George Wilton Ballard (November 24, 1877 - April 6, 1950) was an American tenor and pioneer recording artist who was prolific between 1912 and 1926.
[1] Aside from his numerous solo recordings for Edison, he was part of the Harmony Four with John Young, Gladys Rice and Donald Chalmers.
[1] Ballard's final appearance for Edison was released February 1926, where he sang the vocal chorus on a dance side by Ernie Golden and His Hotel McAlpin Orchestra.
[1] In January 1913, Ballard appeared along with comedians Arthur Housman and Edward Boulden, actor Leo Parmet, bandleader Eugene Jaudas, and fellow recording artists Owen J. McCormack and H. Lane Wilson in the Kinetophone short The Edison Minstrels in which he sings a brief solo of “Silver Threads Among the Gold”.
The Edison Kinetophone system, while practical mechanically, was not successful in theaters because the volume could not be amplified sufficiently for large audiences.
In 2018, the antique recordings were digitally remastered and synchronized, resulting in a DVD release of the Edison talkies, The Kinetophone!