Listing of 1922 Dance Records
It would appear that the Foxtrot was the most popular dance style in early 1922 when this catalog of music was published by the Victor Records company. Perhaps one reason for this could be that the younger generation had placed their own stamp on the Foxtrot by "toddling".
DANCE RECORDS
Dapper Dan - Fox Trot, The Sheik - Fox Trot. 10 inch, list price 85c.
The Club Royal is an exclusive New York dancing club and this is its orchestra, directed by Clyde Doerr. It has a strikingly new "tone-color," clear and penetrant. "Dapper Dan" serves as a fine letter of introduction. The opening chords are enough to "put the comether" on the most reluctant dance partner. It has a lively, somewhat jouncing rhythm. "Dapper Dan" is by Albert Von Tilzer. "The Sheik" is by Ted Snyder. Sheikul-Islam, the master of a thousand camels, or Boss of the East Side and half a dozen precincts, by the shades of Hasan and Hussein or the memories of the Tweed Ring, this is a good fox trot! It moves with a dignity of a caravan on the desert sky-line. The brasses lead, but the wood-winds have opportunity, in high wailing counter themes or in soft, lingering solo passages. These tunes are superbly danceable.
Birds of a Feather - Fox Trot, Leave Me With a Smile - Foxtrot. 10 inch, list price 85 c.
If the old saying about birds of a feather is true, there will be some dance gatherings when these records are heard. "Birds of a Feather" keeps, in the playing, so close to the words of the song, that you won't blame a "song-plugger" for making his voice heard in the middle of it and giving you free instruction in some of them—especially when that "song-plugger" is no less an artist than Arthur Fields. "Birds of a Feather" is by Jack McGowan and Ed. Moran. "Leave Me With a Smile" is by Charles Koehler and Earl Burtnett. Its title might almost be the injunction of the girl who doesn't want to dance to the partner she "turns down." Or, it might work the other way, too. It is a graceful, rather than a grotesque, fox trot, with easy, fluent melodies and a fine play of counter-melody throughout.
Blossom Time - Medley Waltz, It's You - Fox Trot. 10 inch, list price 85c.
"Blossom Time" is a recent waltz success. Its chief theme is a musical caricature of the loveliest of all melodies—the chief melody of Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. Melodies of Heinrich Berte also have been adapted. The waltz is smooth and easy, and it is played in perfect tempo, with perfect finish. "Blossom Time" is by Sigmund Romberg and introduces "Song of Love," "Only One Love Ever Fills My Heart," and "In Vienna Town." "It's You" is by Con Conrad and is from the Musical extravaganza "Bombo." It will delight most, perhaps, those fox trotters who love a smooth, stately dance, and who have plenty of room to abjure the toddle, that interesting child of the dance-floor multitude. But it may be toddled to, if necessary, for that is one requisite of the good contemporary fox trot. The romantic spirit, as against what is purely grotesque, pervades the record throughout. Stringed instruments are prominent, the cornet and the 'cello being heard here and there with specially fine effect.
Everybody Step - Fox Trot, Blue Danube Blues - Fox Trot. 10 inch, list price 85c.
"Everybody Step" is a wild bird of a record. It is Paul Whiteman "on the jazz." It has a slow, jouncing rhythm, with delirious shrieks from three saxes—shrill, moderate and tuba—played, in turn, by one artist. Other instruments, of course, take part. The piano plods along like a patient husband, disturbed by an occasional "G-r-r-r!" from a cornet. "Everybody Step" is by Irving Berlin, from his "Music Box Revue." "Ka-Lu-A" is by Jerome Kern, from "Good Morning, Dearie," and introduces his "Blue Danube Blues." As its name indicates, it is in Hawaiian style—or tourist-Hawaiian at least. Ferera and Franchini take the Hawaiian guitars. It has some unusual harmonies, the musical palate, which has been expecting mildness, receiving a sharp stimulant—which leaves the palate equally grateful. Near the middle of it the beautiful "Blue Danube" —most beautiful of dance waltzes—is ragged as the "Blue Danube Blues."
Weep No More My Mammy - Fox Trot, April Showers - Fox Trot. 10 inch, list price 85c.
Here are two more records by the organization which a critic declares to have "re-made the American floor dance." "Weep No More, My Mammy," considered in the light of its scoring, is a gorgeous bit of orchestral tapestry. Its chief theme dallies, more or less timorously, with "My Old Kentucky Home," but the dance rhythm is maintained with great orchestral skill. "Weep No More, My Mammy," is by Lew Pollack. "April Showers," from " Bombo, is by Louis Silvers. There is something blandly ingratiating, here and there, in the record—just the "stuff" to wheedle the bad humor out of the girl who hasn't had a dance yet, and who is disposed to take it out on the first partner who asks her. There is some charming give-and-take between muted brass and the saxes, and there are some ingenious dispositions of counter-melody against the chief themes of the dance. These are two desirable Whiteman records.
June Moon - Fox Trot, No One's Fool - Fox Trot. 10 inch, list price 85c.
If you have ever danced in class, do you remember that first thrilling moment when the line steps out from the wall? You realize that for the first time in your life you are dancing—actually dancing! If you have had the good luck to step out to a fox trot like "June Moon," you have been lucky. It has steadiness and dignity—two qualities you will insist on more and more as your skill develops. "June Moon" has beautiful wood-wind effects, the piano occasionally getting in a few melodious bars. It is by Frank Magine and Charley Straight. "No One's Fool" is by Fred Rose. If "June Moon" is for June-bugs, "No One's Fool" is for that equally harmless and friendly gallinipper, the "Toddlebug." It certainly has much of the "post-toddle" in its rhythm. There are freakish bits toward the close, but by that time the rhythm is well established and you will go through them fearlessly, as the family flivver goes through a soft spot in the road.
INSTRUMENTAL RECORD
Anchors Away - March, Yorktown Centennial - March. 10 inch, list price 85c.
Here are two records—"lest we forget." Lest we forget, among the singing and the dancing, the sterner things music may imply for us. Here are two military marches that call for no special comment—beyond a simple statement of excellence. They are played in the style that has made the United States Marine Band and its director famous wherever bands go and wherever band music is known. "Anchors Aweigh" is a brisk and stirring march that calls for no trade-mark to make known its intrinsic Americanism. It has splendid brass effects, the wood-winds whistling and skirling high above. It is by Charles A. Zimmermann. John Philip Sousa himself is the composer of "Yorktown Centennial March." All you have to do is listen to the first half-dozen bars. It has an interesting bugle-like interlude-theme that prepares the way for a smashing climax. These are indeed fine marches, and the pulses will quicken to hear them.
Source: Victor Records Catalogue, January 1922.
DANCE RESOURCES
This DVD contains over 3 hours of dance instruction on the different forms of the Charleston.
Lindy Hop Volume 2 DVD - Teach Yourself "The Charleston" 1920s Style, plus Modern Style