The cylinder version of this classic bit of minstrel-show hucksterism is currently on-line at the UCSB Special Collection,
but this is the later disc version that Edison Labs recorded with the same cast. This is take "B" which was recorded on June 21 of 1915, a good seven years after the cylinder was put on wax, and is nearly a minute longer than the cylinder (probably to showcase the extra playing time
as a sales point). This sketch, as reprehensible as it may be to modern tastes, is nonetheless an acurate barometer of public taste at that time and should be heard with that salient fact in mind. The most popular recording duo of the day, Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan, play
roles in this sketch as do several other guys who were hanging around Edison's studio including Edward Meeker and Billy Murray (who is listed as the tenor). The disc itself was roughly treated and needed to be played with a special needle to be audible. There was some disc rumble
too, with the first minute being the worst, but it smooths out after that. Noise reduction helped to bring out the best in the resulting sample.
