A rarity in any age, Murry Hill was a thinking-man's comedian. You'll hear puns and word-associations mixed with random oxymorons, and coupled with his manic energy it is enough to get your head spinning. He
refers to topical subjects in the New York of 1911 that need to be explained briefly: firstly the trusts themselves, business entities much like cartels that author John Moody described as being "formed with intent
to monopolize business, to restrain trade, or to fix prices." (See this article at Wikipedia for further reading on this subject.)
Murry's audience for his live performances no doubt felt that the fuss about trusts was overblown, and were probably delighted to hear him mockingly associate them with every known evil including a sudden
overabundance of lemons and the labor unrest led by seemstresses in New York's garment industry. This bit was popular enough to be recorded a number of times, and this is the version for Victor, recorded on February
15. The record itself had been badly treated in its life but there was enough life in the groove to get some decent sound out of it. Noise reduction and EQ helped.
On Facebook? Click Here and Become a Fan of this Site!
