by Daniel T. Neely
I’m a fan of the music of the Flanagan Brothers. The music was great, of course, but what I find really interesting is the range of things they recorded. For the first few years following their first records in 1921, all they recorded were dance tunes. But around 1926, they started to do comic sketches. These records are engaging and funny, but some of them tell a story that speaks about Irish New York in a fascinating way. One such track is “Kelly’s House Party.” Recorded in May 1928 for Columbia Records, it’s a sketch that takes the Flanagans to a party. However, it turns out to be more much than that.
The track opens with the sound of Mike snoring away and his older brother Joe trying to rouse him. Turns out there’s a party down at “Kelly’s” that Joe wants to attend. However, Mike’s in no mood – he’s sick from having “eaten so much oatmeal he could hardly stir about.” This oatmeal binge of his was serious business, as it even seems to have affected his sense of time. “One day last week” Mike groans in true W.C. Fields fashion, “I didn’t [get a] wink a sleep for three nights.”
Joe’s keen to make it over to Kelly’s, so he dangles the cure – the promise of a couple bottles of “Hennessy Three Star” (what today would be “Hennessy V.S.”- uh, hello prohibition? ) – and Mike’s demeanor changes precipitously. Learning Kelly’s place is “just downstairs,” Mike drops his act and looks hopefully toward the possibility of some “Irish dames with Irish bacon.” His newfound exuberance results in a verse of “Where the River Shannon Flows,” with Joe gently chiding his sodden ruse in the background. “Why, you’re not stick at all, – all you need is a little nourishment.” As if the “oatmeal” wasn’t enough.
It’s an interesting choice of song on Mike’s part. On the one hand, it’s an unremarkable selection, as “Where the River Shannon Flows” was an immensely popular song in Irish America and recorded several times, most famously by the great John McCormack. But there’s an interesting parallel here: the song was composed in 1904 by James I. Russell for a vaudeville act James had with his brother John in the late 19th and early 20th centuries called the Russell Brothers. The Russell Brothers were perhaps most renowned for a sketch called “Maids to Order,” in which they bickered, dressed as Irish servant girls. This sort of comic sketch was the basis for Steve Porter and Len Spencer’s 1901 recording "Backyard conversation between two [jealous] Irish washerwomen,” which was issued several times over the years. That record and the Russell Brothers “Maids to Order” sketch, were stylistic antecedents for the kind of skit featured on this and other Flanagan Brothers records.
The brothers then arrive at Kelly’s place, with Mike singing “Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?,” the widely recorded British music hall song that was adapted to the American stage for the 1909 musical The Jolly Bachelors, before slipping into a parody of the already comic song "Mick McGilligan's Daughter, Mary Ann.” “She’s cross eyed and she’s lazy,” Mike sings, “she drives the whole world crazy!” It seems Mike’s condition has much improved from earlier.
Next, we hear banter and men and women laughing. Joe calls to Nellie for a song, and she coquettishly gives a couple of lines from the 1926 hit song “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” before Joe cuts her off, telling her to “gargle your throat with scissors, it’s good for your voice” in a good natured way. Then, they turn to someone named “Murphy,” who sounds as though he had been gargling with scissors, for something to “stir up” the party. He tells Joe “just to be sociable, I’ll fight the best man in the house.” Wisely, Joe passes and then turns to one “Jim Egan” for a few steps. Guided by Joe’s accordion playing, he delivers, his footwork augmented by a wood block (perhaps a conceit for the recording process). The track concludes with a bit of appreciation from all assembled, who shout “oh, let’s give three cheers for Kelly! Kelly from the Emerald Isle!”
So, what was going on with this record? Were these partygoers real. If so, how did they relate? “Even though this recording was a studio creation, l’m sure it was based on real life parties they had attended,” Kathy Loerzel, Mike’s daughter explains. “Parties were always in plentiful supply growing up with my mom and dad.” Loerzel recalled that “Kelly,” our party’s host, was a reference to James “Smelly” Kelly, one of New York City’s unique characters. A New York City transit worker with a great gift of smell, his job was to go into the subway and use his nose to uncover hazards such as gas leaks. “Uncle Jimmy” married Mike and Joe’s sister Margaret in 1922 and lived in the Bronx across from Yankee Stadium. He used to take Mike’s kids to the roof of his building to watch the games!
Loerzel also recalled that Nellie was Mike and Joe’s sister, and although she couldn’t quite tell if it was Nellie’s voice on the track or Mike doing an impression of her, Nellie Flanagan was surely the individual being referred to. And since this is the case, it leads me to wonder if the “cross eyed and lazy” Mary Ann in the “McGilligan” song was a reference to Mary Ann Flanagan, another of the family’s sisters?
And what about Murphy? Loerzel recalls that “Dad used to speak about playing at boxing matches in The City in between bouts. They would play in the ring between the featherweights, bantam, etc. He knew a lot of the fighters in their heyday.” A boxing historian might have keener insight, but Eileen Pasquini, Mike’s grand daughter wonders if the man’s voice belonged to the boxer “Harlem” Tommy Murphy? Murphy was no longer fighting in 1928, but he was surely a celebrity in the Irish community and perhaps a friend of Mike & Joe’s. An appearance from such a figure might have helped boosted sales.
And after a bit of digging, it’s crystal clear that Jim Egan was more commonly known as James Egan, a well known step dancer in NYC, who also sang, made a few records, and was the proprietor of a music shop at 630 Columbus Avenue. Interestingly enough, advertisements for his shop mentioned Flanagan Brothers records from time to time, but if we take a deeper dive here we learn that both the Flanagans and Egan recorded for Columbia in May 1928, and that the matrix numbers (or, the numbers record companies etched into the shellac that show the order in which the records were made) for these recordings are in sequential order. This puts the Flanagans and Egan in the studio on the day, each recording for themselves and then coming together for “Kelly’s House Party”:
James Egan
109356: “Al Smith” (Co 33259)
109357: “Little Annie Rooney” (Co 33259)
109358: “The Daughter Of Rosie O’Grady” (Co 33354)
Flanagan Brothers
109360: “You Can't Keep A Good Man Down” (Co 33263)
109361: “Bells Of Athenry-Hornpipe” (Co 33263)
109362: “Kelly's House Party” (Co 33265)
109363: “McIntyre's; Miss Ramsey” (Co 33265)
This is just a brilliant connection. It shows how alive and connected Irish music was in New York in those days. Was Egan’s inclusion intended to help promote Egan’s shop? Or maybe to promote his records, which were probably released around the same time as the Flanagans’ records? Or perhaps they had him dance to acknowledge the dancers, who at the time were not commonly included on recordings. We might never know the answer to these questions, but who knows? As we’ve seen, there’s a lot to take away from a recording like this!
Until next time!
