DESCRIPTION:
The New York Chapter of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections presents its October 2016 program:

FORGOTTEN CROONER: THE EXTRAORDINARY AND SHORT-LIVED CAREER OF RUSS COLUMBO
Presented by Dennis Rooney

Born in Camden, NJ, the twelfth child of Italian immigrants, Ruggiero Eugenio di Rodolfo Colombo (Jan. 14, 1908 – Sept. 2, 1934) made his professional debut as a violinist calling himself Russ Columbo. He joined Gus Arnheim’s Orchestra and appeared in motion pictures by 1928, first in two-reelers. At the time of his death, he just completed his fifth feature film and first leading role in Wake Up and Dream. Columbo’s voice was essentially lyric and he disliked the term crooner, yet he was inevitably categorized as such. For most people, “crooner” begins and ends with Bing Crosby, but Columbo got the name first, and in the course of the “Battle of the Baritones”, influenced his rival. By 1931, he enjoyed great success in network radio (nicknamed the “Vocal Valentino” and “Romeo of Radio”), which led to a Victor recording contract. The thirty sides he recorded for that label included his signature tune, “You Call It Madness But I Call It Love”, and his original compositions “Prisoner of Love” and “Too Beautiful For Words”. His death was the result of the unexpected discharge of an antique dueling pistol during a visit to a friend. He was struck above the left eye and died six hours later. His death was ruled accidental. His name rapidly fell into obscurity as Crosby’s career surged. In this presentation, Columbo’s artistry is illustrated by recordings and excerpts from his films.

DENNIS D. ROONEY is Co-Chairman of ARSC’s New York Chapter. Since 1996 he has served on the ARSC Technical Committee, and reviews books and recordings regularly for the ARSC JOURNAL. A professional career embracing journalism, classical record production, broadcasting and narration has been accompanied by over six decades as a record collector. Discs from his collection are frequently used in CD historical reissues. As both a producer, and Archival and Catalogue Exploitation Consultant to the classical recording industry, he developed and contributed to important classical reissue lines for Sony Classical, Universal Classics and Vox. His writings on music have regularly appeared in THE STRAD for more than thirty years. He has also contributed to BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, MUSICAL TIMES, CLASSIC RECORD COLLECTOR, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE and musicalamerica.com.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR RECORDED SOUND COLLECTIONS (www.arsc-audio.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals—everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.

Videographer: Asaf Blasberg