Van and Schenck were popular American entertainers in the 1910s and 1920s: Gus Van (born August Von Glahn, August 12, 1886 – March 12, 1968),

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

, and Joe Schenck (pronounced "skenk"; born Joseph Thuma Schenck, (June 2, 1891– June 28, 1930),

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

. They were

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

stars and made appearances in the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...

of 1918, 1919, 1920 and 1921. They made numerous

phonograph records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...

for the Emerson,

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

, and Columbia record companies.

History

With Schenck on piano, the duo sang and performed

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

routines. Van was especially adept at dialect humor, and could imitate any number of regional and continental accents. One of the team's typical novelty hits was ''

Pastafazoola "Pastafazoola" (also known as "Pastafazula") is a 1927 novelty song written by the early 20th-century American songwriting duo of Van and Schenck. Borrowing heavily from the Italian standard "Funiculì, Funiculà", the song tells of the masterful f ...

,'' in praise of Italian food and sung in the appropriate style. Van's hearty baritone and Schenck's high tenor harmonized well, and the team became known as "the pennant-winning battery of songland." They performed on

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

shows and appeared in early talking motion pictures, including several musical shorts—in both

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

and MGM Movietone—and one feature, the MGM film ''

They Learned About Women ''They Learned About Women'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code sports drama musical film directed by Jack Conway and Sam Wood, and starring Van and Schenck in their final film appearance together. Although predominantly a black and white film, the ...

'' (1930). During the first world war, they recorded humorous songs such as "I Don't Want to Get Well" which told the tale of a wounded soldier who did not want to recover, as he was comfortable in hospital and in love with a nurse. After Schenck's death in 1930 of heart disease, Van continued to perform as a solo artist on stage, screen, and radio. He appeared in many New York-produced

Soundies Soundies are three-minute American musical films, and each short displays a performance. The shorts were produced between 1940 and 1946 and have been referred to as "precursors to music videos" by UCLA. Soundies exhibited a variety of musical gen ...

in 1941. Schenck was buried in The

Cemetery of the Evergreens The Cemetery of the Evergreens, also called Evergreen Cemetery, is a non-denominational rural cemetery along the Cemetery Belt in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. It was incorporated in 1849, not long after the passage of New York's Rural Cemetery ...

in Brooklyn.

Selected discography

*"It's Been a Long, Long Time Since I've Been Home" (1916) *"Hawaiian Sunshine" (1916) *"For Me and My Gal" (1917) *"Yaddie Kaddie Kiddie Kaddie Koo" (1917) *"Huckleberry Finn" (1917) *"That's How You Can Tell They're Irish" (1917) *"My Little China Doll" (1917) *"Mother, May I Go in to Swim?" (1917) *"Dance and Grow Thin" (1917) *"There's Something Nice about the South" (1917) *"Far Away in Honolulu" (1917) *"Mulberry Rose" (1917) *"The Ragtime Volunteers are Off to War" (1917) *"I Don't Want to Get Well" (1917)Paas, John Roger (2014). America Sings of War: American Sheet Music from World War I. Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 138, . *"Southern Gals" (1917) *"I Miss the Old Folks Now" (1917) *"

In the Land O' Yamo Yamo In the Land O' Yamo Yamo is a World War I song written in 1917. Joe McCarthy wrote the lyrics and Fred Fisher composed the music. McCarthy & Fisher, Inc. produced the song in New York, New York. On the cover of the sheet music is a man playing th ...

" (1917) *"Where Do They Get 'Em and How Do They Get 'Em?" (1918) *"My Mind's Made Up to Marry Carolina" (1918) *"Ragtime Moses Old-Time Bomboshay" (1918) *"I Always Think I'm Up in Heaven" (1918) *"Tackin 'Em Down" (1918) *"

They Were All Out of Step But Jim "They Were All Out of Step But Jim" is an American World War I war song. It rose to popularity in 1918 when released by Billy Murray, charting at #3 in the United States. Description The song depicts a mother and father of a soldier gloating t ...

" (1918) *"Why Do They Call Them Babies?" (1918) *"You'll Always Find A Lot of Sunshine in My Old Kentucky Home" (1918) *"You'll Find Old Dixieland in France" (1918) *"Oh, How She Can Sing" (1919) *"Mandy" (1919) *"Open Up The Golden Gates To Dixieland" (1919) *"Sweet Kisses" (1919) *"They're All Sweeties" (1919) *"After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It" (1920) *"All The Boys Love Mary" (1920) *"In Napoli" (1920) *"You Tell 'em" (1920) *"Ain't We Got Fun" (1921) *"Ain't You Coming Out Malinda?" (1921) *"All She'd Say Was Umh Hum" (1921) *"O'Reilly (I'm Ashamed of You)" (1921) *"She Walks in Her Husband's Sleep" (1921) *"Sweet Love" (1921) *"What's A Gonna Be Next?" (1921) *"Who's Been Around" (1921) *"Carolina in The Morning" (1923) *"Steamboat Sal" (1923) *"You Tell Her-I Stutter" (1923) *"Away Down East in Maine" (1923) *"Take 'em To The Door Blues" (1925) *"That Red Head Gal" (1926) *"Magnolia" (1927) *"

Stay Out of the South Harold Dixon was an American composer, lyricist and publisher. Published compositions * "Davy of the Navy, You're a Wonderful Boy" (1918) * "Oh Henry! Mammy Surely Paddled Me" (1918) * "There'll Be a Hot-Time (When the Boys Are Mustered Out)" ...

" (1929)

References

External links

Van & Schenck on vintage-recordings.com
–

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fid ...

of two of their early recordings * * * * *
Collected Works of Van & SchenckCollected Works of Van & Schenck (2nd edition)

Van and Schenck at Archeophone Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van And Schenck Vaudeville performers Ziegfeld Follies American musical duos