Filling the Embarrassment of Silence: Erotic Performance on “Blue Discs”

Jacob Smith is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University, Bloomington. His research interests focus on media performance, and he has published articles on Hollywood stunt performance, music video games, and television laugh tracks. His dissertation, “Vocal Tracks: Modern Vocal Performance in the Sound Media,” is an examination of styles of vocal performance that developed in tandem with sound media technologies such as the phonograph and radio.