Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1932-01)

64 ing me the position of Assistant Director. As it had been about 17 years since I had held down what might be termed a steady job, I hesitated; but finally accepted, reserv- ing the right to sing for Edison. They had a very long list of Dudley records, which had to be remade from time to time, as slight improvements were made, and I did not like to handicap them. “But a year later the Victor purchased my exclusive services—and some services they were, though I say it! In a few years I was far too busy to sing any more. “All I had to do was to select each month 50 or 100 numbers for the monthly bulletin; see that artists were engaged to sing them; keep them in good humor; write the notes for the bulletin; compile the Victor’s monu- mental Alphabetical Record Catalog; write and revise annually the Book of the Opera; write several hundred letters a month to record fans; test all the new records which were made, sometimes 500 a month; scout for new singers and novelties, etc. Mr. Child was by that time too busy with his huge list of celebrity singers to bother with the com- mon or garden variety of records. . . . “By 1919 I decided that 13 years of opera and 17 of records was enough for one life- time, so my wife and I jumped into our little Scripps-Booth. And since then we have kept going. “We spent a winter in Hawaii, and while there a new volcano eruption broke out, and Mrs. ‘Dudley’ was kind enough to break through a crust of lava and sink to her waist! . . . We traveled over the old Spanish trail... were lost in the desert several times, fording one stream fourteen times in one day; had a broken axle in the middle of a New Mexico desert; dodged Louisiana floods by loading the car on a leaky barge for a 20 mile bayou trip; were caught in a forest fire in Florida; stuck in the middle of Fish Creek, Arizona, all night, with mountain lions roaming about; mired in a ‘dry’ lake in Utah—no wonder Mrs. Rous said, ‘I thought you retired from business to get a rest!’ “Then to Europe, where we have been ever since. We spend six months in our little apartment in Monaco and in the summer explore the mountain passes in our trusty Renault, now seven years old and going strong. Never mind what it looks like; it has climbed 26 and hopes to go over the 125 other European passes yet! In 1927 a trip around the world broke the monotony—and another book could be written about some adventures while trying to see something of the virgin jungles of Sumatra.” The Phonograph Monthly Review And on this happy note we may leave the man who, unknown to 99 record lovers out of a hundred, not only did a man’s share of recording but also found time to write for Victor supplements and catalogs and turn out a new “Book of the Opera” every year. Yes, he was that mysterious person, The Victor Catalog Editor. He was also, it should be noted in passing, the “Frank Kernell” whose whistling specialties and “topical” records were so popular in and around the year 1905. “Kernell’s” records, Mr. Rous explains, were not thought sufficiently digini- fied to bear the name of the ex-opera artist, “S. H. Dudley,” but looking back upon the type of music he recorded, the singer is un- able to see that .those by Dudley were exactly bloated with dignified sentiments, either! A curious coincidence is that Mri Rous, like his comrade, Macdonald, had trouble with another performer whose theatrical appellation was exactly the same as his own. There was then—and still was ten years ago—a Negro comedian named S. H. Dudley. I have heard that, as was the case with the two “Harry Macdonoughs,” each Dudley in- variably got the mail of the other—and great was the lamentation, vociferation, weeping, wailing'and gnashing of teeth when the post- man made his daily wrong delivery. No one has yet explained why one man or the other didn’t end the whole tangled situation by going out and in cold blood despatching his namesake. Whoever the fellow was that originated the familiar phrase about presenting roses to the living instead of reserving them for the resting places of the dead, he had a good idea. The record and the evidence shows that S. H. Dudley’s career has been a credit both to the theatrical world and that of the phonograph. Of him we can sincerely say “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” and trust that he and Mrs. Dudley will be spared for many ' more years—until the Renault has traversed those other 125 moun- tain passes, anyway! A very limited supply of back files of THE PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY REVIEW is still available: Volume I (Oct. 1926-Sept. 1927) 9 issues only— Nov. *26, March and May ’27 are out of print—#6.00 Volume II (Oct. 1927-Sept. 1928) Complete— $ 6.00 Volume III (Oct. 1928-Sept. 1929) Complete— $5.00 More recent issues at regular subscription rates. Address A. J. FRANCK Postal Box 171 Richmond Hill, L. I.