"The Laughing Policeman" is a music hall song recorded by British artist Charles Penrose , initially published under the pseudonym Charles Jolly in 1922. It is an adaptation of " The Laughing Song " first recorded in 1890 by American singer George W. Johnson with the same tune and form, but the subject matter was changed from a "dandy darky" to a policeman. Both "The Laughing Policeman" and "The Laughing Song" were highly popular songs in their times, and "The Laughing Policeman" remained popular in later decades as a children song.
40-415: (Redirected from Laughing Policeman ) The Laughing Policeman may refer to: "The Laughing Policeman" (song) , a 1920s music-hall song by Charles Jolly (Charles Penrose) The Laughing Policeman (novel) , a 1968 detective novel by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö The Laughing Policeman (film) , a 1973 film based on the 1968 novel The Laughing Policeman ,
80-534: A 1970s British children's television series starring Deryck Guyler Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title The Laughing Policeman . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Laughing_Policeman&oldid=892177178 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
120-643: A Berliner subsidiary in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1901. E. Berliner Gramophone of Canada was established in 1899. It was first located in the Aqueduct Street building of Northern Electric in Montreal, and commenced marketing records and gramophones the following year. In 1904, the company received its charter as the Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada. Early recordings were imported from masters recorded in
160-554: A machine called the Zonophone that seemed an exact replica of the Gramophone. Furious, Berliner cut off all supply to New York, which proved a fatal error. Seaman countersued for breach of contract, and in June 1900 the court granted an injunction against Berliner and United States Gramophone Company. Though he would attempt in several proceedings afterward to have the injunction overturned, it
200-414: A policeman, he's never known to frown, and everybody says he's the happiest man in town. Berliner Gramophone Berliner Gramophone – its discs identified with an etched-in "E. Berliner's Gramophone" as the logo – was the first (and for nearly ten years the only) disc record label in the world. Its records were played on Emile Berliner 's invention, the Gramophone, which competed with
240-469: A popular figure in Leicester . In June 1922, Penrose made the first recording of this song, which was released on Regal Records (cat. G-7816. He released the song under the pseudonym of Charles Jolly. This version only had modest sales, and the version more usually heard was recorded on 22 April 1926 and released on Columbia Records (4014 and later FB 1184) under his own name. The version became one of
280-548: A single machine or disc. Back in Washington, D.C., Berliner tried again under the name of the United States Gramophone Company and began to manufacture machines and record 7-inch hard rubber discs in 1892 and in 1894 (though commercially available plates would only appear since 1894). Some celluloid discs were also made. In 1895, hard rubber was replaced by a shellac compound, which in various formulations remained
320-411: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Laughing Policeman (song) In 1890, George W. Johnson started his recording career in the fledgling phonograph industry, and one of the songs he recorded was "The Laughing Song". The song features Johnson in the persona of a "dandy darky" who laughs in time to the music. An early song where
360-562: Is remembered today, having sold over a million copies in total. The popularity of the song continued in later decades as a children song. It was a staple on the BBC Light Programme 's Children's Favourites in the 50s and 60s, and it continued to be a frequently requested recording on its successor radio show Junior Choice on BBC Radio 1 in the 1970s. It remained one of the recordings most-frequently included in children's choice compilations and Radio 2 annual broadcasts even into
400-649: Is roughly contemporary with the exploitation of the cylinder medium, though it took longer for Berliner to commence production of his discs in America. Although based in Washington, D.C., Berliner's first joint venture was undertaken in Germany in 1889 with the manufacturer Kämmer & Reinhardt [ de ] , a maker of toys. The Kämmer & Reinhardt machine utilized 5" hard rubber discs, and some machines and discs were exported to England. An 1890 recording of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star , likely made by Berliner himself,
440-674: Is the oldest disc in the BBC Library or in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and was once touted as the oldest commercial disc in the world, though this has since been disproven. The Kämmer & Reinhardt venture did not last very long, though just how long is unclear. In the early 1890s, Berliner attempted to found his first American company, the American Gramophone Company, in New York City, but it fell apart before issuing
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#1733106725006480-421: Is thought to have become the best-selling phonograph ever recorded by 1894, and it was claimed to have sold over 50,000 copies by the late-1890s. Such sales figure was very high for its time given that it was not possible to mechanically duplicate a record in the early years of the recording industry, and a singer had to record the same song four or five copies at a time over and over again, meaning that he recorded
520-878: The Boston Fadettes ) ·Berliner 967 (" La Donna è Mobile ", sung by F. A. Giannini (sic)), commonly considered as the first serious opera record ·Berliner 932X ("Viva il Vino", sung by Ferruccio Giannini ) ·Berliner 196 ("Whistling coon", sung by George W. Johnson ) ·Berliner 404 ("The Laughing song", sung by G. W. Johnson) ·Berliner 930Y and 0572 (" Miserere ", sung by Ferruccio Giannini) ·Berliner 940 (" Drill ye tarries, drill ", sung by George J. Gaskin ) ·Berliner 3312 ("Blue Bells of Scotland", trombone solo by Arthur Pryor ) ·Berliner 230 ("Commodore polka", cornet solo by W. Paris Chambers ) ·Berliner 3900 (" Carnival of Venice ", saxophone solo by Jean Moeremans ) ·Berliner 62 ("Romance for Trombone", trombone solo with band accompaniment) While these were not
560-474: The wax cylinder–playing phonographs that were more common in the 1890s and could record. Emile Berliner received U.S. patents 372,786 and 382,790 on the Gramophone on November 8, 1887, and May 15, 1888, respectively. This was before the organization of the North American Phonograph Company , which first produced cylinder recordings for public use, and thus Berliner 's flat disc record
600-410: The 1890s. Documenting the output of American Berliner has proved a daunting task, as original records are scarce collector's items and the company employed a system of block numbering that seems to make little sense. Although referred to commonly as "Berliner matrices", they are not true matrix numbers, but catalog numbers concerned with preserving the same number for each selection even if a given title
640-459: The 21st century. In 1955, Stikkan Anderson gave the song lyrics in Swedish , as "Den skrattande polisen" ("The laughing police officer"), which was recorded and released by Ove Flodin. A dance mix was made, released on a 10-inch 45rpm disc, resembling an old-style 78rpm record, with the original version on the other side. Bernard Cribbins recorded a parody version called 'Giggling Gertie
680-526: The Berliner subsidiary in England which eventually took the name of Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd.; in 1931, this was one of the companies that was folded into EMI. That same year, Gaisberg established Berliner's German subsidiary as Deutsche Grammophon; this was the longest-lasting record company in history under its original charter, until finally being acquired by Universal Music Group in 1999. Gaisberg also founded
720-480: The Laughing Traffic Warden', with the laughter provided by Miriam Margolyes . The song describes a fat jolly policeman who cannot stop laughing and has a chorus in which the sound of laughter is made in a sustained semi musical way by the singer. The first verse is: I know a fat old policeman, he's always on our street, a fat and jolly red faced man he really is a treat. He's too kind for
760-495: The National Gramophone Company. Master recordings were made onto zinc plates, which were then electroplated and a negative-image "mother" made from them to stamp discs. A major reversal of Berliner's fortunes occurred when the mastering plant in Washington, D.C. burned down on September 29, 1897, destroying a hundred unissued masters and all of his record manufacturing equipment. Within a few months, however, Berliner
800-641: The United States until a recording studio in Montreal was established in 1906. The Berliner name as a record label lasted longest in Canada. In 1918, Emile Berliner's son Herbert Berliner left Berliner Gram-O-Phone and founded the Compo Company . Herbert's younger brother, Edgar, continued as chief executive of Berliner Gram-o-phone. In 1924, Canadian Berliner was bought out by USA's Victor and became Victor Talking Machine Company of Canada. Emile Berliner died in 1929 –
840-455: The case of block 900 (which was meant to be for popular and international songs, only to be completely scrapped and refocused on opera excerpts, granting most matrix numbers to opera singer Ferruccio Giannini ). A simple new more or less sequential numbering system was started in March 1899, in which every number had a leading zero (never used previously) and the letter suffix, when present, denoted
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#1733106725006880-576: The category, e.g., "A" for marching band, "F" for banjo, "N" for vocal quartet. Berliner's foreign matrices employed entirely different strategies, and many to most of those have been documented by discographer Alan Kelly . In 2014, the EMI Archive Trust announced an online initiative that would collect information on Berliner records worldwide. They have what appears to be the largest concentration of Berliner records in one place, numbering close to 18,000 items and largely collected by Fred Gaisberg in
920-560: The dissolution of RCA in 1986, the buildings have been turned into a multi-use office/commercial development, in which the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner , is documenting the history of the man, his company and the building complex, occupies part of the space. The historic Studio Victor located there was until 2014 an active recording studio. In 2015 the La hacienda creativ used the studio for recordings until 2021. The range of material on Berliner records
960-628: The early years of the company. Another large concentration of Canadian Berliners are held by the National Library of Canada , which has set up the Virtual Gramophone on the web to provide access to them, though their focus is primarily on Canadian artists. There is a notable collection of Berliner records and gramophones housed at the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner, located in Montreal , QC, in one of
1000-418: The end of the decade, cylinder record makers began a transition to higher speeds, mainly to produce louder-playing cylinders that could better compete with the considerably louder gramophone – cylinders had usually been heard through individual stethoscope -like listening tubes, rather than through a horn that yielded relatively feeble sound. A new standard cylinder speed of 160 rpm was soon established, reducing
1040-578: The lead in the American disc record business, while by 1906 Seaman's Zonophone was on a receiver's index. In 1895, comic Billy Golden introduced Berliner to Fred Gaisberg , who, with Barry Peter Owen – a trusted associate within the National Gramophone Company – helped to establish Berliner's overseas interests. Although the German partnership with Kämmer & Reinhardt had long since ended, Berliner still held patents in Germany and England. In 1898, Owen founded
1080-408: The maximum playing time to a little over two minutes and losing an advantage over Berliner's discs. As the popularity of the gramophone began to pick up, Berliner found himself having to deal with infringers on his patents. In 1898, Berliner shut down at least two firms that were leeching off his business models and, in the first case, products. In 1899, Berliner discovered that Frank Seaman was behind
1120-504: The melody of "The Laughing Song" as well as the same hook of using laughter in the chorus, but changed the lyrics to be about a policeman, recording it under the title of "The Laughing Policeman". The composition of the song is, however, credited entirely to Billie Grey, a pseudonym of Penrose's second wife Mabel. It is thought that the character of the Laughing Policeman was inspired by real-life police officer PC John 'Tubby' Stephens,
1160-463: The most successful songs of the period, with 120,000 copies sold by 1933. "The Laughing Policeman" was also reissued in 1935. Penrose released another version of the song with Kaye Connor in 1929 titled "The Laughing Policeman Up to Date" (Columbia 5532), and that song sold 91,000 copies. Penrose and his wife wrote numerous other laughing songs ( The Laughing Major , Curate , Steeplechaser , Typist , Lover , etc.), but only "The Laughing Policeman"
1200-429: The old RCA Victor factories. Some of the notable artists who recorded for Berliner include: Below is a small selection of the most notable or popular 7" records strung by the company, most times the first iteration of the songs played. ·Berliner 7W (" William Tell overture ", played by Sousa's band ) ·Berliner 140 (" Washington Post march ", played by Sousa's band) ·Berliner 830 ("Morning serenade", played by
1240-679: The same song many thousands of times. The song was still popular by the early 1900s, although by this time record companies had developed the technology to duplicate records from a single recording. At that time, there was no exclusive contract for recording a song, and singers were only paid for recording the song and no royalties were paid to the artists. Johnson recorded "The Laughing Song" for different recording companies, including New York's Metropolitan Phonograph Co, Columbia , and Edison . When disc records replaced cylinders, he continued to record for these companies as well as others such as Berliner and Victor until 1909 or 1910, by which time it
The Laughing Policeman - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-499: The same year RCA bought out Victor – and Edgar Berliner resigned from Canadian RCA in 1930. Berliner Gram-o-phone's facilities in Montreal, a complex of buildings at 1001 rue Lenoir and 1050 rue Lacasse in the St-Henri district, became home to RCA Victor Canada over the next several decades, developing and producing such high-tech products as microwave radio relay systems, communication satellites, television broadcast equipment, etc. Since
1320-475: The singer sings with laughter in time to the music is " L'éclat de rire " (or the "Laughing Song") in the 1856 opera Manon Lescaut by Daniel Auber , and Johnson's song shows clear influence from that tradition. Johnson's "Laughing Song" proved highly popular with the public, and it was ranked number one on a reconstructed pop chart for ten weeks from April from June 1891. Johnson was the first black performer to appear on America's popular music chart, and it
1360-460: The standard disc record material until the first vinyl records – initially made only for radio use and other special applications – were introduced in the 1930s. Beginning in 1896, Berliner's gramophone players were made by Philadelphia-based machinist Eldridge Johnson , who added a spring motor to drive the previously hand-rotated turntable. Berliner also opened an office in New York City, staffed by Frank Seaman and O. D. LaDow and organized as
1400-425: Was allowed to stand and it compelled Emile Berliner's exit from the gramophone business in the United States of America. Berliner transferred his patents to Eldridge Johnson, who then changed the name over the door to his own, though Berliner retained a share in the new company. In March 1901, Johnson registered the name Victor Talking Machine Company and launched the brand later in the year. By 1905 it had regained
1440-458: Was no longer as lucrative for him to record the song since he was only required to record a few times for the best recording to be duplicated. "The Laughing Song" was covered by a white performer Burt Shepard in 1900, and it was his version that became known round the world outside of the United States. According to Fred Gaisberg , it sold over half a million copies in India. Charles Penrose used
1480-414: Was re-recorded by another artist. Subsequent re-recordings are usually given a letter suffix, usually "Z-W" for early releases. Helpfully, the recording or matrix processing date is usually inscribed in the label area, but as Berliner did not employ paper labels sometimes the information is difficult to read. Many times the matrix numbers were reused to fit new records into the crumbling block system, such as
1520-543: Was the first charted song known to have been written by an African American. However, the authorship of "The Laughing Song" has been questioned; sheet music of the song was published in 1894 and Johnson credited himself as the writer of both the words and music, but some doubted if he actually wrote the lyrics. Johnson also recorded a song entitled "The Whistling Coon" written in 1878 by minstrel Sam Devere, and that song reached number one in July and August 1891. "The Laughing Song"
1560-569: Was up and running again, with some record production aspects moved to Philadelphia. Berliner records were short-playing. Only about two minutes could comfortably fit on each single-sided 7-inch disc. The absolute maximum depended on the speed, which was not standardized and ranged from about 75 rpm to a more typical 70 rpm down to as slow as 60 rpm. During most of the 1890s, the competing small-diameter brown wax cylinder records were recorded at about 120 rpm and could play for as long as three minutes, although recordings fully that long were uncommon. At
1600-521: Was wider than that available from cylinder companies in the 1890s. As may be expected, Berliner was well-supplied with the typical band and song selections commonly found on cylinders, but he also branched out into piano music, ragtime, speeches, sermons, instrumental solos and some ethnographic material on a greater scale than his competitors. From the beginning, Berliner's European subsidiaries were deeply invested in opera and classical music, only indirectly exploited by American cylinder companies, at least in
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