Recording 4611 on Brunswick Records, 1929 or 1930 according to the Web site I found this on (www.vitaphone.org), had Sergeant Flagg and Sergeant Quirt on one side and Shut the Door (they're coming through the window) on the other. The artists were Billy Murray & Walter Scanlan.

This song was popular in my family, where for a long time we had only 78rpm playback capability. We also had '20s 78rpm recordings of "Barney Google" and "Yes, We Have No Bananas," so "Shut the Door" would have fit right into the collection. I'm not sure this is the recording we had, mind you, but it's a good guess.

I think the version we liked had a different last line, though; it went "Never mind! They're coming through the floor!"

There's always the possibility that these alternate words were just from my father's sung version; he loved to sing this stuff, and he had just that sort of sense of humor -- and I was too young at the time to be able to remember accurately now whose voice sang "Never mind!"

I'm afraid I don't remember anything else about the recording. Anyone else remember it?