Quirky tours showcase jazz greats, other stars at Woodlawn Cemetery

NEW YORK — Michael Cumella, dressed in 1920s garb, laid his old Victrola record player down among the tombstones and turned to the small tour group assembled under the towering trees at Woodlawn Cemetery.

“She was the diva of her day. The Beyoncé of her day,” he said, brushing leaves off the modest stone commemorating vaudeville star Nora Bayes. The group had to lean in toward the old windup Victrola to hear Bayes’ big voice, necessary in the age before microphones, belting her biggest hit, 1917’s “Over There.”