Fantastic short! There is much more historical importance to this song and why it is played by Abe Lyman, for posterity! The VARSITY DRAG came from a Broadway musical about college life, called GOOD NEWS. Abe Lyman's band was actually in this show and played it !! That's why he recorded it on Brunswick records. The 1927 show (with it's score by DeSylva Brown and Henderson) was such a hit, it played for a year and a half on Broadway! Maybe they filmed this in 1928 after the show ended. Or if it was early 1928, it would have been filmed during the show run! So, the VARSITY DRAG made Abe Lyman famous, and became one of the best songs of the decade, recorded by many singers into the 1950s! Gotta mention George Olsen's band also, as his band also played for a long time as the pit orchestra in the show, was the first band to perform in GOOD NEWS, and actually premiered it on Broadway! This is why George Olsen got to record the VARSITY DRAG on the VICTOR record label. It made Olsen famous too! They say Olsen's musicians came running down the theatre aisles yelling college cheers as they assembled in the pit orchestra section in front of the stage. Some fun!
WOW! Excellent information, filling-in some needful gaps. Thanks very much for taking the time to share of it. So . . . now THE PROJECT is to find the film. And, bye-the-way, Abe and the boys recorded two or three selections on Brunswicks, from that first Science Fiction Musical, -- "JUST IMAGINE !!!" This is a highly creative Deco masterpiece of the typically 20's-nonsencial kind and was very futuristic. I think it can still be found here on Y-T somewhere. Now it is possible that C.B. de Mille's "Madam Satan" preceded IMAGINE, but, that was way-less Sci-Fi of an antique sort, and more Horror-Musical-Comedic.
Holy smokes, that was great! I never knew Abe Lyman was a drummer! This is one of the best videos I've ever seen to show the state of drum-set drumming in the 20s! Usually they're way in the back, and you can't see anything! Very, very cool, thank you!
From an early Vitaphone short. Lynan did the original theme music, "Get Happy", for Warner's Merrie Melodies cartoon series. He was billed on the second title card as " Abe Lyman's Brunswick Recording Orchestra" Based on aural evidence, he was only used on about 2 cartoons before Warner's began using (probably) their house band.
This sassy, carefree music lifts my spirits up sky-high! I'm positive that if the chronically losing football teams of my high school and colleges could have enjoyed music like this at half times, they would have won a lot more games!
Awesome clip. Absolutely amazing! Great to see Horace "Zip" Keyes in action on reeds. This is a gem of a film. Abe says "Our next selection" makes me wonder if there's more from this amazing film.
"Rock and roll" existed as a phrase, but not yet as a genre of music. Similarly, "swing" was a verb, then an adjective, and became a noun in the 1930s.
A wonderful early sound film which captures a bit of the jazzy music when Bix, Duke, Jelly and Louis were coming into their own -. Interesting to see the battuto bow technique often used by bassists of the time, but discarded in the early 1930s. The precision phrasing and blend of both the brass and reed sections was "de rigueur" - and a matter of pride among the arrangers. Too bad there is no improvising - but we do get a good look at the drumming technique of the 20s. Imagine the $$ and talent it took to make this short film. Thank you all -
Lyman was an authentic original. Over a fair period he held-forth at the Coconut Grove in L.A. at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd., and became quite popular with the Hollywood crowd. Also, there were made quite a few transcription discs containing nice sets of his group, these as if announced broadcasts. His very first shellac was waxed in nearby Santa Monica by Nordscog, I believe it was. At this link following might be found a really nice piece about Abe and his career beginning with his quite humble origins, as done from an early Los Angeles history type perspective: homesteadmuseum.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/striking-a-chord-with-a-phonograph-record-by-abe-lymans-california-orchestra-11-may-1925/ As happens so often with the good, Abe had only 59 action-packed years on this earth, leaving us in 1957 however, he does live-on most heartily in his and his group's many recordings and film shorts. (And, BLESS those ever-creative Warner Bros. for preserving so much of inestimable value, by means of their pioneering Vitaphone Process!) . : .
Great band . It’s interesting to note that drummers in the 1920’s didn’t have the hi hat since it wasn’t invented yet. They did by this time have a early version of the hi hat called a Low Boy or a Snow Shoe. The low boy looked like a little hi hat and was only about 12 inches high. Not everyone used them. That drum set is beautiful, all drummers had the standard 28” bass drum a snare a cymbal and maybe a Chinese tom or two plus wood block and cow bells. This looks like a Leedy drum set. No computers or overdubbing with this music. It’s all live.
@@michaelmills7198 I’ve heard that too. It seems most vintage drum set historians aren’t sure but have mentioned Vic’s name. If you look in old drum catalog’s from the 1920’s and 30’s you start seeing ads for the Lowboy and Snowshoe and then the hi hat as we know it. I think the swing drummer Papa Jo Jones use to say he invented the hihat but that hasn’t been proven. It’s interesting that DW now sells a Lowboy for Cajon players to use. I have a Lowboy from the 1920’s with the 10” hihat cymbals that works great.
that has to be one of the earliest uses of the traps in a jazz band on record. a lot of the old stuff just used a snare, cymbal and optional kick drum.
This version is the liveliest and wildest ever !!!! I LOVE IT !!! It blows all others right out of the water !!!! Was it really recorded 1927 ? I have a feeling it was 1928.
Must be one of the very earliest music-films ever! I didn´t know that sound film was in existence as early as 1927! I have always thought that the first year of the sound-film was 1929
these short subjects were the testing ground before sound was added to feature films.. they started making these as early as 1926 but testing had been going on long before that. The main problem was getting sound to project out and fill a theater ..
Lee de Forest was making "Phonofilms" as early as 1925. Vitaphone started soon after that. Musical short films were the most popular format in the early years of sound films, both to test and demonstrate the new technology.
Susan R Jecker I watched it in my hometown at our movie theater in Sarasota. It was definitely 1927. I remember the day because I forgot to switch off the oven and my thanksgiving turkey burned. :)
The filming people ordered that this be applied. Something having to do with how the film-stock of that time reacted variously to changes of light intensity. Later on it was improved.
Lyman was really big with turning out terrific Brunswick sides. In all maybe nearing a hundred? Also, there are the Coconut Grove sort-of broadcast discs available on-line as CD's. I have a bunch and they are SWELL! (Actually, to put it correctly, like Abe himself they are "the bees' knees.") . : .
@@TuanBasikal Actually on the Goldkette recordings Brown does more bowing than plucking. He plucked in his own idiosyncratic way, utilizing the bass as a kind of drum. Most other New Orleans bass players usually plucked four to the bar.
Abe was a Jewish boy who did really well for himself and his fans alright. He and his boys made tons of records, beginning in Santa Monica CA (Nordscog) plus, was a long-term headliner at the L.A. Coconut Grove. All of those broadcasts were recorded and, are available on CDs. (Also there and that same, were early Phil Harris pre- the Alice Faye days. He held-forth at the Grove for quite a while.)
David, the Vitaphone Process™ was recording sound-to-disk simultaneously with the filming. It 's true! Those bad-boy Warner Bros. we can thank for all the great stuff they left to us.
Good Lord, this was about 100 years ago, and I have to say, Abe's band rocked!
Good Jazz doesn't rock, it SWINGS !
@Linda Fitak wow your really a purist. I appreciate what your saying.
It is absolutely fantastic !
☺🤗🤗Heavons above 100 years ago what an Astonishing recording and I'm 63 years old my mother was born in 1922 in london
Ya haven't seen March winds and showers tho Holy perfection
Pure gold my gouy
Fantastic short! There is much more historical importance to this song and why it is played by Abe Lyman, for posterity! The VARSITY DRAG came from a Broadway musical about college life, called GOOD NEWS. Abe Lyman's band was actually in this show and played it !! That's why he recorded it on Brunswick records. The 1927 show (with it's score by DeSylva Brown and Henderson) was such a hit, it played for a year and a half on Broadway! Maybe they filmed this in 1928 after the show ended. Or if it was early 1928, it would have been filmed during the show run! So, the VARSITY DRAG made Abe Lyman famous, and became one of the best songs of the decade, recorded by many singers into the 1950s! Gotta mention George Olsen's band also, as his band also played for a long time as the pit orchestra in the show, was the first band to perform in GOOD NEWS, and actually premiered it on Broadway! This is why George Olsen got to record the VARSITY DRAG on the VICTOR record label. It made Olsen famous too!
They say Olsen's musicians came running down the theatre aisles yelling college cheers as they assembled in the pit orchestra section in front of the stage. Some fun!
WOW! Excellent information, filling-in some needful gaps. Thanks very much for taking the time to share of it.
So . . . now THE PROJECT is to find the film.
And, bye-the-way, Abe and the boys recorded two or three selections on Brunswicks, from that first Science Fiction Musical, -- "JUST IMAGINE !!!"
This is a highly creative Deco masterpiece of the typically 20's-nonsencial kind and was very futuristic. I think it can still be found here on Y-T somewhere.
Now it is possible that C.B. de Mille's "Madam Satan" preceded IMAGINE, but, that was way-less Sci-Fi of an antique sort, and more Horror-Musical-Comedic.
You’re listening to very talented and experienced musicians performing at their best. They make it look so easy!
Such amazing quality and synchronized sound with video for 1927!
For this, we can thank those rascally Warner Bros.!!
The 1920s had good music and bad liquor.
Now we have good liquor and bad music.
Very well-said and, unfortunately that's the truth
ua-cam.com/video/fF3HS0e6i90/v-deo.html this isnt bad!
Interesting selection there Andrei, I actually like that tune. Anyways much agreed on that.
Ha ha! Very clever comparison, and so true! Thanks for that bit of brilliant wit. 😊
I say who needs any liquor with intoxicating rhymes and rhythms like this while sipping a coke or coffee!
Holy smokes, that was great! I never knew Abe Lyman was a drummer! This is one of the best videos I've ever seen to show the state of drum-set drumming in the 20s! Usually they're way in the back, and you can't see anything! Very, very cool, thank you!
Well T-T-M, all here were just born too late! Dang!
Excellent instrumental version of a great twenties standard!
what great music carnt stop my feet tapping best music ever
this was when there was great music i have too keep watching all the time love my feet going crazy
My kind of music
Encore maestro.
From an early Vitaphone short.
Lynan did the original theme music, "Get Happy", for Warner's Merrie Melodies cartoon series.
He was billed on the second title card as " Abe Lyman's Brunswick Recording Orchestra"
Based on aural evidence, he was only used on about 2 cartoons before Warner's began using (probably) their house band.
The cartoons in question are "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile" and "One More Time."
I love this! It has always been my favorite music since I was a little kid and the music I specialize in my piano playing.
The style in dress compared to today's groups is incredible
Amazing music just can't sit still with this best - he was one of the early drumstick twirlers too
This sassy, carefree music lifts my spirits up sky-high! I'm positive that if the chronically losing football teams of my high school and colleges could have enjoyed music like this at half times, they would have won a lot more games!
one of the best versions I have heard! My other equally favorite is by Sam Lanin, with lyrics!
thanks for the great post!!!!
Enjoyed your video, thanks very much.
That's some fancy drumming by Abe.
Abe was quite good, I think.
And those sticks!
Best version -- dwarfs all other attempts.
Awesome clip. Absolutely amazing! Great to see Horace "Zip" Keyes in action on reeds. This is a gem of a film. Abe says "Our next selection" makes me wonder if there's more from this amazing film.
ua-cam.com/video/78d-3ciYNq8/v-deo.html here
YES! There was another selection. Not sure if it can be found here.
Those were the days. Join a band, get all dressed up and rip it in some swanky nightclub, even if the drummer's a show off.
It i s Abe Lyman's band and he is the drummer. Hence he can show off!
Yeah! Abe had LOTS to show-off, and did.
The drummer’s great. If you’ve got it flaunt it.
That was pretty much the kind of music one was listening to at that time way before the words rock and roll came along.
"Rock and roll" existed as a phrase, but not yet as a genre of music. Similarly, "swing" was a verb, then an adjective, and became a noun in the 1930s.
my feet are still going crazy what great great music 2021
Up on the heels down on the toes that's how you do the Varsity Drag!
Oh fabulous! I wonder if he's be pleased to know he could still bring such a wide smile to people's faces all these years later!
¡¡¡Bravo...!!!
¡¡¡Hermoso...!!!
👍👍👌👌👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Best song to come out of the era.
Simply wonderful!!
A wonderful early sound film which captures a bit of the jazzy music when Bix, Duke, Jelly and Louis were coming into their own -. Interesting to see the battuto bow technique often used by bassists of the time, but discarded in the early 1930s. The precision phrasing and blend of both the brass and reed sections was "de rigueur" - and a matter of pride among the arrangers. Too bad there is no improvising - but we do get a good look at the drumming technique of the 20s. Imagine the $$ and talent it took to make this short film. Thank you all -
Some nice useful observations there, Andrew. Thanks!
. : .
Amusing, that the very talented band had to sit behind the leader on the drums...
Amusing?
It was his outfit; he paid for it and made sure his boys had jobs. Why "amusing" to you?
The Jazz Singer came out in 1927 so it makes sense that this talkie was made in 1928. I love it!
Lyman was an authentic original. Over a fair period he held-forth at the Coconut Grove in L.A. at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd., and became quite popular with the Hollywood crowd. Also, there were made quite a few transcription discs containing nice sets of his group, these as if announced broadcasts. His very first shellac was waxed in nearby Santa Monica by Nordscog, I believe it was.
At this link following might be found a really nice piece about Abe and his career beginning with his quite humble origins, as done from an early Los Angeles history type perspective:
homesteadmuseum.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/striking-a-chord-with-a-phonograph-record-by-abe-lymans-california-orchestra-11-may-1925/
As happens so often with the good, Abe had only 59 action-packed years on this earth, leaving us in 1957 however, he does live-on most heartily in his and his group's many recordings and film shorts.
(And, BLESS those ever-creative Warner Bros. for preserving so much of inestimable value, by means of their pioneering Vitaphone Process!)
. : .
I remember Vivian Vance singing this song on 'I Love Lucy' once.
Wow, motion picture footage with sound from 1927. This is nice!
Great band . It’s interesting to note that drummers in the 1920’s didn’t have the hi hat since it wasn’t invented yet. They did by this time have a early version of the hi hat called a Low Boy or a Snow Shoe. The low boy looked like a little hi hat and was only about 12 inches high. Not everyone used them. That drum set is beautiful, all drummers had the standard 28” bass drum a snare a cymbal and maybe a Chinese tom or two plus wood block and cow bells. This looks like a Leedy drum set. No computers or overdubbing with this music. It’s all live.
I have read that the high hat was invented by drummer Vic Berton.
@@michaelmills7198 I’ve heard that too. It seems most vintage drum set historians aren’t sure but have mentioned Vic’s name. If you look in old drum catalog’s from the 1920’s and 30’s you start seeing ads for the Lowboy and Snowshoe and then the hi hat as we know it. I think the swing drummer Papa Jo Jones use to say he invented the hihat but that hasn’t been proven. It’s interesting that DW now sells a Lowboy for Cajon players to use. I have a Lowboy from the 1920’s with the 10” hihat cymbals that works great.
I was really fed up tonight and saw tis again, cheerd me up, thanks
The guy to the left of the drummer (our left) looks like he’s holding the forte-piano of the guitar family .. DAMN is this old ..
This is great !! Band members sure dressed a lot different than they do today 😂🤠
You can actually hear the violins !
I was thinking the same thing.
Bello, lindo, hermoso!!!
that has to be one of the earliest uses of the traps in a jazz band on record. a lot of the old stuff just used a snare, cymbal and optional kick drum.
HOT STUFF!
Super excellent with very good interesting video
He’s been playing the drums since he was 14
Splendid! Thanks.
My children's Great Uncle Abe...also,Mike Lyman, who
was a singer with one of his brothers....
This version is the liveliest and wildest ever !!!! I LOVE IT !!! It blows all others right out of the water !!!! Was it really recorded 1927 ? I have a feeling it was 1928.
It could have been 1928.
Absolutely fantastic. That band was as tight as the skins on Abe's drum kit ....and what a fantastic time keeper he was.
bloody hell !!! made my night brilliant, love it ..
made my night again, brill, thanks Abe and RIP
The bee's knees and the cat's pajamas.
EXACTLY SO !!
Splendid happy interpretation!!!thank you!!
This makes me smile Some like it hot yeh Tony Curtis jack lemon Marilyn munroe. What a fab tune.over a hundreds years ago truly remarkable recording
The audio here exceeds what we hear on his Brunswick records of the time.
Una maravilla...!
Una exquisitez...!🌷
WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From a mad keen 76yo Aussie fan.
George Olson wrote and sang this rune - his band was beyond tight
Brilliant! The Twenties Roared
Very well synchronised recording between film and disc....wow what a peppy number for the time. 👍👍👍🤗🤗🤗
My new favorite tune!
Superb!!!
Jack Benny: "Lyman directs his boys with a rawhide whip!"
One, possibly two of the trombones have in-line tuning slides, which were popular in the 1920s. Heavy, but more in tune.
ぼざろから
同志や
ぼざろの動画消えてる？
Superb!
Maravillosa música
They still rocking!
Great song.. Band has plenty of pep.. Roaring 20s
great sound
This is really nice like it a lot
Rocked it!
¡¡¡Bravo!!!
¡Excelente!
¡Genial
👍👍👍👍👍👍👌👌👌👌👌👌👏👏👏👏👏👏🌹
A great rendition.Swell!
Must be one of the very earliest music-films ever! I didn´t know that sound film was in existence as early as 1927! I have always thought that the first year of the sound-film was 1929
these short subjects were the testing ground before sound was added to feature films.. they started making these as early as 1926 but testing had been going on long before that. The main problem was getting sound to project out and fill a theater ..
Lee de Forest was making "Phonofilms" as early as 1925. Vitaphone started soon after that. Musical short films were the most popular format in the early years of sound films, both to test and demonstrate the new technology.
As my band director would have said, "Saxophones, what is your problem!"
Susan R Jecker I watched it in my hometown at our movie theater in Sarasota. It was definitely 1927. I remember the day because I forgot to switch off the oven and my thanksgiving turkey burned. :)
Fabulosa Orchestra.
These boys seemed to have enjoyed themselves.
Strains from "The Era of Wonderful Nonsense!"
What virtuosity!
NICE!
Lyman was great - and he was nuts!
THE SOUNDS OF THE ORCHESTRA MID -WESTERN NEVER GONNA EQUALED ....
Rock & Roll baby
Can you imagine this live?
Gotta love the eye shadow
The filming people ordered that this be applied. Something having to do with how the film-stock of that time reacted variously to changes of light intensity. Later on it was improved.
Ricko s Don't forget the lipstick!
Lyman was really big with turning out terrific Brunswick sides. In all maybe nearing a hundred? Also, there are the Coconut Grove sort-of broadcast discs available on-line as CD's. I have a bunch and they are SWELL! (Actually, to put it correctly, like Abe himself they are "the bees' knees.")
. : .
I like it. I like it very much
Amazing. Think I was born in wrong time frame.
Me too.
That drummer is definitely the Tommy Lee of his day.
Tremendous. Was able the drummer ? Back when banjos held the rhythm. This is kick ass. Swing me
Did anybody else notice that the bass player was playing arco (with the bow) through the whole piece?
That was very typical of jazz bands before 1930.
@@kafenwar The plucked and slapped string bass style was popularized by Steve Brown and widely imitated, but even he bowed it on occasion.
@@TuanBasikal Actually on the Goldkette recordings Brown does more bowing than plucking. He plucked in his own idiosyncratic way, utilizing the bass as a kind of drum. Most other New Orleans bass players usually plucked four to the bar.
Amen to that. They were hot!
...And That's all Folks!!!
Great sound recording for such an early "talkie"
Música do programa Jô Soares onze e meia
Is there more to the original film?
I’m just curious because in the beginning Abe Says “Our next selection”
YES! There was another selection. Not sure if it can be found here.
Lyman was an odd fellow - but what a great band!
Abe was a Jewish boy who did really well for himself and his fans alright. He and his boys made tons of records, beginning in Santa Monica CA (Nordscog) plus, was a long-term headliner at the L.A. Coconut Grove. All of those broadcasts were recorded and, are available on CDs.
(Also there and that same, were early Phil Harris pre- the Alice Faye days. He held-forth at the Grove for quite a while.)
Sounds like the Baer necessities song
Just wondering where and why this was filmed.
wow what great music not like the shit of today carnt stop my feet from tapping
Brains on drugs, likely-so.
0:04 this is the real beginning of the video
Perdón, quise decir ''Béla Lugosi.''
It's a shame they could not record on 78 disc, what they were playing.Instead they filmed it and then recorded the tune in the studio.
I believe they did it for a vitaphone disc
David, the Vitaphone Process™ was recording sound-to-disk simultaneously with the filming. It 's true!
Those bad-boy Warner Bros. we can thank for all the great stuff they left to us.