A 1963 College Jazz Festival, Interviewing the Family, Top 40 Radio in 1966, Some Odd Rehearsals, A One Man Hodgepodge, The Rotations of Mars and Earth, and Some Pasta!

 Howdy, 

First, I'd like to feature a couple of comments from recent posts. A frequent poster who goes by "Snoopy" made some fun comments on this post, and specifically the echoey Chicago radio segment, and also asked "What the HELL is going on?!" at the 24:24 mark. I actually meant to mention this - there was some a cappella singing at a different speed on the flip side of this tape, which somehow bled through, backwards, for the last 25 seconds or so of that radio segment. 

And as I was sure he would, Eric Paddon helpfully cleared up any confusion about the baseball recording I posted last time around. Silly me, I didn't even check to see if the dominant game heard therein was the same game as any of the previous offerings. It turns out that it was. How this game ended up on two different reels, with the end AND start of this game on one reel and the rest on another, is a real mystery. Here's what he wrote: 

Back on March 18, you had posted the Bottom 6th to beginning of the Top 8th of this same 7/3/62 game and the beginning of this post picks up exactly where the previous one left off with Jim Landis batting in the Top 8th for the first two and a half minutes. Then it gets inaudible for the next few minutes but then around the five minute mark what we're hearing when the announcer mentions Joe Azcue is batting is the Kansas City A's-Detroit Tigers first game of a doubleheader from August 1 ,1962 with George Kell announcing on the Tiger network but the July 3, 1962 game is still bleeding through at intervals during that but it is predominantly the August 1, 1962 A's-Tigers game that dominates what's audible for the next ten minutes (faintly) and then suddenly we're back in July 3, 1962 starting at the end of the Top 2nd and that continues in good quality up to the Bottom 6th when the previous recording began (except for a couple bizarre sequences where someone is doing a test at slow speed over the recording.)

I have stitched together a single file of all material from this game in the right sequence: 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6krt6umaas2hy1vmcq8qq/1962-07-03-White-Sox-vs.-Tigers-WCFL-Partial.mp3?rlkey=21niwfuyrayhhtnq6u0oo7qg0&st=hcv31y46&dl=0

Thanks!

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I'm going to start with a real (reel) winner this time, a lengthy recording of a broadcast of "The 1963 Villanova Intercollegiate Jazz Festival". This was the third such festival, and aside from the announcer talking over a few bits of performances, it's great stuff. The legendary John Hammond even stops by for an interview. I don't think any more needs to be said. 

Download: The Third Annual Villanova Intercollegiate Jazz Festival, 1963

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Next, something else very special! A long-time reader/listener name Bram B. offered up a three inch reel of tape which had come with a vintage Westinghouse machine (the type that could only record three inch reels, and which looked, to me, more like a sewing machine!) that he had bought some time earlier. The machine did not work correctly, just enough for him to recognize the recording as a home recording of a man and some children. So he sent the tape to me! 

One side of the tape was country music recorded off of records - most of it sounded (to me) like Jim Reeves, which is always a treat. But the real worthwhile stuff was on the other side. 

As Bram first described to me - and I agree - it sounds like a family patriarch, perhaps a visiting grandfather, interviewing some young children. And it is mostly delightful - a segment in which he works way too hard to get one shy child to talk is the only blemish here. The rest is very enjoyable and I wish there was more of it. The supposition he expresses at one point that one of the children would like Batman and Robin seems to date this to the brief but intense heyday of the ABC TV show of 1966-68, so this likely a dates from around that time. 

THANKS, BRAM!

Download: A Man Interviews Some Young Family Members, circa mid-1960's

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I do not know the source of this next tape, although maybe someone out there can make some sense out of this tape box: 

The tape contains a brief lecture - source unknown - about Earth and Mars, the relative speed of each and, essentially, how a contest between the two of them around the sun might be described. That's about all I think I have to say: 

Download: Unknown - A Short Talk On the Rotations of Earth and Mars

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Tapes from the golden age of Top 40 Radio are always welcomed by many people here and on other sites, so I'm sharing this one despite it's multiple flaws. It is poorly recorded, and the recordist chose to edit out commercials and some of the deejay patter. Given that those two things are often the most valuable parts of such tapes, this is, as I said, a lesser example of such a recording. However, it is a portion of a station's top hits countdown show, and some of what the deejay had to say is still there. 

The station is WILS, Lansing, MI, and, fairly remarkably, I found an online posting of the very survey being counted down here (although it starts with a "flashback" to 1964). The date on the survey is April 6, 1966, and it can be seen here. I was quite taken with the fact that there was a local hit, presented as up-and-coming on this show, by a local group called The Plagues. Perhaps others are familiar with this group - they are well known enough to have their own Wikipedia page - but if you'd asked me if a group named after a deadly disease would have had a hit song in 1966, I'd have said that would be very unlikely. 

Download: WILS, Lansing Michigan - Portions of the Top 20 Countdown for 4-6-66

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I've titled this next segment "A One Man Hodgepodge", and I can think of no better name for it (even though a woman joins the man at the end of the segment). Over the course of these 19 minutes, you'll hear a bit of some sort of reedy instrument, some religious songs and readings (including a bit of Revelation), a bit of a fake newscast, and some guitar accompanying wordless vocalizing. At certain points, one of those categories of recording repeatedly interrupts one or more of the other categories listed. 

Download: A One Man Hodgepodge

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And now, the "Acetate of the Month". This is a pretty early Acetate, dated July of 1939, and while it initially sounds like it contains a quiz show, but after a single question, it turns out to contain ads for Fleet-Wing Gasoline, a company I've never heard of. There are three commercials in all, each containing a tricky question, which then segues into an ad for this product. 

Here's the label: 

Note that already, by 1933, radio stations and others who needed playable material were using the 33 1/3 RPM speed, a decade and a half before it was introduced for commercially available products. 

There are many and varied photos of and comments about Fleet-Wing gas stations and products, and one poster to a Fleet-Wing thread out there says the company existed from 1928 to 1970. I've never heard of them before, myself. 

Download: General Broadcasting System 12 inch Acetate - Three Fleet-Wing Announcements, 7-20-39

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And now for a "Very Short Reel". I am very happy to announce that I recently bought a small box full of three and five inch tapes, most of which contain radio ads created by the Needham Harper Steers agency, and I will be digging into this pile of tapes from time to time in upcoming posts. Here's the tape which was on top of the rest when I opened the box. There's no date on this tape (or on any of them, I don't think). It contains three ads for Mueller's Pasta, another company I've never heard of. This company, however, still exists, and according to their website, the nearest store to me carrying their products is over 60 miles away from my home. 

Download: Needham Harper Steers - Three Mueller's Pasta Ads

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Christmas Through and Through

 Did you hear? Christmas is tomorrow! It was in all the papers! Well, most of them, anyway! I hope the news reached your corner of the globe! 

With that in mind, today's post will be entirely Christmas and End-of-the-Year related. If that's not your thing, please come back after the first of the year (after checking out the first two shares, I would suggest), but for those who revel in such things, we're going all Christmas, all the time. 

I have a lot of Christmas related things on my plate, so I will be brief in most of my comments:  

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I think the most interesting recording here, by far, and the one which will likely have the broadest appeal, is this first offering, which I suspect is exceptionally rare. Not rare in the sense that some of the other items here are - home recordings which literally only exist in one copy - but rare in the sense of it being a recording made at a radio station in 1938. The station is WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut, a station which still exists, with those same call letters, and which will soon celebrate its 100th birthday

Not only are recordings of local stations (as opposed to network programming) of that vintage fairly rare, I don't think this isn't even a broadcast. From what I can tell It's a jokey program created by and for the staff of the radio station, for Christmas that year, poking fun at themselves. . 

At least, that's what I think it is. (It's also not clear to me if this is the entire program, or if some is missing.) Please let me know if you have other impressions, in the comments. 

And oh, yes, this could also qualify as our "Acetate of the Month", as it clearly comes from a recording of multiple acetate sides. But this recording came to me on a reel of tape, where someone had recorded those acetate sides. 

Download: WTIC - A Self-Parody for a Christmas Party - 12-22-38

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What's more, the same tape contained a later, joking recording, created at the same station for some Christmas in the 1940's, a shorter piece of humor titled "The Announcer's Nightmare": 

Download: WTIC - A 1940's Self-Parody for a Christmas Party - The Announcer's Nightmare

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For an entirely more homey feel, here is a tape of an unknown family singing Christmas Carols at home around 1950 or so. This comes from one of those early paper reels that only were in production until about 1951. Please enjoy these voices from over 70 years ago, sounding (for the most part, anyway) like they could have been recorded last week - such is the magic of reel to reel tape.  

Download: Christmas Carols at Home, Circa 1950

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But mayhap you prefer your Christmas entertainment to be provided by the more... professional of performers. If that's the case, I present to you: Perry Como's 1964 Christmas Episode of the Kraft Music Hall, from December 17th of that year: 

Download: Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall - Christmas Show - 12-17-64

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Getting back into the domestic life, in 1960, Hope and Franklin decided to record about 42 minutes of their Christmas gathering, including, among other things, what sounds very much like some conversation around the dining room table, and some caroling. And in 2022, I am sharing that recording with you. As one participant suggests, "listen to it while you're having dessert".

Download: Christmas, 1960, at Hope and Franklin's House

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Now that dessert is over, it's time for a few reflections. Here is a gentlemen and his family, living in Sioux Falls, looking back at the events of Christmas that year (1978), as well as the events of the year. The recording was made on Christmas night of that year -  it would appear that this was one of a series, and that this family made such a recording every year, for some number of years, at least. Sort of an end-of-the-year family diary. As far as I've found thus far, I do not have any of their other Christmas recordings. Names of several family members are given, during the reporting, but I'll let you hear those. Something about this tape resonates with me very deeply - I find it extremely sweet and very affecting. 

Download: Christmas Evening, 1978, and Review of the Year

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Our "Very Short Reel" feature for today is also Christmas themed, although it was recorded nearly a month after Christmas of 1951, on January 20, 1952. In this recording, a very small child plays some of his or her (presumably) favorite records, and makes a very small child's attempt to sing along. Note that I don't hold this child to the same standard as the tone-deaf singer who apparently wanted to hear himself singing along to hit records, which I featured last time. It's not this tiny person's fault that the ability to carry a tune has not made itself known yet, nor that the parent decided to record the singing. 

What's more, this kid is in tune at least as often than our would-be singer from last time around. And your mileage may vary a great deal, but I find this recording endearing, something I couldn't say about the aforementioned recording. Perhaps that has something to do with just how long its been since I had a toddler in my life...

After we hear part of a Spike Jones record of nursery rhymes (our only non-Christmas content this week), we go straight into the classic Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters versions of "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (with another record overlapping the first song, for a moment, for some reason)

Download: Small Child Sings with Christmas Records - 1-20-52

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And finally, our "Acetate of the Month". And here's a surprise - it's Christmas related! And it's a "very short acetate", lasting barely two minutes. The "Duodisc"-brand acetate was a souvenir of a visit to see Santa at a store - Toyland within "Lord's, in Evanston" (Illinois, of course), you can read about the store here, and see a picture of it - what a fantastic building - here. Santa introduces himself, interviews a child about his life and his wishes for Christmas, then sings a few songs with him. My guess is that each of Santa's visitors got such a record. 

Download: Duodisc Acetate - A Visit with Santa at Lord's in Evanston, IL

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Some Rare Country Music Television, A 40th Anniversary, Walkie Talkies and THE ROCK RHYTHM SOUND!

 Hello!

My descriptions will be brief this time around. I really want to get a post out, but I usually have time on weekends to do most of my writing. But not this weekend - first Beatlefest in three years! Were you there, too? Maybe I saw you!

Anyway, I'm going to start off with what I found on either side of an ancient reel, which contains some exceptionally rare country music TV recordings. 

First up, I believe, based on the date on the tape, and on what's said during the actual broadcast, that this is literally the first television broadcast of The Grand Ole Opry. The date on the reel is June 11, 1955. Multiple online sources indicate that this show did not become a regular weekly broadcast until the fall of 1955, but that it aired once a month, prior to that, starting the previous summer. So this is the very first episode aired on television. Here it is: 

Download: The Grand Ole Opry Television Show - First Broadcast, June 11, 1955

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The flip side of the tape appears to be something far more obscure, from five days later than the recording above. It is a broadcast, clearly local rather than natural, of something called "The Hillbilly Bob Newman Show". I say "clearly local" as the host of the show actually thanks the local advertiser in his opening comments. Also, and perhaps more importantly, I can find NO reference to the existence of this show online. There are plenty of sites which feature Bob Newman, and even "Hillbilly Bob Newman", but no hits for the name of his show. Unfortunately, nearly all host and/or guest chatter has been edited out of this recording, leaving just the performances, some of them incomplete. But still, this is real time capsule and contains some mighty fine music. 

Download: The Hillbilly Bob Newman Show, June 16, 1955

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Here's a section of the tape box with the relevant information (note that it says "Grand Ole Opera"): 

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And now, a completely different sort of programming. I have a tape which was used to capture several short episodes of a feature which ran on radio station WRC, in Washington, DC, during August of 1963. As it happened, that month was the 40th anniversary of that particular radio station, and, as radio stations are wont to do, WRC memorialized this event with multiple short retrospectives, during that month. My intrepid recorder, whoever he or she was, captured just over 90 minutes of that programming, on a reel of tape. 

It would appear that WRC was, for most of that 40 year period, an affiliate of the NBC network, so these highlights are decidedly LESS locally focused than I would have liked, and less than any other retrospective I think I've heard, being made up largely of "hey, do you remember this network broadcast/broadcaster". Still, it's a neat little bundle of nostalgic flashbacks, and it's worth noting that the there has now been a station in that town on that frequency (it's now WTEM) for 99 years, as of two weeks ago.

Download: WRC, Washington, DC, 40th Anniversary Features, August, 1963

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Here's a really nice insert which was inside that tape box: 

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Switching gears again, for those who are just wild for those walkie-talkie conversations, here is about eleven and a half minutes of walkie-talking conversations. 

Download: A Walkie-Talkie Conversation

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And now to a "Very Short Reel". This is, admittedly, more than a bit of a cheat. This comes from a full length, fully recorded reel of tape, but a two minute segment of it made me smile. The second side of the tape had a recording of a full presentation, on local Chicago television, of a Mae West movie, complete with the commercials. And this Longines advertisement was heard as one of the commercial breaks. A real time capsule, and, incidentally, not at ALL what I remember Longines promoting and selling, way back when: 

Download: TV Ad for 'The Rock Rhythm Sound' From Longines

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A Compendium of Blue Material

What a wonderful cornucopia of sound revealed itself when I lined up today's roll of tape through the ol' reel to reel machine. Because here was someone's collection of vintage off-color antics of a variety of well known and lesser known performers, all of which seems to predate the mid '60's, most of it much earlier than that.

A few of these clips are extremely well known, and probably readily available. Several of the ones in the first third of the tape are new to me, and likely fairly rare, although someone out there may well inform me otherwise. The first 18 minutes of this 45 minute reel are the "gold" to me. The last 27 minutes or so are from one of the Friars' roasts, and while it's an interesting recording (which may, again, be easily available elsewhere), it's fairly one-note humor but for who is doing some of the speaking.

Here, in order, is what you'll hear:

1.) An unidentified woman talking about a man in terms that the audience misconstrues (very short)

2.) Mike Wallace (of all people) giving a loaded question, from a listener at home, to Virginia Graham, catching her off guard. Her reaction seems quite over-the-top and insincere to me.

3.) A very funny fake commercial for "Duz". This is probably my favorite segment here.
4.) A very famous Bing Crosby outtake.

5.) Another well known excerpt from a children's interview show, featuring a child who reports having farted, and a host who can't keep it together.

6.) A singer introduces his song by slipping over its name, very badly.

7.) An announcer has difficulty getting through some very questionably written copy.

8.) Some rearranged Hedda Hopper quotes, attached to some off color questions.

9.) Perhaps the most famous bit here, in which Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis do promos for "The Caddy" and take a turn into the filthy. I've heard this a dozen times, and still don't find it funny. I guess it's because I don't find Jerry Lewis funny, and that I suspect that the way he acts here is how I suspect he really is, when not on camera.

10.) A discussion of love making between an anonymous man and woman.

11.) The aforementioned Friars' Roast recording, notable for its inclusion of such usually wholesome entertainers as Jack Benny and (of all people) Art Linkletter, engaging in filthy language. The honoree is someone named Harry Joe (I never did catch his last name).

I hope you find this (or at least parts of it) as entertaining as I do.

Download: Various Artists: A Compendium of Blue Material
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