This one's by request: a stand-up comic routine from before the First World War. Fred Duprez was a Vaudeville comedian who recorded briefly for both Columbia and Edison. This particular routine was recorded on Columbia disc on January 24, 1914, and (due to the good fortune of
being put on the flip side of Joe Hayman's hit monolog "Cohen At The Telephone") got a lot of exposure. His humor had a cynical edge which was unusual for that time and place. His last appearance was in an RKO movie called "Hey Hey USA" featuring him with
Edgar Kennedy and Will Hay in 1935. This particular copy was clean to start with, and with light noise reduction is a pleasure to listen to. (Duprez also recorded this routine for Edison, making it about a minute longer, and that sample is on-line at the
Library of Congress web site.)
