Dan W. Quinn sings "Henrietta, Have You Met Her?"
Columbia cylinder 5050.
Piano accompaniment by George Schweinfest or Fred Hylands.
Lyrics by Walter H. Ford
Music by John W. Bratton
In a quiet little village, not so very far away.
There lived a pretty maiden just as sweet as flowers of May.
And everybody said this little maid was so demure
That she would be an angel--certain sure!
She was quite a model of propriety and dress.
Always blushed when spoken to and answered no or yes.
Never had a beau or went to parties--no, indeed.
Never saw a novel she would read.
Henrietta, you are saintly--
Always smile so very faintly!
All your manners are so quaintly.
When you wear the wings up yonder,
will you be so good, I wonder?
Henrietta, I declare it:
All my life is yours, I swear it,
if you would consent to share it.
Henrietta, have you met her? Who? Henrietta!
Henrietta reached the city. She lived there just a year.
Up went the price of diamonds, and even bread was dear.
Soon all the chappies were in pawn. Policemen all resigned.
The midway dancers soon were out of mind.
At the races every horse she played was sure to win.
Champagne by the basket just to wash her tresses in.
Paint a bright vermillion on the Tenderloin she spread.
When the day would dawn, she'd go to bed.
Henrietta, you're a corker!
You're a wonder as a talker.
When you fleece an old New Yorker,
first you take him, then you break him,
then you do your best to shake him.
Henrietta, you're a wonder.
Bank accounts you smash like thunder.
Never known to make a blunder.
Henrietta, have you met her? Who? Henrietta!
Dan W. Quinn was born in San Francisco, perhaps in 1859 since Jim Walsh reports in the December 1961 issue of Hobbies that Quinn was 79 years old when the singer died.
He was occasionally identified as a baritone but most often as a tenor.
Quinn was a boy soprano in an Episcopal choir and was evidently a vaudeville performer when he was a young man. His photograph is on the cover of sheet music of the 1890s.
He recounted how he began recording in a letter sent to Walsh, who quotes it at length in "Reminiscences of Dan W. Quinn," published in the July 1934 issue of Music Lovers' Guide.
Quinn explained why he was among the most successful recording artists of the 1890s: "It was while working for Vic Emerson [a Columbia executive in the 1890s] that I began to work like a good fellow and went after all the latest songs. I learned everything, whether it naturally suited my style or not. The good singers--I mean fellows like John W. Myers and George Gaskins [sic]--were slow getting up their stuff, and I, being a sight reader, just couldn't keep from learning every new number."
Quinn recorded regularly from 1892 to 1905. He made recordings for the Phonograph Record and Supply Company ("Laboratory, 97, 99 & 101 Reade Street, New York").
Columbia's November 1896 catalog, which lists over 60 Quinn titles, states, "Mr. Quinn's reputation as a vocalist is so well established that the mere announcement of his name is a guarantee of the record."
He was one of Berliner's most important artists, recording nearly a hundred titles. The only singer to cover more titles for the disc company was tenor George J. Gaskin. Perhaps the earliest Quinn discs to be issued were "Girl Wanted" (935), recorded on November 3, 1895, and "Henrietta, Have Your Met Her?" (151), also recorded in November 1895.
An April 1899 catalog issued by the National Gram-o-phone Company, maker of Berliner discs, identifies Quinn as "The King of Comic Singers."
Berliners made by Quinn featuring show tunes include a "popular Hebrew dialect song" (as the National Gram-o-phone catalog characterizes it) titled "Ikey Eisenstein," from the show An American Beauty (1737--it was also recorded as Edison 1039) and, from the show Hurly Burly, "Little Old New York Is Good Enough For Me" (030), recorded on April 4, 1899.
In contrast to singers who recorded standards, Quinn as a Berliner artist covered new songs, nearly all of them quickly forgotten, few being recorded by other artists. They include "Down in Poverty Row" (Berliner 161), "I've Been Hoodoed" (198), "The Irish Cake Walk" (1822), and "Then Pour Us A Drink Bartender" (1600), recorded on November 11, 1896. Songs recorded by Quinn that were genuine hits of the day, as evident by the variety of singers who recorded them, include "The Belle of Avenoo [sic] A" (184) and Dresser's "Just Tell Them That You Saw Me" (189). Quinn confirms in his letter to Walsh that he recorded mostly topical numbers though he wished to sing more hymns: "I made my living in the frivolous field, but my heart was in the other."
Quinn usually worked as a solo artist.
Though nearly 60, he attempted in 1915 a comeback, beginning with a Columbia session on September 23, 1915.
The singer died of intestinal cancer in his home at 312 West 20th Street, New York City.
5 сен 2024
