Boy Scouting in a Canadian Winter, An "American Idol" of the '60's, The Return of Australian Shortwave and Much More!

Hello, Hello, Hello!

Before I get to this week's offerings, I want to share a link which is very much overdue. One of my most frequent commenters goes by "Oldradios90", and three months ago, Oldradios shared, in the comments, that he or she had started a new, similar project to this one, capturing old audio from reel to reel tapes and other sources, on Archive.org. As of today, there are 46 items uploaded, including such things as: 

A Sailor's Message to His Family, 1945

 A Half Hour of Baltimore TV, 1958

A Talk on Cattle Feed and Disease

Football Game and Singing, 1961

As you can see, the items are just as varied and esoteric as those I've been sharing here. I want to take a deeper dive into the site, and encourage you to do the same. This looks like a great collection. 

I have shared the site in the links, to the right, but I'll also link it in this post. The site is found here. 

As a side note, OldRadios90 pointed out that last week's "very short reel" did not contain ads for Kodak cameras, despite what it said on the tape box, but for a competitor's product!

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Aside from making sure I left time for that explanation and link, I am, as I expressed on my other site, short of time in August, due to work demands that crop up this time of year, so my comments will be quite short. 

To start, here's a neat tape containing a recording of three boys describing (with the help of an adult) their adventures on a Boy Scout camping trip, during the no-doubt freezing Saskatchewan winter, in some unknown year many decades ago. 

The beginning of this tape was erased by other, less interesting material, so it begins mid thought...: 

Download:  Roy, Kenny, Bob and Ronnie Discuss Their Boy Scout Adventures In Winter in Saskatchewan

Play:

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Next up, here's an ancestor of shows like "Star Search" and "American Idol", a 20 minute segment of a program titled "Talent Scouts", from the summer of 1962, possibly August 28th. 

I should add that, unlike the shows mentioned, this was not a competition, and the performers were selected in advance due to having previously been discovered, and were being given, in many cases, their first national exposure. 

Download: Talent Scouts - Jim Backus, Harry Belafonte and Valentine Pringle

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Next up, here's an example of a type of tape that I come across fairly often, but rarely share. This is the genre of amateur musicians making a tape of themselves going through their repertoire. In this case, it's an unlabeled tape featuring an organist and a vocalist - two people or one, I don't know, but I would guess the former. Here's 22 minutes or so of R & B, Pop and Country hits from the mid '50's through the mid '60's. 

This tape starts as you'll hear it here, mid-song. 

Download: Unknown - An Organist and a Vocalist

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And here, for the first time in quite awhile, is another of the many tapes I manage to accrue, featuring mid 1970's shortwave broadcasts of "Australian Mailbag". This one, as becomes clear quickly, was recorded within days or weeks of Gerald Ford becoming president, meaning it's likely from August of 1974, but possibly (although unlikely) as late as September of that year. 

Download: Australian Mailbag - August or September, 1974

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And now it's time for our "Acetate of the Month". I made this MP3 quite a few years ago, and can't currently find the disc in question, so I'm not sure how I knew the possible station or date, but the file is titled "Possibly WGBW - Political Commentary - Possibly 3-20-40". It's certainly from a station in Louisiana, and, on side one, concerns some troubles the Governor of a nearby state was finding himself in, while on the flip side (which plays with a few skips, and far more surface noise), the speaker comments on a certain bill then being considered in Congress. 

Download: Possibly WGBW - Political Commentary - Possibly 3-20-40

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And finally, for this week's "Very Short Reel", here is an ad for Carling Black Label Beer, dated April, 1971. 

Download: Carling Black Label Beer Ad, April 1971

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Here is the letter that accompanied that tape, when it went to the radio station: 

Vintage John Birch Material, Scouting Slides, "Puppy Day" and More!

Hi, everyone, 

With April, 2021 about to expire, I thought I'd better try to keep my streak going, of posting twice a month for 15 straight months now. 

Let's start with something ridiculous. 

Almost two years ago, I shared a tape of one Mary Davidson offering a screed against the United Nations on what was "Tape Four" of a series, and I bemoaned that I didn't have any other parts. Well, it turns out I do have at least one other part, which I came across last week. 

So, without further ado, here, again, is Mary Davidson to tell us more things we need to know about that terrible, awful, no good, very bad United Nations. 

 Download: Mary Davidson - The United Nations, Part Two

Play:  

As a bonus, or perhaps a punishment, this tape features another John Bircher, Hugh A. Locke, Jr., heard here in the second of three parts (parts one and three, presumably, were on the b-sides of Mary Davidson's tapes numbered one and three), of a speech at a New England Rally. 

Download: Hugh A Locke, Jr - 1967 Speech At New England Rally, Part Two

Play: 

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On to something more entertaining. I know people have enjoyed the slide show presentation tapes that I've shared in the past, and here I have another one. And OH, how I wish I could see the slides in this case, as the description makes them sound deeply entertaining. 

This was recorded for what was apparently the first in a series of slide shows, made for a troop of Boy Scouts, in an attempt to teach them First Aid. In this first episode, the slides, and the narration, are concerned with what to do when someone has fallen off of rocks onto other rocks (and glass), what to do when someone "has drowned" (the narrator's term, not mine - I would think First Aid in such a case would be a bit too late), and in the event of electrical shock.

I think you'll agree with me that when you want to teach children how to save someone who is injured, a slide show beats a live demonstration every time, and the areas to start with, due to their immense likelihood, would be a fall onto rocks, a drowning and an electric shock. 

At the end of the segment I'm sharing, we're told that further slides will follow, of a recent "camperee", but unfortunately, the accompaniment was simply a series of instrumental marches, so I faded the tape out. 

Download: Narration for Scouting First Aid Slides

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Last October, I shared a Stereo Demonstration Reel from the Voice of Music company. And today, I have another one, again from the dawn of Stereo recording, in this case from a company called "Sonotape"

Like other tapes of this genre, this tape attempts to demonstrate the versatility and breadth of what stereo tape can bring you, and the variety of material available from the label, from classical to pop to sound effects. In the case of this tape, and I'm not sure this is a positive, our narrator is accompanied by a cartoonish voiced sidekick who shows up now and then, but who states his name in the final moments, almost as if we were supposed to know who he was, all along.  

Along the way, we do get to here a magical track from those early, experimental and fascinating albums by Ferrante and Teicher, and that's the highlight for me.  

Note the high quality sound you are hearing here. This tape is about 64 years old. In a few weeks, I'll be sharing another demonstration reel of the same vintage which has not held up so well. 

Finally, I will quote here from something I wrote back in October, which applies here, again: 

Because this tape dates to the days when "Stereo" meant two channels recorded across the entire width of the tape (and not the four channel, two direction style which became the industry standard by the end of the '50's), we're technically only hearing half of the programming here. It's still in stereo, but my more modern stereo machine is only playing half of each signal. I hope that makes sense. 

Download: Sonotape Inline Demonstration Reel

Play: 

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And now it's time for episode three of my new series, "Acetate of the Month". In today's offering, we have what seems to be a few minutes from a show called "Surprise Package", a segment in which a puppy was given away to a child. One hopes - as the host claims - that the parents of the winning child were on the same page with the show's host and producers. The name on the label is the name of the child interviewed during almost the entire length of the acetate. It's not clear if she was awarded the puppy, but either way, I suspect this acetate was given to her after the show. Perhaps each child interviewed got an acetate with their segment. 

By the way, can you believe she gives her address and phone number out? Although it appears that she was visiting another town at the time, and it's doubtful anyone from her home town would be listening. Still, it was certainly a different time and place, eh? There is also a deeply uncomfortable moment here, which I'll let you experience without further comment. 

The acetate contains the exact same recording of the same broadcast on both sides, and it looks like this: 

And here's the acetate: 

Download: "Puppy Day" on "Surprise Package" Show, with Deborah Hoskins

Play:  

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Here is our "Very Short Reel" for this posting. Three inch reels can be deceiving - depending on the thickness of the tape and the speed at which they're recorded, they can be filled up complete and last barely a minute (a thicker tape recorded at 15 IPS), or close to a half hour of material (1 thinner tape recorded at 1 7/8 IPS). 

In this case, we have one of the briefest audio letters ever, with a recording at 7 1/2 IPS taking up barely the first minute of tape on one side; the rest of the tape is blank. And for me, this recording brings up a whole host of questions. The narrator - Jerry - claims to be in Times Square, and seems to have quite the story to tell to his friend - Jinx - and even says it was going to be easier to tell him on tape than in a letter. But then... he doesn't explain what sounds like quite the experience. 

Listen for yourself!:

Download: Brief Audio Letter to Jinx from Jerry in Times Square

Play:

"JANITOR" - Two Hours of Silliness! - Plus a Jamboree and a Birthday Conference Call

Greetings!

I have not alluded to this in any way before today, but the things I have posted to this site, and the majority of what I posted to my "reel to reel catacombs" series at WFMU, tended to be things I came across in my ongoing purchasing and perusal of tapes - things I had heard recently, or had actively put aside for use on this site later. There were major exceptions - things I had owned for years, and which I knew I had to share, such as the Merigail Moreland material, some of the "voice talent" advertising compilations and the Larry Taylor tapes - but mostly I've been putting aside things as I heard them and populated this site with items I had put into my "digitize" stack - relative recent "finds". 

However, for some time, I've thought that I really needed to dig into the large number of tapes I collected during the 20 years before I started blogging for WFMU, because there are dozens of wonderful finds there, which have gone unheard outside of my home, things I heard before I had any way to share them on a large scale. 

So starting today, I'm going to try to share at least one of those tapes per post. For the most part, these should be quite stellar items, as they were the tapes I "kept" during the years when I was able to pick over my choices at the late, lamented ALS Mammoth Music Mart (i.e. it was easier to look at tapes and see which ones seemed promising, than it is on eBay...). 

So....

So it was that, last week, I went looking for a tape I recalled hearing perhaps 25-30 years ago, which I had labeled "JANITOR". After listening to this tape anew, and at the risk of underselling it, I think it's actually a somewhat inauspicious debut for this new phase of my site, as the tape is not quite as engaging or entertaining as I recalled. And yet....

And yet, it's a singularly weird and idiosyncratic recording, a solid two hours plus of a few friends performing skit after skit, sketches and fake funny phone calls and tons of low and fairly-low humor. The folks who made this tape clearly spent a lot of time on it, and that someone gave it up, and that it found it's way into my hands is remarkable. I suspect there's a considerable amount of "You Hadda Be There" to this - and having myself been part of dozens of recordings that I adore, where you probably "Hadda Be There", I can appreciate the tape for that aspect, too. And these people are having a good time, which is often worth hearing just for itself.

While the tape box gave no hint of its contents, inside the box was a ridiculously detailed list on a small, yellowing piece of paper. Side one is their presentation of "JANITOR: Going Places and Picking Up Things", and it is documented simply enough with eight bullet points, describing eight sketches heard on the side. Here is part of that document: 

But the other side of the tape is identified, starting on the flip side of the same piece of paper, is given the title "Laughs, etc.". Part of this side of the paper is in pencil, and is hard to read, but most of it is written in pen, and that side of the paper identifies over twenty sketches/bits. Here is that side of the paper. 

What's more, the first side of the paper, doesn't simply contain those few segments labeled "Janitor". Upside down from those listings, it contains the rest of the contents of side two, with over 30 separate bits documented. Here is what that side looks like from that orientation (please note the "Janitor" material (as scanned above) documented upside down at the bottom):

That's 50-plus bits in just over an hour. I have not separated out the two sides, and this download/play option features the entire 125 minutes of both "Janitor" and "Laughs, etc.". There is a 40 second gap at the 62 1/2 minute point, and that's where side one ends and side two begins. 

When is this from? Well the tape box is the pretty much standard Scotch mid-'50's design, so my guess is, mid to late 1950's. But that's just a guess. 

Download: "Janitor" and other Silliness

Play:  

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Next, here's a neat little Audio Verite recording, made at some point in the 1962 or 1963 at a Boy Scout Jamboree, in Raymond Maine at Camp William Hinds. Among other things, you'll hear a song in tribute to the camp, a conversation with a visitor from Sweden, some more songs (almost group shouts, really), a performance of an old-style ballad of the "Dasterdly Dan/Helpless Maiden" genre, and a bit of a badge-awarding ceremony.

Download: Boy Scout Jamboree at Camp William Hinds, Raymond, Maine

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From a few years later on down the line - August of 1966 to be exact - comes something unique and very much of its day and age - essentially, the equivalent of a Zoom call in 1966. For here we have a group of friends offering happy birthday and best wishes to their friend Paul, on a conference call. Here's the tape box: 

Paul's not actually on the call - the call was done in advance, in order to send the tape to Paul on his birthday as a surprise. (And not only Paul - everyone was to get a copy!) 

And OH, the work that went into this! The person who set this up (Howard) is heard first calling the "conference call" operator and giving all of the phone numbers for the call, and when the call is to be made, a process which takes the nearly the first quarter of this 30 minute tape. Then there's the actual connection being made for the call, and finally, after nearly 8 1/2 minutes of audio, the conference call begins. From there on out, it's largely what you'd expect, and again, not terribly unlike a zoom call with everyone's cameras being turned off. A short bit from someone who couldn't be on the conference call is heard at the end. I hope Paul appreciated this. 

Download: A Conference Call for Paul's Birthday, 8-22-66

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And finally, our "Very Short Reel" for the day. This three inch reel (which is barely 1/5th full of tape) has a box labeled as follows: 

Okay, so I'm guessing that's "Welch's" as in the Fruit Juice company, rather than "WELCHS", but what is that second word? "ARCHIES"? "ARCHLES"? ARCH1e3"? I dunno. But what the tape contains is some uninspired production music, a piece of less than a minute, utilizing blues chords, complete with count in, applause and whooping at the end as if the participants think they just did something really special, and the briefest moment of conversation before the tape cuts off. A cute, and intriguing 40 or so feet of recording tape.  

Download: "WELCHS"

Play:

From a Boy Scout Slide Show Presentation

Well, about a month ago, I shared the narration from a slide show that someone had done, of his family's vacation trip in New England, and I explained that I have come across several of these over the years. I asked for feedback regarding whether there would be interest in hearing more of them.

Those who commented were unanimous in that they wanted to hear more. And so here we have another one.

This one is quite a bit different than the first one, and more interesting due to those differences. It's a slide show recapping a lengthy Boy Scout trip. But rather than simply being a narration of the slides, with the (apparently necessary) music - although all that is there - instead, it contains several recorded excerpts from the trip itself, to more fully flesh out the stories being told in the slides.

In fact, that may lead to a little confusion, which I'll try to fend off here. The beginning of this tape was erased by something else, so it actually starts up in the midst of one of those "field recordings", and a very poorly recorded one, at that, before going to the first narration of the existing recording, at about 25 seconds in. Almost immediately, there was another section erased, and I have cut out the other material - so there is a gap there, too.

And finally, the tape ends before the presentation does. Perhaps the end of the tape was cut off for some reason (maybe it became damaged), or may it wore away with time, Anyway, we do not hear the end of the presentation either.

However, that does not take away from the interesting material which remains, or the enjoyment of lisetening to it.

Download: Unknown - Boy Scout Slide Show Narration
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