Monroe Silver - Cohns Wedding (1919)

Monroe Silver

"Cohn's Wedding"

Emerson 10176

1919

Monroe Silver was born in New York City's East Side to David and Sarah (Cowan) Silver, both of whom emigrated from England. The family moved to Harlem when Monroe was seven. After Monroe left high school at age 14, his father found him a job at a printing firm. Monroe performed during amateur shows at night but finally went into show business full-time, playing clubs and banquets.

Around 1911 Silver met Billy Murray, who introduced him to Victor executives. He was later known for monologues, but he made his recording debut as a singer. "Abie, Take an Example From Your Fader," composed by James Brockman, was issued on Victor 16841 in April 1911 (the reverse side featured Arthur Collins) but the disc was not available for long. It was followed a month later by another Brockman song, "That's Yiddisha Love," characterized as a "Hebrew Dialect Song." This was originally issued on Victor 16846 with Murry K. Hill's "A Bit of Drama" on the reverse side, but the Hill monologue was withdrawn from the catalog and "That's Yiddisha Love" was issued again on Victor 16945.

Victor issued no new Silver disc until November 1918. Victor 18501 combined two "Hebrew Comedy" monologues--"Cohen Gets Married" and "Cohen on his Honeymoon" (18501). The writer for Victor's record supplements, James Edward Richardson, reintroduces Silver to record buyers in this manner: "The peculiar brand of humor so characteristic of the lower East Side of Broadway has come to have a definite place in the American world of entertainment. And Monroe Silver is a past-master in the art...His tones are the tones of the Bowery, and as he speaks one can see his dark eyes gleaming and imagine the expressive gestures so typical of this cany, humorous race of Orientals with an occidental heritage of experiences."

A full year later, in November 1919, "Cohen at the Picnic" was released on Victor 18608, with Part I on one side, Part II on the other. It was made on a royalty basis, a rare practice for a black label artist in those days. Billy Murray, who had minor parts in it, later told Jim Walsh that Murray's own share of the first royalty payment was $1,400.

Silver reported to Jim Walsh that he developed his Cohen routines after he watched Jewish shopkeepers in his old neighborhood use the telephone, but as Walsh points out in the March 1972 issue of Hobbies, Silver did not originate the "Cohen on the Telephone" idea. "Cohen" records were first made in England around 1910. They were probably unknown in the United States until the spring of 1914, when Columbia imported Joe Hayman's version from its English affiliate. Within a few years George L. Thompson recorded it for Edison, Starr (maker of Gennett records), and Indestructible; Barney Bernard for Victor; and Lewis Piotti as well as Bernhard Sternau for Pathé.