Montgomery & Stone Sing!

I've just received an original Victor recording of Montgomery & Stone performing "Travel, Travel Little Star", a comic number the duo performed in The Old Town. This show was the first to be presented at the Globe theater, now called the Lunt-Fontanne, on Broadway in 1910, and the recording dates from that time. On the left is an image I found online of the sheet music for this number.

Apparently, Montgomery & Stone only made 3 recordings. These numbers are an opportunity to get a sense of what the performers style was like, and the material could have been as easily lifted from The Wizard of Oz as any of their other shows. All three songs are available on the two-disc set of vintage recordings from The Wizard of Oz, released by Hungry Tiger Press. They can also be found online.

Here's a little video of the record playing- not much to watch, but fun to listen to! It's easy to see the duo as precursors to Abbott and Costello, with the bit of "who's on first" style cross-talk dialogue. The lyric for the song even includes the classic "man with a wooden leg named Smith" bit - in this case, a Sheriff with a wooden leg named Jim!