Van and Schenck

Van and Schenck.

Van and Schenck horsing around in 1918

Van and Schenckwere popular American entertainers in the 1910s and 1920s:Gus Van(born August Von Glahn, August 12, 1886 – March 12, 1968),baritone,andJoe Schenck(pronounced "skenk"; born Joseph Thuma Schenck, (June 2, 1891– June 28, 1930),tenor.They werevaudevillestars and made appearances in theZiegfeld Folliesof 1918, 1919, 1920 and 1921. They made numerousphonograph recordsfor theEmerson,Victor,andColumbiarecord companies.

History

With Schenck on piano, the duo sang and performedcomedyroutines. Van was especially adept at dialect humor, and could imitate any number of regional and continental accents. One of the team's typical novelty hits wasPastafazoola,in praise of Italian food and sung in the appropriate style. Van's hearty baritone and Schenck's high tenor harmonized well, and the team became known as "the pennant-winning battery of songland." They performed onradioshows and appeared in early talking motion pictures, including several musical shorts—in bothVitaphoneandMGM Movietone—and one feature, the MGM filmThey Learned About Women(1930).

During World War I, they recorded humorous songs such as "I Don't Want to Get Well" which told the tale of a wounded soldier who did not want to recover, as he was comfortable in hospital and in love with a nurse.

After Schenck's death in 1930 of heart disease, Van continued to perform as a solo artist on stage, screen, and radio. He appeared in many New York-producedSoundiesin 1941. Schenck was buried in TheCemetery of the Evergreensin Brooklyn.

Van and Schenck gained a modern-day resurgence after their 1920 recording of Irving Berlin's "After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It" was sampled in the soundtrack of theindievideo gamePizza Tower.

Selected discography

• "It's Been a Long, Long Time Since I've Been Home" (1916)
• "Hawaiian Sunshine" (1916)
• "For Me and My Gal"(1917)
• "Yaddie Kaddie Kiddie Kaddie Koo" (1917)
• "Huckleberry Finn" (1917)
• "That's How You Can Tell They're Irish" (1917)
• "My Little China Doll" (1917)
• "Mother, May I Go in to Swim?" (1917)
• "Dance and Grow Thin" (1917)
• "There's Something Nice about the South" (1917)
• "Far Away in Honolulu" (1917)
• "Mulberry Rose" (1917)
• "The Ragtime Volunteers are Off to War" (1917)
• "I Don't Want to Get Well"(1917)
• "Southern Gals" (1917)
• "I Miss the Old Folks Now" (1917)
• "In the Land O' Yamo Yamo"(1917)
• "Where Do They Get 'Em and How Do They Get 'Em?" (1918)
• "My Mind's Made Up to Marry Carolina" (1918)
• "Ragtime Moses Old-Time Bomboshay" (1918)
• "I Always Think I'm Up in Heaven" (1918)
• "Tackin 'Em Down" (1918)
• "They Were All Out of Step But Jim"(1918)
• "Why Do They Call Them Babies?" (1918)
• "You'll Always Find A Lot of Sunshine in My Old Kentucky Home" (1918)
• "You'll Find Old Dixieland in France" (1918)
• "Oh, How She Can Sing" (1919)
• "Mandy" (1919)
• "Open Up The Golden Gates To Dixieland" (1919)
• "Sweet Kisses" (1919)
• "They're All Sweeties" (1919)
• "After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It" (1920)
• "All The Boys Love Mary" (1920)
• "In Napoli" (1920)
• "You Tell 'em" (1920)
• "Ain't We Got Fun"(1921)
• "Ain't You Coming Out Malinda?" (1921)
• "All She'd Say Was Umh Hum" (1921)
• "O'Reilly (I'm Ashamed of You)" (1921)
• "She Walks in Her Husband's Sleep" (1921)
• "Sweet Love" (1921)
• "What's A Gonna Be Next?" (1921)
• "Who's Been Around" (1921)
• "Carolina in The Morning"(1923)
• "Steamboat Sal" (1923)
• "You Tell Her-I Stutter" (1923)
• "Away Down East in Maine" (1923)
• "Take 'em To The Door Blues" (1925)
• "Everything is Hotsy-Totsy Now" (April 15, 1925)
• "That Red Head Gal" (1923)
• "Magnolia" (1927)
• "Pastafazoola"(1927)
• "Stay Out of the South"(1929)

External links

• Van & Schenck on vintage-recordings.com–RealAudioof two of their early recordings
• Joe SchenckatIMDb
• Gus VanatIMDb
• Joe Schenckat theInternet Broadway Database
• Gus Vanat theInternet Broadway Database
• Van & Schenck (as team)at theInternet Broadway Database
• Collected Works of Van & Schenck
• Collected Works of Van & Schenck (2nd edition)
• Van and Schenck at Archeophone Records