Ryan Barna wrote:

> Does anyone have solid documentation (for example, an original record list or advance notice) of
> when Victor 19626 by the Mask & Wig Glee Chorus/International Novelty Orchestra was released? This
> could have been the first electrical recording Victor issued. It wasn't listed in any of the monthly
> Victor supplements, and instead of giving a release date, the 1926 Victor numerical book list the
> release as being "issued for the Pacific Coast Trade."
A couple of thoughts:  The Mask & Wig show "Joan of Arkansas," with its huge cast of 75 persons, played two performances in Manhattan on 4 April 1925; so it would seem likely that the chorus was recorded on the previous or following day.  Also it sure seems strange that a recording by a Philadelphia student group would have been "issued for the Pacific Coast Trade" when the sales potential would have been largely in the Northeast.  Or was it the flip side with the International Novelty Orchestra that was thought to appeal to the Pacific Coast?

-- Jack Raymond