Little is known of George Van Dusen and despite extensive searches on the internet have failed to find anyone who knows anything about him except that he was a renowned yodeller held in high regard and a contemporary of Harry Torrani and Ronnie Ronalde in the 30's and 40's. His "Yodelling Chinaman" track is probably his most well known and popped up on several compilations of novelty songs over the years. These tracks are from 1937 and kindly supplied by Jim Benson who will doubtless phone me up to tell me I've got it all wrong and that infact George was a dutchman who died in 1929! I love this photo of him from the only one I could find. If anyone knows anymore about him - please do tell!
George Van Dusen - Izzy Izzy Izzy
George Van Dusen - The Yodelling Sailor
George Van Dusen - The Yiddish Yodeller
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20 comments:
he looks like the older brother of george o'dowd!
and boy george can yodel too!
Ive never heard Boy George yodel I must admit.
personally i wouldn't want to!!!
Rex records put out some of his material.. which complicates things as at least 4 labels have used that name. His was the one that was founded by Crystalate Gramophone Record Co, and somehow related to Imperial records. They closed up shop sometime around 1948.
Thanks for that snippet of info. Fritz.
Thanks Ed. I must admit I don't remember any re-issues reaching the charts in the 60's/70's! Can you remember what it was called?
How tragic! Bowls indeed! Blue Peter have a lot to answer for!
It may not have been Blue Peter but a similar childrens programme urging you to soak all your old useless 78's in boiling water and moulding them into flowerpots!
Used to have 78 of Yodelling Izzy, I think it was called, but haven't been able to find it for years. May have one or two more of his lying around somewhere.
Desperate to find Izzy now, though, as have a daughter called Izzy and think she'd find it hysterical. Is it available as an mp3 or on a CD anywhere? The link on the page no longer seems to work.
I'll try and upload some more George Van Dusen and include Izzy for you oofy.
Wonderful to find something about him. The Chinaman totally cracked me up...
Fascinating how someone in the 20th century can be a mystery almost as bug as a minor medieval composer.
George Van Dusen had a re-issue of a song called "It's Party Time Again" which narrowly missed the Top 40 in December 1988. I've got a copy on 7" - it's a bizarre record. No idea why it was re-issued - presumably an advert or something?
Thanks for the info. Ralfe. It's hard to imagine it being used for an advert - I certainly don't remember it! How could one forget!?
Here's some more George Van Dusen :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvKaBFDJHgU
What a shame its just a record going round - I was hoping for George himself, dressed as a dutch gnome!
Im am the grand daughter of George van Dusen,Thank you for all your comments and if you have any questions then please ask them as i will answer all of them in a few days.
Blonde Bombshell,
As you may have noticed I am also related to Tommy Harrington. If you would contact me on edmckie@st.net.au I would be happy.
Cheers..Ed
Visit http://quiztimeuk.multiply.com/music/item/5075/George_Van_Dusen_-_Its_Party_time_Again
My mother is the niece of your Grandfather. Her name is Anne Sarah Hughes and Sarah Hughes (née Harrington) was my Grandmother and Tommy's sister. My grandmother died at 94 in the United States and my mother is 92 and living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Her sister Constance Hughes is 86 and her other sister Rose Hughes is 90 in June.
I am the Great Niece of Tommy Harrington and my Grandmother was Sarah May Hughes (née Harrington). Sarah died in May of 1994. She had three daughters who are all still alive. My mother is 92 and her name is Anne Jones (née Hughes), her second daughter is Rose Champion (née Hughes) and her third daughter is Constance Drew (née Hughes). As
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