A Rare Nat "King" Cole Recording, The March of Dimes, and More!

Hello,

I hope everyone out there is well and stays well. I have something remarkable today, but first, a few things about recent comments. I appreciate everyone who stops by, and love hearing whatever anyone has to say. Unfortunately, if the person commenting doesn't link to an e-mail address, I am unable to answer personally.

In light of that, I wanted to answer the person who asked if I had any earlier Jack Eigen recordings, from the late 1940's and early 1950's. The answer is that I don't - I only have them from the 1968-early 70's. I've only had one request to share more of this collection, but if anyone else wants to hear it, I'm open to sharing it - I have a ton of it.

On a completely separate note, writer Tony suggests that the mysterious writing on the most recent Scotch tape box, "Weather Balanced" might well have to do with the tape performing equally well, with no discernible differences, in wildly various weather situations, particularly with regard to differences in humidity. That's as good an idea as any.

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Today, I'm featuring a recording I believe to be exceptionally rare, given its historic value and the fact that I can find almost no posting of it online, save for several postings of a single song from the end of the broadcast.

It's from the legendary Nat "King" Cole TV show, which ran for two seasons before NBC gave up trying to find a copy that would regularly sponsor a show hosted by a Black man. The show ran barely over a year. What I have here is virtually the entire episode of August 6, 1957, when Cole welcomed Harry Belafonte. IMDB indicates this was a 15 minute episode, although elsewhere on the page for the show, and on Wikipedia, it says the show expanded to 30 minutes that summer. And indeed, this is a 30 minute episode.

(Not that you asked (and I'm sure you don't care...), but I'm not a fan, at all, of Nat "King" Cole, whose mannered over-enunciated style of singing I find insufferable. On the other hand, Harry Belafonte has made some records I love, including the "Calypso" album, which is certainly among my dozen favorite albums ever. But more often he could be just as precious as Cole, and that's the side of him featured, for the most part, here, with the exception of the calypso number at the end (and which is the segment that's readily available). The first time I heard "Scarlet Ribbons", for example, was one time too many.)

However, I do recognize the importance and rarity of this reel, and that there are far more people who don't share my taste than that do. And I'm happy to share this with whatever part of the world is reading and listening.

Download: The Nat King Cole Show, August 6, 1957, With Harry Belafonte
Play:

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Now please understand, I'm certainly not saying that Cole couldn't sing - he obviously had great talent, even if it's not to my taste. As a contrast, here's someone who absolutely could not sing - who clearly had no ability to hear or sing on pitch - and seems to have been blissfully unaware of it, as he happily sings - over and over and over again for God knows what reason - with a very family one-time # 1 hit record:

Download: Unknown - Singing Along to "Runaround Sue"
Play:

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Now let's transition into something more entertaining and certainly more meaningful: I recently came across this reel of Public Service Announcements, all strung together on one reel, despite being for three different organizations, ones with no direct link between them, as far as I know. During these 23 minutes, you'll hear from more than a dozen celebrities, some whose names live on even today, at least among some of us, and others who are largely forgotten today, promoting The March of Dimes, then Care Packages, then Cerebral Palsy (unlike the first two, all of the PSAs for latter feature the same celebrity, singer Ken Carson).

Download: A Collection of PSA's for The March of Dimes, Care Packages and Cerebral Palsy
Play:

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And finally, let's keep going with our "Very Short Tapes" project. As luck would have it, the tape I pulled out at random (after compiling everything else in this post, also features PSA's, in this case, four PSA's from late in 1980 from the American Heart Association. And here's that tape:

Download: The American Heart Association, Four PSA's, November and December, 1980
Play: