I'd Do Anything for You; Mean Old Bed Bug Blues: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Rhythmakers. side 1: I'd Do Anything For You; side 2: Mean Old Bed Bug Blues (Melotone M 12457). 78 rpm. Both tracks were released on other American Record Corporation (ARC) labels.

Rhythmakers is a pseudonym on Melotone for Billy Banks and his Orchestra.

Melotone Records was an American budget record label founded by Warner/Brunswick Records, in 1930. Melotone originally featured jazz and popular dance music of the period, most often using pseudonyms for New York area studio musicians on the recordings. In 1932, Melotone was acquired by the American Record Corporation (ARC). The label ceased production in 1938.

In 1929, the American Record Corporation (ARC) was established with the merger of three companies. These were the Cameo Record Corporation (which owned Cameo, Lincoln and Romeo Records), the Pathé Phonograph and Radio Corporation (which owned Actuelle, Pathé, and Perfect), and the Plaza Music Company (which owned Banner, Domino, Jewel, Oriole, and Regal).

Materials, dates and provenance

• recording date: 1932
• recording artist: Rhythmakers
• recording artist: Billy Banks and his Orchestra
• manufacturer: Melotone
• Object Name: sound recording
• Physical Description: shellac (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 10 in; 25.4 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: 1988.0698.2014
• catalog number: 1988.0698.2014
• accession number: 1988.0698
• collector/donor number: R25
• maker number: M12457
• Credit Line: Gift of Howard A. Guernsey (through Richard L. Guernsey)
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.