Irving Berlin’s “From Here to Shanghai“ 1917 Collins and Harlan = Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan

Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan sing Irving Berlin’s “From Here to Shanghai“ Edison Blue Amberol 3169 1917 I’ve often wandered down To dreamy Chinatown, the home of Ching-a-ling. It’s fine! I must declare But now I’m going where I can see the real, real thing I’ll soon be there In a bamboo chair For I’ve got my fare From here to Shanghai Just picture me Sipping Oo-long tea Served by a Chinaman Who speaks a-way up high (“Hock-a-my, Hock-a-my“) I’ll eat the way they do With a pair of wooden sticks And I’ll have Ching Ling Foo Doing all his magic tricks I’ll get my mail From a pale pig-tail For I mean to sail From here to Shanghai I’ll have them teaching me To speak their language, gee! When I can talk Chinese I’ll come home on the run Then have a lot of fun Calling people what I please. This song played a small role in popularizing “jass“ (a new music in 1917) since it was “jassed“ by bands (along with “Hong Kong“)--or at least it was recorded by a so-called “jass“ band (really an Edison outfit cashing in on the new trend). The song resembles “For Me And My Gal“ in melody. Lyrics refer to Ching Ling Foo, the stage name of a Chinese magician (1854-1922) whose real name was Zhu Liankui. Born in Beijing, Foo studied traditional Chinese magic and later amazed American audiences with various tricks. Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan sang before audiences as part of a touring ensemble formed in late 1916 or early 1917. In the February 1965 issue of Hobbies, Walsh describes a photograph of the Record Maker Troupe in Troop’s Music Store at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in April 1917. Artists included Collins, Harlan, Vess L. Ossman, Albert Campbell, and songwriter-pianist Theodore Morse. A program of the Peerless Record Makers at the Williamsport High School Auditorium in Pennsylvania on April 17, 1917, lists Collins and Harlan as performing “Bake Dat Chicken Pie.“ The May 1917 issue of Talking Machine World lists members of what is called the Phonograph Singers: Collins, Harlan, Campbell, Morse, Henry Burr, Billy Murray, John H. Meyer, Frank Croxton. That Ossman’s name is missing suggests he stopped touring with other recording artists by this time. The May 15, 1917, issue of Talking Machine World announces a “new singing act now touring the Eastern States and featuring the well-known record makers, Billy Murray, Henry Burr, the Sterling Trio, Peerless Quartet, Collins & Harlan, with Theodore Morse as pianist.“ Later issues of Talking Machine World, which featured full-page advertisements of the group, used other names. Names for the group varied from location to location. The Phonograph Singers evolved into the Popular Talking Machine Artists, the Popular Record Makers, the Peerless Record Makers, the Eight Famous Record Artists (this is the name used in June 1920, around the time five artists became exclusive to Victor), the Eight Famous Victor Artists, finally the Eight Popular Victor Artists. Irving Berlin’s “From Here to Shanghai“ 1917 Collins and Harlan (Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan)