The Revelers - Dancing In The Dark

The Revelers were an American quintet (four close harmony singers and a pianist) popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. All of the members had recorded individually or in various combinations, and formed a group in 1925. The original Revelers were tenors Franklyn Baur and Lewis James, baritone Elliot Shaw, bass Wilfred Glenn, and pianist Ed Smalle. Smalle was replaced by Frank Black in 1926. The group (with Black at the piano) appeared in a short movie musical, The Revelers (1927), filmed in the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. This one-reel short film shows the group performing "Mine," "Dinah," and "No Foolin'. Baur was replaced by Frank Luther and then James Melton (later a Metropolitan Opera tenor). The Revelers were stars on radio and in vaudeville, as well as in the recording studio. They had a recording contract with Victor (later RCA Victor) but made extra money by moonlighting under pseudonyms for other labels (such as "The Singing Sophomores" on Columbia Records and "The Merrymakers" on Brunswick Records). This exquisite record was made in 1931.