Toledo's Bobby Jacobs sings

Toledo's Bobby Jacobs sings
accompanied by the Rhythm Rascals
 

CP-4849 — How Deep is the Ocean
CP-4850 — On the Sunny Side of the Street

January 1961

 Bar owner was a real showman

Toledo Blade, June 18, 2002

Robert 'Bobby' Jacobs, 75, a colorful Toledo bar owner and showman whose businesses were synonymous with the area's night life, especially during the 1960s, died of compliations of diabetes Sunday in Toledo Hospital.

Mr Jacobs grew up in North Toledo, the youngest of eight children born to Lebanese immigrants, in the close-knit neighborhood that was home to his famous cousin, entertainer Danny Thomas, and actor Jamie Farr.  He was a graduate of Woodward High School.

Mr Jacobs had an excellent singing voice, which friend and restaurateur Gus Nicolaidis compared to Frankie Laine's, and when he was young longed to be a professional entertainer.

He was inspired by the enormous success of his famous older cousin, but the right breaks never came his way for a career in show business, according to his first wife, Helen Warr.  By way of consolation, he went into the bar, restaurant, and night club business and became a consummate showman on a smaller scale.

"He was a sharp dresser, always wearing the sharkskin suits," Mr. Nicolaidis recalled.  "He had a 12-inch cigar in his mouth and ark hair combed straight back.  His hair was black and shiny.  We called him "Dick Clark" because he was so theatrical. He was a good guy."  Mr. Jacobs' businesses included the Carousel Club, the Whiskey A-Go-Go, the Patio Lounge, and Gigi's.

It was at the Carousel Club, 2620 West Central Ave., that his show-biz flair was most evident, Mr. Nicolaidis said. "He was such a showman.  He had a vocal group that he used to advertise as "Direct from Las Vegas," but they were all local guys. I knew them."

"He would get up on stage and sing, with a cigar in one hand and a microphone in the other," Mr. Jacobs's son, Gary, said.

The gregarious Mr. Jacobs was loved by his customers, who had a way of becoming friends over the years, his son said.  He loved practical jokes.

Mr. Jacobs and his second wife, Lena, were married for 40 years.  For much of that time they owned and operated Gigi's, a restaurant at 4350 Monroe St. with an upstairs apartment they lived in.

His health deteriorating badly, Mr. Jacobs retired 10 years ago.  For the last 2½ years he was a resident of the Darlington House nursing home in West Toledo, his son said.

Mr. Jacobs was an avid golfer, hunter, and fisherman.

*

The Rhythm Rascals were husband and wife,  Anita and Eddie Boudreau, veteran instrumentalists (bass and guitar) and comedy duo.  They started in the show business around 1940. 

In 1960-61, they played the Patio Lounge in Toledo.

Hoodoo / The High School Chanters (Fashion Records)

Hoodoo
CP-2456 - Hoodoo The Voodoo

(Jack Morrow, Glendell Music Inc. BMI)

The High School Chanters
CP-2457 -  Teenage Chant 

(Jack Morrow, Glendell Music Inc. BMI)

Fashion Records #001

November 1959

Probably a Ft. Worth (or Dallas) recording intended to be pressed by the brand new National Recording Co. pressing plant of Atlanta, which apparently was not quite ready to handle the promised custom business and had to resort to an external plant,  as it happens, Rite Records of Cincinnati. 

Jack Morrow, writer of "Hoodoo The Voodoo," had penned two BMI award winning songs : "For Rent" (Sung by Patsy Cline) and "That's Why I Love You Like I Do"  (Sonny James).  Glendell Music published several songs penned by him.

Billboard (November 2, 1959) announced the formation of Glendell Music, a new C&W label :

Glendell Music, Fort Worth, has Artie Glenn as president; Darrell Glenn, vice-president, and Marvin Montgomery, secretary-treasurer.  The new record firm is slated to announce its first release soon, with "Crying" occupying one of the sides.

Glendell Music as publishing company was formed earlier and had a number of profitable songs. Glendell published "Percolator," (written by Jack Morrow) which was the B-side of the Boots Randolph hit "Yakety Sax".

Anyway the Glendell Music label as such never was, but instead there was a Fashion label which released only a handful of equally obscure records by Darrell Glenn (60), The Smith Brothers (62), Homer Lee (63), Jack and the Rippers (64) and Artie Glenn (66).  There was also "So You Want To Write A Song", a educational LP published in 1972 by Artie Glenn.

In 1960, Fashion Records issued "Take Time To Be Happy" by Darrell Glenn after he left the NRC label.  Or rather re-issued, as the record was first released in 1957 by the unknown LuLu Records of Hollywood.   The single was followed by "Hoo Doo The Voodoo" on Robbie 101.  Same title as the Rite-pressed Fashion 45, but different song, penned by D.Glenn and J.B. Robertson (hence the label's name Robbie ?)  and published by Downey Music Pub.

Indecent, Untruthful Textbooks In Schools

Wally Butterworth [narrator]

Indecent, Untruthful Textbooks In Schools

U.S. Government "Takeover" In Education

A Wally Butterworth Recording Release No. 35
 Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

1965

Rite numbers : 14713/14714

Klan Invades Swarthmore, Pa.

The Free Lance-Star Nov. 2, 1965

Swarthmore, Pa. - Most residents don't know it, but this quiet Quaker community has suddenly become the focal point for the Northern mail campaign of the Ku Klux Klan.  Wally Buterworth, public relations man for the United Ku Klux Klans, has rented Box 33 at the Swarthmore post office and picks up his mail here two or three times a week - mail that comes in as a result of a campaign to enlist right-wing support in this liberal college town, the home of the Swarthmore College.

Wally Buttersworth is the former Philadelphia-New York radio-TV announcer who once lived with James Venable, KKK attorney, in the shadow of Stone Mountain, Ga.    Now 63, Butterworth has an excellent speaking voice, and does a quite a business in recording anti-Jewish and anti-Negro tapes which are circulated among hate groups.  He frequently calls upon whites to protect their way of live by violence.

For some years Butterworth has been publicity director of the United Klans and recently drifted up to the Philadelphia area where he rented a post office box at Swarthmore. Swarthmore postl officials have not been happy over the rental, but under the law have nothing to say about who rents boxes as long as obscene and subversive matter is not circulated through the mails.

One possible explanation for Butterworth's picking Swarthmore for his post office is the location of a vigorous right-wing radio station -WXUR -in Media, only four miles away.

Last March 19, the Federal Communications Commission transferred WXUR to the Faith Theological Seminary, of which Rev. Carl McIntire, the right-wing Fundamentalist preacher, is president.

The licensing of WXUR to the McIntire group was made despite protests by the Catholaic Interracial Council of New York, the American Baptist Convention, the Lutheran Church in America, the Anti-Defamation League, the United Church of Christ, the Greater Philadelpia Council of Churches, the PResbytery of Philadelphia, the National Urban League and the NAACP.

Seldom has there been such an array of religious and social groups opposing the award of any radio license.  Despite this, the FCC gave WXUR to the McIntire group without a public hearing and despite the fact that the three-year license of the original owners had not expired.

Chief reason for this unusal transfer was the mercenary one that the station was "currently losing money."   We have determined that a hearing looking forward a possible denial of the application is not warranted,"  wrote the majority of the FCC Commissioners.  They said they relied on the pledge of the McIntire group that it would "not slant the news or in any way distort factual material."

Commissioner Kenneth Cox issued a blistering dissent.  He demanded that the commission at least hold a public hearing before giving a radio license to the McIntire organization.  "While I recognize that Rev. McIntire is not the applicant here, I think a sufficient showing has been made to indicate that he will ne the dominant figure in the proposed license.

"The fact that Rev. McIntire has a right to express his views does not signify that he is entitled to controle a boradcast facility,"  wrote Commissioner Cox.  "The test the commission must apply is not whether the public inerest will be served by entrusting a scarce frequency to his control."

Commissioner Cox was referring to the extreme right-wing duatribes which Rev. McIntire has delivered over a national hook-up of radio stations.

Since March, when the WXUR license was granted, Commissioner Cox's fear seem to have been justified. WXUR has featured such right-wing commentators as DAn Smoot, Rev. Billy Hargis, Dean Manion, R.K. Scott, Kent Courtney, Howard Jerskner and the American League of Englewood, Calif.

Recently the book blasting President Johnson, "None Dare Call It Treason" by John Stormer, has been promoted for dsitribution over WXUR.

Life Line, the radio program produced by Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, is also heard three times a day on WXUR and twice on Sunday.  The Voice of Americanism of Englewood, Calif., another right-wing program, is heard six times a week;  while every afternoon, between three and four,  Tom Livezey conducts "Open Mike," a right-wing program in which he answers telephone calls.

Swarthmore and Media are old Quaker communities dating back to the days of William Penn.  The house where Benjamin West was born in 1738 is still standing on the campus. The college, one of the most liberal institutions in this country, recently celebrated its one-hundreth anniversary.

Into this community has been injected a steady stream of radio abuse and intolrance.  No wonder Wally Butterworth and the Ku Klux Klan chose the Swarthmore post office as the focal point for their Northern drive to enlist support.

Wally Butterworth

Herbert Wallace “Wally” Butterworth was an American radio announcer and host of a variety of quiz shows. In the early 60’s Butterworth lost a lawsuit with GE over a contract for a television quiz show and this subsequently caused him to become politically active.   Initially on radio and later by way of phonograph records Butterworth created programs educating the American people about the issues of the day, namely how the Jews were destroying the United States.   Butterworth worked with both the Georgia based National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Robert Shelton’s UKA.

Ada Larck

Ada Leona Hicks married Robert E. Larck in 1948.   They resided in Troy, Ohio where Robert worked all his life for the City Transfer.   He played drums in the Blue Diamonds band. 

Ada released 3 singles between 1965 and 1967.  Besides being the vocalist and leader, she also wrote all the songs.


Discography

Blue Diamonds
15035 – Be My Honey (Ada Larck, Mega City Music BMI)
15036 - You're Gone Again (Ada Larck, Mega City Music BMI)
Top Ten 501

Ada Larck and the Blue Diamonds
17933 There's Gonna Be Heartbreak (A.Larck, Airway-BMI)
17934 Will I Ever Learn (A.Larck, Airway-BMI)
Jalyn 310

Ada Larck and the Blue Diamonds
19269 – In My Dreams (Jaclyn - BMI)
19270 – Go, Go, Go (Jaclyn - BMI)
Jalyn 313

Charlie Poole And The Highlanders (Arbor LP)

Charlie Poole And The Highlanders

LP Arbor 201

7319 N. Bell Ave., Chicago, 60645

Rite account # 5108

December 1970

 

Side 1:   [26335]

Richmond Square   
Tennessee Blues   
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Medley   
Flop-Eared Mule   
Kitty Waltz Yodel   
May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister   
Lynchburg Town   

Side 2:    [26336]

A Trip To New York:

On The Train   
The Audition   
In New York   
In The Studio

   
Sunset March   
Railroad Blues   
Under The Double Eagle

Re-issue of Paramount and Brunswick recordings (1929)

Paramount session
8,9 or 10 May 1929 New York City - Charlie Poole and North Carolina Ramblers aka Highlanders (Roy Harvey [-+ vcl/gt], Charlie Poole [vcl/banjo], Lonnie Austin [fiddle], Lucy Terry [piano])

Brunswick session (Trip To New York in four parts)
11 May 1929 New York City - Allegheny Highlanders (Roy Harvey [vcl/gt], Charlie Poole [vcl/banjo], Lonnie Austin [fiddle], Odell Smith [fiddle], Lucy Terry [piano])

Charlie Poole was the Hank Williams of 1920s string band music, and while he wasn't a particularly brilliant banjo player (although his later three-finger-style picking would set the table for the advent of bluegrass banjo a couple of decades after his death), and he wasn't the world's greatest vocalist either, he had a certain devil-may-care charisma that made him a star in the early days of the recording industry. Poole's greatest talent -- aside from an ability to go on long drinking sprees and to manage to be at the center of things even in his absence -- was in his song adaptations, which drew from sources outside the standard Appalachian fiddle tunes and reels, including pop, ragtime, and blues. Poole, with his band the North Carolina Ramblers, recorded mostly for Columbia Records, but disguising his band as the Highlanders, he also recorded under the table for Paramount and Brunswick in 1929, working piano into the standard string band lineup of fiddle, banjo, and guitar.  Steve Leggett, AllMusic

Re-issue produced by David Samuelson.

Chicago native,  David Samuelson took up folk music in high school and later started his own record label, Puritan Records, to preserve some of the more unique ascpects of the American folk music heritage.  Since 1975 David has been presenting the Battle Ground Old Time Fiddlers Gathering in Battle Ground, Indiana.

Ray R. Jones

 

 Ray R.Jones

Picture from a record sleeve 

(credit : 45cat)

666 is the number of the beast according to the Book of Revelation.  It's also the diabolic number of songs that wrote Ray Richard Jones according to the BMI database.  

Ray Jones (born in 1933) had his first recordings in 1962/1963 for Skoop Records, a Nashville label owned by Ray Scrivener.   He played and toured with his band (Golden Nugget, Showboat Club in Las Vegas) before returning home to raise his family.  Always kept on writing songs, he established his own recording studio in his Lamar, Indiana hometown, recording himself or other artists, for his own Quest/Sound Quest labels or for various other "indie" country labels such as Cajun (Lakeland, Florida), E.H. King (Santa Fe, Texas), Ho, Ho, Ho-Kus and Music Room (Richland, Indiana), Lu-Tex (Red Rock, Texas),  Sollie Sunshine (Pensacola, Florida), Starr and TSC (Des Plaines, Illinois), Sun-Ray (Lexington, Kentucky), Wagon Wheel (Georgetown, South Carolina), Woodrich (Rogersville, Alabama).

There is a homemade video on Youtube from 1991 featuring Ray Jones and family, featuring his son Marty singing "Blue Suede Shoes". link

Quest LAV1001/2

Ray Jones

25041 — Hello Old World (R.Jones-B.Irwin, Jacks Music BMI)

25042 —Snakes In My Boots (R. Jones-Q. Abraham, Sure Fire Music BMI) 

Sound Quest LA500

Randy (Hotdog) Sloger and Don Cartwright

35321 —Colorado On My Mind (Randy Sloger, Salute Pub. Co. BMI)

35322 —Be Careful Of The Words You Speak 

 

Sound Quest LA9002

Vocal : Ray Jones / Music : The Country Kings

36529 — Brilliant Little Girl

36530 —No Foolin' Margie (Billl Freed, Salute Publ. Co.)       

Prod. By Bill Freed

Wagon Wheel 007

Wagon Wheel Records, Rte. 1, Georgetown, SC 29440

Ray R. Jones

36647 —What Must I Do (To Prove My Love For You), Jack Redick, Dutch Holland   

36648 — Pushin' Out One, And Pullin' Two Back    Jack Redick,  T. Leila Redlick   

Produced by T. Leila Redick, Las Vegas, Nev.

Recorded at Sound Quest, Lamar, Ind.

Source : http://www.45cat.com/record/nc240761us

 

Starr 204

Starr Records, 217-7500 Elmhurst Road, Des Plaines, Ill. 60018

Ray Jones And The Melody Kings 

36773 —Truck Drivin' Team (Luther Robinson, Royal Star Pub.
36774 —It's Just Me  (Tom Tharp-Eugene Stierle, Royal Star Pub.       
Produced By Ray Jones

Also pressed by Rite Records

Starr 205
Ray Jones And The Melody Kings       
36775 —Wake Up America/
36776 —Wonderful World   


TSC 205
Distr. by Starr Records, P.O. Box 1037, Des Plaines, Ill. 

Ray Jones And The Melody Kings
38801 —That Polka Dot Dress  (Mae B. Van Zandt, Star Bound Pub. Co. ASCAP
38802 —Thank You God   

TSC 201 
Ray Jones And The Melody Kings
38803 — Chains That You Can't See
38804 — His Wine Or My Roses  
       
Sound Quest LA1008 
Vocal Ray Jones / The Country Kings
39291 — You're The Only One, (writter [sic] Jim Young, Royal Starr Pub. BMI)
39292 — Melissa
Produced By Jim Young   

Sun-Ray 
Ray Jones And The Country Kings
39937 — I Remember
39938 — Mom's Last Letter          


TSC 305  
Ray Jones With The Melody Kings 
40157 — Salute To Elvis  (wr. Dorothy Carlson)
40158 — Go Grandpa Go.
         

Ray Jones other records

not Rite pressings or unknown pressings

 

Cajun 

101444 — Ballad Of Jack Narczewski / Morrow And The Cloud Babies (1986)

E H King

17 —Make Mine Country /  Where Your Heart
 ? — The Indie Crowd / ?
62 —Drunk Cowgirls Dig Me (found on a New-Zealand radio playlist here)

Ho, Ho, Ho-Kus/ Ho-Kus

Ray Jones And The Melody Kings
120 —Pushin' Out One & Pullin' Back Two / Big Bull Moose
122 —Music City You Really Have My Heart  / ? (mentions artists)
U-23020 — Rockin Santa Claus /  Why Can't It Be Christmas All The Time

Lu-Tex 

Ray (Railroad) Jones & The Melody Kings ? —Texas Chief And The Tennessee Squaw ; Tender Surrender  (1981)

Ramblin Ray Jones (Prod. Gradie Voigt)
444 —Left Over Love / The Pain (1978)

Ramblin Ray Jones
778 —That Old Fashioned Way /  A Thousand Times

Music Room

Ray Jones And The Melody Kings
HJ 48  —Queen Without A Crown /? (1984)
(U 122216) —Shake A Leg Gals / Diana    1984

Sollie Sunshine

Ray R. Jones
— We're The Old Folks Now  / We Had It All (1985)
— Going Down On The Farm / Don't Follow The Fools (Who Follow The Rules). (1986)
— The Auction / I Just Came Here To Thank The Lord Again (1987)
— The Long Black Wall : (Tribute To The Vets Of Vietnam) ; These Old Cigarettes (1988)

Note : Owner of Sollie Sunshine Records was Fred Everett Sollie (1918-1999), a Pearl Harbor survivor and active member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, serving as the Secretary at the time of his death and as president in the past.  
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1207448

Starr

Ray Jones & The Melody Kings
— Dreams Of Our Past / My Chains Of Yesterday (Starr 1011) With Madonna Reis
— I'm Glad I Belong To You / I'd Be Nothing Without (Starr 30135, not Rite)
— You're Playin' The Cheatin' Game / ?    (Starr P 101)

TSC (Tomorrows's Songwriters Club)

Ray Jones And The Melody Kings
— Getting Into Country LP 1023

Woodrich (90's)

Ray R. Jones
—If I Were To Fall In Love (wr. Frank Kiley) .  ?

★ 

Note : 

 

Most, if not all these records are "vanity" recordings.  This list is certainly far to be complete.  For instance, Ray Jones has recently recorded 2 CDs of songs all composed by Eileen Richardson, an old english lady :

EILEEN RICHARDSON has written the words and music of 375 songs, of which only 29 have been recorded so far.   She would really love to hear from anyone who would be interested in singing, recording or promoting any of her songs.

Eileen was born in 1928 on the south coast of England, where she has lived almost all of her life. It was not until she was 37, and going through a difficult time in her life, that she started writing songs...

from UKCountryRadio.com

Let’s Beat The Clock

Norm Burns & The Five Stars

29045- Let’s Beat The Clock 

Martin Willcott & Lew Tobin

Shelley Stuart, Norm Burns & The Satallites
29046 – Give Me Another Chance

Dennis Haynes & Lew Tobin

Arranger : Roger Baker

Sterling Records #565
Ace Distrib. Box 64
Boston, Mass.
1972

Norm Burns, regular warbler from the Lew Tobin's song-poem stable, seems here to be a little more concerned than usual.  NORM ROCKS!

The Gospel Seekers on B.L.M.

 

Robert Lyons & The Gospel Seekers
37697 — Oh Lord I'm So Thankful

 

Milton Johnson and the Gospel Seekers
37698 — One More Day

B.L.M. Records

Manning Recording Co.

Rt. 2, Box 471 Roanoke Rapids N.C.

1976

 

B.L.M. Records was owned by Bishop Manning.

Bishop Dready Manning was born in 1934 in Gaston, North Carolina. As a child, around the age of six, he learned guitar playing from a cousin. When he was in his early teens, Russell Moody became his guitar teacher. From his late teens up until a life-changing experience in 1962 Dready Manning was a hard drinking, hard living, Blues musician playing the bars and juke-joints of the area.  One day in 1962 he started bleeding out of his nose and haemorrhaging.  Bishop Manning told us that he would have died if not for the intervention of prayer on his behalf by some neighbours. 'I had a converted mind right then,' he says.

Bishop Dready Manning, his wife Marie and their five children Zacchaeus Earl, Dready Paul, Joyce Elaine, Carolyn Lee, and Clara Marie recorded several 45's on their own labels : Nashbrand, Peatcock, Manning Big Sound, B.L.M.,  Manning (all pressed by Rite Records) and Memorial.  There was also an album issued by Hoyt Sullivan's Su-Ann Records.

The Mystics on Future Talent

The Mystics

13893 ~ Ooh Poo Pah Doo

J.Hill, Minit Music Co.

13894 ~ Snoopy

C.Jim, Marve-N-Harve Music Pub. Co.

A Rose-Givens-Masan Production

FUTURE TALENT RECORDS

Box 469, Waverly, Virginia

Division of Talent Music Ent..

February 1965

This was issued previously on the Black Cat label in 1964.  The Mystics were from Tallahassee, Florida.   They had a further 45 on Orchid as by Many Others  : "(Tell Me Why) I'm Alone  / Can I Get A Witness".   

 

The Black Cat issue has no producer credited while the second issue on Future Talent credit three producers : Rose, Givens and Masan. 

 

"Snoopy" is a reinterpretation of The Vibrations R&B hit "My Girl Sloopy" (Atlantic Records, April 1964).   Songwriter credit was changed to C. Jim and assigned to Marve-N-Harve Music Pub. Co.  It was perhaps intentional so it could be credited as an original composition or perhaps simply a mistake (?) :  Marve-N-Harve Music was the exclusive publishing arm of Mida Records*, a Miami label, for which Curley Jim recorded "Sloppy Susie", a title only slighly similar.   But in 1964 the label was no more.

(*) Mida Records was owned by hillbilly singer  "Uncle Harve" (Harve Spivey) and by Johnny Lomelo, first manager of Sam & Dave, owner of the King Of Hearts Club and.a good friend of mobster Dick Cami,

 

 

It's rumored that "Snoopy" by The Mystics was a minor hit in Akron, Ohio where the McCoys heard it and recorded the tune (as "Hang On Sloopy"), turning it into a big commercial success.

★ 

 

Prewitt Rose [Rose, one of the three producers] was only 19-year old when in October 1960,  he produced Ral Donner's "Girl Of My Best Friend" along with three other tracks, at The Fox Talent studio in Orlando. Co-producer Jan Hutchins managed to place the record with George Goldner's Gone label in New York City and the result was a #19 hit in the spring of 1961.

 

Prewitt Rose produced many groups and artists, including Pat Boone, The Sunday Funnies, Mike Smith, Mouse and the Traps, Randy Starr, Smith and Morales, Purvis Pickett, The Rats, The Mystics, Randy Ream, and even porn actress Hyapatia Lee.   He also owned several record labels, including Orchid of Memphis, Black Orchid, SRO, Sitting Bull, Smudge, as well as Pocket Money Productions.

 

First issue on the Black Cat label (1964)

Ooh Poo Pah Doo


Snoopy

Credit : Black Cat audio files converted from YouTube (CheesebrewWaxArchive channel)

Linden Day on Do-It

 Linden Day

CP-2063 ~ Sugar Rock 

CP-2064 ~ No Regrets

both songs wr. Day, Threeway BMI

[date of copyright : 29 June 1959]

Do-It Records #1001

Jacksonville, Fla

1959

Rockin' Country Style website don't even have a picture of this scarce record, recently auctioned at ebay (see below). 

Auction ended 6 Dec. 2013; number of bids : 10; winning bid US $364.00

Credit : label picture is from the ebay auction; sound file is from Collector (CD 4441"Automatic Bop, Vol. 2")