INTERVIEW: Janet Klein, 100 years too late … and loving it!

Photo: Janet Klein doesn’t collect 78 records; she collects 78 record collectors. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by with permission.

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The multi-talented musician Janet Klein has a readymade answer for anyone who might ask if she collects old 78 rpm records. It’s a solid answer that speaks to her fascination with not only old-time music but also the community of people who cherish (and learn from) the tunes and ditties from yesteryear.

“Often if I’m asked if I’m a 78 record collector, I would tell you that I am a collector of 78 rpm record collectors,” Klein said with a laugh. “It remains one of my favorite things to do.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has wreaked particular havoc in her home base of Los Angeles County, Klein has not been able to do what she loves to do. Her meet-ups with like-minded music aficionados have been derailed since March 2020, but she has the memories of sitting with these acquaintances and spinning records, looking for morsels of creativity that she might be able to replicate with her celebrated band, the Parlor Boys.

“My favorite thing to do is to visit collector friends and sit and spin records,” she said. “Each collector seems to have certain specialties, whether they are into the personality singers of the day or hot jazz bands or regional jazz bands or people that collect European jazz recordings. People get their super niche, and they really know their stuff. There’s nothing better than that.”

Back in the day — not 100 years ago when this music originated, but back in the day, like 2019, which feels just as distant — Klein would face some struggles with her collector friends. For one, she was often given beat-up 78 records because her phonograph has a heavy steel needle that is the opposite of delicate. The collectors were scared of scratching. It would be rare to receive one of these rarities in pristine condition, but she has a few tricks up her sleeve to find the goods and listen to these turn-of-the-century songs.

“I still enjoy cranking that thing up,” Klein said of her beloved phonograph. “Often people will give me 78s, or I will find stuff that I’m curious about. So I do find things on my own, but my favorite thing is really getting to visit with collectors.”

When audience members take in a performance of Klein and her Parlor Boys, they are instantly transported back to a particular decade of old. She has mined the musical history of the 1930s, 1920s, 1910s and even further back. Rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s? Blasphemy! — at least according to Klein’s performative tastes. Ditto for her legions of fans.

Her live performances often find Klein singing center stage, sometimes with a ukulele in her hands, accompanied by a six-piece band that fills in the musical blanks between her period-piece recitations. Her chanteuse-ness is sometimes paired with an exploration of early cartoons and films, making the entire artistic affair a time-travel trip. Squint, and concertgoers may think they are at the Cicada Club, escaping the harsh realities of the Great Depression.

“The more time you spend with these objects, the more imbued you get with understanding the times,” Klein said about her historic finds. “I [also] collect a lot of early printed matter from this period and photographic matter, so that’s something I’m more consciously collecting. My husband and I both got into that, just really fun accompaniment to the musical efforts.”

Klein’s new album is called Yiddisha Follies!, billed as a record of Hebrew vaudeville and Klezmer novelty. Some of the selections on the CD she has been singing for years, and then COVID-19 offered her some free time to put the pieces together into one 16-song collection.

“We wanted to do this Yiddisha-themed thing for quite some time because when people come to the shows, they generally are used to us peppering the sets with one or so Hebrew vaudeville numbers,” she said. “There’s been quite a number of them over the years that I’ve added to the repertoire, and probably in 2005 we did a specialty show at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood that was called Janet Klein & Her Borscht Belt Babies.”

Klein said some of the tunes were originally performed by Fanny Brice and Monroe Silver, among others. The songwriting team of Kalmar and Ruby, who worked with the Marx Brothers, composed a few of them as well. One song is even an early Irving Berlin tune. There are also instrumentals like “Yiddisha Follies Rag” and “Mezinke / Di Grine Kuzine.”

The singer said she’s fascinated by the stories behind these songs, using them not only for musical interpretation but also to learn about the history of the music business in the early part of the 20th century. In her explorations of ragtime, turn of the century and the 1910s, she has found there was a lot of political incorrectness in the lyrics, but eventually Jewish composers and Jewish entertainers started receiving recognition for their own authentic interpretations. And they took ownership of these “follies.”

“I think it’s well worth visiting, even though it’s delicate material, but I come by it honestly,” she said. “I have people in my family that spoke Yiddish, and I know what it all sounds like and the dialects. I’m enamored with it all.”

Also in 2020 she and the Parlor Boys released a tribute album to the late Ian Whitcomb, a longtime member of the band. There was also Shanghai Shuffle, a record that celebrated 20 years of musical journeying, plus some virtual concerts.

At some point in the future — when the world is vaccinated and music venues open — Klein is looking forward to meeting her fans once again and taking them on another spin with the Parlor Boys. Until then, it’ll be Klein (and her audience) sitting at home and listening to the phonograph.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys’ new album is Yiddisha Follies! Click here for more information.