Andrew, aren't you going to post Bird at the Waterfall on Youtube? There are other songs by her on the Internet, but not that one.
Jim Nichol On Jul 31, 2011, at 4:48 PM, Andrew Baron wrote: > Thanks Loran for your investigative footwork and posting some of your > findings. > > I would love to know more about Sybil Sanderson Fagan as I've been fascinated > by her whistling since the early '80s when I got my first record that > featured her. Sometimes you find her name spelled as Sibyl. > > From the moment I first heard Sybil Sanderson Fagan, I couldn't believe my > ears. I have a few of her records on different labels, but my first (and I > think her most virtuosic performance -- though I haven't heard all her > records) was "The Bird at the Waterfall" on Edison 80629-R. > > I too was curious about her and like you found almost nothing meaningful on > the Internet. Coincidentally I also discovered the studio photo with the > W-250 on a more recent attempt to learn more about her, just within the past > week. > > I have an interesting tidbit about her that isn't documented anywhere. About > 15 years ago I was attending an SCBWI retreat and I had copies of my Edison > phonograph pencil drawing for sale, along with a couple of my pop-up books. > A woman attending the event, upon seeing my Edison phonograph poster, > surprised me by saying "my piano teacher recorded for Edison when she was > young". Of course I had to ask who her piano teacher was and she replied > "Sybil Chapek". I had no idea who Chapek was but came back with "I'm aware > of an Edison recording artist named Sybil Sanderson Fagan. She was an > amazing whistler". > > My new friend Charleen seemed very surprised and said "Yes, that's her!". > Came to find out that Sybil was her piano teacher when she was a girl in the > 1950s, and Charleen's family were close friends with the Chapeks for many > years. Charleen's younger brother took violin lessons from Sybil's husband > Joe. > > Some time later Charleen came up to Santa Fe with some of her family that > were visiting over the holidays and I played "The Bird at the Waterfall" on > my A-250, and several other Fagan sides for them on this and other suitable > machines. They all seemed to quite enjoy it, and Charleen recalled hearing > Sybil's whistling before when she was a girl. She couldn't recall if Sybil > played a record for her or actually demonstrated her technique. On that > visit I learned among other things that Sybil had "enormous callouses on her > pinky's". > > I've been trying to reach her lately to learn more but haven't been able to > get through for some time now. Coincidentally, I just tried to contact her > by email last week to try to learn exactly some of the information you dug up > (dates, places, etc.). So thank you so much for posting what you learned > about Sybil. > > Joe Chapek, when a young man, played in an outfit called the "Chicago > Businessmen's Orchestra". Joe Chapek's father (also named Joseph, born about > 1860) was apparently the leader of a small orchestra in Czechoslovakia. > > My last communication from Charleen was a package in the mail containing > sheet music, with a note that said they had belonged to Sybil. There are > about six orchestra scores, the sheet music in each being for a different > instrument in the orchestra, with penciled notes, crossed out sections (all > pieces of music from the same piece having the same sections X'd out), > Sybil's name (sometimes appearing to be her signature and on the back of some > pieces of sheet music simply written as "Miss Fagan", and other notes like > "Bird Cadenza", also written in pencil at specific places on the sheet music. > > To my joy, the first set of sheet music was for "Bird at the Waterfall". > This could be the original score for the Edison recording. Do you have any > idea if she recorded this number on any other label, and is her complete > discography available in one place? I've only been able to find bits and > pieces on line, and nothing in Rust's Entertainment Discographies. > > One last thing -- I have scans I made from Charleen's family photo album, and > of "Jos. H. Chapek's String Quartette" (the senior Joe Chapek, in a formal > studio photo). From the photo album there was just one photo of Sybil, at > her and Joe's residence, taken some time in the 1960s. I also have had for > perhaps 25 years the ca. 1916 - 1917 Edison publication "Composers and > Artists Whose Art is Recreated by Edison's New Art". Sybil appears on the > lower left corner of a right page, several pages from the end of the book, > along with five other artists including Arthur Fields (Cal Stewart, Lewis > James, Fred Van Eps and Walter Van Brunt all appear on the facing page). In > the photo, I've always imagined that Sibyl (as it's spelled in this book) > looks something like a bird. > > Any further information on her would be greatly appreciated! > > Best, > Andy Baron > Santa Fe, NM > > On Jul 30, 2011, at 3:01 PM, Loran Hughes wrote: > >> Earlier this week, someone on FaceBook posted an artist photo of a young >> woman, fingers in mouth, standing next to an Edison W-250. After a little >> discussion about the machine, the question came up about the history of the >> artist. Googling brings up little more than discographies, so I dusted off >> my research cap and pieced together some facts about her life. It may be >> interesting to some. >> >> Sybil Sanderson Fagan was born May 27, 1895 in Huntington, Indiana. Sometime >> between 1900 and 1910, the family moved to Springfield Ohio. In an interview >> printed in "The Music Trades" in 1919, she stated that she was named after >> the opera singer, Sybil Sanderson. She began whistling at the age of 5 and >> later, when a professional whistler visited her home, she decided that she >> could whistle a little better than the average person. She also studied >> piano. >> >> She had a short - and odd - marriage to a New York playwright, Eugene B. >> Bardin, in 1920. According to Fagan's divorce petition, she had no sooner >> met Bardin than he proposed marriage, both threatening to kill or drug her >> if she didn't. She inferred Bardin put a drug into her tea on Feb 22nd and >> they were married that same day. She immediately boarded a train for her >> parent's home in Ohio, then sued for divorce in June. The divorce was >> finalized on September 2, 1920. >> >> The 1930 census shows Fagan living in a Manhattan boarding house. Singer >> George W. Ballard and his wife were neighbors in the same building. >> >> On January 6, 1932, Fagan married violinist Joseph E. Chapek. She died on >> September 5, 1974 in Barrington, Illinois and buried in the Evergreen >> Cemetery in Barrington. They were married 42 years. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Phono-L mailing list >> http://phono-l.org >> > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
