Crisco Presents the Mills Brothers discovered


……. PRESENTS THE MILLS BROTHERS [g-(male) vo4] John Mills vo g, Herbert Mills vo, Harry Mills vo, Donald Mills vo.
Recorded in New York City, ca Apr. 1932
5108 (A) E (Goodbye Blues)
Originally released unnumbered on a small 4-inch cardboard Durium record.
Contemporary issues: RISTIC 51 / MFC–9 / S.H. 2044 / JSPCD 301 / JSP 902 / MUSIC BOX THEATRE vol 3 / NOSTALGIA ARTS NOCD 3010
(source: Durium Advertisement and Custom Records discography - Hans Koert)
The matrix number is 5108, but the take number is B ( and not A) as was listed in my discography. It is of course possible that several takes were used.

The sound track:
Crisco, the all vegetable shortening which digest so easily presents the MILLS BROTHERS singing their famous theme song GOODBYE BLUES. There's no tuba, saxophone, trumpet or trombone. The only instrument used is a guitar. All effects are achieved vocally. Unknown six month ago, the MILLS BROTHERS today are internationally famous for having introduced a new rhythm and a new type of vocal harmony. We invite you to tune in and hear them at 7.15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time every Tuesday and Thursday evening over the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Jerry wrote: My copy was acquired at an estate auction a couple of months ago. It was in a box unprotected with a number of unrelated items, but I do have an interest in the Mills Brothers, more so than Duriums in general - and so bid on and won the box. Believe I tossed everything but the Durium disk. Had a tough time playing it when I got home. It just didn't want to stay stationary on my turntable and so had to delicately tape the disk in place...but, as you see, it did play...and I was thrilled with the content...that early Mills Brothers sound that I was hoping for. Jerry Zolten also shared us some details that might be of some importance: As to the Mills Brothers, I live not too far from the Central Pennsylvania town of Bellefonte where they had family ties. Some years ago, I had an opportunity to buy a family piano which, I was told, they had stood around as youngsters when they were just learning.
Thanks Jerry for sharing this with us.
The Mills Brothers, originally billed as Four Boys and a guitar, was a group that performed in the vaudeville circuit and they became famous because they could imitate all kinds of instruments, like the trumpet, trombone and the tuba or bass with their voices: There's no tuba, saxophone, trumpet or trombone. The only instrument used is a guitar. All effects are achieved vocally. In one of their first 1931 recordings for Brunswick they recorded the Tiger Rag. In the next fragment, part of the 1932 film The Big Broadcast you can see how this sound imitating works and sounds. One of their first hits was the Goodbye Blues, here, in a very short fragment of that same The Big Broadcast from 1932.

Isn’t it great to learn that the artists in Max Fleischer’s team seem to have had prophetic talents too, by introducing the first “television-set”!
Thanks Jerry for sharing this record label. Good to learn that it is still around.
This contribution will also be published at the Keep Swinging blog in Dutch.
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Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl