Revelers.The Revelers were inducted into The
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.External links
* [http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/the_revelers.html 'The Revelers' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page]
* [http://www.picking.com/vitaphone.html Vitaphone Project dedicated to the restoration of Vitaphone films]
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