text:
Polish Anti-Nicotine Tango: Nikotyna - Albert Harris, 1930
Nikotyna (Nicotine), Tango (Frank /Solec) Orkiestra taneczna "Odeon, dyryguje Jerzy Gert, ref. Albert Harris, Odeon c. 1930
Among old Polish records, this one is a true jewel: commercial tango "Nicotine financed by "Morwitan, prewar producer of the cigarette paper tubes. Why have been the modest tubes called the unbeatable conquerors of murderly Nikotyna? - who knows... This lovely anti-nicotine text tells the whole drama of an innocent boy, probably non smoker, who had an unfortunate love affair with a killer-girl, Nikotyna
Who did write this extra jewel of the rich prewar "tango-poetry? Some Polish poet, I suppose, who preferred to hide his name under a pseudonym "Solec (so has been called one of the good living area streets iof central Warsaw, where, probably, he or she lived in the 1930s). Excellent Jerzy Gert "Odeon Orchestra one of the best dance bands in prewar Poland (specializing in hottest tangos! Just listen to their recordings, presented in YT!) as well as first-class refrainist, Albert Harris, prove "Morwitan spent a fortune for this ad.
Here is the story: There was once - its how the story begins/ A young lad and a beautiful girl/ Her charm inflamed his blood like wine/ He abandoned his land for her/ Forgetful of clever advices/ He allowed wonderful Nicotine/ To be his fall / When hand in hand they went into life
Ref. Oh, Nicotine! You, fragrant dream/ who soothe sorrow, pain and suffering/ Whose power thru days and nights give us happines & forgetting/ Oh, Nicotine, who can resist you?/ When you posess someone, he is, no doubt, lost/ And in the world theres only one conqueror who can tame you/ Morwitan is his name!
To learn more about a Polish singer Albert Harris, see also
Old Polish Tango: Morfina, 1936
Janusz Popławski & Ork. taneczna Odeon - Morfina - tango (S.Cresta /Izabella), Odeon 1936
MORFINA - Tango, Adam Aston 1936 - Witkacys paintings !
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, a.k.a. Witkacy (February 24, 1885 September 18, 1939) was a Polish playwright, novelist, painter, photographer and philosopher, more:
During the 1930's, Witkiewicz published a text on his experiences with narcotics, including peyote; his paintings are often full of descriptions what mixture and kind of drugs he was applying himself before starting to paint.
Shortly after Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany in September 1939, he escaped with his young lover to Eastern Poland. Following the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939, Witkacy committed suicide.
In his home country Poland, a week ago, an anniversary of 70 years from his tragic death was celebrated.
Tango Morfina is probably of Italian origin (?).
Record, its label is presented at the end of the video - JP's, author's of the video collection.
Sound transferred without any modification or trials of making it polished & beautiful.
Pictures - found and collected on-line with hope of their being in a public domain.
Witkacy's autoportrait is finishing the slide of his paintings.
Commercial foxtrot from Warsaw - Morwitan, 1930
Albert Harris & Orkiestra taneczna "Odeon dir. By Jerzy Gert Morwitan, Foxtrot (Hen-wy/ Ted-rey) Odeon, ca 1930
NOTE: Here is another commercial song sponsored by "Morwitan - major cigarette tubes producer in pre-war Poland. This song hasn't any anti-nicotine bias in its text. It is purely commercial and even - it enhances smoking as utterly innocent and pleasure providing occupation. So, when the side A of this record (which is the anti-nicotine tango Nikotyna) tells a tragic story of a boy, completely possessed by a killer girl Nikotyna, on side B we find a total withdrawal from this idea. "Nothing smokes so well as Morwitan/ it is available in every little store/ it will soothe you to dreams better than hashish or opium/ so go and buy Morwitan! - sings Harris, to end his canto with the exclamation coda, in a very last second of the side: "Nothing, but Morwitan! Seeing this, both authors: of the music as well as the lyricist preferred to hide their names under carefully encrypted pseudonyms. Oh, that brutal early free-market capitalism!
The slideshow presents some of pre-war Polish posters.
See also the Polish anti-nicotine tango Nikotyna :
Old Dutch tango Maruschka in Polish ! - Adam Aston
See the comment to my previous video:
Tango Zaraza - Duet polaco: Wiera Gran - Albert Harris
Regarded as Argentine, Uruguayan tango Zaraza was very popular also in Poland in prewar time with a title 'When guitar is playing the song'.
This is very rare rendition made by two young Polish singers - Wiera Gran and Albert Harris, the only one they made together, short before outbreak of the WW2.
Both experienced and suffered exile and emigration.
Odeon O. 271536
Matr. Wo 2451
Albert Harris - Krakowskie tango.
Albert Harris Krakowskie Ludwinowskie tango
Odeon N 45044a Wo 2455
Nagranie z 1939 roku.
Płyta wytłoczona w 1945 roku z nową numeracją katalogową .
Jak widać też błąd w opisie wykonawcy na etykiecie.
Old Dutch tango Maruschka in Polish ! - Stefan Witas
The news that tango Maruszka (Maruschka), immensely popular in Poland in 1930's takes its origin far away from Poland and actually its home is a country of those beautiful tulip fields, windmills, smart cows, Gouda-cheeses, great Dutch painters and china of Delft...;) ....came to me from my Friend, Daniel-Parlophonman and became for me quite a sensation.
I am happy to reply and repay this gesture offering two Polish interpretations of this beautiful and melodious tango composed by a Dutch musician, Joop de Leur, with Polish lyrics by Andrzej Włast.
The first one was recorded in 1935 by Stefan Witas and Jerzy Gert Orchestra for Warsaw Odeon.
The record here presented is, however, a 1946 pressing -- rare today. Some of Polish Odeon records were made again, in a short series, soon after the War was ended from the pre-war material which survived (mostly in a poor shape !) all devastations and horrors of the war that actually ruined nearly all of the area of Warsaw.
Tango Maruszka (Polish spelling) had as many as six separate Polish recordings made for Syrena-Electro, Odeon and Columbia labels.
Kazimierz Krukowski - Tango Lopka.
Kazimierz Krukowski
Tango Lopka
Columbia DM 1622 b Wj 274
Nagranie z około 1932 roku.
Stare polskie...
The demand for new tangos in Poland was increasing immensely after 1928.
The parallel factor, on Vistula river, was a good old fashion and yearning - for exotic atmospheres.
Creators of Polish tangos managed to serve these trends effectively and in that way in 1930s started to appear such songs in tango rhythm like - I believe translations here are not necessary - Tango brazylijskie: ,
Tango portugalskie: ,
Tango meksykańskie (will appear on my channel), Tango kubańskie, Tango japońskie and - presented herewith - Greckie tango; to mention only these few.
Actually, Greckie tango has not very much in common with a real Greek tradition or
history; it is rather an imagination of the creators how a contemporary love story could happen among ancient marble columns, echoes of goddesses and in the shade of stone-pines.
The tango-song was composed by two prominent Polish pop musicians of that time: Zygmunt Karasiński (who had a special gift for beautiful melodies) and his musical partner: Szymon Kataszek.
Orchester is directed by Jerzy Gert (1908-1968), a young musician at that time, whose artistic - very prolific - carrier would last until the end of his life.
The singer endowed with a delicate , modern voice and impeccable (for a Polish ear !) diction is Albert Harris;
his poignant life history was included to my clip:
The video may seem to be a sort of a double capsule of the past time and sentiments:
for illustrations of this 1936 recording I took photos,
having been made still by a pre-digital camera during
my September 2000 (wonderful !) visit to the
Rodos island; now being re-photographed by
a more modern digital Kodak, on my table,
with a little help from the lamplight during one
of the dark, wintery 2010 evenings.
I am offering this presentation to my YT Friend,
pslogge, with thanks for moments of pleasure
and emotion.
Crazy Polish-Jewish-Arabic Foxtrot ABDUŁ BEY, 1932 !
Created by Polish artists and musicians of Jewish origin:
Fanny Gordon (Fajga Jofe) - music
Ludwik Szmaragd (Ludwik Sonnenschein) - lyrics
Albert Harris (Aaron Heckelman) - vocal
Jerzy Lederman (was using his original name) - conductor
Polish label: Cristal-Electro, 1932
During transfer - NO mastering, NO changing of the natural sound of the 78 rpm record was applied.
Albert Harris - Zawsze będzie czegoś ci brak, 1939
Zawsze będzie czegoś ci brak (You'll Always Miss It) -- (Valse-boston, J.Markowski/ W.Stępień) -- Albert Harris & Orkiestra tan. "Odeon dyr. Jerzy Gert, Odeon 1939
This song was composed by Jan Markowski in 1938 and recorded in January 1939, immediately becoming a great hit and -- soon -- one of Polish evergreens. The nostalgic title in September 1939 became almost a prophecy for the Poles, when their capital and many other cities lay in ruins under the Nazi bombs, the half of the nation was emigrating, or dead, or still fighting on the collapsing fronts of the country invaded from West by the Wehrmacht and from East by the Red Army, and the old prewar Poland was never to come back.
To know more about Jerzy Gert and Albert Harris -- see
Tola Mankiewiczówna sings Autumn Roses , 1932
Jesienne róże (Autumn Roses) (Artur Gold / Andrzej Włast) Tango z rewii "Przebój Warszawy w teatrze "Morskie Oko (Tango from the theatre "Morskie Oko revue: "The Hit Of Warsaw) -- Orkiestra taneczna "Odeon, refren: Tola Mankiewiczówna, Odeon 1932
Tola MANKIEWICZÓWNA (née Teodora Oleksy), born in 1901 near Łomża, Poland, died in 1985, Warsaw. After her studies in Warsaw Conservatory (piano) she moved for 3 years to Milan, Italy to study operatic singing. She continued studies in Poland under the guidance of the famous soprano, Janina Korolewicz-Waydowa. From 1929 to 1931 Mankiewiczówna performed in Warsaw Opera (e.g. Micaela in Bizet's "Carmen, Margarethe in Gounod's "Faust, and at chances she took roles in Warsaw Operetta. After her performance in Oskar Strauss' "The Charm of Waltz Tola Mankiewiczówna received such enthusiastic rewievs, that she decided to quit her operatic career and devoted herself fully to the lighter Muse.
In 1932 she had her debut in the revue theatre "Morskie Oko, immediately becoming the favourite singer of Warsaw. In the same year she started her movie career in a comedy "10 Percent For Me. The huge success encouraged movie producers to continue engaging her in the music comedies e.g. "Co mój mąż robi w nocy?(What My Husband Does At Nights? 1934), "Manewry miłosne (The Love Manoeuvres, 1935) or "Pani minister tańczy(Madame Minister Dances, 1937; see
During WWII Mankiewiczówna worked and sung in the artists' cafe "U Aktorek, taking part in the Polish actors' boycott of the nazi-controlled stages of Warsaw. After the war, without success she tried to regain her position, acting in the provincial theatres and cabarets. The communist regime did not promote the "burgeois genre of her kind, and the Polish audience lost interest in the roles of "grande dames. Better reception she had abroad, during her "nostalgia performances in front of the remains of her prewar fans, in the emmigrant clubs in London, Paris or New York. In last decades of her life she worked in Warsaw as a lower clerk.
To know more about Artur GOLD & Andrzej WŁAST (the composer and the author of text of "Jesienne róże) -- see
Albert Harris - Gdy mnie nie będzie , 1938
Albert Harris & Orkiestra Odeon - Gdy mnie nie będzie (When I Am Gone) tango (W.Krupiński /A.Włast), Odeon 1938
Tango from Poland: Zakochany księżyc
Zakochany księżyc (The Moon In Love) Tango (J.Kagan-Z.Friedwald ) - A.Harris,Odeon Orch 1937
NOTE: Author of music is Jakub Kagan - to read more about his great success in prewar Poland, and his tragic end under the nazis, go to:
Author of text is Zenon FRIEDWALD (born 1906 in Lwów, Poland) - a songwiriter, whose greatest hit was an immortal tango, composerd in 1936 by Jerzy Petersburski: in the tango history, it became one of the most famous tangos, ever: To ostatnia niedziela (The Last Sunday)
When, on 1st of September 1939 German apocalypse started to blow off Poland, Friedwald - who was a worker in the bureau of Polish Ministry Of Military Affairs - was evacuated to Romania and farther, via Grece and Turkey, to Palestine. After 1945, as writer and social activist, he became one of key figures in post-war Polish-Jewish circles in Israel. He died in Tel Aviv, in 1976.
Albert HARRIS (Aaron Hekelman) was born in Warsaw 1911, died in 1974 , USA he was a Polish pianist, composer, singer. In 1930s he was contracted as a refrain singer to Odeon Records, Warsaw. Most often, "Odeon studio orchestra in Warsaw was conducted by Jerzy Gert, who was Odeon's music director and until September 1939.with him most of Harris' recordings were made. After Second World War, Albert Harris emigrated to Sweden, where he composed music for the movies.
The slideshow are the vintage photographs of the Polish city of Wilno, now Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The photoes have been made by the nestor of Polish photo-art., Jan Bułhak (born 1876 in Ostaszyn by Nowogródek, d. 1950 in Giżycko, Poland). His photos of Wilno, Warsaw, Lublin or Cracow, taken in 1910-1930 can only be compared with the immortal works of art by Kertesz or Brassai.
German Tango: Eugen Wolff Orch. - Nachtliche Gitarren, 1945
Nocne gitary (Nachtliche Gitarren) Tango (J.Rixner) - Orkiestra Stanisława Godarskiego (Eugen Wolff m.s. Tanz-Orchester) Melodje 1945 (Polish pressing) Odeon 1940 (German matrix)
NOTE: In Poland, in short period 1945-47, when the Soviet-style Stalinism was not yet fully installed, a privately owned little record factory "Melodje located in a small apartment house in the heart of the Old Town of Poznań, issued many very good recordings of the post-WWII Polish jazz & swing orchestras (e.g. Bracia Łopatowscy, Charles Bovery or Kazimierz Bryzek's bands) as well as the excellent jazz and non-jazz Polish singers (Marta Mirska, Tadeusz Miller, the revellers choir Cztery Asy). Also issued were the sides re-pressed from miraculously saved prewar matrixes of Syrena Rekord or Odeon companies. Among them, sometimes you could find the intruguing and, usually, being on the highest artistical level jazz or just the dance numbers, performed by the mysterious band "Orkiestra Stanisława Godarskiego (Stanisław Godarski's Orchestra).
The problem is: such bandleader or such orchestra did never exist! The name was pure hoax, and the sides holding such label were re-recordings of popular nazi-Germany orchestra tunes (God knows in what kind of technology?!) from the matrixes, or from actual records, that were left in Poland by the nazis during their panick evacuation back to Germany, in January 1945. The usage of the label name "St. Godarski entitled the owners of Melodje Records to avoid payments of royalties as well as it protected them from political accusals of being any kind of a pro-nazi conspiracy...
I was fortunate to have identified this very side, as German Eugen Wolff's dance orchestra, originally recorded by Odeon, Berlin 1940. Another great tango of Josef Rixner - one of best composers in Germany in late 1930s, also the composer of Blauer Himmel - can be listened to if you go
Old Polish tango: Czy pamiętasz tę noc w Zakopanem?
Czy pamiętasz tę noc w Zakopanem? (Do You Remember That Night In Zakopane?) (Muzyka: Zygmunt Karasiński, Text: Aleksander Jellin) - Tadeusz Miller & Orkiestra K. Bryzka, Melodje 1945 (circa)
It's one of still popular old Polish songs: tango composed in 1937 by Zygmunt Karasiński and devoted to Zakopane - the most fashionable winter spa in Poland (see:
Here the song is performed by a very popular post-war singer Tadeusz Miller. His career was short, in 1947 he died in a car crash. The record was produced by Melodje - the private record factory established immediately after WWII in the city of Poznań. Also the life of that enterprise was short: Melodje died in late 1940s, as soon the stalinist regime completed its installation in Poland.
(see also: )
Por una Cabeza - Carlos Gardel
Por una cabeza, is one of the most famous
and popular tango songs by Carlos Gardel (composer)
and Alfredo Le Pera (lyricist), written in 1935.
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of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use
for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
Albert Harris - Co to może być
Albert Harris
Co to może być ?
Borg , Lipski - Szlengel
Nagranie z płyty Poljazz - Zatańczmy fokstrota
Old Polish Tango: To ostatnia niedziela 1935
To ostatnia niedziela (It's The Last Sunday) (Petersburski /Friedwald) - Zygmunt Piotrowski z ork. Syrena-Rekord, Melodja-Electro 1935 (Polish)
NOTE: Melodja-Electro was a dime store version of Syrena-Electro (the record's price was only 1,5 zl) and many artists disagreed to present their names on the cheaper label (Adam Aston, Mieczysław Fogg, Hanka Ordonówna). Many others were nicknamed or mentioned merely as refrain singer (e.g. Tadeusz Faliszewski's label name for Melodja- Electro was Jan Pobóg; Wiera Gran recorded as Mariol).
To ostatnia niedziela belongs to one of the most famous tangoes of prewar Poland (ex-aequo with Oh Donna Clara, which was also composed by Jerzy Petersburski, in 1928) and ofcourse, it was immediately recorded by great stars like Mieczysław Fogg , Adam Aston or Chór Dana. Here, it is performed by Zygmunt Piotrowski, who in years 1930-32 was the member of Chór Wiehlera revellers' group, to join later another very popular Polish revellers - Chór Juranda, as their first tenor. He also recorded for Cristal-Electro in a duet with R. Marrot (Duet Corda see ). He was a modest and little known singer, who most of his life worked as streetcar operator in Warsaw, and who died of tuberculosis during the German occupation of Poland.
The illustration to this sad tango is the set of the melancholic views of towns and villages of Polish Atlantis - the lost forever universe of Polskie Kresy Wschodnie (Polish East Borderlands)...
Polish Kresy (Polskie Kresy) is the term referred to Polish eastern territories that belonged to Poland before 1939 (The Voivodeships of Lwów, Stanisławów, Tarnopol, Volhynia, Wilno, Nowogródek) and after 1939, due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, on September 17, 1939 the territory was annexed by the Soviet Union, and a significant part of the ethnic Polish population of the eastern Kresy (over 1,5 million Polish citizens) was deported to other areas of the Soviet Union including Siberia and Kazakhstan. During the Teheran Conference in 1943, a new Soviet-Polish border was established on the so-called Curzon-line, in effect sanctioning most of the Soviet territorial acquisitions from September 1939 and ignoring protests from the Polish emigre government in London. Soviet Union incorporated Polish Kresy into the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, and 50 years later when the Soviet Union broke up, they remained part of those respective republics after they gained independence.
Before September 1939 the population of the Kresy was multi-ethnic, primarily comprising Poles, Ukrainians and Belarusians. Poles formed the largest ethnic group in these regions, and were demographically the largest ethnic group in the region's cities. Other national minorities included Lithuanians (in the north), Jews (scattered in cities and towns across the area), Czechs (in Volhynia), and also Russians. Mother language given in 1931 Polish census was following: Lwów Voivodeship: 58% Polish, 34% Ukrainian language , 8% Yiddish; in Vilno Voivodeship: 60% Polish, 23% Belarussian, 8% Yiddish, 3% Russian, 8% Other, including Lithuanian.
Now, the term Kresy remains for the most of Poles an imaginary place of Polish legends and of valorous deeds. The places of mystical Polish defenders of Western Europe - first against Tatar and Turkish invaders, and in the XXth Century - against the Bolshevik plague from Soviet Russia. The elite of Polish aristocracy and landowners had their enormous properties in Kresy, where, in their private kingdoms, the richest, the most magnificent renaissance or baroque palaces, churches, monasteries were built during long ages of the bloom of the Polish culture in that area. Also, the worldwide legend of East-European Jewish shtetl has its roots in the culture of the Polish Kresy. When one reads biographies of the great Jewish men of science, culture or the politics, often their birthplaces appear to be in Lwów, Wilno, Grodno, Stryj, Drohobycz Czortków, Buczacz, Kołomyja or in the hundreds of the Kresy towns and villages. Unfortunately - with some exceptions given to the bigger cities like Wilno or Lwów - a large part of the magnificent cultural heritage of the multi-age Polish presence in that area has not been restaured since the 2nd WW and predominantly, is left to decay.
Albert Harris - Gdy radio w pokoiku gra
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Diese Aufnahme entstand ca. 1937 in Warschau. Der polnische Sänger und Schauspieler Albert Harris wird vom Odeon-Orchester (wahrscheinlich unter Leitung von Jerzy Gert) begleitet.
Polish tango in Soviet Russia - Utomlennoe solntse, 1936
The "Last Sunday -- erroneously called "THAT Last Sunday -- was composed by the Polish composer Jerzy Petersburski in 1936. It is a nostalgic tango with lyrics by Zenon Friedwald describing the final meeting of former lovers who are parting. The Polish title was: To Ostatnia Niedziela (The Last Sunday). The song was extremely popular and was performed by numerous artists (the best known performance by the pre-war Polish singer Mieczysław Fogg). Along the way, it first gained the nick-name of Suicide Tango due to its sad lyric (although, the real "suicie song in the night restaurants of Warsaw -- where the shoot in the brow at 12 at night was not an unusual happening - was in 1930s another sad "Sunday: the "Gloomy Sunday (in Polish: "Smutna niedziela) by a Hungarian composer Rezső Seress.
Soon, it became an international hit; in the US sung by Billie Holiday.
But Polish "Last Sunday also had a terribly sad fate. During World War II In the concentrations camps it was often played while Jewish prisoners were led to the gas chambers and ovens, to be executed.
During World War II its Russian version was prepared by Iosif Alveg and performed by Leonid Utyosov under the title of Weary Sun (Russian: Utomlyennoye Solntse). After World War II, the song remained largely successful and appeared in a number of films, including Yuriy Norshteyn's 1979 Tale of Tales (considered by many international critics to be the greatest animated film ever made), the award-winning Krzysztof Kieślowski's White (1994) and Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun of the same year. The Russian title of the song also became the name-sake for the latter film and -- as the result - for even more educated and worldly Russians, nowadays, it is considered as the "Russian national song!
Recording: Alexandr Cfasman Orkestr, Russian vocal refrain by Pavel Mihailov - Utomlennoe Solnce (J.Petersburski), Noginskij Zawod 1932
Tango Violino Tzigano in Polish - Mieczysław Fogg !
Polish version of the great hit composed by Bixio, recorded in Poland in 1936.
Stefan Bob i Albert Harris - Kto wie.
Stefan Bob i Albert Harris
Kto wie
Odeon N 45060 b Wo 1995
Nagranie z 1937 roku.
Płyta wytłoczona z nową numeracją katalogową w 1945 roku.
Polish prewar hit: Albert Harris - Bukiecik fiołków, 1937
Albert Harris & Orkiestra taneczna Odeon - Bukiecik fiołków (A Small Bunch of Violets) Walc angielski (Artur Gold /Andrzej Włast) Odeon c. 1937 (Poland)
NOTE: Albert Harris (born Aaron Hekelman; used also pseudonyms Albert Liff, Albert Holm) was born in 1911 in Warsaw, Poland. He was educated as pianist, was more popular as singer and composer. The most famous song he composed was Piosenka o mojej Warszawie (The Song About My Warsaw) he wrote as soldier of Polish Emigree Army in Italy in 1944. Recorded by Mieczysław Fogg in 1945, it became an unofficial hymn of the annihi;lated capital city of Poland, for the years of its resurrection from the ruins. Harris never came back to his beloved city, he chose to stay away from Poland, that - due to a shameful Roosevelt-Churchill Polish betrayal in Yalta - was ofgfered to Stalin as part of his communist empire. In 1946--1949 Harris stayed in Sweden, where he wrote music to several Swedish movies, in later years he travelled to the United States, where he died in 1974. The anonymous Odeon dance orchestra is probably directed by Jerzy Gert.
Tadeusz Faliszewski - Ty i moja gitara , 1931
Tadeusz Faliszewski, artysta teatru Morskie Oko (The Artist from Morskie Oko theatre) - Ty i moja gitara (You And My Guitar), Tango z rewii Hallo! Ameryka! (Tango from the revue Hallo, America!) Muz.: Jerzy Petersburski/ Tekst: Andrzej Włast, Syrena-Electro 1931
In his memoirs, Ludwik Sempoliński - one of the most popular comic singers and actors in prewar Warsaw - writes about this premiere, that Andrzej Włast, director of the grandeur revue theatre Morskie Oko - who in 1920/30s remained in constant conflict & competition with another histerically popular Warsaw cabaret Qui Pro Quo - the smaller, yet more intellectual scene - decided - after suggestions of his maitre de danse Antoni Nelle (who just returned from the USA) - to arrange (in spite of the Depression) a great American show in Warsaw, entitled Hello! America. They created a kind of a girls! girls! girls! show, that would never be (technically) possible on the small stage of Qui pro Quo. Włast went as far as to import from New York an American actress Margarethe Donaldson. The stage was whole wrapped in white and black silk weils and courtains, the orchestra was dressed in white tuxedos, the art deco desing made the stage a shop window of the newest worldly trends in decorating. Yet, after 40 performances, the title was closed down. The reason was, among others, Tadeusz Faliszewski, who was employed for this show as master of ceremony, as well as he had to sing a lot of songs (including Jerzy Petersburski's tango Ty i moja gitara). This difficult actor/singer task was beyond possibilities of that not smashingly handsome tenor, completely deprived of vis comica, who was not a professional actor. The show and enormous investment of time and money, failed.
Polish tango: Tęskno mi , FALISZEWSKI 1934
Tęskno mi (I Am Longing) Tango z teatru Wielka Rewia (Tango from a Grand-Revue Theatre, Warsaw) (Muz. A.Lewandowski/ Tekst: A.Włast) - Jan Pobóg (Tadeusz Faliszewski), Orch. dir. by Iwo Wesby, Melodja-Electro 1934 (Poland)
NOTE: In the Ist half of 1930s Melodja-Electro existed as a popular, yet ephemeric label, an offspring of Syrena Electro. The records were cheaper (cost 1 zloty, while Syrena cost about 2,o zloty) although their quality was not worse than Syrena's. Considered a cheap label it was ignored by many front-line artists, who never recorded there (Mieczysław Fogg, Adam Aston, Hanka Ordonówna) or recorded under pseudonyms, like Tadeusz Faliszewski (Jan Pobóg) or Wiera Gran (Mariol).
In the slideshow are the vintage photographs of the city of Bydgoszcz, where I was born. Many of these beautiful Jugendstil apartment houses still exist but the atmosphere of a tidy, well organised and prosperous middle class town in Pomerania, completely evaporated with the outbreak of 2nd World War. In September 1939, as soon as German troops invaded Poland, the town was a scene for the first homicide in the modern history of Europe. During first days of a German occupation, 10 % of the 150,ooo population of the town - its whole elite (teachers, doctors, lawyers etc.) - were murdered in mass executions in the Old Town Square and in so-called today Death Valley in a suburbian village Fordon. It was the first stage of German-Soviet plan -- in reference to Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of August, 1939 and the Gestapo-NKVD mettings in occupied Poland, in the months to follow - of decapitation of the Polish society by depriving it of its elites and turning Poles into a slave-nation.
It is my second uploading of this tune (previous was in September 2008 and it was uncomplete - first 20 seconds of recording were missing ). So now, there is a complete version of that haunting tango accompanied by a nicer selection of the vintage photoes of my beloved town.
Csárdás from Poland: Janusz Popławski sings Tokaj, ca 1930
Tokaj (Hungarian foxtrot) - Janusz Popławski, vocal & Orkiestra taneczna Odeon, dyr. Jerzy Gert, Odeon ca 1930
Tango - reklama: Morwitan, to nasz znak !, Adam Aston, 1937
One of the very many Polish songs of 1930's which were designed and served as an advertisement of the goods for sale.
The present one, Morwitan, to nasz znak !, (Morwitan - it's our trade-mark !) was meant for the tissue-paper and tubes, produced by Herbewo firm, used for home production of tobacco cigarettes.
The singer is Adam Aston; here, for the advertising action, named - J.Kierski.
Ady Rosners Orchestra, Voc. Albert Harris - Piosenka o mojej Warszawie
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Ein wunderschöner Walzer, der die Stimmung seiner Zeit wiederspiegelt! Albert Harris schrieb das Lied im Gedenken an das alte Warschau, wie man es aus der Vorkriegszeit kannte. Die Aufnahme nahm das Staatliche Jazz-Orchester der ZSRR unter Leitung von Ady Rosner 1945 auf. Den vollständigen Text singt der Komponist persönlich. Somit kann diese Aufnahme wohl als die Originalaufnahme dieses Liedes gesehen werden, welches später von vielen anderen populären polnischen Sängern wie Mieczyslaw Fogg interpretiert wurde ...
Polish Tango: Musiałem cię zostawić, Bob & Harris 1937
Musiałem cię zostawić... (I Had To Leave You) Tango dedicated to Polish emmigrants in America (J.Kagan, W.Tychowski - Izabella) - Orchestra dir by. Jerzy Gert, Vocal duett: Bob & Harris, Odeon 1937
NOTE: This tango was written by two fine composers: Jakub Kagan, author of many excellent tangos (go to ) and Witold Tychowski, who led a famous Hawaiian guitar orchestra in Warsaw. The song's subtitle (not present on the label) was "Tango dedicated to American Polonia (the Latin name of Poland: Polonia, is an old habitual term for Polish emigrant diaspore in the world). The lyrics, written by the author who hides under a pseudonym "Izabella, is a rather banal expression of love and longing for Poland - that "I had lo leave but "I will come back ,as it 's stated in the end. A mastrely Jerzy Gert's bandleading makes this recording one more lovely finding in the Polish tangoes collection.
La Cumparsita from Poland - Janusz Popławski, ca 1937
La Cumparsita - tango (Rodriguez) - Orkiestra taneczna Odeon, Refren śpiewa Janusz Popławski, Odeon ca 1937
Albert Harris - Marilou.
Albert Harris
Odeon 271268b Wo 1942
Nagranie z 1936 roku.
The New York Twelve - Youre Driving Me Crazy, 1930
The New York Twelve (dir. by Harry Reser)- You're Driving Me Crazy (W.Donaldson) Hit Of The Week, 1930
Albert Harris - Lambeth Walk.
Albert Harris
Lambeth Walk
Odeon O 271532a Wo 2442
Nagranie z 1938 roku.
Polish Tango: Hanka Ordonówna - Kogo nasza miłość obchodzi, 1932
Hanka Ordonówna with piano accopmaniament - Kogo nasza miłość obchodzi? (Whe Cares About Our Love)(Music & Text: Marian Hemar)Tango from theatre Banda, Syrena Electro 1932
This is another beautiful (and less known) Hanka Ordonówna's tango, written (music and lyrics) by Marian Hemar - a fine poet and one of the best lyricists in pre-war Warsaw.
This dramatic love story finds its bitter conclusion in the refrain's canto: Who cares about our love? Just you and I/ Who will be hurt by our love? Just you and I/ Whose eyes will be blinded with tears from our love? Just yours and mine/ Who will be killed by our love? Just you and I.
The slideshow are early and late photos of Hanka Ordonówna - la plus grande vedette in the history of the Polish song.
Old Tango from Poland: Stanisław Gruszczyński - Come To Me! 1932
Stanisław Gruszczyński (vocal) Przyjdź (Come!) (Jerzy Petersburski / Andrzej Włast) Tango from the revue "Tęcza nad Warszawą (Rainbow Over Warsaw) in the theatre "Morskie Oko, Syrena Electro 1932
Stanisław GRUSZCZYŃSKI (b. 1891 in Ludwinów by Wilno, died 1959 in Milanówek by Warsaw) - one of greatest Polish singers (tenor) in the history.
During his schoolyears in Wilno, in the age of 14, he was engaged in the Polish anti-Tzarist conspiracy, for which he was expelled from school with no right to continue. Having a natural strong tenor, he decided to go to Warsaw where - in the years 1910-15, working as a waiter in Hotel Angielski, he had a chance to get into artistical circles and to receive first propositions for little roles in the theatres. At last, one of Hotel Angielski regular customers got interested in his vocal talents and helped him in the engagement into Warsaw Operetta.
After the very first performance, his success was enormous. Overnight, he could choose among offers. He choose Radames in Warsaw Grand Theatre performance of "Aida, in 1916. This role he guaranteed him forever the nickname of the "Polish Caruso as well as the solid rank among the greatest Polish tenors of the I-st half of XX century. During 1920 that nice village boy from nearby Wilno used to take all possible roles on the prime stages of Europe: La Scala, Madrid, Barcelona, Hamburg, Paris, Lisbon. Because of the lack of a solid music education he sung in Polish, usually causing the little sensations among conoisseurs and journalists. Nevertheless, they all agreed in one point: Europe has not had for a long time, such performer of Wagnerian roles!
He was given enormous voice and phenomenal music memory. He could learn his part overnight. Therefore, he was exploited beyond measure. Lack of education, as well as his spontaneous, uncritical character, made him take at once any proposition and sing anywhere, without guaranteed conditions. Thus he sung in best operas as well as in the smoky cafes; he also performed in the movies. He recorded dozens of sides for best gramophone companies in Europe, which earned him a fortune. This was the beginning - and the end of his hi-speed life as a European celebrity. In the beginning of 1930s, having bought for himself a race horse team and a villa in the snobistic settlement area of Milanówek by Warsaw, he had to consider the first alarming signs of his voices decline. The critics started to complain about his failures on the stage. And suddenly, in 1932 his still great name appears on the posters advertising new revues in Warsaw cabaret Morskie Oko - where he was mercifully employed for the revue premiere. Soon he became alcoholic.
During 2nd World War he worked as a doorman and a physical worker. After war, his long-time-ago fans arranged the modest jubilee for him in the Warsaw Opera, as well as they found for him the low-paid yet stabile employment in the Music Library. In 1958, he retired, to die soon on a hart attack, in poverty and oblivion.
Albert Harris - Panno Zosiu ja funduje.
Albert Harris
Panno Zosiu ja funduje
Odeon N 45061 b Wo 1956
Nagranie z 1936 roku.
Płyta wytłoczona w 1945 roku z nową numeracją katalogową.
Warsaw in 1945: Piosenka o mojej Warszawie - W. Sypniewski
Piosenka o mojej Warszawie (A Song About Warsaw Of Mine) (Muz. i słowa A. Harris) -- W. Sypniewski & Orkiestra pod dyr. M. Giżelskiego. Melodie ca 1945 (Poland)
NOTE: It is probably the earliest and the least kown recording of that song, made after May 1945. The tender, poetical text was written during the Second World war by one of most popular prewar singers in Warsaw, Albert Harris. He was a member of an artistic team that accompanied with its music the struggles of Polish Emigree Army in the West, led by generel Władysław Anders. In Italy, during the bloody fights for Monte Cassino monastery, where thousands of Polish soldiers gave their lives, Harris wrote one of the most charming and nostalgic melodies in history of a song in Poland. The nostalgy for Warsaw, as it remains in memories, is confronted with a terrible truth of its devastation today. Yet, the song ends with exclamation of hope, that Warsaw will grow up again and resurrect it's beauty through the sacrifice of blood, given by Polish soldiers, all over Europe.
In my slideshow I tried to give picture to that ambiguity of feelings: to Harris' hope mixed with a despair. And -- to both visions he had in his heart while writing: Warsaw in it's glamour, and in it's decline.
I have no idea who the singer was, neither I know the least detail about orchestra and its leader. Considering very low label number, this must be one of the earliest sides produced by Melodje -- the first Polish record manufacture established after 1945. It's studio was not organised in Warsaw but in a relatively less destroyed city of Poznań. Melodje Records -- that deserve well of its merits in recreating the music life in Poland and its archivisation in a totally destroyed country -- was closed by the communists in 1949 after only a few years of activity, as soon as the Stalinst regime was fully installed in Poland.
Przedwojenna Polska - Tango, Faliszewski 1930
This tango Głos z daleka (which translates into English as Voice From Afar) is kind of weird. The music is haunting, while the text is just repulsive. A very bad poetry, almost graphomanic - about some voice, which calls the singer thru the windy, snowy, wintery night, and - guess, what a voice is it? A voice of love, as all of us probably guessed. (Before love - also appears, God knows why, the voice od a suffering). Yet, alltogetger, this text and this music make an unforgetable tango - very popular in pre-war Poland. It's smooth, rhythmical and keen in seducing us - like all tangos do - in their old, kitschy and irresistable way of seducing.
Polish Blues: Tadeusz Faliszewski - To wiosna gra, 1930
Hallo, all YT guys!! Spring is here! Der Lenz ist da! To wiosna gra!!! Here's a Fanny Gordon's blues (? well, it's rather a slow-fox for me) from happy Warsaw of 1930 - with my best Spring greetings to all of you
NOTE: Tadeusz Faliszewski & Orkiestra Henryka Golda (Henryk Gold's Orchestra ?) - To wiosna gra (It's Spring Who's Acting) (Music: Fanny Gordon, text: Krystjan) Blues z rewii: Czy pani lubi bez? (Blues from the revue: Do You Like Lilacs, Madame?), Syrena-Electro 1930
Go to another Fanny Gordon's compositions and to her biogram:
Polish Tango: Faliszewski Twe usta kłamią, 1933
Tadeusz Faliszewski - Twe usta kłamią (Your Lips Are Lying) (Kataszek /Włast) Tango z teatru Rex, Syrena-Electro 1933
NOTE: Szymon KATASZEK (né Boruch Szymon Kataszek) composer, pianist, bandleader, one of pioneers of Polish jazz. Born in Warsaw 1898; executed by the nazis in Warsaw, 1943.
He received his musical education in the Music Institute in Warsaw (the class of piano) and in St. Cecilia Academy in Rome. Having returned to Poland before completing his studies, he got his first job as an organist in St.Trinity Church in Warsaw, working also in the nightclubs as a pianist. He also played for some time in the Military Band of the Garrison of Warsaw. In 1920 he enlisted as a soldier to the Polish Army to fight in the Polish-Bolshevic War. In 1921 he went to Gdańsk and Berlin, to play in dance orchestras. From the end of 1922, back in Warsaw, he and his friend Zygmunt Karasiński - who also had some experience having played with the German dance bands - established a jazz quintett, that appeared on the stage of a newly opened & fashionable restaurant "Oaza. Their performances became a sensation. In 1924 the Krasiński & Kataszek Band recorded its first sides for "Syrena and until 1928 they toured many times around Poland, performing at the most elegant hotels, restaurants and holiday spas. In his memoirs, the fiddler Aleksander Halicki - one of musicians who played in Krasiński & Kataszek Band, wrote, they were the first professional Polish dance orchestra that applied the instrumental improvisation.
Kataszek's activity was not merely bandleading: he also composed dozens of first Polish foxtrotts, black-bottoms, shimmies, charlestons. His hits (called in pre-war Poland "schlagers) were presented on the stages of little theatres of Warsaw: "Qui Pro Quo, "Perskie Oko, "Rex, and sung by the whole of Poland: "A ile mi dasz? (How Much Shall I Get From You?), "To Zula (W futerko się otula) (Its Zula, Who Wraps Herself In The Fur - dedicated to the charleston-dance pionieer and a "Qui Pro Quo singer, Zula Pogorzelska), "Abram, ja ci zagram! (Ill Play It For You, Abram!) or a tango "Czemuś o mnie zapomniał? (Wy Have You Forgotten Me?) rewarded the Grand Prix of 1932 Tango Competition, organized by the theatre "Morskie Oko together with Syrena-Electro Co. In 1933 he and Krasiński wrote music for the film comedy "Każdemu wolno kochać with two schlagers: the rumba "Chcesz to mnie bierz (Take Me, If You Feel Like It) and the homonymous tango "Każdemu wolno kochać (Everybody Has A Right To Love). A nice anecdote is linked with this song: when in 1935 Polish Parliament confirmed the new constitution for the Polish Republic with full rights granted to the homouals, from the age of 15 (it was one of few such tolerant law regulations in the world) tango "Każdemu wolno kochać became an unofficial anthem of the gay circles in Poland and in form of a comment to the new constistution - performed by the male vocal/dance duett - it was sung in the cabarets.
Taking profit from his enormous popularity, Kataszek also maintained a social activity. He was a chairman of the Society For Workless Musicians, that forced a rule obliging all artistic unions in Poland of writing 20% off their radio performance incomes for the benefit of the jobless musicians. In 1938 he arranged the enormous Festival Of Dance with 10 best dance orchestras of Poland, performing for the public in Karowa Street in Warsaw. The whole income was conveyed to the National Fund Of The Aircraft Building.
Alas, a year later, no aircratf was able to rescue Poland from the murderous attack on her, from the both sides: nazi Germany from the west, and 2 weeks later, the Soviet Union from the East. As most of the artists, Kataszek left Warsaw for Lwow, and he got under the Soviet occupation. In the very beginning he was allowed to perform for the Soviet dignitaries in the night restaurant "Imperial. But when in June 1941 the Soviet-German war blew out, he, instead of fleeing farther eastwards, returned to Warsaw. Many Polish patriotic Jews, who hated communists the same much, as Poles, did so, unaware of horrors carried on in the nazi-occupied Poland. That's how he got to the Warsaw Ghetto. In first few months he managed to carry on with bandleading: he led the Ghetto Jewish Police Orchestra, but when the first deportations to Treblinka and Bełżec started, he managed to slide out to the "aryan side and he went to Lwow. There - as the unverified sources say - he returned to his "Imperial, where he led the band again. But, recognised by one of the guests, who was the SS officer from Warsaw - he was arrested and sent to the prison of Pawiak in the Warsaw Ghetto. And there - its a version confirmed by the historians - he was shot with a group of prisoners, on 22 May, 1943.
Tango Lubię - Faliszewski & Piotrowski, 1937
Lubię (Spoglądać w oczy marzące twe) (I Like/ To Look Deep Into Your Dreamy Eyes) Tango (Kagan, Tychowski /Fox) - Tad. Faliszewski & Z. Piotrowski z akomp. Ork. W. Tychowskiego, Syrena-Electro, 1937 (repressed by Melodje, ca 1946)
NOTE: The slideshow contains photographs of some of best or most popular cinema and theatre actresses in pre-war Poland
Ada, to nie wypada - Jerzy Gert Orch. & Albert Harris, 1936
Albert HARRIS (né Aaron Hekelman; b. 1911 in Warsaw, d. 1974 in USA) - pianist, composer and a popular singer in pre-war Warsaw.
Jerzy GERT (né Józef Gärtner; b. 1908 in Tarnow, d. 1968 in Krakow) -- conductor and composer. In 1924-1932 he studied in Wien to become director of the Lwow Philharmonia (1931 -1941), as well as the music manager of the Polish branch of "Odeon records. After WWII he founded the Orchester and Choir of Polish Radio in Krakow. In 1957-62 he was the artistical director of Krakow Philharmonia.
Recording: Albert Harris, Orkiestra taneczna "Odeon pod dyr. Jerzego Gerta - Ada, to nie wypada! (Ada! It Misbecomes You!) (from the comedy movie "Ada, to nie wypada!) (Muz. Zygmunt Wiehler /Tekst: Jerzy Jurandot) Odeon 1936
Przedwojenny Lwów: Chór Dana - Tango Łyczakowskie, 1930
This tango - whose name Łyczakowskie comes from the name of the Lwow's colourful suburb Łyczaków - is one of the whole series of pre-war songs about the city of Lwow.
Ever since the loss of Lwow to USSR after the year 1945 - due to post-war Western allies' obedience to Stalins' pressure on depriving Poland of this most heroic of the Polish cities, who always firmly guarded Poland's eastern border - the memory of Lwow has remained forever the non-healing wound for each of Polish hearts.
Chór Dana acc. by accordeon - Tango Łyczakowskie(L.Haber/Z.P.Haar) Odeon c. 1930
Faliszewski - Kochaj mnie, a będę twoją, 1930
Tadeusz Faliszewski - Kochaj mnie, a będę twoją (Henryk Wars /Andrzej Włast) Tango z rewii Uśmiech Warszawy teatru Morskie Oko (Tango from revue The Smile Of Warsaw from the theatre Morskie Oko) , Syrena-Electro 1930
NOTE: After a genial duo: Artur Gold & Włast (see my previous uploading) now here is another legendary Polish couple of tango-makers: composer Henryk Wars and Andrzej Włast (author, who probably wrote one song a day). To read more about Henryk Wars go to and Andrzej Włast's tragic fate is described at
This is one of the best tangos composed by Henryk Wars. It is dark and truly erotic, and therefore it was originally sung in Morskie Oko theatre by Stanisława Nowicka - in prewar Poland the dark tangoes singer, specializing in the apache songs and Marlene Dietrich's repertoire. The text says about a street girl who - brought in by the sailors - meets a group of stokers in a stokehole of a liner. With much talent the dusky and erotic atmosphere of that hot, sweaty place is described by Andrzej Włast. Unfortunately, in my collection of the pictures I did not find any showing the prewar stokeholes or streetgirls paying there a visit to a group of sailors and stokers... - a situation - even in the crazy Twenties not frequent enough, as it seems, to justify the production of posters displaying it ...
Nevertheless, in Warsaw in 1930 the song immediately became a hit and is sung by the popular Polish artists even today (see in You Tube the Violetta Villas & Kazik's version
I also recommend the rare and really outstanding, privately recorded and post mortem published in YT, Stanisław Staszewski's solo by the guitar
A disrupted way - Albert Harris, 1939
Albert Harris (1911 Warsaw - 1976 USA)
Singer and lyricist. Exquisite interpreter of popular songs in late 30s. He brought into a Polish school of singing of thirties an air of modernness. His way of emission and a delicate style did not have anything in common with a traditional operetta or a vaudeville; it was rather a good example of world-wide tendencies in a new style of singing in those times. After some recording trials in minor studios, he was engaged in 1936 on exclusive terms by Warsaw Odeon where under the musical direction of Jerzy Gert, was recording his beautifully interpreted songs until the outbreak of the WW 2nd . Since early forties he had been active as an artist on the USSR side (recordings in Lvov 1940 !) where, in 1944, wrote a hit of his life - A Song about My Warsaw, the number which was moving Polish listeners at that time to tears. After the war, he sang again in Poland, although did not make any more recordings. Shortly afterwards escaped to the West (Sweden, Venezuela).
Recording of the song known in France as VOUS, QUI PASSEZ SANS ME VOIR and in Germany as DU, DU GEHST AN MIR VORBEI made at Warsaw Odeon studio within the last days of freedom -- Summer 1939.
Odeon N 45026 (re-edition 1945)
Matr. Wo 2553
Rec. 1939
Adam Aston - Tango Bakszysz, 1937
Adam Aston (J.Kierski) & Ork. Syrena-Rekord - Bakszysz (The Baksheesh) Tango (Ted-Rey-Solec) Syrena-Electro 1937 (Polish)
NOTE: This tango is an advertising song written for the Herbewo company in Krakow, which in the 1930s produced the plug-wraps and non-nicotine cigarettes Morwitan (made from the mulberry leaves). Huge promotional campaign assisting the relrease of this product resulted in series of the fabulous advertising songs, sung by best entertainers (Mieczysław Fogg, Adam Aston, Albert Harris and others) and recorded by Syrena-Electro and Odeon. See Morwitan Fox Trot and outstanding Tango Nikotyna both sung by Albert Harris. The catchy tunes and appealing humorous lyrics prove, they must have been written by the best authors, most of them however hiding under the nicks. (In 1930s in Poland the overt participation in purely commercial ventures, was for the most of top artists still something a bit embarrassing).
Text of this fun song speaks of the old times, when a Tatar khan carries for his sultan the booty from his raids to "Lekhistan" (- once in Oriental countries, so was called Poland). Yet, among stolen goods, jewels and beautiful captive girls, the most precious gift is one hundred plug-wrapped Morwitans. If you want bliss, smoke Morwitan – urges Adam Aston, hidden under a pseudonym J.Kierski. The sultan listened to him and was delighted. And ofcourse, ever since he smoked nothing other than Morwitan.
This song ends this year's Mediterranean holidays for me. Last several days I spent in a beautiful and underrated by tourists state of Lebanon. It is a country of wonderful views and peaceful, friendly people: a half and half Muslims and Christians (Maronites). Their harmonious coexistence can be a model for other, less fortunate countries. The presence of the figures of Jesus and Our Lady on every second streetcorner is something common and entitrely normal for the Lebanese people, regardless of their religion. So are the rosaries, dangling by the back-mirrors inside the public cabs. In the small and big towns - Beirut, Byblos, Tyre - next to great mosques stand no less imposaing Catholic temples (the Maronites belong to the Roman Catholic Church) and such mingle does not bother anyone, as the alleged insult to the feelings of other religions. Just next to Labanon burns Syria, under the American-European bombing attack - which to my deepest regret, awfully violates the UN Charter – while little Lebanon so far abides in peace and prays for peace. If peace in Lebanon would be destroyed, it won't be accordingly to Lebanese people's will, but if and only if it's caused by intrusion from outside. I wish the brave country to persevere in their faith and hope for peace. May it be fulfilled!
This song is my post-holiday gift for them. Unfortunately, I do not have in my collection any Lebanese song, so let this Polish tango Orientale be a substitute for it.


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District of Columbia Court of Appeals
September 04, 2003
CLEVELAND BRYAN, APPELLANT,v.UNITED STATES, APPELLEE.
Appeal from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (F-4302-03) (Hon. Harold L. Cushenberry, Jr., Motions Judge)
Before Reid and Glickman, Associate Judges, and Kern, Senior Judge.
Argued August 14, 2003
Dissenting opinion by Associate Judge GLICKMAN at p. 7.
This appeal presents for our review and decision whether the trial court's bail determination for pretrial detention of an appellant who had been arrested pursuant to a warrant for committing an assault with intent to murder while armed is supported by the record. We note that our review is limited. As we said in Martin v. United States, 614 A.2d 51 (D.C. 1992), a case involving detention without bond pending trial: "[W]e are merely reviewing [the trial court's] order, not deciding the issue of release de novo. 'Our review function does not permit us to make a different decision anew as long as support (a rational basis) exists for the bail order imposed.'" Id. at 53 (quoting Ireland v. United States, 406 A.2d 1259, 1260 (D.C. 1979). *fn1 D.C. Code § 23-1322 (b)(1)(A) provides in pertinent part:
The judicial officer shall hold a hearing to determine whether any condition or combination of conditions set forth in § 23-1321 (c) will reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required and the safety of any other person and the community, . . . in a case that involves: [a] crime of violence, or a dangerous crime, as these terms are defined in § 23-1331 . . . .
D.C. Code § 23-1331 (4)(D) defines a crime of violence as "assault with intent to commit any offense." According to § 23-1322 (c):
There shall be a rebuttable presumption that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community if the judicial officer finds by a substantial probability that the person: (1) Committed a dangerous crime or a crime of violence, as these crimes are defined in § 23-1331, while armed with or having readily available a pistol, firearm, or imitation firearm . . . .
We examined the "substantial probability" standard in United States v. Edwards, 430 A.2d 1321 (D.C. 1981) (en banc), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1022 (1982), and concluded that: "The legislative history indicates that this standard, higher than probable cause was intended to be equivalent to the standard required 'to secure a civil injunction - likelihood of success on the merits.'" Id. at 1339 (citing H.R. REP. NO. 91-907, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 182 (1970)). We rejected "the higher beyond a reasonable doubt standard" for detention proceedings because that standard "historically . . . has been reserved for criminal cases, which are punitive in purpose . . ., and pretrial detention is not punitive in purpose." Id. (internal quotations omitted).
We now turn to the detention order in the case before us. During the pretrial detention hearing the government presented the testimony of the police detective who was investigating the case. The court concluded after direct and cross-examination of the witness, that "the government established by a substantial probability, through the testimony of Detective Francis, that the defendant [appellant] committed the crime of assault with intent to murder while armed on or about January 22, 2003, within the District of Columbia . . . ." *fn2 The court further noted that "the defense has not rebutted this presumption." *fn3 Accordingly, the court ordered appellant held without bond pending the trial or other final disposition.
The record reflects that an eyewitness (referred to as "Witness One" in the warrant), who also admits to being a participant in the shooting, stated that three men, including appellant and himself, were on the scene of the crime that evening. All three men carried loaded guns; the appellant and one other man had nine millimeter pistols, and the third man had a thirty-two caliber pistol. All three men began to shoot at the complainant, from a distance of ten to twenty feet, striking the victim in the leg and in the back of the head where the bullet is still lodged. The victim of the shooting reported the incident to the police, who responded to the scene and found thirty-two shell casings on the same side of the street and in the same location. Twenty-five cartridge casings came from a nine millimeter gun and seven from a thirty-two caliber gun. Witness One also identified the appellant from an array of nine color photographs as one of the shooters. Witness One has known the appellant for at least two years and has seen him three or four times per week over that period. Witness One knew the appellant well and could identify him by his full name and by his nickname.
On appeal, appellant argues that "the hearsay evidence of a single accomplice witness who confessed to involvement in a shooting . . . [and] was under arrest . . . [and] had been held in jail for 'awhile' prior to cooperating with the police was insufficient to support a finding that [appellant] committed the shooting by a substantial probability." Appellant further contends that "[o]nce Witness One's status as an accomplice was revealed at the detention hearing, the judge was required to assess the hearsay presentation differently than had the information come from an uninvolved citizen bystander." Appellant relies upon this court's comment in Hawthorne v. United States, 504 A.2d 580, 587 (D.C. 1986), that "Testimony by an accomplice always carries some incentive to perjury" as well as the Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia, No. 2.22 (2002), that "the testimony of an alleged accomplice should be received with caution and scrutinized with care."
In response, the government states that the trial court did consider the unreliability of accomplice testimony in concluding that there existed a substantial probability that appellant committed the offense. Specifically, the trial court considered Witness One's role in the crime and noted that "this is a situation where a person does not deflect culpability from themselves and simply falsely accuse someone else where they said I had nothing to do with it and someone else did it. He's acknowledging his own culpability as a shooter and saying that one of the persons that participated was your client [appellant]."
We are unable to agree under the particular circumstances here that the fact that Witness One was an accomplice of appellant in the shooting rendered the evidence in this instance insufficient for the trial court to conclude that there was a substantial probability that the appellant committed the charged offense. The "measure for the weight of the evidence of the charged crime . . . [is] substantial probability, not clear and convincing evidence." Jones v. United States, 687 A.2d 574, 575 (D.C.1996). As we have noted, this standard has been held to be higher than probable cause and may be equated to likelihood of success on the merits prerequisite to securing a civil injunction. Edwards, supra, 430 A.2d at 1339. We part company with our dissenting colleague in the application of the substantial probability standard. He asserts that: "On this crucial point of identity, the government offered only a hearsay report of the uncorroborated word of an admitted accomplice to the crime." Yet, in our en banc opinion in Edwards, supra, our holding specifically permitted the use of hearsay: "[W]e hold that the government may proceed by the use of proffer and hearsay, subject to the discretion of the judge as to the nature of the proffer and the need for admissible evidence." Id. at 1337.
It may well be that at the trial of the instant case the jury will observe as well as hear Witness One testify and the victim, and conclude it cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant shot the victim with the intent to murder him. *fn4 However, a pretrial detention proceeding is not a trial but rather a procedure established by the Legislature to protect the community and its citizens for the relatively brief period of time prior to trial in those relatively rare cases where the judicial officer concludes after a hearing there is a "substantial probability" that the accused has committed an assault with intent to murder while armed. The Legislature has expressly stated that at a pretrial detention hearing "[t]he rules concerning admissibility of evidence in criminal trials do not apply to the presentation and consideration of information at the hearing." D.C. Code § 23-1322 (d)(4).
Indeed, this court in Edwards, supra, 430 A.2d at 1334, has recognized that in the statutorily-created pretrial detention proceeding "[t]he information presented to the judicial officer by either the government or the defense . . . 'need not conform to the rules pertaining to the admissibility of evidence in a court of law.'" In Edwards, we noted "the limited function of a pretrial detention hearing, i.e., to determine the appropriateness of detention . . . pending a trial on the charges with the full panoply of criminal trial rights, weighs in favor of a simplified hearing." Id. at 1337.
In the instant case, the trial court had a statement by the victim that he was fired upon and still had a bullet lodged in his skull; that the police discovered more than 30 spent shells from two different caliber weapons at the scene of the alleged crime; and that Witness One admitted that he himself and appellant were two of the three shooters. Under these particular circumstances, we conclude that a rational basis exists to support the trial court's finding that there is a substantial probability that appellant has committed the crime of assault with intent to murder while armed. *fn5
Accordingly, since there is an unrebutted presumption "that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community," the order of pretrial detention must be and is Affirmed.
GLICKMAN, Associate Judge, dissenting: In ordering Cleveland Bryan detained without bond until his trial, the motions judge relied on a statutory presumption of dangerousness. That presumption properly arises only when the judge is able to find by a "substantial probability" that the defendant committed a crime of violence while armed with a firearm. See D.C. Code § 23-1322 (c) (2001). A higher standard of proof than probable cause, "substantial probability" calls upon the judge to determine after an adversary hearing whether the prosecution is likely to succeed in proving the charged offense at trial. This appears to be the first case in which this court has been called upon to apply the "substantial probability" standard. In my view this higher standard of proof was not met in this case, where there was no evidence linking Bryan to the shooting in question beyond uncorroborated statements that an admitted accomplice to the crime had made to police under undisclosed circumstances after "he had been in jail for awhile" following his arrest. I therefore conclude that the detention order is not "supported by the proceedings below," see D.C. Code § 23-1324 (b) (2001), and I would grant Bryan's motion for summary reversal.
The majority opinion reaches a different conclusion by applying an unduly lenient standard of review that our cases have rejected. As a result, the opinion glosses over the question presented, which is how a hearsay accusation the law presumes to be untrustworthy can, without material corroboration, constitute a "substantial probability" that the defendant is guilty. The majority opinion pays lip service to the heightened "substantial probability" standard but fails to take it seriously as a statutory requirement. Instead the opinion ignores the critical distinction between a substantial probability and probable cause and abdicates our responsibility as an appellate court to evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence to meet the statutorily-imposed stricter standard of proof.
Cleveland Bryan is a seventeen-year-old youth who is being charged as an adult with assault with intent to murder while armed for the shooting of Yoseph Dagaye. After Bryan was taken into custody pursuant to an arrest warrant that was issued on July 17, 2003, the government moved for his detention without bond pending trial. At the detention hearing, the government offered the testimony of a single witness, Detective James V. Francis. Detective Francis adopted the arrest warrant affidavit (which had been written by another detective, who did not testify) and supplied additional information. No other evidence was presented or proffered in support of the government's motion, and Bryan did not testify or present evidence of his own. The motions judge credited the affidavit and Detective Francis's testimony, and I summarize the material facts in accordance with the judge's findings. See D.C. Code § 23-1322 (g)(1).
The shooting occurred on the evening of January 22, 2003, some six months before Bryan was charged. The complainant, Yoseph Dagaye, reported that he and another person were sitting in a car on 18th Street in Southeast Washington, D.C., waiting to pick up Dagaye's girlfriend. Dagaye noticed several persons standing nearby, one of whom approached and reached into his waistband as if he were about to pull out a gun. Dagaye immediately sped off to avoid being shot.
As he did so, he heard several gunshots and discovered he had been struck in the head and leg. Dagaye drove to a police station and reported the shooting. He was then taken to a hospital where he was treated and released. Crime scene search officers recovered twenty-five nine-millimeter cartridge casings and seven thirty-two caliber cartridge casings at the scene of the shooting. The motive for the shooting is unknown, or, at least, was not revealed at the detention hearing.
To connect Bryan to the shooting, the government relied exclusively on the word of a single witness to the incident. *fn6 This witness was referred to as "Witness One" and not otherwise identified. According to Detective Francis and the arrest warrant affidavit, Witness One had identified Bryan to the police by his nickname and photograph as one of three persons who shot at Dagaye with either a nine-millimeter or a thirty-two caliber pistol. (Dagaye himself did not know how many people fired on him, and his companion did not provide that information either.) Witness One told the police that he knew Bryan from around his neighborhood, had seen him three or four times a week over a two year period, and knew his real name as well as his nickname. The government presented no further evidence of any relationship between Witness One and Bryan or any reason why either of them would have attacked Dagaye. Detective Francis stated that he was unaware of any reason why Witness One would "have a bias against" Bryan. But as Detective Francis revealed for the first time on cross-examination, Witness One was not simply an eyewitness to the shooting. Witness One had admitted to the police that he himself was one of the shooters. *fn7
Witness One did not testify in person at the detention hearing, and the government did not furnish the motions judge with his testimony before the grand jury or other recorded statements that Witness One had made. Virtually nothing was disclosed concerning Witness One's personal characteristics; the judge was not informed, for example, about whether Witness One was a juvenile or an adult, whether he had a criminal record, or whether he was a member of a gang. The government likewise presented no evidence to confirm the reliability of Witness One's identification of Bryan as his accomplice in the shooting; that accusation remained uncorroborated. Nor did the government disclose the circumstances under which Witness One had told the police about his and Bryan's involvement in the shooting. Detective Francis testified only that Witness One had not initiated his contact with the police; that he was already "under investigation for criminal activity" when he told the police about Bryan; and that he had been arrested and "in jail for awhile" by the time Detective Francis spoke with him. The government did not disclose what, if any, criminal charges had been threatened or levied against Witness One; the motions judge inferred that Witness One "apparently had his own legal difficulties," but the judge was not told what those difficulties were. As the motions judge noted in discussing the gaps in the record before him, Detective Francis was not asked and did not say whether Witness One had been promised or was seeking more lenient treatment or whether he had been given "inducements" in connection with his "pending cases" in exchange for his cooperation with the police.
In evaluating the strength of the government's case against Bryan, the motions judge appreciated that since Witness One was an accomplice to the shooting, he might have had a motive to lie to the police about Bryan's participation in order to help himself. Nonetheless, the judge reasoned that since Witness One had admitted his own culpability, *fn8 he was not trying to deflect his guilt onto someone else, and - "at least on this record, at this earlier stage of the investigation" - no "particular bias motivation" to make a false accusation against Bryan had been shown. The judge therefore found that the government had shown by a substantial probability that Bryan had committed the offense of assault with intent to murder while armed with a firearm. "And based upon the presumption that garners to that finding," *fn9 the judge concluded that the government had met its ultimate burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions of release would reasonably assure the safety of the community. The judge therefore granted the government's motion and ordered Bryan detained without bond pending his trial.
On appeal, this court must affirm an order of pretrial detention "if it is supported by the proceedings below. If the order is not so supported, the court may remand the case for a further hearing, or may, with or without additional evidence, order the person released pursuant to [D.C. Code] section 23-1321 (a)." D.C. Code § 23-1324 (b). "In general," therefore, "our review of a preventive detention order is limited." Pope v. United States, 739 A.2d 819, 824 (D.C. 1999). We defer to the motions judge's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous, and so long as the evidence "provide[s] sufficient support for the trial court's order," we will not substitute our judgment of a defendant's dangerousness for that of the motions judge. Martin v. United States, 614 A.2d 51, 53 (D.C. 1992); accord, Pope, supra.
Where the question raised in a pretrial detention appeal "is principally one of law," however, "we review de novo the [motions] judge's disposition of it." Pope, 739 A.2d at 825; see also Tyler v. United States, 705 A.2d 270, 278 (D.C. 1997) (en banc). "Because preventive detention implicates basic constitutional liberties, especially careful review by this court is warranted." Pope, supra.
The question raised in this appeal is whether the evidence before the motions judge was sufficient to permit a finding of "substantial probability" that Bryan committed the offense with which he is charged. As in Pope, "only a single witness testified, and the facts of record, though second-hand, are essentially undisputed." 739 A.2d at 824. The issue of evidentiary sufficiency is therefore a legal issue that we review de novo, just as it is when we review the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a trial court's determination of probable cause or reasonable articulable suspicion or its ruling on a motion for a judgment of acquittal. See, e.g., Thompson v. United States, 745 A.2d 308, 313 (D.C. 2000) ("Determinations of reasonable suspicion and probable cause are reviewed de novo on appeal.") (citing Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690 (1996)); In re R.M.C., 719 A.2d 491, 494 (D.C. 1998) (same); United States v. Bamiduro, 718 A.2d 547, 550 (D.C. 1998) (in evaluating whether a motion for a judgment of acquittal should have been granted, "[t]his court reviews the sufficiency of the evidence de novo, applying the same standard as the trial court"). *fn10
The government moved for pretrial detention under D.C. Code § 23-1322 (2001). In a case involving a crime of violence, *fn11 such as this one, that statute permits the judge to detain a defendant without bond if the judge finds by "clear and convincing evidence" after a hearing that the defendant is dangerous - that is, that no conditions of release "will reasonably assure . . . the safety of any other person and the community." D.C. Code § 23-1322 (b)(2). We have held that in "most, if not all, cases," the clear and convincing evidence requirement means that a detention order cannot be based solely on a finding of probable cause and the facts and circumstances of the charged offense. Pope, 739 A.2d at 827 (construing the similar requirements or pretrial detention in D.C. Code § 23-1325 (a)). Usually, other factors indicative of dangerousness, such as the defendant's record of past violent conduct, also must be shown in order to justify preventive detention. *fn12
Even in the absence of such other factors, however, the pretrial detention statute provides for a rebuttable presumption of dangerousness if the judge finds by a "substantial probability" that the defendant committed a crime of violence while armed with a pistol or firearm. D.C. Code § 23-1322 (c)(1). This appeal turns on the proper interpretation and application of this statutory presumption and specifically of the term "substantial probability." In construing that term, we must bear in mind that the presumption functions as a surrogate for clear and convincing evidence of dangerousness.
Although a "substantial probability" does not itself equate to "clear and convincing evidence," see Jones v. United States, 687 A.2d 574, 575-76 (D.C. 1996), *fn13 we must construe the statutory language so as not to allow the presumption to undermine or lower the ultimate clear and convincing evidence standard of proof. "Preventive detention statutes restrict the liberty of the citizen, and they must be strictly construed to ensure that defendants are not detained without bond unless the lawmaker has clearly said they should be." Pope, 739 A.2d at 825 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
The term "substantial probability" dates from the original version of the pretrial detention statute that Congress enacted in 1970. The original version of the statute did not include the rebuttable presumption; the provision establishing that presumption was not added until 1989. Rather, the original statute, former D.C. Code § 23-1322 (b)(2)(C) (1973), required the judge to find "a substantial probability that the person committed the [charged] offense" in almost all cases in which the government moved for pretrial detention based on dangerousness.
By insisting on a "substantial probability," Congress deliberately adopted a standard of proof higher than probable cause in order "to minimize so far as practicable the possibility of detaining defendants prior to trial who are innocent of the charge lodged against them." H.R. REP. NO. 91-907, at 182 (1970). "Probable cause" is established when the known facts and circumstances are "sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has been or is being committed." Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175-76 (1949) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Ornelas, 517 U.S. at 695-696. Probable cause does not signify a preponderance of the evidence; still less, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In contrast, the "substantial probability" standard "was intended to be equivalent to the standard required 'to secure a civil injunction - likelihood of success on the merits.'" United States v. Edwards, 430 A.2d 1321, 1339 (D.C. 1981) (en banc) (quoting H.R. REP. NO. 91-907 (1970)). The "substantial probability" standard requires the motions judge to make "an informed estimate of whether the government will prove the charge at trial," when the standard will be proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Edwards, 430 A.2d at 1338 n.42. A probability is more than a possibility; it is a likelihood. A substantial probability is a substantial likelihood.
When the Council of the District of Columbia added the rebuttable presumption to D.C. Code § 23-1322, initially as subsection (b-1), the Council chose to retain the "substantial probability" test. See D.C. Law 8-19, § 2 (a), 36 D.C. Reg. 2844 (1989); D.C. Law 8-120, § 2 (a), 37 D.C. Reg. 24 (1990). That choice evidently was a considered one, for when the Council re-examined the pretrial detention statute in 1992, the Council rejected a bill that "would have lowered the threshold showing required to trigger a rebuttable presumption from substantial probability to probable cause." Pope, 739 A.2d at 826. The Committee on the Judiciary decided against this change because it would be too great an erosion of constitutional safeguards. The "probable cause" standard is too low and thus, would lead to detention in many cases where there is no threat to the safety of the community.
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, REPORT ON BILL 9-360, THE BAIL REFORM AMENDMENT ACT OF 1991, at 6 (Jan. 23, 1992), quoted in Pope, supra.
In light of this legislative history and the plain meaning of the words, our cases have consistently recognized that "substantial probability" is a meaningfully higher standard of proof than probable cause. See Pope, 739 A.2d at 827 n.18; Jones, 687 A.2d at 574 n.1; Edwards, 430 A.2d at 1339. To rely on the rebuttable presumption in D.C. Code § 23-1322 (c), the judge must make an informed judgment based on the evidence adduced at the detention hearing that the government is substantially more likely than not to prove its criminal charges at an eventual trial.
This does not mean that the government must call its key witnesses to testify or make a full, elaborate evidentiary presentation in order to satisfy its burden of proof. We have cautioned "against permitting a pretrial detention hearing to turn into a trial of the indicted offense or a means of discovery." Tyler, 705 A.2d at 278. "The rules concerning admissibility of evidence in criminal trials do not apply to the presentation and consideration of information at the hearing." D.C. Code § 23-1322 (d)(4). The government may meet its burden of proof with hearsay or proffer in lieu of live testimony. See Lynch, 557 A.2d at 582; Edwards, 430 A.2d at 1334, 1338. The government has a strong interest in preventing the "premature discovery" of its witnesses and in protecting their "emotional and physical well-being" by not calling them to testify in an adversary proceeding in advance of trial. Edwards, 430 A.2d at 1338. With adequate preparation the government can take advantage of the relaxed rules of evidence and still present the substantiating facts it needs to present in order to meet its burden of proof.
By the same token, however, relaxed rules of evidence do not mean any relaxation of the standard of proof. This is a point that the majority opinion fails to appreciate. The motions judge is not supposed to be oblivious to the quality of the evidence on which the government chooses to rely. On the contrary, the "judge may, of course, consider the hearsay character of the government's evidence in determining whether a clear and convincing showing has been made." Lynch, 557 A.2d at 582 n.6. The "judge may, and in appropriate cases we are confident will, require that the hearsay evidence be buttressed by otherwise admissible evidence to meet the clear and convincing standard," or else find the proof wanting. Id.; accord, Edwards, 430 A.2d at 1334 ("[H]earsay evidence may be presented, although the court may require direct testimony if dissatisfied with a proffer."). "As with any other situation where the trial court is required to hold a hearing, it is within the trial court's sound discretion to determine the appropriate scope and extent of evidentiary presentations and cross-examination, in light of the proffer made and the trial court's assessment of the evidence developed at the hearing." Tyler, 705 A.2d at 277-78. "The clear mandate of the statute, however, does not permit the trial court" to disregard the high standard of proof to which the government is held or to treat that standard as nothing more than a ritual incantation. Id. at 278.
The question in this appeal is thus whether the government presented sufficient evidence to show that it is likely to prove Bryan guilty at his future trial. There is no dispute that the government will be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that some person or persons committed a crime of violence - the charged assault with intent to murder, I presume - while armed with a pistol or firearm. But whether the government is likely to prove that Bryan was one of those persons is a different matter. On this crucial point of identity, the government offered only a hearsay report of the uncorroborated word of an admitted accomplice to the crime.
Bryan argues that this evidence failed even to establish probable cause to believe that he was involved in the Dagaye shooting. Bryan cites Gatlin v. United States, 117 U.S. App. D.C. 123, 128, 326 F.2d 666, 671 (1963), for the proposition that probable cause cannot be found "based solely on information obtained from an accomplice whose reliability is neither alleged nor established." See also Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 491 (1963), on which the Gatlin majority relied. On the record of this case, the question of probable cause is a close one. See generally 2 W. LAFAVE, SEARCH AND SEIZURE § 3.3 (c) (3d ed. 1996). Despite Gatlin, I lean to the view that probable cause was established, since Witness One's reported acknowledgment of his own culpability was some evidence of his veracity. But see footnote 3, supra. The issue before us, however, is whether the evidence satisfied the higher "substantial probability" test.
Accomplices are not viewed in the same benignant light as ordinary witnesses. It is universally recognized that "accomplice testimony is inherently less reliable than that of other witnesses." Price v. United States, 531 A.2d 984, 986 (D.C. 1987) (quoting United States v. (Lloyd) Lee, 165 U.S. App. D.C. 50, 57, 506 F.2d 111, 118 (1974)); accord, (Millie) Lee v. Illinois, 476 U.S. 530, 541 (1986) (declaring that accomplices' confessions that incriminate defendants are "presumptively unreliable"); Doret v. United States, 765 A.2d 47, 66 (D.C. 2000) ("suspect at best") (quoting United States v. Hammond, 681 A.2d 1140, 1145 (D.C. 1996)). The reason for the courts' gingerly handling of uncorroborated accomplice accusations is simple. "The need for careful scrutiny of an uncorroborated accomplice reflects the danger, underscored by experience, that he may be giving a false account to secure lenient treatment." (Lloyd) Lee, 165 U.S. App. D.C. at 58, 506 F.2d at 119. "[T]he essential ground for suspecting the testimony of accomplice[s] is that they might have 'reason to expect that their sentence might depend upon their testimony.'" Id., 165 U.S. App. D.C. at 58 n.24, 506 F.2d at 119 n.24 (citation omitted). Cf. Rushing v. United States, 381 A.2d 252, 255 n.3 (D.C. 1977) ("The presumption in favor of the credibility of [ordinary] citizen informants is based upon an assumed absence of ulterior motives."). Of course, inasmuch as the accomplice witness concededly is "drawn from the criminal milieu," that "in itself is an [additional] impeaching circumstance." Id.
For these reasons, the standard jury instruction in this jurisdiction cautions that "[t]he testimony of an alleged accomplice should be received with caution and scrutinized with care." CRIMINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, No. 2.22 (revised 4th ed. 2002). This instruction, which presumably would be given upon request at Bryan's trial, goes on to warn the jury that "[i]f the testimony of an alleged accomplice is not supported by other evidence, you may convict a defendant upon that testimony only if you believe that it proves the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt." Id.
The motions judge was not unaware of these concerns, but he dismissed them on two grounds: (1) Witness One, the accomplice in this case, had implicated himself as well as Bryan, and (2) no affirmative evidence of any bias against Bryan on the part of Witness One was shown. While these grounds may suffice to support a finding of probable cause, it seems to me that they do not suffice to support a conclusion that the government is likely to prevail at trial. Without information regarding the circumstances under which Witness One inculpated himself, the motions judge was not in a position to evaluate Witness One's trustworthiness. And self-inculpation is not a reliable talisman of trustworthiness when it comes to the admitted accomplice's accusations against others, for those accusations still may be "merely attempts to shift blame or curry favor." Doret, 765 A.2d at 66 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). "One of the most effective ways to lie is to mix falsehood with truth, especially truth that seems particularly persuasive because of its self-inculpatory nature." Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). It is precisely the fact that "an accomplice's own 'confession of the soul' carries a 'ring of truth' . . . that impels the court to caution the jury of the dangers of accomplice testimony." (Lloyd) Lee, 165 U.S. App. D.C. at 58, 506 F.2d at 119.
Nor is it appropriate to find Witness One trustworthy merely because the record contains no affirmative evidence of bias on his part. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. "The prospect of immunity or leniency 'is usually denied, and may not exist; but its existence is always suspected.'" Id. (quoting T. J. WIGMORE, EVIDENCE § 2057, at 322 (3d ed. 1940)). "And so even though there is no testimony in the particular record that the accomplice is testifying out of a prospect of leniency or immunity, the probability that accomplices as a class are likely to do so warrants" the caution reflected in the standard jury instruction on accomplice testimony, "as a reflection of general judicial experience - when the accomplice is uncorroborated." (Lloyd) Lee, 165 U.S. App. D.C. at 58, 506 F.2d at 119.
The government argues that Witness One was corroborated - he told the police that the persons who shot at Dagaye fired nine-millimeter and thirty-two caliber pistols, and that was confirmed by the expended cartridge casings recovered from the scene. This is not material corroboration, however. It does not corroborate Witness One's accusation against Bryan; rather, it corroborates the fact that Witness One indeed was an accomplice in the shooting, which is the very thing that makes it necessary to view his accusation against Bryan with distrust.
In asking the motions judge to rely so heavily on that accusation, the government assumed the burden of presenting evidence to overcome that distrust. Such evidence could have taken many forms. Witness One himself did not need to testify; though if he had done so, it would have enabled the motions judge to evaluate his credibility at first hand. Cf. Mathis v. United States, 513 A.2d 1344, 1350 (D.C. 1986) (noting that even "[a] conviction may rest solely on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice in this jurisdiction.") (citing (Lloyd) Lee, supra). Assuming that the government had good reason not to expose Witness One to defense cross-examination at this early stage in the prosecution, it had to find other ways to bolster his accusation of Bryan to meet its burden of proof. The government could have presented evidence corroborative of Bryan's participation in the shooting or otherwise supportive of Witness One's veracity - such as evidence concerning the circumstances under which Witness One confessed and implicated Bryan. As already mentioned, this evidence did not have to be in the form required for admission at trial.
By not presenting evidence to corroborate Witness One's accusation of Bryan, the government asked the motions judge to accept on faith the credibility of a presumptively suspect and unreliable witness - a witness about whom the judge was told virtually nothing beyond the fact of his involvement in the crime charged. The government's bare-bones presentation left the judge without a sound basis to conclude that a jury would be likely to credit the testimony of this compromised witness at trial. I therefore would hold that the government was not entitled to a judicial finding by the requisite "substantial probability" that Bryan committed the crime of violence with which he is charged. It follows from my view that the statutory presumption of dangerousness could not be drawn, and without it the order of pretrial detention should not stand.
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A Good Deal: No Evil 022
Round up4.27 / 5.00 2,698 Views
Park Bench
A short film about a park bench4.16 / 5.00 2,154 Views
frog thing
frogggsgsgs3.79 / 5.00 2,496 Views
That was really funny not to mention well animated. Continue with this series.
Funny. Lol. Nothing really to say, but I'd love to see the mother and son burn in heaven.
Yes. Heaven.
And, catperson16, the ESRB is designed to rate games into categories for recommendation. Due to federal laws, you are unable to let minors experience sexual activity, and such of a fetish nature. You don't want a six year old jacking off to girls gone wild, right?
The ESRB is placed for a reason. Parents can buy things at their discretion. If they want to buy GTA for a 14 year old kid, then that's their choice. But the kid cannot legally purchase it himself because GTA has extremes of many selections (sexual content, violence, et cetera).
Not being a jackass. Just letting you know. ^-^
-Dan, HRM
That was great...
I brutally slaughtered my family after playing man hunt, because games are real, and I need to practice...
Kidding, really, andyways I thought that was pretty fun!
grey has an eyepatch lolol
that owned
I would get the new kirby game I love kirby lol o.O <(..)> <------thats kirby lol
great vid!


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February 11, 2014
Winter. Blergh
This has been the craziest, coldest winter and I'm SO done with it.
Yeah, I know I'm in Canada and I know we're supposed to be "used" to snow and ice and all things cold, but I'm not made for winter!
With the frigid temperatures I've had to deal with my windshield frosting on the inside. Not the outside, but inside. Numerous colds. Dragging kids through snow banks and layering up so I look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
*takes deep breath*
Okay, I'm done my whining. I swear. Pinkie swear even.
But like Olaf from Disney's Frozen. I'm longing for summer. How about you?


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Miriam's first guest this morning is regarded as one of our greatest romantic singers. He is also a celebrated tenor and has toured the world as part of the hugely successful Irish Tenors group. Next month he will be performing some of Pavarotti's best loved songs in a number of venues around the country. Finbar Wright joins Miriam in studio.
For more information on Finbar go to www.finbarwright.com
In the new year it will be 25 years since Newry band The 4 of Us, burst on to the scene with the album 'Songs for the Tempted'. Brendan & Declan Murphy are marking the anniversary with a gig in Dublin's Vicar Street in March & this morning they join John in studio for a performance & chat.
The 25th Anniversary gig is in Vicar Street on March 1st
John recently caught up with Suzanne Vega on the phone from New York, ahead of her concert in Dublin in February next year. Suzanne tells John the stories behind her biggest hits & some you will certainly recognise.
Suzanne Vega live in concert in Ireland headlining The Olympia on Thursday 20th February next year.
Tickets available from all usual outlets.
American singer songwriter Josh Ritter is in studio with John this morning for a chat about his career & performance.
For upcoming tour dates in Ireland go to www.joshritter.com
Ballymun hip-hop artist Deanie recently made it to the final of the talent hunt 'MTV Brand New for 2014 Unsigned' & Deanie joins John now to perform the song that got him noticed by MTV called 'Champion'. This morning he chats to John & sings another of his songs 'Keep Pushing On'.
Deanie's got a new single 'I have arrived' from the album 'Forty' released last Friday available now on iTunes.
A great man has died & needless to say Nelson Mandela looms large on our programme over the next hour.
His cause capitivated so many of us & we will hear some of the music & talk to people about his special qualities.
Extracts from Nelson Madela's speeches have been set to music many times, but only on one occasion did he agree to recording for music & that was for Irish musician, John Hughes who joins John on the line this morning.
We play a song by Dolores Keane... 'Lion in a Cage' that hold lyrics that speak about Nelson Mandela's imprisonment in South Africa. John also reads a quote from Nelson Mandela 'Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically'.
Gavin James has been in this studio before & has treated us to some gorgeous songs, including 'Say Hello', This morning he joins John for a chat & a couple of performances.
In studio with John this morning for a performance & chat are The Voice Squad (Fran McPhail, Phil Callery & Gerry Cullen), after taking a break for ten years, they are back & preparing for two concerts in Dublin this week.
The Voice Squad perform two special Christmas Concerts, St Anne's Church, Dawson Street Thursday 5th & Friday 6th, with Mairead NiDomhnaill.
He is one of the most successful recording artists ever & over the last six decades he has sold hundreds of millions of albums. Cliff Richard is in a league of his own & John recently spoke to Cliff & had a sneak peek at his record collection!
Cliff launches his 100th album 'The Fabulous Rock n Roll Songbook'
His Irish tour - gig in Bord Gáis Energy Theatre is sold out - but tickets are available for Belfast - Odyssey Arena - 5th June 2014 & Cork - Live at the Marquee - 9th June 2014
Call: 01-2083257, 01-2083971, 01-2082339
Text: 51551
Presenter: Dave Fanning


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TRENTON - A New Jersey Senate panel has approved a measure that would make it easier for sick children to have access to medical marijuana.
The Senate Judiciary committee on Thursday approved the bill that would eliminate requiring written confirmation from a pediatrician and a psychiatrist in order for juveniles to get medical marijuana.
The bill also calls for medical marijuana to be produced in edible form and allows more strains to be made available.
The father of a 2-year-old girl who has a severe form of epilepsy testified about being unable to obtain certification from a psychiatrist for his child to participate.
The director of the American Academy of Pediatrics in New Jersey says that eliminating approval from a pediatrician is dangerous because only they can assess how medicine affects children.


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Sci fi/Fantasy image byEJ Ciccarelli
i already posted this pic in black and white, but here it is in color. i'm using it for a tarot deck i am working on as a gift, and the card is temperence.
Published More than a year ago
Category Fantasy
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text:
Bellak Color Corporation
Today:8:00 am - 5:00 pm
9730 NW 25th St,
Doral, FL 33172
(305) 854-8525
Business Details
in Business
- Hours:
Regular Hours
- General Info:
- BELLAK COLOR offers a range of printing and other related services. The company specializes in foil printing services. It provides a variety of image manipulation and digital photo assembly services. The company serves clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also offers binding, proofing, and die cutting and making services. In addition, the company provides plating, mailing and fulfillment services. BELLAK COLOR maintains printing presses, paper cutters, and stitching and binding machines.
- Extra Phones:
Phone: (305) 858-6577
Fax Number: (305) 858-6577
- Neighborhoods:
- International Point, Doral
- Other Link:
- Category:
- Business & Personal Coaches
- Other Information:
Parking: Lot