Irving Kaufman sings Masculine Women, Feminine MenbrHey, hey--women are going mad today .brHey, hey--fellows are just as bad.brIll say!brGo anywhere--just stand and stare.brYoull say theyre bugs [nuts] when you brLook at the clothes they wear.brMasculine women, feminine men--brWhich is the rooster? brWhich is the hen? brIts hard to tell em apart today. brAnd, say, sister is busy brLearning to shave.brBrother just loves his brPermanent wave. Its hard to brTell em apart today, hey, hey!brGirls were girls, and boys were boys,when I was a tot.brNow we dont know who is who or even whats what!brKnickers and trousers, baggy and wide-- brNobody knows whos walking inside!brThose masculine women and feminine men.brStop, look, listen, and youll agree with me.brThings are not what they used to be, youll see. brYou say hello to Uncle Joe. brThen look again, and you find its your Auntie Flo.brMasculine women, feminine men-- brWhich is the rooster? Which is the hen? brIts hard to tell em apart today! brWhy, Auntie is smoking, rolling her own.brUncle is always buying cologne. brIts hard to tell em apart today, hey, hey. brYou go to give your girl a kiss in the hall, brBut instead you find youre kissing her brother Paul. brMas got a sweater up to her chin; brPapas got a girdle holding him in--brThose masculine women and feminine men! brNow, wifey is playing billiards and pool. brHubby is dressing the kiddies for school. brIts hard to tell em apart today, hey, hey.brSince the Prince of Wales in ladies dresses [kilts] was seen, brNow what does he intend to be--the King or the Queen?brWhy, grandmother buys those tailor-made clothes;brGrandfather tries to smell like a rose. brThose masculine women and feminine men!brThe name Frank Harris is used for Kaufman on this recording made on January 29, 1926.brLyrics are by Edgar Leslie, music by James V. Monaco.brThe tenor Irving Kaufman (8 February 1890 - 3 January 1976) was probably the most recorded singer between 1914 to 1930, his busiest years being in the late 1920s. He began his career by making records as a featured singer but in the mid- to late 1920s he also contributed vocal refrains to dance band recordings for many labels. Labels of some band dance records give credit to Irving Kaufman but pseudonyms were also frequently used. On many labels the simple phrase vocal chorus is used, with no name given for the singer.brKaufman reported years later that the major companies gave permission for him to record for smaller firms as long as pseudonyms were used. In fact, Columbia was the only major company to engage Kaufman regularly in the late 1920s (by this time he no longer made Victor records; he did not work for Brunswick aside from making one disc). Columbia itself employed various pseudonyms for the singer. Kaufman rarely knew at the time he attended a session what name would be used on a label afterwards. brJim Walsh wrote in the November 1962 issue of Hobbies that when Kaufmans wife would ask, Well, who are you going to be today--George Beaver, Frank Harris, or who? the reply was, What do you care, as long as the check is made out to Irving Kaufman? brKaufman said in a 1974 interview published in John and Susan Edwards Harviths Edison, Musicians, and the Phonograph (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987), I had so many different voices that half of the time my wife would say, Who are you going to be today? I would say, I wont know until I get to the studio.brHe was born Isidore Kaufman to Barnett and Lena (Cohn) Kaufman in Syracuse, New York. His father was a Russian immigrant who made a living as a butcher. Irving was the youngest of seven children. His siblings were Jacob (Jack), Harry, Charles, Phillip, Ida, and Tillie. Jack and Phillip also made recordings.brAnnouncing Kaufman as an exclusive Emerson artist, page 44 of the October 1919 issue of Talking Machine World gives this background information: Irving Kaufman.started his career as an entertainer when only eight years of age. He was then a boy tenor with the Jenny Eddy Trio, and a few years later was the principal soloist with Merricks Band of fifty pieces, which accompanied the celebrated Forepaugh and Sells Circus. Irving had little formal education. Before reaching his teen years, he joined the Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus and sang during acts as a circus band played. A few years later he sang in movie theaters between silent films being screened. In 1911 in New York City he worked as a song plugger for the sheet music giant Leo. Feist, Inc.brHis first record was a Blue Amberol cylinder issued in July 1914, I Love the Ladies (2328), composed by Jean Schwartz.