The 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, Jonathan Winters Uncensored and More

Hi, everyone,

It's time to update the ol' Scotch Tape Box History Series. I believe I can hear you whooping and hollering from here!

I have to say up front that I do not know exactly where this design fits in. Each of the last four boxes that I've shared seem to date from somewhere in the period 1958-1965 or so, which is mostly a period that my family bought precious few new tapes, as we only replaced our faded Concertone with a newer model in the fall of 1963. And even then, my father seems to have favored a brand called "Knight" (which also went through some interesting box design changes).

So I'm certain that the last four (including this one) come from that era, but really can't put a better date on them. However, today's offering is a definite change of pace. All of the previous designs prominently featured some representation of the reel of tape held within, and/or played up the quality of the tape or some special feature (extra length, weather balanced, etc.), this one contains none of that. It has a type number (141, indicating a 1200 foot reel), and some space age era illustrations. We're also told it's part of the "Tartan Series, whatever that was. But that's it. As with the previous boxes, the Scotch pattern has been relegated to a half-inch on the right edge of the box.

I suspect this box was in production longer than the last few that I shared, as it turns up more often, particularly more frequently than the last two.

Things get a lot less interesting, design-wise, from here on out.

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The big offering for today is a remarkable piece of tape recorded live, off the air, in England, in 1962. It features virtually the entirety of the 1962 "Eurovision Song Contest". If you are unfamiliar with this amazing and unique event, you should really read up on  it, but if you don't want to, I'll tell you that it is a contest between some of the nations of Europe, held every year, to determine the best song of that year.

That it doesn't succeed in this is self-evident - for many years, a very specific few types of songs were offered up, intended to appeal to the generic middle-of-the-road European judge. Monty Python famously ridiculed this tendency around 1970.

The only worldwide hit to have come out of the contest, as far as I know, is the magnificent "Waterloo" by Abba, which may well have broken the mold, and perhaps brought more variety to future contest, but I really don't know.

The recording heard here features an announcer who seems more suited to a golf tournament, breaking in with hushed explanations and comments via what sounds like a walkie-talkie, at opportune moments.

Aside from a moment to turn over the tape, the whole thing seems to be here - all the performances, the intermission music while the countries are deciding on their favorites, the voting, and the second performance of the winning song. For me, I only liked a couple of the songs, neither of which got many votes at all.

I've probably made this sound awful. It isn't - it's weirdly wonderful, and certainly a moment in time that has long-since passed. Just think, less than six months after this contest, The Beatles recorded their first Parlophone Records 45. I have to think that, at least by the 1964 Eurovision contest, the difference between the songs performed at this contest, and what actual Europeans (and the rest of the world) were listening to, must have been as wide as the ocean.

Download: Various Artists - The 1962 Eurovision Song Contest
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Next up, something really remarkable. At least, that's the case if it's as rare as I think it might be.

This is a short tape of Jonathan Winters, at some undated point in his career, but I would guess the 1960's, performing without the restrictions of the day, for either stand-up (which he actually did very little of) or of album releases.

Over the course of these 13 or so minutes, you'll hear Winters - who has an audience of only a few people - engage in a series of mostly very short vignettes, punctuated here and there by words that would have been bleeped, at the time. The scenes include a bit about having diarrhea, a bit of gay comedy (the one thing not unheard of in his released comedy), some lighthearted material about a rape, some fun about teenage masturbation, and in the last (and by far the longest) bit, a parody of a hip black guy, which features the use of several racial and ethnic slurs.

Again, maybe this is commonly known of and circulated. But I've only found one reference to it, on an acetate (and indeed, it seems likely that this is a recording of an acetate), so I'm guessing it's fairly rare.

Download: Jonathan Winters - Unreleased, Off-Color Material
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The next tape, featuring Larry Blair talking about "The CIA" came in this box:

I am almost certain that this tape was recorded as accompaniment to a slide show, perhaps for use in High School or College classes. The factual reporting, with very little opinion on either side of any issue, and the open-ended nature of the ending suggests that it was meant to be followed by conversation, a written assignment, or both.

On the other hand, I doubt that this tape was the item that went with the slide show. I suspect it's far more likely that Larry Blair used this tape as a demo reel to promote his own talents as a reporter or voice-over/commercial pitchman.

Download: Larry Blair - The CIA
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And assuming that I'm correct about Larry Blair's tape, it's something of a coincidence that the "very short reel" I pulled out at random for today post is ALSO a demo reel, in this case for Harry Chase, an actor known primarily for his voice work, and who has credits on IMDB as recently as 2012. Here is his demo reel.


Download: Harry Chase - Voice Talent Demo Tape
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