Bob Hope's Murder, A 75 Year Old Mix Tape, A Lot More Jack Eigen, The Irish in America, 1970's Folkies, Cheesiness from a Night Club and "Whatever Happened"?

Okay. so I have a bit more time today to do a little housekeeping. 

First, I would like to direct you to the posting of the four hours of Gary Owens, where a commenter named Kyle has written a few comments in which he links to some interesting audio that he owns, on YouTube. 

Second, thanks to the anonymous poster who let me know I'd failed to upload the scan of the sheet from the Asian television recording. I attached it, and it's there now. Thanks to another anonymous poster regarding the same scan, who told me that the writing refers to a Japanese historical drama, Shishi no Jidai, which aired in 1980. That's almost certainly the part of the tape I didn't share, and which came after what was pretty clearly some sort of variety show. 

And finally, thanks to MackdaddyG for some kind words of great support, and to Eric Carlson, who wrote, regarding the short tape of Erskine Hawkins (in a couple of separate comments):

The beginning of the Erskine Hawkins tape is a talk with singer and pianist Joe Boatner who arranged the song Amour Secret with the Royal Ink Spots released on the Montreal based Rusticana label in 1961. When the Saints was the flip side of Amour Secret also arranged by Joe Boatner.

For only $5 per person you could "ring in the New Year" of 1962 at the Imperial Dining Room of the Thruway Motel in Albany, New York, with both Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra and The Ink Spots with Joe Bottner as spelled in the advertisement in the December 17, 1961, Albany Times-Union.

Really, thanks to everyone who takes the time to listen and read, and extra thanks to those who comment. 

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Warning, rant ahead. Feel free to skip forward two paragraphs if you're not interested. I hope I don't aggravate those I just thanked...

But do you want to know a secret? I consider myself a connoisseur of comedy. I own hundreds and hundreds of comedy albums, I have written comedy pieces and performed both written and improvised comedy. I write funny songs. From about the age of eight or nine and until I left home and got married, I went to sleep every single night listening to one of several dozen of my favorite comedy albums playing on my turntable.  

I don't "get" Bob Hope. I seriously don't understand what there is to "get". I consider him one of many "anti-comedians", people who makes life less humorous by their presence, and in their failed attempts to be funny. I have been exposed to his "humor" for most of my nearly 64 years, and yet have never once having cracked a smile, let along laughed, at anything he ever said. I aggressively don't get it. I find myself constitutionally incapable of sharing a Bob Hope rarity without mentioning that. Not that you asked....

However, your mileage may very much vary, and even more regardless, many out there may really enjoy hearing the sort of cornball humor that passed for big budget TV special entertainment in the mid-1960's. And so, herewith I will share this recording of a TV special that Bob Hope and the folks at NBC produced in October of 1966, titled "Murder at NBC" and featuring, per IMDB, a veritable who's who of comedic talent of that era (of varying quality, to be sure), including Milton Berle, Don Adams, Red Buttons, Johnny Carson, Jack Carter, Bill Cosby, Jimmy Durante, Don Rickles, Rowan and Martin, Jonathan Winters and more. 

But is it funny? Not to me, anyway. Not for a second. This sort of show is exactly is why the 1970's versions of George Carlin and Richard Pryor had to happen. And why the Monty Python's Flying Circus really had to happen.  

Download: Bob Hope's "Murder At NBC" - 10-19-66

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This next 32 minute slice of reel to reel is more interesting for what it is than for what it contains. For this may be one of the earliest examples ever made of what's long since become known as the Mix Tape. This recording exists on a paper-backed reel, of the sort only produced from around 1947 until about 1951. What's more, it appears on a reel manufactured by what I've come to understand was the first brand to market reel tape to the general public, Soundmirror (by The Brush Development Company). What's more, this particular tape box is, I believe, that company's first design. So the tape itself is perhaps 77 years old or so. Here is the tape box: 

On the tape, a man provides someone with a series of musical performances, most from records (including a couple which have skips) and at least one from the radio. My guess is that this recording was made before 1950, meaning it is at least 75 years old. Maybe someone out there can identify the specific records heard and either confirm that is possible, based on their release dates, or rule it out. 

Anyway, since 78s and Acetates generally could only fit about 4-5 minutes of material to a side, and since wire recorders were a brief niche method of recording, I have to guess that this is one of the earliest "mix tapes" you're ever going to hear. Enjoy!

Download: A 75 Year Old Mix Tape

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And here's the lineup, from the back of the box: 

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I had a request for more Jack Eigen, and as I have literally dozens of hours of the man's work, I am happy to oblige. I wrote about him at length in this post. If you want to hear more, than simply click on his name in the labels at the bottom of this post (or put "Jack Eigen" in the search bar at upper left (this will not work on a cell phone)). Either way will bring up all of the previous Eigen posts. 

Download: Jack Eigen - The Jack Eigen Show, Volume Five

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I have a ton of recordings from various television productions, many of which I've shared over the years, including some featuring Howard K. Smith, as this one does. And on the box, it specifies that this was a "Rangertone Sync" interview. I guess the "Rangertone Sync" is a method by which a reel to reel recording is automatically synchronized with the film/video being made at the same time. Here he is speaking with Mr. Farley about the Irish in America

Download: Howard K Smith - Rangertone Sync - Interview About Irish in America with Mr. Farley

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The next tape is nothing more or less than a few people singing together, performing songs that I researched a bit and found were recorded, respectively, by Dan Fogelberg and Linda Ronstadt. 

Download: Unknown Folkies Sing Dan Fogelberg and Linda Ronstadt Songs 

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Back when I was posting at WFMU, I shared a few tapes feature a Chicago musician named Larry Taylor. This link will take you to the second of those posts, which itself contains a link to the first one, In my final post at WFMU, I shared some amazing excerpts from Larry Taylor's work with everyone's
favorite Solo Cup Magnate's wife (and notable person of limited singing talent), Dora Hall. 

The dozens of Larry Taylor tapes that I acquired in the late 1980's also contained multiple tapes featuring a local nightclub entertainer named Rocco Greco, who presumably was a friend of Mr. Taylor. These are uniformly cheesy and interminable, at least to my ears. I once even found a locally produced 45 RPM single, complete with cheesy picture sleeve, released by Mr. Greco. 

I recently came across a tape which seemed to be separate in my collection from the Larry Taylor tapes, but I'm almost certain it started out in that batch, and that the performer heard for most of this recording is, indeed, Rocco Greco. 

Oh, and here is his obituary, which curiously does not mention his work (although the memorial comments do). 

Download: Some 1962 Night Club Type Entertainment, Possibly Featuring Rocco Greco

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And finally, our "Very Short Reel". Here is someone named "Malcolm Dodds", with what was almost certainly a demo reel of one of his performances, a song called "Whatever Happened". 

Download: Malcolm Dodds - Whatever Happened

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Some 1961 BBC Musical Programs, Norman Rockwell, Erskine Hawkins, Music and Images, and Entertainment from Margie

I am desperately late in posting this time around - it's been three full weeks since the last post. I was hoping to get to some comments, but I just want to get this up and to y'all. Today's post is largely made up of the contents of two very different reels of tape, one from England and one from Chicago.

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From England, I have what I consider to be a simply wonderful collection of nighttime radio music shows from the BBC in 1961, each of them quite a bit different from the others. 

First up on the reel is a show which came about because of the fad, just around that time in Britain, for Trad Jazz, Dixieland under another name. There's a great movie out there called "It's Trad, Dad", and the famous Cavern in Liverpool was originally a Trad Den which allowed rockers like The Beatles to play lunchtime shows. 

Note that, half way through this 52 show, the program segues into "Pick of the Pops" with Alan Freeman. As Trad Jazz faded in popularity, "Pick of the Pops" became its own show, and a big hit with the kids. 

Download: Trad Tavern, Spring, 1961

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Next up is "The Starlight Room", which presents another batch of Jazz, and featuring, in this episode, Dakota Staton and Woody Herman, the latter also being interviewed on the show. The opening moments here are rather poor sound quality, but it quickly improves. 

Download: The Starlight Room (BBC Program)

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And finally, a show which truly demonstrates how very different radio (and the world itself I suppose) was in 1961. Host Sandy MacPherson took letters from listeners and welcomed each of them into his "club", honoring their requests along with a few details at times about those listeners, and responding to those requests either with songs from records, or - and this is where things truly seem ancient - playing songs for them live... on his theatre pipe organ. How quaint. That's the word for it. Quaint. 

Download: Sandy's Club (BBC Program)

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And now for something completely different. I have dozens of tapes which once belonged to a collector of radio and (especially) TV sound, from the late '50's and well into the '60's. Most of these tapes are meticulously numbered and have detailed information about what is contained on them. I have excerpted many of these tapes before - they tend to have very dry material (lectures, speeches) interspersed with more interesting material (live performances, interviews, tv specials), and that's the case with today's tape. One side had the radiation demonstration I featured last time, followed by a recording of a broadcast of a movie, while the other side contained a documentary on the life and works of Michelangelo, sandwiched in between two other segments that I found much more interesting, the latter of which was followed by another very interesting, if short segment, which was not mentioned on the box at all (something that is very unusual for tapes from this person's collection. 

This happens to be tape number 100 in the series. I continue to slowly work my way through them. 

Anyway, that second side of the tape starts with this fragment of an interview with Norman Rockwell, conducted by what sounds like a teenage girl: 

Download: Brief Interview with Norman Rockwell

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Then comes Michelangelo, and then comes a rather fascinating recording, and it's another one which shows how much media (in this case, television) has changed since the early 1960's. If I've deduced this correctly, "Patterns in Music", recorded from a Chicago TV station around Christmastime some year, was nothing more than music off of records, played while still images from photos were shown on the screen. Narration is offered, before and after each piece of music, talking about the photos and tying the pieces together with each other and with the photos. On this episode, the theme was various colors. 

Download: "Patterns in Music" - Undated Chicago .Area Television Music and Photos Program

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When the person recording stopped the machine, the end of a previously recorded segment was left - not mentioned on the tape box. I've identified this as a brief interview with Erskine Hawkins, but what's left actually starts with promotion for Joe somebody (I can't make out the last name) who was appearing locally - at the Thruway Motel (!), and then suddenly we're treated to an Erskine Hawkins track and then the last two minutes are, indeed, a few moments with Mr. Hawkins. A bit confusing, but that's what it seems to be. 

Download: Brief Fragment of an Interview with Erskine Hawkins

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Even after all this time, I have only a basic idea in some cases of what people coming to this site will be thrilled to hear and what will get passed over. There may be very little, or great interest in the contents of the above sets of recordings for example. 

I do, however, recognize that the next recording is not going to be for everyone, and that it won't even be close. But.... I just love this kid. Here we have a child named Margie who is entertaining herself (and later, is joined by her sister or perhaps a friend), by singing a vast repertoire of songs, reciting a bit of a play she was in at school, and demonstrating her rudimentary skills on the piano. 

She is pretty much tone deaf, but clearly would have no idea of this, and her abilities on the piano amount to little more than one note at a time. But she is HAVING SUCH A GREAT TIME. And she clearly envisions herself entertaining some unseen audience on the other end of the microphone. I love her little asides, like when she puts the microphone down to play piano and says "goodbye" to it, when she apologizes for not knowing which book her piano piece is in, and when she asks for a round of applause for... herself. And then, nearly two-thirds of the way through, she gets to really famous song, sung complete with an inexplicable (slight) accent. 

Again, I adore this girl, and this is probably my favorite new-to-me tapes that I've heard this year. To be honest, that's probably because she reminds me of... me at that age, except that I wasn't tone deaf. This sounds remarkably like the tapes I made of myself around that age, only far more entertaining. 

Download: Margie Sings, Plays Piano and Talks

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Finally, a "very short reel". This is a complete cheat, as the segment below is an excerpt from a four hour tape, but I really want to get this posted!

I have a group of tapes that someone made off of an Indiana radio station around 1979-1980. They contain episodes of American Top 40, an end of the year countdown, and other programming from a couple of local stations. Contained on at least two of them are episodes of Robert W. Morgan with "The Special of the Week", hour long episodes, heavy on the interviews, looking at a then-popular act. The two I've listened to so far covered the careers of George Benson and The Who. Your mileage may vary, but I have zero interest in the George Benson, and I enjoy perhaps six tracks in the entire career of The Who. So these were not interesting shows to listen to for me. 

But I did enjoy the introduction to the episode on The Who, less for Morgan's reworking of Abbott and Costello (although it's worth hearing), than for the fake letter that he used to set up the bit, specifically the name of the fake letter writer. Here is the segment that led off The Special of the Week featuring The Who. 

Download: Robert W Morgan - Who's On First

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Oh, and The Who were hardly the first groups to record a concept album. The Almanac Singers (featuring Pete Seeger) made several of them in the 1940's, including albums encouraging the US to stay out of World War II and collections of songs in the support of Unions), and Frank Sinatra had a few in the 1950's, as well. The "Manhattan Tower" album and its sequels and imitators come to mind, too.