“Felix The Cat”
Paul Whiteman And His Orchestra; Austin Young, vocal
(Columbia 1478 D mx 146334) May 25, 1928
Here’s a cute recording that I had been wanting to add to Radio Dismuke’s playlist for a while and found in the late Eddie Mitchell’s record collection. The song was inspired by the Felix The Cat animated cartoons that were played before the main feature in 1920s-era movie theaters.
This was recorded the same month that Paul Whiteman switched his recording affiliation from Victor to Columbia. Luring away one of arch-rival Victor’s top artists was a big coup for Columbia which went all-out in terms of publicity. This included creating a colorful new label specifically for Paul Whiteman’s records. Collectors refer to this label as the “potato head label,” a reference to its caricature of Whiteman’s face.
At 1:36 into the recording, you can hear the first of two solo passages by cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. Immediately after the vocal, you can hear a solo by Frankie Trumbauer playing the C-melody saxophone. During this period the Whiteman band had about 26 musicians, not counting its vocal artists – large even for the era.