What's "In the Bag"?, Greetings from Germany, A Few Moments on WLS and More

Helloooo.....

What a cornucopia of sounds I have for you today, all of them seemingly from about 1958 to about 1969. 

First up, another of my "old favorites", the reels I filed away, in some cases decades ago, before I started sharing things online, but which I believe to be very much worth sharing. 

In this case, it's an impossibly rare recording of (most of) a local Chicago TV attempt at a game show along the lines of "What's My Line?" and "I've Got a Secret". I've owned this tape for about 30 years, I think. 

As far as I can tell, "In the Bag", only existed as a pilot episode, and a video of it exists in at least one library of such ephemera. The sites I read didn't seem to indicate that the show ever aired, but it clearly did, as you can hear a promo for another June, 1958, show at the end. 

Anyway, if you want to hear the results of someone taking the genius of "What's My Line" and making it stupider, especially when you throw in the always ridiculous Irv Kupcinet for flavoring, you are bound to get a great deal of enjoyment out of "In the Bag". 

The start of this tape is a bit confusing - we hear the tail end of "In the Bag", followed by a bit of a promo for "What's My Line", another promo and part of a commercial. Then we miss the start of the actual episode, and jump into the episode which is already under way, with celebrity guest Jimmy Durante, who's secret is guessed right away - probably not what they'd hoped for when they involved so great a star....

Download: "In the Bag" - CBS, Chicago, June, 1958

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Next, as a bit of a sequel to last week's lengthier WLS excerpts, here is a sort of medley of two bits of the same WLS, about seven years later. This comes from a longer tape which unfortunately - and like a lot of radio tapes - features only the songs, with the DJ banter, commercials and other items heard on the station edited out. Undoubtedly, our (teen?) recordist only wanted the song, which is usually the case. As everyone out there has probably heard (or doesn't want to hear) the songs of 1969 as the sounded over AM radio, minus all the "fun" stuff, I didn't share the entire reel.

But two segments on the tape have a bit of the whole story. The first part is from early 1969, and features, primarily, a newscast, while the second segment, after the fade, is from later that same year: 

Download: WLS, Chicago, 1969, News and Top 40

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Now... at some point, I seem to have purchased the audio letter holdings of someone named Larry - you can catch his last name on the tape, I think. I have at least six or seven audio letters that he received, from multiple people, during the 1960's, and I may have already featured one before. 

At least three of them are from an audio correspondent in Germany, and it's at least somewhat likely that they never actually met. I should explain that, starting in the 1950's, a mailing list (perhaps even a magazine) was developed that contained the names and addresses of people all over the world who wanted to be "reel pals", a la the pen pals of the old days. I don't know exactly how this worked, but perhaps each person's interests were listed - and languages - so that you could pick an appropriate person to send your three inch audio letter to. 

I'm pretty sure Larry was one of those recipients. And so, from late August of 1963, here's an audio letter - which also features some appropriate music - from Germany to Larry. 

(Incidentally, I believe the microphone test at the start of the tape was recorded later, perhaps by Larry himself, but I left it on, because it was there.) 

Download: Audio Letter from Germany to Larry - 8/31/63

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Another recent addition to this site, by request, is the "Acetate of the Month". And today I have one that can only come from a point at which recording acetates were on the way out. 

I would put money on it that this brief, unlabeled recording, which almost certainly comes from 1964 or so, was made at a booth at a store, or an event such as The World's Fair, because home acetate machines were simply no longer a thing in the mid 1960's. And I personally have memories of those "store acetate booths", which remained a thing into at least the late 1960's. 

Anyway, this is a charming, if quite short, performance (appropriately, it's 64 seconds long) of "I Saw Her Standing There", by a group of kids who are clearly having a good time. 

Download: Kids Sing "I Saw Her Standing There"

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And finally, as part of yet another series, here is our "Very Short Reel" for today. As you can see, it's labeled "Guided Missile Effects" on the three inch box: 

As I didn't actually have the box in front of me when I saved the digital version of this tape's contents, I attached a simpler title: "A Series of Explosions". And here it is!

Download: A Series of Explosions

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