Odd Happenings at The Palmer House, A Visit to the Berlin Wall, Arthur's Presentation and Some Philosophical Talk

Greetings!!!!

I have something truly memorable to kick of this post, a tape I'm labeling (down there in the labels) as "The Inexplicable". 

The tape box gave absolutely no indication of what I was going to hear. In fact, I was pretty sure I was going to hear some vintage commercials, given the 1950's Scotch box, and the writing on the back, as you can see here: 

What is actually on the tape, however, is a different creature entirely, and I can't say I've heard anything quite like it. 

The entire tape - just over 40 minutes, with dozens of "tracks", complete with leader banding between each and every one of them - is some sort of bizarre presentation related to - and presumably made for - the Palmer House, a legendary hotel in Chicago's Loop. 

(A side note here: I have an extremely fond memory link to The Palmer House". In 1977, Chicago's first Beatlefest was held there, and as I had only had my driver's license for about six weeks at that time, going to that Beatlefest was the first time I ever drove into Chicago on my own, and I have wonderful memories of their old and glorious ballrooms. The Palmer House is in poor shape these days, and may not survive the next few years, and that's a shame.)

Anyway, there is very little apparent rhyme or reason to this series of songs and vignettes. There does seem to be some focus in the first third, in which there is a series of calls about how to treat hotel guests and other subjects related to running a hotel. But then, for the last 2/3rds, it's something of a hodgepodge.

First, there are a series of phone calls, presented as being handled by the Palmer House operators, of many, many sorts, interspersed with calls from a Palmer House executive who keeps calling to keep tabs on a meeting he is missing. At one point, a hotel guest asks about the hotel's air conditioning, and then, in between other items, we hear bits and pieces about the details of that air conditioning system, ending after about five segments in a lame joke. Near the end, there is a lengthy bit about a man stuck in an elevator, which is almost unbearably stupid. And interspersed near the end, as well, is a series of laments from a sad operator, who can't stand how bad things have gotten. The tape actually comes to a screeching halt - with no closing bit to match the opening song - with another one of these operator laments. 

Again, presumably, this was done for some sort of presentation about and/or for Palmer House employees, perhaps (maybe even likely) a show that they put on for each other. I doubt it was one of those dreadful (but entertaining) Industrial Musicals, but maybe it was a distant cousin of those. But what a weird, wonderfully weird tape. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do: 

Download: A Bizarre Presentation of Sketches About the Palmer House

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Next, here's a very interesting (and fairly lengthy) audio letter. This is one of three audio letters that I have from this same family, and I'll share the other two over the next month. 

The family lived in Germany, where the man of the house was serving in the Army. He appears for a longer period on the other two tapes. Most of this tape is made up by the "visiting" of the woman of the house, then some reporting and other thoughts by the children of the house. 

It's those reports that make this tape fascinating to me - the entire family had visited the Berlin Wall at some recent point. In going there, the children had been given some very specific rules to follow (don't wave at the soldiers), and had learned about some horrific stories about those attempting to escape being shot dead (which they report with virtually no emotion whatsoever). 

A couple more comments and then I'll let you discover the other interesting parts of this tape. First, this was recorded on an ultra-thin three inch reel, and the last few minutes of the first side/first few minutes of the second side are completely unplayable. When you hear the transition about half-way through, there are a few minutes of material missing. 

And finally, am I right that the mom "had to spank" one of her kids, because he was crying? What the hell is that? 

Download: Audio Letter From An Army Family in Gerrmany, Including Visit to the Berlin Wall

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Oh, and also, I'm going to try and make a concerted effort to include images of the tapes, when there is something even remotely interesting about them. I'm also going to go back and upload pictures to previous posts. Here is the mailer from the tape you just listened to: 

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And now for something completely different. I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm going to dive into my long-held tapes for some of my favorite things from the years before I was a blogger. 

This one is actually for my best pal Stu, as the recording - and it's odd appearance on a tape - has always been a favorite of his. 

It's just a moment in time: A man - Arthur - presenting his wife (I assume) - Winifred - with the gift of a tape recorder. 

What always struck us as funny is that this 39 second statement of love and birthday wishes, is labeled on the outside of the tape box, as so: 

And in more detail on a slip of paper inside the box, noting exactly what number on the tape the recorder is at, at the moment of the presentation.

And that's the real odd thing. One would think such a "presentation" would be at the very start of the reel, likely the first thing ever recorded on the tape. BUT IT'S NOT. 

It comes after ten minutes of a young child giving a short violin recital. And then a bunch of blank space. And that's all that's on the tape. So someone used the machine (probably) and the tape (definitely) then Arthur ran the tape halfway through and recorded his best wishes to his beloved. And then they never used that tape again!

Weird. And oddly endearing. 

Download: Arthur's Presentation to Winifred

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Here, in fact, is another tape I grabbed from that large batch of "I listened to these years ago" tapes, on the same shelf, actually, as "Arthur's Presentation". In this case, I had five tapes which were labeled in the same handwriting (nothing interesting, just "# 2, # 3, #4, etc., although not #1). I had no memory of what was on these tapes - I suspect I've had them for over 30 years. 

It turns out that the first one I grabbed (#2), and presumably the others, contain conversations in what appear to be a VERY loose college or university class, somewhere near the North Shore of Chicago (an area where I no doubt bought these tapes) - the conversations occasionally make reference to that area. The tape appears to be from 1970. 

That suggests Northwestern, but I'm not actually even sure this is a class. The man who is clearly a professor or doctor of some sort, at one point, asks if the young people present mind him being there - not something a leader of a class would likely say. 

At one point, one of the youths present even starts noodling around on a guitar. The conversation is quite varied and extremely unfocused at times. It becomes irritable a few times, but mostly seems equally theoretical and argumentative (in a friendly way) than it does in terms of being about these students' real lives and real world experiences. 

And I think that's all I'll say. If anyone has any more thoughts about where this is from or what the purpose of this gathering was, I'm interested in hearing it.  

Download: College Class Philosophical Discussion

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And finally, here's our very short reel, grabbed at random. This time, it's another vocal talent demo reel, in this case, for a woman named Nancy Eger. A quick web search did not turn up anyone who was clearly this Nancy Eger, so perhaps she didn't have a long career in the field. 

Download; Nancy Eger - Voice Talent Demo Reel

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