A Compendium of Blue Material

What a wonderful cornucopia of sound revealed itself when I lined up today's roll of tape through the ol' reel to reel machine. Because here was someone's collection of vintage off-color antics of a variety of well known and lesser known performers, all of which seems to predate the mid '60's, most of it much earlier than that.

A few of these clips are extremely well known, and probably readily available. Several of the ones in the first third of the tape are new to me, and likely fairly rare, although someone out there may well inform me otherwise. The first 18 minutes of this 45 minute reel are the "gold" to me. The last 27 minutes or so are from one of the Friars' roasts, and while it's an interesting recording (which may, again, be easily available elsewhere), it's fairly one-note humor but for who is doing some of the speaking.

Here, in order, is what you'll hear:

1.) An unidentified woman talking about a man in terms that the audience misconstrues (very short)

2.) Mike Wallace (of all people) giving a loaded question, from a listener at home, to Virginia Graham, catching her off guard. Her reaction seems quite over-the-top and insincere to me.

3.) A very funny fake commercial for "Duz". This is probably my favorite segment here.
4.) A very famous Bing Crosby outtake.

5.) Another well known excerpt from a children's interview show, featuring a child who reports having farted, and a host who can't keep it together.

6.) A singer introduces his song by slipping over its name, very badly.

7.) An announcer has difficulty getting through some very questionably written copy.

8.) Some rearranged Hedda Hopper quotes, attached to some off color questions.

9.) Perhaps the most famous bit here, in which Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis do promos for "The Caddy" and take a turn into the filthy. I've heard this a dozen times, and still don't find it funny. I guess it's because I don't find Jerry Lewis funny, and that I suspect that the way he acts here is how I suspect he really is, when not on camera.

10.) A discussion of love making between an anonymous man and woman.

11.) The aforementioned Friars' Roast recording, notable for its inclusion of such usually wholesome entertainers as Jack Benny and (of all people) Art Linkletter, engaging in filthy language. The honoree is someone named Harry Joe (I never did catch his last name).

I hope you find this (or at least parts of it) as entertaining as I do.

Download: Various Artists: A Compendium of Blue Material
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A Rather Mysterious Hunk of Tape (and a Few Bonuses)

I have, on several occasions, here and at WFMU late, lamented blog, offered up samples of a huge batch of tapes that I bought many years ago, featuring recordings of various productions, from TV and movies (mostly TV), which were in various stages of completeness. This has included everything from sound effects and foley reels, to soundstage recordings, to completed interview shows, and many other similar items.

Here's one of those tapes, one which is, I strongly suspect, one of those soundstage recordings, but other than that supposition, it remains pretty much a mystery to me, and I'd love to hear any explanations that those of you out there, perhaps with more experience in the field, could share.

What confuses me here is not the scene being recorded - it's pretty clearly a couple, who discussing a job offer the young woman has received, which will unexpectedly take her out of town. But what on earth is the deal with every single piece of dialogue being said twice, once through what sounds like a white-noise generator (even a line as simple as "oh" receives this treatment.

It's sort of hypnotically fascinating, and equally annoying, at the same time.

By the way, near the end (the last three minutes or so), the same tape goes into a completely different recording session (probably something which was being erased by the first segment heard. That segment does not contain the same weird repeated dialogue. It does, however, sound like a more interesting script - does one person refer to it as "Pot Party Poetry" at one point?

There are also a couple of breakdowns, and resulting cursing, for those of you who enjoy such things.

Download: Unknown - Raw Takes from an Unknown Production
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And now, a few little bonuses, which at least some of you may enjoy more than the feature attraction.

First, here are three commercials for something called "Domestic Pure Shortening", which seems to have been a Canadian product. The second of these three ads is VERY remarkable for the ridiculous amount of information (about a contest the company was running), contained in a rapid-fire one minute ad. It cracks me up.

Download: Unknown - Three Domestic Pure Shortening Ads
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And finally, two comical, quite over-the-top ads, one for Corina "Lark" Cigars, one for Aurelia "Biltmore" cigars (I'm guessing the two were related). Each tells the story of "Ralph Ridehome". These are heard on the tape, complete with studio intros. I accidentally labeled the entire file as being two Corina Lark ads.

Download: Unknown - Two 'Corina Lark' Ads
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