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Al Friedman Orch. - Manhattan Mary, 1927

1,678 views · Published 8 October 2016 · 4:00 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2016 · Music

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Al Friedman & His Orch. - Manhattan Mary, Fox-Trot from „Manhattan Mary” (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson) with Vocal Chorus by The Rollickers, Edison Diamond, 1927 (USA)

NOTE: “Manhattan Mary” was a title song in the 1927 Broadway musical show, and was performed on stage of Apollo Theatre by actress Ona Munson – better known as a first performer of two great Jazz Age hits: Tea For Two in Vincent Youmans’ “No No, Nanette”(1925)  and You’re The Cream In My Coffee in DeSylva-Brown-Henderson production “Hold Everything!” (1927)..  

NOTE: Al Friedman’s dance band seems to have belonged to the stables of the Edison Diamond company, during best years of the Jazz Age. It also appears on Cameo records  - in You Tube available is Al Friedman’s Cameo recording from 1927 - to desappear shotly thereafter in turmoil of the Great Depression.
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The slideshow is fully devoted to the art of the Russian designer and cartoonist Roman Tirtoff (who also used a nickname Erté). Born in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tirtoff – a declared homosexual - still in his sophopmore years emigrated to Paris, where in the 1920s he became a designer for the Folies Bergère revues. After he designed costumes for Diagilev’s Ballets Russes, insanely adored by the Parisian monde– Erté became influential fugure in the artistic milieu of  Left Bank society. Sharing his time between Paris, New York and Hollywood – where he designed costumes for silent movie stars, including Nazimova, Louise Brooks, Mary Davies or Ramon Novarro in “Ben Hur” – Erté became one of the top names in Art Deco movement on both sides of the Atlantic. In Broadway, many a theatres competed to get him as designer for their revues (“Manhattan Mary” was one of the musicals designed by Erté) and Harper’s Bazaar had him until 1937 as the main cartoonist with over 200 covers designed by him. Erté continued working throughout his life, designing revues, ballets, and operas. After a couple of post-WW2 decades - when his sophisticated art seemed to wane, being mercifully confronted with the wave of the abstract expressionist and op-art movement - he had a much lauded comeback in the late 1960s, with the Art Deco revival. His delicate figurines in sophisticated poses and glamorous designs are instantly recognizable, and his artistic visions still influence the fashions into the 21st century.

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