Talk:Elmo Tanner

Date of birth

The 1979 article about him says he was born on 8 August 1904, but when you check the Social Security Death Index (registered under Elmo Tanner) his birthdate is given as August 11, 1904.

TANNER, ELMO 11 Aug 1904 Dec 1990 86 33710 (Saint Petersburg, Pinellas, FL)

We need to determine which source to go with-since most people born in that timeframe were born at home, many didn't have birth certificates initially. We hope (talk) 01:49, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

I'd guess Aug 8 is correct (Tanner evidently thought that was his birthday). I'm just happy for a source other than IMDB. 78.26 (talk) 04:07, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

I removed the IMDB ref for his birth date and went with the one he gave in his 1979 interview. We hope (talk) 02:12, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

From FamilySearch.org

William Elmo Tanner born 8 August 1904-Nashville, Davidson County, TN Parents: Felix Elnis Tanner & Willie May Moore We hope (talk) 16:57, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

early life / early recordings

There's some discrepancy in the sources as to whom Tanner first recorded, see:

Bothwell, Dick (4 August 1979). "Good memories and heartaches just whistle past". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mk1SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U3wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2484,2562534&dq=elmo+tanner+whistler&hl=en. Retrieved 13 April 2011.

"Elmo Tanner to appear with Como". St. Petersburg Times: p. 10-D. October 13, 1961. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yF9SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NXkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3590,1363154&dq=elmo+tanner&hl=en.

I believe the first source is correct. However, the language in the Early Life and Early Career sections needs to be reconciled somehow. I'd love some input as to how to best accomplish this. 78.26 (talk) 19:47, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Agree with you re: the 1979 interview having correct information. For this, Tanner was directly interviewed and provided the answers. In the 1961 interview, his boss at the radio station was. Re: the record companies, I believe his first recordings were as you have in the discography-for Paramount. Running through that, we see in November 1927, he was recording for both companies. Again, going back to the 1979 story, Tanner was doing the talking and I don't think the man himself would have made a mistake about something that was this important to his career-where he started.

Also think working with a record company in those days didn't mean there were the type of "airtight" contracts we have been familiar with for a long time. Looking at the "Heartaches" story, it says they hired Weems and his crew to do the record. Weems was with Victor from 1923 - 1933; the situation then must have been "we hire you, we pay, we don't call, we don't pay" -not like it is now with people getting paid even when not recording (royalties aside). We also see the record company trying to say who was part of the orchestra when Weems was with Decca and Como was fairly new to the band: "that kid" sounds too much like Crosby--get rid of him.

We also need to clarify the Red Network show. I can't find Tanner with a show of his own like Elmo&ArtistNumber=11939 this. He would have been Red Network for Fibber McGee and Molly and Beat the Band. Weems did the Mutual show you see there and Tanner would have been part of it; he also would have been part of the band when Weems was doing the Jack Benny Show in the early 1930s. Think too that you need to bring out the fact that Tanner whistled from his throat, as Crosby was also able to. We hope (talk) 03:14, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Many thanks, yet again. Per discussion, I've edited the information about the recordings, and removed the reference to the NBC Red show. It can be added back in again if further evidence presents itself. 78.26 (talk) 15:31, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

And you are correct. In the 1920s (and before) exclusive contracts were the exception, not the norm. Certaily used for the biggest stars, and for orchestras/bands as a whole, but not for a utility musician such as Elmo. 78.26 (talk) 15:35, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I've just added how Tanner's whistling talent was discovered by accident by Weems; he was initially hired as a vocalist & ref. Why not include the Fibber McGee & Molly show, as it was very popular and many people heard Tanner perform on it. If you need help with getting the throat information into the article, I'll try to help. We hope (talk) 16:06, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Elmo Tanner/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Jacedc (talk · contribs) 00:33, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but this article seems to have been nominated prematurely, as it has multiple issues primarily with the prose and layout structure. I will leave some of the points that most stick out to me here so that someone in the future may try to improve this article:

• He earned the nicknames ““Whistler’s Mother’s “Boy””, Why is this in double-quotes? Additionally, I'm pretty sure " is preferred over ”, the latter of which appears throughout the article and I think should be replaced, though I'd double check me on that.
• As a youngster, Tanner studied the violin Youngster is not an appropriate word for use in an encyclopedia.
• Efn-a is unnecessary. This text could just as well be integrated into the paragraph, as the content within the efn doesn't explain anything, it just adds an extra story.
• One day in 1928^[7] he had a repair job for a customer who happened to work at WMC radio. Why is the reference added right after 1928? That's basically saying that the only part of this sentence that is confirmed is "One day in 1928" whereas the rest of the sentence is unsupported. This should go after the end of the sentence.
• , (though occasionally featured as such with Weems,) Redundant use of parenthetical indicators. Either use the parentheses or the parenthetical commas. If you choose to keep the parentheses (recommended), the last comma should go outside of the last parenthesis.
• I'm not convinced the second paragraph in § "Early Recordings" is entirely necessary. It's not really relevant. Also, no reason to capitalize the "R" in "Recordings".
• Reading more of the article, there are a few incorrect usages of the {{efn}} template.
• He had the ability to whistle while Triple-tonguing. No reason for the "T" in "Triple-tounging" to be capitalized.
• § "Influence" should either be expanded or put into § "Style"
• The discography section is the biggest problem in the whole article. First of all, per WP:WPMAG § "Discography section", Tanner's discography should be split into a separate article (e.g. Elmo Tanner discography). Third, all of the subheaders are unnecessary, and really clutter up the table of contents.
• And lastly, the infobox has some problems. Empty/non-existent parameters, the source code is sloppy (all of the = should align equally), and some of the parameter values start with lower case letters (all should start with uppercase letters).

Considering that the above points collectively will make for a rather large, long-term project, combined with the fact that I didn't even do a full review/read-through, I'm going to have to fail this article. Jacedc (talk) 00:33, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Elmo Tanner/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Jaguar (talk · contribs) 15:23, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

I should have this to you shortly ☠ Jaguar ☠ 15:23, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, We hope and 78.26 are also in on it.♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:06, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks to Dr. Blofeld and We hope for all the great work the last couple of days. Normally I would be volunteering for "assignments", but I have RL issues at the moment, and will be mostly offline until Tuesday of next week, although I may be able to check in from misc. hotels in the evenings. 78.26 _{(spin me / revolutions)} 16:28, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

We will hold the fort while you're busy. :-) We hope (talk) 16:35, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Comment: Sorry if I threw a wrench in things if you guys had planned to do this originally at GA1, I just came across it and it struck me as an obvious premature nomination. I'm glad to see you guys haven since improved the article a lot. Good work and good luck! :) Jacedc (talk) 21:55, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay, I'll get to completing the review as soon as I can ☠ Jaguar ☠ 22:01, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose is "clear and concise", without copyvios, or spelling and grammar errors:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. Has an appropriate reference section:

   B. Citation to reliable sources where necessary:

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   B. Focused:

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

   B. Images are provided if possible and are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

Initial comments

• The lead could be slightly better re-constructed - the first paragraph is too short could easily be expanded a little

Did some work on this. We hope (talk) 16:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• Nothing on his Style and influence in the lead? Per WP:LEAD it needs to summarise as much as it can
• "Besides musical whistling, he also imitated birds for Disney" - Disney films or for Walt Disney himself?

I have no access to the newspaper source itself, but believe this was for Disney's films. We hope (talk) 16:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Here's the only copy of the article I'm able to find and it's behind a paywall. We hope (talk) 18:57, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

That's OK, I think it's safe to assume he did work for Disney's films/TV sketches etc ☠ Jaguar ☠ 22:09, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• "He grew up in Detroit, and moved to Memphis with his family by 1926" - did he move to Memphis in 1926? "by" sounds very approximate

There has been no written biography on Tanner; most books mentioning him provide only a "thumbnail" bio which is much shorter than what we have in the article. Because there were no extensive bios, we've had to rely on news clippings and the like to put together what we have in the article, by using bits of these news stories about Tanner and interviews with him. From this, what we know is that Tanner and his family were in Memphis by 1926. We hope (talk) 16:58, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• "His musical training helped him to develop an ear for music" - sounds a little informal

Fixed We hope (talk) 17:23, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• "Tanner's whistling talent was unveiled by accident" - why is this mentioned again in the "Ted Weems Orchestra and “Heartaches" sub-sectioned? Unless it's different, it was already mentioned more appropiately in the early life section

Tanner was not whistling professionally until he joined the Ted Weems Orchestra. Weems had hired him as a vocalist and after hearing Tanner whistling on the way to an engagement, believed Tanner's whistling skill was marketable. Weems decided to include a whistling segment in the band's performance. When Tanner's whistling was positively received, Weems then made it part of the band's performances. Until that point, Tanner whistled only for his own satisfaction. We hope (talk) 16:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• "In 1933, Victor had assigned the recording of the song to Ted Weems" - why is Victor linked as RCA Records?

RCA Records was once RCA Victor Records. We hope (talk) 16:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• "Southern United States" - does 'Southern' need to be capitalized?  Done We hope (talk) 16:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
• The "Style and influence" section is looking a little short - could it at all be expanded?

I was thinking of merging it Jaguar. What do you think WH?♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:52, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Merging would work for me. We hope (talk) 17:00, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Done.♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:05, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Yeah I was going to suggest merging it if nothing could be found - thanks ☠ Jaguar ☠ 22:09, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• Why is there no Discography section in this article? I thought articles on artists usually had a collapsable or non-collapsable table of their Discography

It was advised to move it to a separate page at the first quick-failed GA review and this was done. We hope (talk) 16:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• "The discography section is the biggest problem in the whole article. First of all, per WP:WPMAG § "Discography section", Tanner's discography should be split into a separate article (e.g. Elmo Tanner discography)." From GA1. We hope (talk) 17:02, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

• I understand, some artists' articles have a large discography section consisting of just a wikitable which is usually acceptable for GA. I think that this blank section (considering it has no creative prose and is just 'statistical') could be an exception for the GA criteria. If you're thinking of FACing this it would be great to expand it, if his career was that large ☠ Jaguar ☠ 22:09, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

All answered for We hope Jaguar?♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:08, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

References

• No dead links, and the references seem to pass reliability

On hold

I have no idea why this article failed last time, the concerns both in this review and the previous GAN are very minor and could be addressed quickly. The sources are in great shape and most of the prose is looking good - the only thing I could find that stops this meeting the GA criteria is the organisation of the lead and the short sections are the bottom of the article (the Discography is also blank). But overall it's a well written article, it shouldn't take too much to pass. I'll leave this on hold for the standard seven days, thanks! ☠ Jaguar ☠ 16:23, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Close - promoted

Well done on addressing all of the above - the article now meets the GA criteria. The lead has been expanded and summarises the article well whereas the remainder of the minor prose issues have been clarified. As I said above I wouldn't worry to much about the discography section as it's not a requirement for GA, but it is needed in the article if you want to take it further (although I think some reviewers will disagree). Anyway well done on the work, very well deserved! ☠ Jaguar ☠ 22:12, 15 April 2015 (UTC)