by Peter Cates Gustav Mahler German composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) suffered three major traumas the summer of 1907 – His oldest daughter Maria died from diptheria. After a brilliant few years as music director of the Vienna Court Opera, Mahler was forced out by a combination of systemic anti-Semitism and sleazy underhandedness. Finally he was […]
by Peter Cates Former New York Gov. Thomas Dewey Former New York Governor Thomas Dewey (1902-1971) has been pretty much tossed in the dumpster of 20th century ancient American history, except for brief mentions as the Republican opponent of FDR – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – in 1944 and of Harry S Truman, in 1948, (the […]
by Peter Cates I Became Alone I Became Alone is a 1975 book by Judith Thurman on five major woman poets. They are Sappho from ancient Greece; Louise Labe of the 16th century French Renaissance; Anne Bradstreet, who wrote out of her own experience living among fellow Puritans in 17th century Boston; Juana Ines de […]
by Peter Cates Al Jolson Al Jolson – Tell That To The Marines (recorded September 10, 1918); Arthur Fields – You Can’t Beat Us (If It Takes Ten Million More, recorded September 19, 1918). Columbia A2657, ten-inch acoustic shellac disc. Born in Lithuania to a Jewish family, Asa Yoelson (1886-1950), better known as Al Jolson, […]
by Peter Cates Cab Callaway Cab Calloway and his Orchestra – Floogie Walk; The Ghost of Smoky Joe: Vocalion v4807, ten inch 78, recorded 1939. Cab Calloway (1907-1994) was a character in the truest sense of the word. For all his accomplishment as a well above average singer/musician, his claim to fame was his sardonic […]
by Peter Cates Fred Gaisberg For collectors of the early shellac 78s, the 1999 biography, Sound Revolutions by Jerrold Northrop Moore is a fascinating biography of recording pioneer Fred Gaisberg (1873-1951) who, from 1894 when he landed employment at the Berliner Gramophone Company (later to become EMI) to his retirement in 1939, would develop a […]
by Peter Cates Pietro Mascagni Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) experienced the most extraordinary success when, at the age of 28 in 1891, his opera Cavalliera Rusticana was premiered in Italy. It would receive over 14,000 productions between then and the beginning of World War I in 1914. It is one of my six currently […]
by Peter Cates Palace Records Grieg 2nd Peer Gynt Suite and Liszt 1st Piano Concerto; Kurt Baumann conducting the Viennese Symphonic Orchestra; Palace PST-610, 12-inch stereo LP released mid-1950s. Palace was one of many record labels that came and went during the 1950s. The jacket had a list price of $4.98 which was the usual […]
by Peter Cates Dionne Warwick Scepter records was the label that released albums by the very gifted singer Dionne Warwick. Back in 1968 the first record I ever bought of her was a 45 that I was able to special order from a vendor who set up a consignment rack at the Cates Country Store. […]
by Peter Cates Louise Dickinson Rich The Coast of Maine by Louise Dickinson Rich (1903-1991) was first published in 1956 and subsequently revised in 1962 and 1970. Dipping in it, I came across the following: “Considering its present and past eminence as a seaport, which always connotes-perhaps unfairly – sailors celebrating shore leave by bending […]