Blue Amberol Records

Blue Amberol Records are cylinder recordings manufactured by the Edison company in the USA from 1912 to 1929. See also: Edison Records

Package lid (left) and rim of Edison "Blue Amberol" cylinder

These cylinder records are made of an early variety of plastic pattented by the Edison company called "Blue Ameberol", which was able to withstand hundreds, possibly over a thousand, playings, with only moderate increase in surface noise if played on well-maintained machines with a stylus in good condition.

The cylinders have a maximum playing time of just over 4 minutes. They can not be played succesfully on older machines set up to play the earlier standard of 2 minute cylinders, as the Amberols require a smaller stylus to track the groove and the worm-gear which moves the stylus over the surface of the cylinder must turn at a differnt rate. The Edison company sold kits with gears and reproducers which could be attached to older vaieties of cylinder phonographs by those who wished to be able to play the new Blue Amberol records. The Edison company marketed phonographs capable of playing both the older style 2 minute and the new Blue Amberol records; with these machines the user needed to adjust a lever (which changed gearing) and change the reproducer (which held different sizes of stylus) when going from one type of record to another. Other phonographs were manufactured which could only play the Blue Amberols, these were called "Amberolas".

"Amberola 75" model phonograph

The early issues of Blue Amberols are of higher audio fidelity than later issues. From the mid 1910s on, the Edison Company concentrated most of their research on improving the sound of their disc records, and their later cylinders are simply dubs of their discs. The dubbing technique used, acoustical-mechanical until the late 1920s, resulted in a somewhat hollow "dead" sound on theses cylinders compared to the original discs they were dubbed from. On many such cylinders, one can hear the sound of the disc machine being started just at the beginning of the record and of it being stopped just before the end.

The "Amberol" plastic of the cylinders is molded around a core of plaster. This plaster core has proved the greatest problem with long-term survival of Blue Amberol Records, as the plaster often tends to expand over the decades, especially if exposed to mosture or kept in humid conditions. The expanding plaster in less severe cases can make the inside of the record not fit properly on the phonograph mandrel (which can be fairly easily remedied by reaming the inner surface of the cylinder out, or can warp the cylinder out of round making it not play properly. In worse cases, the expanding plaster will crack or split the plastic playing surface, rendering the record unusuable.

The Blue Ameberol plastic is highly flamable.

Numerical listing (incomplete)

The initial number is the record number, followed by the tune or selection title. After this is the writer credits in parenthesis; "w." indicates writer of song's words; "m." indicates composer of a tune's music. After this is the name of the artist(s) performing on the recording.

1518 Whispering Hope (w.m. Alice Hawthorne) Helen Clark & Harry Anthony

1529 Row Row Row (w. William Jerome m. James V. Monaco) Collins & Harlan

1568 On A Beautiful Night With A Beautiful Girl (w. Will D. Cobb m. Gus Edwards) Walter Van Brunt

1589 That's How I Need You (w. Joe McCarthy & Joe Goodwin m. Al Piantadosi) Irving Gillette

1643 Yiddisha Professor (w.m. Irving Berlin Maurice Burkhart

1737 That Old Girl Of Mine (w. Earle C. Jones m. Egbert van Alstyne) Frederick J. Wheeler

1738 When I Lost You (w.m. Irving Berlin) Irving Gillette

1743 Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (w. Ballard MacDonald m. Harry Carroll) Manuel Romain

1749 Goodbye Boys (w. Andrew B. Sterling & William Jerome m. Harry Von Tilzer) Billy Murray

1796 Snookey Ookums (w.m. Irving Berlin) Collins & Harlan

1931 You Made Me Love You (w. Joseph McCarthy m. James V. Monaco) Anna Chandler

1941 Somebody's Coming To My House (w.m. Irving Berlin) Walter Van Brunt

1943 There's A Girl In The Heart Of Maryland (w. Ballard MacDonald m. Harry Carroll) Walter Van Brunt

2022 Curse Of An Aching Heart (w. Henry Fink m. Al Piantadosi) Will Oakland

2036 Peg O' My Heart (w. Alfred Bryan m. Fred Fisher) Walter Van Brunt

2114 Southern Dream Patrol (by Franz Mahl) New York Military Band

2258 I Miss You Most Of All (w.m. Joseph McCarthy Sr & James V. Monaco) Manuel Romain

2263 Peg O' My Heart (w. Alfred Bryan m. Fred Fisher) violin solo Charles D'Almaine released May 1914

2264 Love's Own Sweet Song (w. C. C. S. Cushing & E. P. Heath m. Emmerich Kalman) Elizabeth Spencer & Irving Gillette

2270 Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (w. A. Seymour Brown m. Albert Gumble) Al Campbell & Irving Gillette

2344 On The Shores Of Italy (w.m. Al Piantadosi, Dave Oppenheim & Jack Glogau) Albert C. Campbell & Irving Gillette

2375 This Is The Life (w.m. Irving Berlin) Billy Murray

2395 When You Play In The Game Of Love (w. Joe Goodwin m. Al Piantadosi) Manuel Romain

2404 Something Seems Tingle-Ingling (w. Otto Harbach m. Rudolf Friml) Walter Van Brunt

2428 When The Angelus Is Ringing (w. Joe Young m. Bert Grant) Irving Gillette

2448 Roll Them Cotton Bales (w. James W. Johnson m. J. Rosamond Johnson)< Premier Quartette

2468 Aba Daba Honeymoon (w.m. Arthur Fields & Walter Donovan) Collins & Harlan

2507 I Want To Go Back To Michigan, Down On The Farm (w.m. Irving Berlin) Billy Murray

2513 He's A Rag Picker (w.m. Irving Berlin) Peerless Quartette

2530 Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts For Soldiers (w. R. P. Weston m. Herman E. Darewski) Billy Murray

2542 My Melancholy Baby (w. George A. Norton m. Ernie Burnett) Walter Scanlan

2547 When You Wore A Tulip (w. Jack Mahoney m. Percy Wenrich) Walter Van Brunt

2548 Goodbye Girls I'm Through (w. John Golden m. Ivan Caryll) Owen J. McCormack

2561 On The 5:15 (w. Stanley Murphy m. Henry I. Marshall) Pete Murray

2580 I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier (w. Alfred Bryan m. Al Piantadosi) Helen Clark

2586 Little House Upon The Hill (w. Ballard MacDonald & Joe Goodwin m. Harry Puck) Manuel Romain

2607 Play A Simple Melody (w.m. Irving Berlin) Mary Carson & Walter Van Brunt

2628 What Is Love (Irving Berlin) Elizabeth Spencer & chorus

2658 There's A Little Spark Of Love Still Burning (w. Joe McCarthy m. Fred Fisher) Walter Van Brunt

2663 Alabama Jubilee (w.m. Jack Yellen & George L. Cobb) Collins & Harlan

2687 Hello Frisco! (w. Gene Buck m. Louis A. Hirsch) Harvey Hindermyer & Helen Clark

2693 By Heck (w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. S. R. Henry) Jaudus Society Orchestra

2700 My Little Girl (w. Sam M. Lewis & William Dillon m. Albert Von Tilzer) Arthur C. Lichty

2749 When I Leave The World Behind (w.m. Irving Berlin) Glen Ellison

2759 They Didn't Believe Me (w. Herbert Reynolds m. Jerome Kern) Gladys Rice & Walter Van Brunt

2773 Keep The Home Fires Burning (w. Lena Guilbert Ford m. Ivor Novello) Frederick J Wheeler

2776 When Old Bill Bailey Plays The Ukulele (w.m. Charles McCarron & Nat Vincent) Billy Murray

2797 Molly Dear It's You I'm After (w. Frank Wood m. Henry E. Pether) Walter Van Brunt

2814 M-O-T-H-E-R (w. Howard Johnson m. Theodore F. Morse) George Wilton Ballard

2819 Just Try To Picture Me (Back Home In Tennessee)(w. William Jerome m. Walter Donaldson) George Wilton Ballard

2835 There's A Long Long Trail (w. Stoddard King m. Zo Elliott) George Wilton Ballard

2839 I Love A Piano (w.m. Irving Berlin) Walter Van Brunt

2842 I've Been Floating Down The Old Green River (w. Bert Kalmar m. Joe Cooper) Billy Murray

2877 Memories (w. Gustave Kahn m. Egbert Van Alstyne) Burton Lenihan

2897 I Can Dance With Everybody But My Wife (w. Joseph Cawthorn & John Golden m. John Golden) Billy Murray

2931 Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday On Saturday Night? (w. Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young m. George W. Meyer) Billy Murray

2942 Are You From Dixie? (w.m. Jack Yellen & George L. Cobb) Billy Murray

2957 Baby Shoes (w. Joe Goodwin & Ed Rose m. Al Piantadosi) Elizabeth Spencer

Continued on Blue Amberol Records Part 2

List of record labels