Vaudeville Showcase Vol. 1 Sketches & Songs By : 
MURRAY K. HILL - RAYMOND HITCHCOCK

VAUDEVILLE FAVORITES (REC 1907-1916)

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This CD is dedicated to two great vaudeville artists
Murray K. Hill and Raymond Hitchcock
Their major recorded output is preserved in this release.
Both artists were very popular in their time.

Murray K. Hill's career dates back to the 1890's.
He was a prominent vaudeville comedian that toured all over the country.
His comic genius is evident thru the scarcely few records that he made between 1907 and 1912.
His method of comedy was somewhat eccentric even by today's standards.
Thru his use of rapid fire patter, he had the ability to take a unusual situation and stretch it into something that was ridiculously funny.
His comic songs that were also part of his routine were also very amusing.
Mr. Hill's stage presence alone must have sent the audience into wild hysterics.
He resembled a typical Flim-Flam man with a long shabby coat and a crumbled top hat. An interesting note on his recordings - the same title that Mr. Hill would record for different record companies had different content.
This was a testament to his, on the fly, improvisational skills.
We are fortunate that some his work has survived.
He recorded for Edison, Victor and Columbia on cylinder records and disc records.

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Mr. Hitchcock was a popular vaudeville and musical comedy star.
Born on October 22, 1865 and died on November 24, 1929
He possessed a more droll kind of humor.
His signing was done for a comic effect.

He appeared first as a star in the character of Abijah Booze in The Yankee Consul, and sang It Was Not Like This in the Olden Time.
In his stage career, Hitchcock went back and forth between dramatic roles and ones in comic opera.
In 1905 he appeared on Broadway in Easy Dawson.
Hitchcock also made several phonograph recordings of which many survive to lend an idea of what he sounded like.

In 1925, Hitchcock appeared in a test film made by Lee DeForest in DeForest's Phonofilm. In this experimental sound-on-film process, Hitchcock performed a sketch from his revue Hitchy-Koo.
This revue was originally produced on Broadway in 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1920.
Cole Porter wrote the music for the 1919 version.


So sit back and enjoy these early standup comedians
of the vaudeville era.

SIDE A

SELECTIONS 1-10: PERFORMED BY MURRAY K. HILL

1-IN THE GOOD OLE STEAMBOAT DAYS

2-A BUNCH OF NONSENSE

3-A STRING OF LAUGHS

4-GRANDMA'S MUSTARD PLASTER

5-FATHER WAS OUT

6-A BUNCH OF NONSENSE

7-A TALK ON MARRIED LIFE

8-THE OLD JOKES

9-HOW COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA

10-SEATED AROUND AN OLD OIL STOVE

SIDE B

SELECTIONS 1-3: PERFORMED BY MURRAY K. HILL

1-SEATED AROUND AN OLD OIL STOVE

2-FATHER'S ECCENTRICITIES

3-HONEST HOLD-UP MAN & BILLY BEANS

SELECTIONS 4-7: PERFORMED BY RAYMOND HITCHCOCK

4-MR. HITCHCOCK'S CURTAIN SPEECH

5-BURGLAR STORY & THE HIGH COST OF LIVING  

6-HERE COMES THE GROOM (FROM MUSICAL BETTY)

7-SOMETIME (FROM MUSICAL BETTY)