Irving Kaufman - How Many Times?
Published 2022-02-05
Recorded by Irving Kaufman with orchestra
Harmony 205-H, take 3
Originally recorded June 22, 1926
Irving Kaufman was one of the most-recorded singers of the twenties and thirties. He sang with many different bands and labels, although not usually as the featured performer. He was a sort of studio singer, who would perform for whomever would hire him. I can't find much biographical information about him: he was born about 1891. He may have grown up in New York, as he seems to have a Brooklyn accent. He performed with the Avon Comedy Four from the late teens through the early twenties. His brother Jack was also a singer, and sometimes them performed together. In the mid-thirties, he performed on the radio shows "Broadway Vanities" and "Lazy Dan". He didn't perform as much from the late thirties onwards. He performed on radio in 1946, and transcriptions of those programs are probably his last recordings. He died in Louisiana in 1976.
Irving Berlin wrote "How Many Times?" in 1926. The Brox Sisters sang it in the movie musical "The Girl", and the song was also used in the Berlin biopic "Blue Skies".
Berlin was one the most prolific of all songwriters - his output includes "Alexander's Ragtime Band"; "Any Bonds Today?"; "Blue Skies"; "Cheek to Cheek"; "A Couple of Swells"; "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly"; "Easter Parade"; "God Bless America"; "Grizzly Bear"; "Heat Wave"; "I Love a Piano"; "I'm Playing with Fire"; "Isn't This a Lovely Day?"; "Let's Face the Music and Dance"; "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee"; "Let Yourself Go"; "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning"; "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody"; "Shaking the Blues Away"; "There's No Business Like Show Business"; "They Say It's Wonderful"; "This Is the Army, Mr. Jones"; "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails"; and "White Christmas".
"How Many Times?" was also recorded by Fred Elizade, Peggy English, Fred Hall, Jay C. Flippen, Fred Rich, Billy Jones and Ernest Hare, Ben Selvin, Sam Lanin, J. Macy and Ed Smalle, Orrin Tucker, Nick Lucas, Bennie Krueger, the Brox Sisters, the Seattle Harmony Kings, the California Hummingbirds and Vincent Lopez.