ECONOMIC BOOST
June 15, 2018
LIBRARY: LEARNING AT THE LIBRARY
June 15, 2018
In the 1920’s and 1980 ‘a, home entertainment was a hand-cranked phonograph Records ware ten-inch blade wax discs with a hole and label in the middle, had songs an hath sides and spun at 78 revolutions per minute. (RPMs). It was fragile, broke easily, cost 75 cents and bargain labels with lesser artists cost as cents.
From 1927 to 1933, the major recording artists in Cajun country, the nation and the world were Al Jolson. Bing Crosby, Ruth Ettings, (partrayed by Doris Day in the movie “Love Me or Leave Me”), Helen Kane, (the boo boo pedoop girl). Helen Morgan (portrayed by Ann Blyte in the movie “The Helen Morgan Story), and a tubercular former railroad brakeman named Jimmie Rodger 9, portrayed by him self in the movie “The Singing Brake-man”.
Jimmie Rodgers? Who DaT? … Just the most popular recording artist of that time. especially with the Cajuns. After recording “just” 105 songs in S years he died of tuberculosis in New York during a recording session on May 26.1933, He was 35 years did.
Tuberculosis is still around, curable today, but in the early 20th century it was a nonreversible death sentence. Physically disabled, Jimmie quit railroading and was trying to make a living for his family by singing in tent shows and vaudeville.
On August 4 1927, be auditioned for Victor (later RCA) records in Bristol, Tennessee
Agent Ralph Peer seeking rural talent to make phonograph records, signed and recorded both the Carter Family and Jimmie on the same day and struck gold
Jimmie Rodgers became the most popular recording artist especially with the Cajuns from 1927 through 1933. but was mostly completely forgotten by 1989. Why? Maybe because his signature Blues and Yodeling went out of style. But Jolson, Crosby. Ettings and Morgan were never completely forgot fen. they were his peers but his records outsold theirs.
Maybe it was a period wanted to forget
He went on to sell over 15 million records and hundreds of imitators copied his guitar licks, his voice, his yodels, and even his chatter, like “hey hey* “pick it boys” or “sing them blues, boy”
Every Cajun home had a hand-cranked phonograph and a nip to the grocery store was not considered fruitful if it did not include the latest Jimmie Rodgers record released four times a year.
How do I know all this? In 1945. still in high school, I first discovered his records, became a fan and started a pilgrimage to almost every barn, attic, storeroom and trunk in South Lafourche and bought begged, borrowed or stole, (borrowed without returning), over 500 of his records, dusty, molded but always carefully stacked
I did not find one place with records of that period where Jimmie Rodger a did not have more records than all the others combined. By 1964I had accumulated 75 of his 105 recorded songs, numerous duplicates and, with other artists of that era. I owned over 3,000 78 RPM records UNTIL…
In 1964, Hurricane Hilda flooded Tia and fused my stacks of records into solid round blocks of wax. Heartbreaking!
Knee deep in water I cried and added tears to the flood. I was devastated until I found out a tornado in Larose had killed 22 people, some good Mends of mine, And my loss became irrelevant
In 1950. without much expectation nor fanfare, and mostly to appease Hank Snow and Ernest Tubb. RCA quietly issued a Jimmie Rodgers vinyl LP entitled “The Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Album” and an amazing thing happened.
Next week: Jimmie Rodgers makes a port-mortem come back and bow a singer who died when I was only three years old affected my life Oh!
BYE NOW] *
