Drumming was a very different thing in those days. There was no hi-hat. Back then it was two cymbals attached directly to a pedal down by the foot. You couldn't ride it like we modern drummers today. Today the hi-hat helps the drummer keep time so without one to ride back then, drummers had to have a totally different approach. Then, if you look at these, there is a cymbal attached vertically to the kick drum. The foot pedal had a "spur" on it and when the player pressed the pedal it to pop the kick drum, the spur struck the cymbal. Too bad recording techniques were so primitive then, because we really don't hear what these kits sounded like--we hear a bit of bopping and clanging in the background.

These kits also had triangles, rattles, bells and blocks for various effects. The toms were called "Chinese toms" where the heads were riveted on and were rather shallow compared to today's toms. The Chinese cymbal was ubiquitous then and attached to the kick drum whereas many drummers today don't even have a Chinese cymbal. It was whole different way of drumming.