LIBERTY MUSIC SHOP
These 1936 recordings were the first of
two sessions for the New York based Liberty Music Shop, a popular
label whose artist roster included the most famous risqué
nightclub artists of the day: Dwight Fiske, Nan Blakstone (whose
appearance Bourbon accurately described as "Ned Sparks in
drag"), Bruz Fletcher, Frances Maddux, James Copp, and Beatrice
Lillie, to name a few.
Right: a 1941 Liberty Music Shop flyer
advertising Ray Bourbon's records, along with some of his naughty
contemporaries; click for a larger
view.
The first disc, although the same songs
as recorded for Western Record Co./Bourbana, are definitely not
redubs from that label, but entirely different recordings. The
same is true of "Her First Lesson", a reworking of "Her
First Simmin' Lesson", but see note.
Gigolo
(Liberty Music Shop L-208) [mx. 75222A]
- Chiropractor's Wife(Liberty Music Shop
L-208) [mx. 75223A]
- -recorded Decca Studios, New York
City, 1936; piano accompaniment by Bart Howard.
Trombone Trixie (Liberty Music Shop L-209) [mx. 75220B]
- Her First Lesson (Liberty Music Shop
L-209) [mx. 75221A]
- recorded Decca Studios, New
York City, 1936; piano accompaniment by Bart Howard. Note the
similar subject matter of "Trombone Trixie" to "My
Harmony Man"
-
- The second set of LMS recordings was
done in 1940. Bourbon's accompanist Jack (later Jackson) Burke
was in Bourbon's Hollywood revue "Insults of 1944";
later that year Burke and Bourbon both had roles in Mae West's
New York production of "Catherine Was Great". It is
quite probable that these discs were released as a set; one dealer
in vintage records insists that they were also later released
as a 10" LP, but an actual copy has not yet surfaced.
Bashful
Cowboy (Liberty Music Shop L-318) [mx. 3439]
- Millie (Liberty Music Shop L-318) [mx.
3440]
- -with Jack Burke at the piano; Reeves
Sound Studios, New York City, 1940
Bedtime Story Part 1 (Liberty Music Shop L-319) [mx. 3442]
- Bedtime Story Part 2 (Liberty Music Shop
L-319) [mx. 3443]
- -with Jack Burke at the piano; Reeves
Sound Studios, New York City, 1940
- Spanish Opera (Liberty Music Shop L-320)
[mx. 3444]
- Oriental Opera (Liberty Music Shop L-320)
[mx. 3445-1]
- -with Jack Burke at the piano; Reeves
Sound Studios, New York City, 1940