Arthur Fields - Hong Kong (1917)

Arthur Fields sings "Hong Kong" on Edison Blue Amberol 3238, issued in August 1917.

This song was played by some "jass" bands in 1917.

Born Abe Finkelstein in Philadelphia to Mortimer and Elizabeth Finkelstein, Arthur Fields (6 August 1888 - 29 March 1953) spent early years in Utica, New York, singing solos as a boy in church.

He was a professional entertainer by age 11 or so, singing illustrated songs (as the singer performed, colored slides with images related to a song's theme were projected on a screen) with Ray Walker at Wackie's Theater at Coney Island. Around age 17 he toured with the Guy Brothers Minstrel Show.

His friend George Graff, the successful lyricist, wrote to Jim Walsh in 1953, "Around 1907-08 [Fields] helped form a vaudeville act--Weston, Fields and Carroll--one of the earliest, and possibly the first, Rathskeller acts."

Born on November 28, 1892, Harry Carroll was four years younger than Fields. The first genuine hit of Fields the songwriter was "On The Mississippi." He wrote the music in 1912 with Carroll; Ballard MacDonald supplied lyrics. It was recorded by the American Quartet for Victor 17237, Billy Murray for Blue Amberol 1637, Collins and Harlan for Columbia A1293, and Prince's Orchestra for Columbia A1307.

Fields sometimes composed music and other times provided lyrics to music written by others. In 1914 he supplied lyrics for "Aba Daba Honeymoon" (music by Walter Donovan), his most popular song. It was revived in the 1950 MGM film Two Weeks With Love, soon followed by the release of a popular Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter MGM record (30282), and Fields earned around $10,000 in royalty fees in 1951. The song was first popularized on records made in late 1914 by Collins and Harlan (Victor 17620, Edison Diamond Disc 50192, Blue Amberol 2468).

Another hit for Collins and Harlan was a Theodore Morse tune with lyrics provided by Fields: "Auntie Skinner's Chicken Dinner." Versions cut by the duo for Victor, Columbia, and Edison sold well. The song was later reworked into "Mammy Blossom's 'Possum Party," with similar lyrics and the same basic melody, Fields and Morse again credited as songwriters. It was cut by Collins and Harlan for various companies, including Edison and Paramount.

Fields also supplied lyrics to "It's A Long Way to Berlin But We'll Get There" (music by Leon Flatow), which he recorded for Edison and Columbia. Columbia A2383 gives only Flatow credit for writing the song, following the practice of listing composer but not lyricist. The cover of the November 1917 issue of Edison Amberola Monthly features a photograph of Fields, and page 12 states, "At a recent benefit performance at the New York Hippodrome three copies of 'It's a Long Way to Berlin but We'll Get There,' by Arthur Fields, brought $500, $50 and $50. The proceeds were turned over to a relief fund."