Arthur Collins & Ragged Beauty

Arthur Collins

Circa 1910

Source: Journal of Life

So what is ragtime music? Well, one can drop a name like Arthur Collins who practically personifies the genre. Good examples are 'You're Talking Ragtime' (1900), 'I'm Certainly Living a Rag-Time Life' (1900/01) and 'Any Rags?' (1903). Collins' was also among the bigger names in "coon" songs such as 'The Patriotic Coon' (1898), 'A Coon Band Contest' (1900), 'Ma Rainbow Coon' (1900) and 'Coon Coon Coon' (1901). If one can say that beauty is perfection with a blemish, then one can say that black folk were the uncredited underlying beauty of ragtime, preceded in bruise reception by blackface minstrelsy. The coon song and similar came in a spectrum from affectionate to ignorant of the racist sort. Though radio wasn't around at the time, coon songs found plenty air in the zeitgeist of the period and were marketed as such, creating a genre on which Collins capitalized. Ragging black folk was a major theme in ragtime and it sold not a little, but a lot, of records as the 19th century rolled into the 20th.

As for the mastering kind, they were probably poking elephants in the ribs too much at circuses as well. Between ragging or poking, somebody could get weary. Elephants had been putting on shows since the early nineteenth century. Barnum merged with Bailey considerably later in 1881. The Ringling Brothers were founded in 1884 when Collins was twenty years of age. But the closest Collins ever came to working with a circus was real life dotted with 'Hannibal Hope and the Circus Parade' in 1908 for Victor, 'Oh! You Circus Day' in 1909 for U.S. Everlasting and 1912 for Victor, and some coon songs proving a happy day on someone else's back for a canvas.

Born in Philadelphia on 7 February of 1864, Arthur Collins got moved to Barnegat, New Jersey, as a teenager. Acquiring some attention as a baritone at churches and concerts, he was returned to Philadelphia to study voice about 1880. After about fifteen unsuccessful years with touring companies while attempting to penetrate opera, he married one Anna Leah Connelly in 1895 and became a bookkeeper.

Collins' "big break" arrived upon auditioning for Edison Records in 1898. MusikTitelDB lists sessions for Edison as early as 15 Jan of 1898 on tracks such as 'Hesitate, Mr. Nigger, Hesitate' (Edison 5408) and 'Honey, Does Yer Love Yer Man' (Edison 5409). Titles gone down on 16 May were issued on lower label numbers indicating earlier release (likely 1898) such as 'Long Live America!' (Edison 5400) and 'A Red Hot Coon' (Edison 5401). 'Hello! Ma Baby' of early 1899 was a coon song insofar as it was originally written in point of the absurdity of black folk using telephones, despite that only 10% of the population had a phone at that time, that having grown from the first telephone directory published in 1878. 'Hello! Ma Baby' is thought to have been the first song to mention the telephone. Not only was it rated #1 in Pop Memories upon issue in 1901, but it may well have been the #1 best-seller of the year [Sullivan].

'Hello! Ma Baby'   Coon song by Arthur Collins

Recorded Jan-March 1899   Issued April on Edison 5470   #1 1901

Music: Joseph E. Howard   Lyrics: Ida Emersont

'My Josephine'   Coon song by Arthur Collins

Recorded 25 Nov 1899 in NYC  Issued on Berliner 0774

Music: John Stromberg   Lyrics: Edgar Smith

Collins also personifies pop music in the United States in its infancy, having been among the most successful of early recording artists. Beginning its list in 1900, Music VF has Collins topping the charts at #1 in Feb that year w 'Mandy Lee'. Releasing 35 more titles into the Top Ten to as late as 'It's Nobody's Business but My Own' at #9 in Sep of 1919, followed by 'The Argentines, the Portuguese, and the Greeks' at #15 in 11/1920. Collins placed five more titles on top of the charts: 'Ma Tiger Lily' (coon song 8/'00), 'Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home' (7/'02), 'Under the Bamboo Tree' (12/02), 'Good-Bye, Eliza Jane' (10/'03) and 'Any Rags?' (12/'03).

'Mandy Lee'   Arthur Collins

Edison 7404   #1 Feb 1900

Composition: Thurland Chattaway

'Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?'   Arthur Collins

Columbia 872   #1 July 1902

Composition: Hughie Cannon

'The Preacher and the Bear'   Coon song by Arthur Collins

Edison 9000   #1 Aug 1905

Composition: Joe Arisonia

'Moving Day'   Arthur Collins

Recorded 25 Jan 1906 in Philadelphia   Victor 4623 / 16110

Music: Harry Von Tilzer   Lyrics: Andrew B. Sterling

'Everybody Have a Good Old Time'   Arthur Collins

Edison Gold Moulded 9406   Issued Nov 1906 [Music Brainz]

In 1901 Collins had formed a duo with tenor, Joe Natus, with whom he recorded for Edison and Victor. Born in 1860, Natus was a minstrel singer who would die in 1917, minor in popular music compared to Collins:

'I've a Longing In My Heart For You, Louise'   Joe Natus

Edison 7871 probably recorded 1901 [MusiktitelDB]

Composition: Chas K. Harris

But what would ragtime be without the barbershop quartet? Natus and Collins also sang in a brief-existing group for Edison Records called the Big Four Quartet in 1901. Also consisting of Byron Harlan and A. D. Madiera, they issued 'Good-Bye Dolly Gray' (Edison 7728), 'My Charcoal Charmer' (Edison 7765), 'There's Where My Heart Is To-night' (Edison 7766) and 'Old Sailor's Return' (Edison 7767). Collins and Harlan then collaborated for nearly another twenty years. The Collins and Harlan partnership issued nearly ninety Top Ten titles from 'The Wedding of Reuben and the Maid' at #2 in 8/1902 to 'When Uncle Joe Steps into France' at #9 in 11/1918. Eight of those were chart-topping songs at #1:

   Down Where the Wurzburger Flows
      12/1902
   Hurrah for Baffin's Bay
      9/1903
   Camp Meetin' Time
      12/1906
   The Right Church But the Wrong Pew
      2/1909
   Under the Yum Yum Tree
      2/1911
   Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey
      3/1911
   Alexander's Ragtime Band
      9/1911
   When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam'
      2/1913

'Put Your Arms Around Me Honey'   Arthur Collins w Byron Harlan

Recorded 16 Nov 1910 in Camden NJ   Victor 16708 / 16942   #1 March 1911

Music: Harry Von Tilzer   Lyrics: Junie McCree

'Alexander's Ragtime Band'   Arthur Collins w Byron Harlan

Recorded 23 May 1911 in Camden NJ   Victor 16908   #1 Sep 1911

Composition: Irving Berlin

It had been 1903 when Collins performed w the Columbia Quartet or variation thereat. What recordings he might have made w the Columbia, if any, aren't discovered. But it bears mentioning since the Columbia, also recording as the Climax Quartet per Columbia's foray into the flat disc industry in 1901, would become the Peerless Quartet. The Columbia, which sometimes gets grouped w the Peerless Quartet due to data murk and common members, was the force behind the quintessential barbershop quartet song called 'Sweet Adeline' in 1904 (Columbia cylinder 32584). The crew on that was possibly Henry Burr, Albert Campbell, Steve Porter and Tom Daniels.

Gracyk [refs below] has Collins replacing Steve Porter in the Peerless Quartet in 1909 to sing alongside original members, Henry Burr, Albert Campbell and Frank C. Stanley, albeit DAHR has him in an unconfirmed session with the Peerless as early as 26 May of 1908 for 'Old Black Joe'. Both 'Cosmopolitan' [Volume 45] and 'McClure's Magazine' [Volume 31] have that on market as of Sep 28 of 1908 on Victor 5562. Internet Archive has 'Old Black Joe' reissued in Dec of 1909 on Victor 16531-B w 'Tramp, Tramp, Tramp' flip side. Leading the Peerless was Frank Stanley until his death in 1910 when Burr assumed the reins.

Collins would be a permanent member of the Peerless Quartet until its dismantling in 1925, at which time Henry Burr formed a new group until 1928. It was 1926 when F. Scott Fitzgerald published 'The Great Gatsby' about wealthy folk hanging around. That had been much inspired by a social set of Chicago debutantes which in 1914 had had four rings made with the engraving, 'The Big Four 1914'. The super rich have been a topic of interest since the invention of money and, as ever, Fitzgerald discovered that to be an exclusive club, albeit the only reason the Big Four are remembered today is its relationship to Fitzgerald. What the super rich do these days to fill gossip columns at Twitter I don't know, but the Big Four played golf and tennis as the Roaring Twenties began its noise. Though no one in the Peerless Quartet hurt for money with thousands of records sold every month, its likely that none met the status required to rank in the top tiers of the country club set, as they yet had to work making records for their money rather than simply having it by birth. Which to comment isn't to slight, there neither fault nor virtue in popping from the oven either rich or poor. It takes all kinds to make a difference. Thanks to me everybody feels good looking rich in comparison. As for coon songs, whatever their manner or intent by various, one can say that they were inclusive.

The Peerless were peerless, then, only as a barbershop quartet, and that much is true if not absolutely, for as a super group preferring popularity to exclusivity, the Peerless consistently charted in the Top Ten on above ninety releases. (Music VF charts the Columbia Quartet as the Peerless, although the Peerless don't actually commence until Zonophone in 1907 led by Frank Stanley). 'Bulldog' issued on Edison Standard 10378 in 1910 may have been a college song, as many ragtime tunes were, but "They let anyone into university these days" might have been heard from girls who lived in atmospheres like the Big Four. Collins was w the Peerless through four of their titles topping the charts at #1 from 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart' (Nov '11) and 'The Lights of My Home Town' (March '16) to 'Over There' (Oct '17) and 'I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm on My Way' (Jan '18).

'‎Darktown Campmeetin' Experiences'   The Peerless Quartet as the Victor Vaudeville Company

‎Personnel: Arthur Collins / Albert Campbell / Henry Burr / John H. Meyer

Recorded 23 Nov 1916 in Camden NJ   Victor 35609

Composition: Collins / Campbell

As there was seemingly some grief between Collins and Burr, the latter ramrodding the Peerless as an original member, Collins was replaced by Frank Croxton in 1918. He continued with a solo career until poor health found him retiring w his wife in Florida in 1926. He there died in Tice on 3 August 1933.