talkingonthephone

Alfred A. "Al" Bernard (1888-1949) was an American vaudeville singer, known as "The Boy From Dixie", who was most popular during the 1910s through early 1930s. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Bernard became a blackface singer in minstrel shows before starting his recording career around 1916.   Bernard composed and recorded more than 100 songs in the first three decades of the 20th century.   He was one of the first white singers to record blues songs.   W. C. Handy credited Bernard with helping his own career by recording a number of his songs, notably "St. Louis Blues".  Bernard recorded the song for nine different record labels, the most successful being what Handy called "the sensational Victor recording in which he sang with the Dixieland Jazz Band". For a brief period in the early 20's Bernard was teamed with Jimmy Durante and wrote the lyrics for "Papa String Bean" for Durante.  He teamed up with the ragtime composer J. Russell Robinson in a vaudeville team called the Dixie Stars and they recorded songs together for a number of famous labels.  Bernard usually sang while Robinson played the piano and added some vocals. Together they composed a number of hit songs including "Blue Eyed Sally" and "Let Me Be The First To Kiss You Good Morning".   Excerpted – [1] [2]

He was recording for Victor starting in 1919: adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/1835/Bernard...

Daughter of the Speaker of the House (doesn't say if that's Federal or State). Was engaged to James M Thomson of New Orleans in June 1915. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9404EFDA1539E333A...

Everything looks so shiny and high-tech. Ms. Clark looks as satisfied as anyone being photographed with a new Blackberry, iPhone, or Android a century later.

She was the daughter of Champ Clark,(1850 – 1921), Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919, and an unsuccessful candidate for nomination to be the Democratic Partly candidate in the Presidential Election of 1912. Clark story shared at banquet -- Article from the Bowling Green Times about Genevieve Clark Thomson's story, as recounted by her nephew. The great tragedy of her life was the loss of her three year old son, Little Champ. When his birthday came around, she remembered him by delivering ice cream to children in the hospital. She was also a Suffragette, she ran for Congress, wrote a political column, and was known for her fashion sense, inspiring a hairstyle known as "the Genevieve Curl."

Some Bain trivia: The negative number etched here is 2680-3. You will notice that Miss Clark is sitting at the same desk, using the same telephone as that which sits on the desk of Alben Barkley, adjacent in this photostream, and which also has the consecutive negative number 2680-2: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3294674193/

Lovely photograph and portrait!

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