Russell Hunting
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Russell Hunting (b. 1865) was a North American entertainer, pioneer sound recordist, and an influential figure in the early years of the recorded music industry.
Hunting became one of the early stars of the humorous talking record, beginning in 1892, with his Michael Casey series of Irish comedy skits. Here, the multi-talented Hunting, with his trademark "of New York and, uh, Paris" announcement for the Columbia Phonograph Company, performs all of the main speaking parts in this Casey installment.
Russell Hunting was imprisoned in 1896 for making recordings of "indecent" jokes. Although he used various pseudonyms, such as "Michael Casey" when selling his recordings on Coney Island, his voice was very distinct.
As early as 1901, Hunting had gone to England to employ the valuable experience that he had gained in working in all the recording laboratories of the United States. Well known to owners of all kinds of talking machines for his Casey series, his endorsement of a product was considered an advantage. Until shortly before this, Hunting had been the editor of the Phonoscope. At his arrival in England, he was made recording director for Edison-Bell, and later founded his Russell Hunting Company.
[edit] Fact
- In 1898, Hunting recorded his popular version of baseball poem Casey at the Bat (Columbia Graphophone Grand, #9649). After that, his popular Casey format was often imitated. When Hunting had moved to England, James H. White recorded Casey material for Edison Records (circa 1901). Then, in 1905, John Kaiser became the voice of Casey for Edison.
