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Tonight on PBS's much acclaimed soap-opera, Downton Abbey, a character placed a record on a newly-acquired grammaphone, wound the crank, and out of the horn floated this exquisite melody; never do I hear it, at least as sung by "Sally," without being transfixed. Incredibly, this immense hit is off-handedly dismissed as "just another Broadway flop," or words to that effect. The recorded voice sounded similar to that of Marilyn Miller, but it wasn't played long enough for me to be sure. Anyone else hear it?

The vocalist is probably from the London cast of SALLY because they made some commercial recordings. If so, then the vocalist is Dorothy Dickson who starred as Sally. Here is an LP of the 1921 London cast:


At the time, Broadway apparently wasn't interested in original cast recordings so it's doubtful that it's Marilyn Miller you hear. Here's sheet music with the original Broadway principals:

At the time, Broadway apparently wasn't interested in original cast recordings so it's doubtful that it's Marilyn Miller you hear.

Individual cast members sometimes made records (e.g. Edith Day's recordings of "Alice Blue Gown" and "Irene"), particularly if they were already under contract to one of the labels, but it is regrettable that original cast recordings per se weren't made regularly on this side of the Atlantic until the 40s. Still, the various "Gems" from Victor's studio artists at least provide an approximation of what theatre audiences heard.

Marilyn Miller made no commercial recordings save for a Victor test on 12 June 1928:
http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/1000015154/BVE-Test-107-Rosalie_waltz

-HA

Most surprising that so many decades after the demise of this show, a record producer thought it might be profitable to re-issue such "antique" recordings! A testament to their quality, I'd presume.