Cal Stewart (Uncle Josh)

Cal Stewart
(1856 – 1919)

Cal Stewart began is career on the vaudevillian stage entertaining audiences across the country with his character "Uncle Josh" from "Punkin Center."  The character Uncle Josh Whitcomb is from the play The Old Homestead written by Thompson and George W. Ryer in 1886.

Cal Stewart was a celebrated performer and made many friends on his including writer Mark Twain and humorist Will Rogers.  Stewart kind humor is reminiscent of Will Rogers and without doubt his style influenced the younger Rogers.

At the age of 40 Cal Stewart began recording monologues as "Uncle Josh" for Edison in 1897.  He quickly became one of America's first widely successful recording artists and made recordings for all the major labels of the era Edison, Columbia, Victor, Brunswick, and Emerson.  Cal Stewart continued performing and recording until his death on December 7, 1919. 

Please note many of these recordings are rough sound quality (as turn of the century recordings often are) and the collection does contain some alternate recordings. See also the early recordings of Ada Jones and Wax Cylinder Recordings.