Byron G. Harlan sings "Can't You See?" on Edison Standard Record 10347, issued in 1910.
Words are by Alfred Bryan (1871-1958).
Music is by Albert Gumble (1883-1946).
Byron G. Harlan was born on August 29, 1861. The tenor became known as half of a popular duo, but Harlan made many records without Arthur Collins. Harlan specialized in sentimental ballads and rube numbers.
He was born in Kansas as George Byron Harlan. An Edison catalog states that his birthplace was Lynn, Kansas, but Harlan's widow reported that the singer was born in Paris, Kansas. His father, George Winchester Harlan, moved the family to Sioux City, Iowa, to begin a brick business, then moved the family to Canton, South Dakota, where he operated an overland stage.
The young Byron G. Harlan joined touring companies. Walsh writes in the March 1965 issue of Hobbies, "He got his first chance in...show business when Gus Brigham, a traveler for 'the Yanes Piano House,' heard him singing while he was working as a hotel clerk in South Dakota, and told the manager of the Hess Opera Company about him. Harlan became a member of the Newton Beers' 'Lost In London' company, then was with Hoyt's 'A Texas Steer' for three and one-half years..."
At age 24 "he went to Chicago and studied music...After gaining valuable theatrical experience by his appearances in opera, he accepted a part with Otis Harlan in A Texas Steer. Later he became a producer and had a company of his own. His singing of 'coon' and 'rag' songs gained him much renown and when the phonograph came into general use he became an Edison artist."
Harlan formed his own "Lost In London" theatrical company and by 1899 reached Orange, New Jersey. Walter Miller, Edison's recording director, invited Harlan to make cylinders. Harlan's first record may be "Please, Mr. Conductor, Don't Put Me Off The Train," issued as Edison 7219 in the autumn of 1899. From the beginning he was associated with sentimental numbers.
Harlan settled in Orange for the rest of his life and was a personal friend of Thomas A. Edison. Walsh writes in "The Funny Side of the Phonograph World" published in the May 1952 issue of American Record Guide, "When Byron was married, the inventor gave him the then latest model Edison cylinder phonograph as a wedding present, and when Mr. and Mrs. Harlan's daughter was graduated from high school, he presented her with an Official Model Diamond Disc instrument."
Harlan made no Berliners. He made early Columbia discs though discs with low catalog numbers usually featured other singers on initial pressings, Harlan being issued on later pressings. Victor discs followed a session on October 31, 1902. On this date he worked as a solo artist but also was teamed with Arthur Collins, perhaps for the first time (in the previous year, Collins cut duets with tenor Joe Natus). Collins and Harlan recorded five titles during that Victor session.
