Two Sets of Radio Commercials, A Demonstration in Mono, A Couple of Guitarists, and a Whole Lotta Union Carbide Phone Calls

 Happy New Year, everyone, 

I'm going to start off with a version of what I wrote on my other blog a week or so ago: 

It's been more than three weeks since I've posted, and I suspect that there will be only this one post this month. I'm absolutely Captain ADHD, and thrive on keeping ridiculously busy - I'm pretty nuts when I don't have too much to do - but this last month has just swept my legs out from under me, with a couple of brief but intense illnesses, end of the year madness and work demands. I hope and intend to be back to two posts a month in February. 

~~

Before I get to this post's features, I want to make reference to a few comments. But first, I want to acknowledge and just generally thank those of you who have written recently with supportive, thankful and/or appreciative comments about the site in general. Those are all deeply appreciated and give me the encouragement to keep up what I do here. Thank you.  

Some specific comments that you may have missed and which shed light on things I've posted. Regarding this post, someone wrote in: 

Re: WEAM. Based on the references to a back-to-school contest and a daytime high of 84, it would appear to be from late August 1963. Specifically the week of August 23, based on the song positions on this survey matching.

http://las-solanas.com/arsa/survey.php?sv=143773

Regarding what is currently my most recent past post, "Snoopy" made the following observation, one which is very similar to something I almost wrote myself, regarding "oldies": 

Back then, 15 year old music was considered Oldies. Maybe I'm just curmudgeonly but if you played 10 songs from 2009 and 10 songs from 2024, I wouldn't be able to tell one from another. 

I would also like to refer you to this post, about which (in the comments) Eric Paddon has added a great deal of information, specifically about the WOR segment, including the specific dates of those recordings. There is too much text to copy and paste here without bogging things down, but it's very much worth reading. Thanks, as always, Eric. 

There have been a lot more, and I am quoting here (and below) from comments that are as much as six months old. That's how far behind I've gotten. I'm gonna try to be more up-to-date, going forward. 

Anyway, and finally, two frequent commenters, each of whom has his own collection of rare recordings, posted about new "old" finds that each of them has shared. 

Kyle writes: I have found a Christmas home recording from the 1950s

And "OldRadios" has uploaded a radio "Laugh-in" type show called "Funny Birds" to his site at archive.org

In the case of both Kyle and OldRadios, clicking on their names will show you further postings, including more old audio. 

Thanks, guys! 

~~

Okay, I'm going to start with two fairly wonderful (well, with a significant exception) advertising demo reels. The first one is from Chuck Blore and Don Richman Incorporated, a company headed by two men who seem to be considered legendary in the radio advertising field - look each of them up online. 

This tape has fifteen ads, the last of which is that "significant exception" to the wonderfulness that I just mentioned. That last one is more like a hard slap upside the head. Here's the tape box: 

Download: Chuck Blore and Don Richman Incorporated - Advertising Demo Reel

Play:

~~

The second advertising reel - almost exactly the same length as the first - comes from Don Piestrup, who you can also find online but who does not appear to have been nearly the "name" talent that the above two gentlemen were, although there still exists a Big Band which plays his music. 

This tape features 13 ads, and the box also helpfully guides us in what we're going to hear here: 

Download: Don Piestrup - Advertising Demo Reel

Play:

Here's the rather esoteric front cover of the tape box: 

And the side: 

~~

Here's something a little different. I have shared several Stereo Demonstration tapes here - in the early days of stereo sound - which debuted on reel tape nearly two years before it became a reality on records - tape recorder companies produced demonstration reels to show off their wondrous machines and the spacious sounds they could produce. 

But before that, tape recorder manufactures also wanted to demonstrate the wonders of reel tape. And so there are some (although apparently not as many) monaural demonstration tapes out there. And this is one of them. It's from the Omegatape company. Side one of the tape provides excerpts from some of the pre-recorded tapes the company currently was offering. 

But then, on side two, there is a series of test tones to be used in some way for head alignment, then a timing test to see if your machine is running at exactly the right speed. (Either this recording was itself flawed or my machine runs slightly fast - which I don't think is the case - as the blips go by in about 58 1/2 seconds.) Highlights from more Omegatape offerings finish off the reel. 

Download: Omegatape Monaural Demonstration and Test Tape

Play:

Here is a booklet which came with the tape: 

~~

Here is about 21 minutes of what I've called "A Couple of Guitarists Fooling Around and Duetting". See if you don't think that title is accurate. And sufficient as an introduction.

Download: A Couple of Guitarists Fooling Around and Duetting

Play:

~~

Robert W. Morgan was a hugely popular radio dj and personality from the late 1960's until shortly before his death in 1998. For a while in the late 1970's, he produced a syndicated program titled "Special of the Week". How the word "Special" was defined in terms of a program which apparently ran in a regular timeslot once a week is a mystery to me, but anyway, I came across a tape containing more than half of his episode about the band Chicago, and I thought I'd share it here. 

For all of his talk about the band's Jazz-Rock roots and status, Morgan plays precious little here of the Chicago material which falls within that genre. Perhaps it was featured in the earlier part of the program, which isn't captured here. But then again, that would have been the point at which to mention it, not while largely playing tripe such as "Saturday in the Park" and "Just You 'N Me". 

This particular broadcast was aired on WRBR, South Bend, IN, during a fundraising event for St. Jude's Hospital for Children, and there are a few cutaways for information about that event, during the broadcast. 

Download: Robert W Morgan's Special of the Week, Featuring Chicago - 11-16-80 - WRBR, South Bend, IN

Play:

~~

Okay, here is a tape most of you might skip over entirely but others may find weirdly fascinating. It comes from a 10 inch reel, one which only had a small amount of tape on it. But that small amount of tape contained over 100 minutes of recordings, because it was recorded at the rarely encountered speed of 15/16th of an inch per second. 

You know when you see those movies or videos in which a reel to reel machine is barely moving in the background, presumably recording the goings-on in that location? Well, those may be going at 15/16ths or even slower. And that's what we have here. 

These are calls made by and received by a couple of men who were manning the phone at some sort of business hub for Union Carbide. As someone mentions well into the recording, the company had recently installed a recording system which engaged every time the phone was picked up, whether it was for call out or a call in. 

And so, we have all manner of calls into and from the field, as well as, at one point, a call to the wife of one of the men manning the phone, as well as a few other contacts. I won't pretend to have ANY idea what it is that is being discussed - a lot of numbers, percentages, levels and such are thrown about, and a good number of people are attempted to be reached, or call back, or whatever. 

It can be sort of mesmerizing. I did not listen to this all in one sitting, and can't imagine doing so, but the entire recording is fascinating in its own way, a slice of life from an extremely specific time and place, and an unusual glimpse of some people doing some very specific jobs, the likes of which most of us know nothing about. 

(By the way, the first few calls are VERY soft, but the volume increases substantially, to a normal listening level, just after the one minute point. There are a few soft moments later in the recording, as well)

Download: Union Carbide Phone Calls

Play:

~~

And finally, the "Very Short Reel" for this post. This three minute segment comes from a tape wherein the rest of the recordings were exceptionally poorly recorded radio broadcasts, and I mean exceptionally poor to the point of being unlistenable (and I'll listen to just about anything on a tape) and unintelligible. 

I've called this "A Short Conversation At Home", and in it, a man records (and talks to) what sounds like a considerably older woman. Extremely innocuous conversations follow (well, except for one statement about a girl who is prettier than Gail). Then, after the machine is stopped and re-started, she is told not to whine, and then talks about what a nice voice she's been told she has, except that "it sure don't sound like it on that". My assumption is that she had just listened to the previous segment. My assumption is that she'd never heard her own voice recorded, prior to that moment. 

Unknown: A Short Conversation At Home

Play:

A Singularly Fascinating Don Kirshner / Bobby Darin Find and a Whole Lot More!

I have something today which I find utterly fascinating, and that I hope you will, too. 

But first, some housekeeping updates: 

My friend and frequent commenter Timmy has posted a nearly hour long blast of KRTH, and their tribute to Bobby Darin (who, coincidentally, figures strongly in my first feature, below), from December 20, 1973. It's on YouTube, and you can find it here. 

Two posts ago, I offered up a significant amount of Jack Paar material. Eric Paddon, a TV culture hawk who can almost always be counted on to pinpoint what it is I've shared, and some of the details, has identified these segments as having been from 8/4/59 and 9/3/59. Additionally, he's shared links to available video of the Debbie Reynolds segment here, and in better shape, here. 

And two weeks, ago, in my VERY SHORT REELS FESTIVAL, I finished with a bizarre tape built around "The Stars and Stripes Forever". A poster named Snoopy offered up that 

The "Weird Stars and Stripes" has a brief sample of "The Wild Bull" by Morton Subotnick, Side A, about 8:15-8:25. I'd like to hear more of what that person was trying to do (the tape sampler, not Subotnick).

Finally, with regard to that same posting, I made a comment about how sometimes three inch reels, particularly those that seem likely to have been recorded on those tiny dictation reel machines, tend to have anywhere from minor to severe speed variances. I did not know why. A poster named Scott explained it: 

A lot of those little 3 inch decks (like the ones on Mission Impossible) didn't have capstans and pinch rollers so the tape speed was subject to the small, unregulated take up motor. 

Thanks to all four of you, and to everyone who writes in. I really appreciate it. 

~~

And now, the most interesting thing I've found on a reel in a good long time: 

This box, seen above, had been sitting, waiting for me to discover it, for a good long time, in my basement archives. That the reel encased in it only had about three minutes of tape on it didn't encourage me to investigate sooner. But I'm glad I had a listen, just a few days ago. 

The story begins with two young songwriters from Las Vegas, Al Gemma, Lyricist and Frank Lendini, composer. Al Gemma had the surprising good fortune to get to play a few of their songs for Bobby Darin, during one of his tour stops in 1959, and was further encouraged to send the songs on to Don Kirshner. Or at least, that's what happened, according to the letter that Mr. Gemma send to Don Kirshner, which was in the box with the tape. Here is the letter in its entirety, dated July 19, 1959: 

That's quite a tale, especially the encouragement from Darin and the enthusiasm he is reported to have about one of the songs. 

So, what do the songs sound like? Well, first they are extremely short. totaling just under two minutes, 50 seconds between the two of them. They are competent, but very derivative - I don't sense what would have stood out to a performer of Darin's caliber and abilities, particularly just before he released his most successful single, "Mack the Knife".

Here's the first one, the one Darin is said to have been hot to record. It has the fairly clunky title, "You-The Girl I Love"

Download: Al Gemma - You-The Girl I Love

Play:

And the second song, which Al Gemma said the songwriters had reworked, at Darin's request. It's called "Vicky Knew"

Download: Al Gemma - Vicky Knew

Play:

Rather oddly, Al Gemma did not use a new piece of tape for this recording. He recorded in half-track mono over some other recordings, leaving on the remaining channel some recordings which had previously been recorded in whole-track. I would imagine that if Don Kirshner bothered to listen to this tape, it would have been on a stereo machine, and he'd have to have turned down the right channel. Here, for completeness sake, is what's on the remaining channel - two segments of piano led instrumentals, neither complete. I don't know the first tune, the second one is "And That Reminds Me".

Download: The Al Gemma Tape - The Other Channel

Play:

Interestingly enough, the story does not end there. Both of this songwriters actually got past the starting gate in the business they were so interested in entering. While both of these songs were copyrighted by their authors by 1959, that's not really a sign of anything - anyone can do that. On the other hand, the two of them later copyrighted a song called "Girls Girls Girls", and that song, along with another one the two of them wrote, made it onto a 45 released on King Records in 1961. 

And Frank Lendini? He got even further, releasing a 45 under his own name in 1964, featuring the song "Give to Me", and its flip, with some lyrics that would likely not fly today, "So Young".

That's where the Gemma and Lendini story seems to end, but if there is more, I trust someone out there will bring it to my attention. The only question remaining in my mind - did this tape somehow come to me from a collection which once belonged to Don Kirshner? Without going into detail, I will say that other, less interesting tapes in my collection have led me to believe I did at some point pick up tapes that belonged to his company, so it's a distinct possibility. 

Incidentally, ALSO contained in the box were lead sheets for both "You-The Girl I Love" and "Vicky Knew". I don't really want to bog this page down with four more images, so here is just page one of "You-The Girl I Love"

And if that's not the find of the year from my collection, I don't know what is. 

~~

Here's another tape I just love, mostly because it comes from the dawn of reel tape recording, and captures people at home. 

For here we have a tape that I could have subtitled "Have You Heard 'John and Marsha' Yet"? And that's a title which could only have come from the late winter of 1951, when Stan Freberg's first single was turning heads across the country. There is another clue here which also dates this to the early years of the 1950's, and given that it's a home recording, that's an exceptionally rare thing. 

This is also a paper reel - that is, a reel of recording tape with paper backing, which I've written about before. This was phased out by 1953, if not sooner, and tapes with paper backing are almost as rare as home recordings from 1951. Not to get too technical, but the sounds on this tape were also recorded across the middle of the tape, not using the outside edges at all, and this, again, is a feature found on the earliest machines, one that seems to have been phased out even sooner, perhaps by 1950 or 1951. 

As you'll hear, the recordings have the sort of White Noise backing that I've come to associate with paper reels. I don't know if that was the fault of the tape itself or of the early recorders. I can't remember hearing it on any of the plastic backed reels from the same period, though. 

There is not anything amazing on this tape, except that it exists. These are people doing something 99.9% of the population had not done yet - recording their voices on tape. And I find that wondrous and quite worthy of sharing. The opening half of it is admittedly not very interesting, but I still can't get over the fact that I'm listening to people learning what tape recording is.

The tape, which runs about 14 1/2 minutes, starts quite softly, but gets louder after a few minutes. A man tests the machine and sings a few songs, including "Goodnight Irene" (the other clue to the time frame, "Irene" being the omnipresent hit of the previous fall). After a moment of another man talking, and some silence, we have conversations at home, a moment of a fake phone call and some more testing and silence. A man gives his name as Larry Ferrante and repeatedly gives a radio-styled introduction to music. 

At 5:45, things pick up (well, for me, anyway). "Have you ever had your voice recorded"? A short interview ensues, and then a recreation of "John and Marsha", and then some brief renditions of recent hits, by Larry's friend Lenny (who had never heard his voice recorded before). More "John and Marsha" and more songs. In what for me seemed an odd twist, the last three and a half minutes contain a man reading part of the play "A Streetcar Named Desire". 

Download: Larry Ferrante and Others - Very Early Home Recordings, Circa Winter, 1951

Play:

~~

Now, for those of you who like older music, or who like lengthy airchecks, or who just like well made radio programming, I have a 96 minute segment that, if it were described to me, I probably wouldn't choose to use on this site. You see, it's a broadcast from 1980, from a station called WFLM in Crown Point, Indiana, of a program featuring the pop music of the 1940's and early 1950's (along with one from 1958). While there are certainly pop records from that period that I like, and several that I adore, that description doesn't sound like something I'd particularly like to experience for over an hour and a half. 

But I have to say, this program is done exceptionally well - certainly the best I've ever heard for a program of such music. There is intelligent commentary about the music and the world of that time, a challenging  call-in question, and an absolutely relevant well done countdown of the top songs on the very first "Billboard Honor Roll of Hits", which happened to have started 35 years old that week (as of 1980), marking this program nicely to March of 1980. I enjoyed this very much, and maybe you will, too. 

Download:  WFLM, Crown Point, Indiana - A March, 1980 Program of Hits of the 1940's and 1950's

Play:

~~

And now to the "Acetate of the Month". Nothing much to say about this one - just yoyur average, everyday accordion/marimba duo playing "Fascination" and the same two, in a small combo with bass and trumpet, playing "I Got Rhythm", the latter far more effectively recorded than the rather wobbly "Fascination"

Download: Accordion and Marimba Duo - Fascination

Play:

Download: Small Combo - I Got Rhythm

Play:

~~

Finally, if you need something to help you sleep, I have today's "Very Short Reel". Here's a gentleman, recorded most likely in late 1961, who is giving some insight into the state of the then-current stock market, with a specific focus on the value of buying "Suburban Gas". 

Download: Stock Market Comments and Suburban Gas Promotion

Play:

The Porter Heaps Collection of Rare Daytime Radio

Wow - well, it's been almost a month since I posted. Work is getting the best of me these days, and I haven't felt like I've had time to do much of anything. I've been "busy as a porcupine" to quote one of Shelley Berman's many great routines...

But I've got something today that I just love, and that, hopefully, some of you will, too. But there's a story, first. 

Since the 1930's, my family had attended St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL. Then, when my mom returned from college (and a subsequent adventure in New York City), in the mid 1940's, she was a full fledged professional singer. At that time, she was hired as the soprano soloist in St. Matthew's church choir (she would continue in that role for an astonishing 54 years). 

The organist and choir director was a man with one of the great names in history, Porter Heaps. Concurrent to his work at St. Matthew's, Porter was also the organist on several radio shows which were produced - most only transcription discs - out of various spots in and near Chicago. He was also the national spokesman for the Hammond Organ company. 

Reading over his obituaries, it becomes clear that he was the key person in "selling" the country and other musicians on the idea that a small console instrument could be called an "organ", and that the term was not just meant for pipe organs. St. Matthew's had, at the time, a Hammond Organ, of course. You can read about Porter here, including a fascinating paragraph on his use of citrus fruits during his Hammond Organ demonstrations. 

Along the way, he made a handful of albums of organ music, which pop up from time to time, at least in the Chicago area used record stores I've been known to frequent. 

Here is the man himself: 

Getting back to St. Matthew's: I grew up in that same church (indeed, I still attend it to this day), and as Porter and my mom were close friends, I got to know him, about as much as any grade schooler gets to know one's parents' friends. And I thought he was wonderful - a happy-go-lucky elf of a guy, with a great sense of humor and a gentle way with everyone. 

Porter announced his retirement and an upcoming move out west in 1970. But before he left, perhaps (probably) having been told of my love of tape recorders and recordings, he invited me and my mom over for an afternoon of copying some of his favorite tapes. 

But these were no ordinary tapes. They were paper reels, from the dawn of recording, they contained pristine (for the most part) recordings of otherwise long lost regional radio from the late 1940's and very early 1950's, nearly all of which were in his collection because he'd been the organist on those shows. While episodes of these shows exist elsewhere online, they are mostly in lesser sound quality, and they don't include these episodes. 

I quickly fell in love with the entire collection, and well before the end of 1970, the tape marked "Heaps Radio" was undoubtedly my most listened to tape of the year. I loved all the different shows, the very different world that they portrayed, and especially, the wonderful, corny commercial jingle for Quaker Oats, as well as the mystifying (for a ten year old boy) commercials about "certain specific days" that a woman might want to use Lydia Pinkham's products, as well as the brief Pinkham jingle. 

I'm going to share nearly the entire contents of that tape here, in the order that Porter shared them, leaving out only four novelty records that he included - presumably thinking they would appeal to me, which they did - all of which were rare at the time, but have since become easier to find, especially with youtube. 

For his first selection, Porter gave me a 22 minute segment of a show titled "Man on the Farm", which was a promotional program for Quaker Oats and Mother's Oats ("which ARE the same"), and which also promoted their "Full-O-Pep" Chick Starter and seed sales. I'm not sure this is all from the same episode - it starts midway through an episode, and then there is a short gap at the 9:15 mark.  

But following that gap is, no doubt, the reason Porter started with this reel. It contains what he called "The Heaps Wedding Bit". Unfortunately, Porter's voice is very hard to hear during this bit, as he describes how he played the wedding music for a variety of brides. I'm not sure why that is, but it's certainly the poorest recorded segment of the entire collection, with his tiny voice coming from seemingly two rooms away, followed by booming music on the organ. 

Download: "Man on the Farm" (Featuring the "Heaps Wedding" Bit)

Play:

This was followed by more "Man on the Farm", again, sounding as if perhaps this portion came from more than one episode, or simply had elements of one episode. The high point for me here is the "Meowing Contest".

Download: More "Man on the Farm" (Segments)

Play: 

The two longest portions of the Heaps collection are two complete daytime audience participation shows, heard back to back. The first is "Ladies Fair". This is not technically "complete", as the tape recorder had some problems midway through (commented on at the end), and this interrupts several short moments of the show. But the show is full of audience interviews, music, contests and ads and is endlessly entertaining to these ears. 

Download: "Ladies Fair"

Play:

The next track is a full episode of something called "Ladies Be Seated" (later satirized by Bob and Ray as "Ladies, Grab Your Seats"). The content of this show is pretty much interchangeable with "Ladies Fair", and is equally fascinating to me. 

Download: "Ladies Be Seated"

Play: 

The "Ladies Be Seated" reel also contained just the short opening moments of something called "Add-A-Line", really no more than an explanation of what the show was about. 

Download: "Add-A-Line" (Short Opening Segment)

Play

Barely longer than that is the next portion, and it has mystified me now for more than 50 years. Porter clearly wanted to share this moment of hilarity from a "Man on the Farm" broadcast, where the entire audience explodes with laughter at something a woman starts to say, and then they remain unable to stop laughing for two minutes. But what is the joke she is making? I suspect it has something to do with Bed Pans, which no doubt would have been the cause of nervous laughter and naughty chuckling at the time, but I'm not sure. 

Download: "Man on the Farm" (Short Segment - "Pot and Pan" Bit)

Play:

Finally, with a bit more room left on my reel, Porter gave me one more short segment of "Man on the Farm". 

Download: A Final "Man on the Farm" Segment

Play:

I don't usually beg, or even ask, for comments, but as this is one of my favorite tapes ever, I'd love to hear what you think. 

A postscript: 

Porter lived nearly 30 more years after retirement, and well into the years when I was heavily into collecting reels, and he and my mom remained friends. Over the years, I have thought, many, many, many, many times that I should have reached out to Porter, via my mom, to ask if he would give me his tapes, or leave them to me - he had an in-the-wall bookcase that was a literal WALL of tapes, and the thought of what treasures were on the other ones - other than the four or five he shared with me - has haunted me ever since I start seriously collecting them. But I never asked, and who knows where all of those tapes are today. 

~~~

Finally, here is our "Very Short Reel" for this post. Here's the way the tape box for this reel looks: 

The contents of this reel are below - it's a demo reel for Pat Sheridan, who was, for quite a while, an AM radio personality in Chicago, at this time on WMAQ, which was an easy listening/soft rock station in the 1960's and 1970's. His samples here are all over the map, from innuendo and one-liners, to a brief, serious plug for the United Fund. 

Download: Pat Sheridan - Demo Reel, "Sheridanize"

Play:

Jack Eigen, Volume Two, Some Short Advertising Tapes, and More Beautiful Music

Greetings!

Almost two years ago, I shared the first of what I expected to be many postings featuring a Chicago radio legend by the name of Jack Eigen. You can read about him (along with a few links) in that original post here.

I fully expected to hear from multiple people requesting more, given the nature and interest of those who frequent this blog, and was genuinely surprised when I received only two comments over the next couple of months, one from someone who was interested in hearing more, and one stating he'd rather not have me share any more. I left it alone.

In the last two months, though, for whatever reason, three different people have written in, requesting more, two of them sharing significant memories of the show, and one of those sharing pictures.

And so, in response to those requests, I give you a second helping of Jack Eigen. As with the other posting, I have not re-listened to this prior to posting, and probably last heard this tape all the way through 15 years or more ago. Doubtless there are excerpts from more than one episode here (the tape is over three hours long), and if you listen through, I'm sure more than one of you can fairly easily nail down a date. I do know that all of these tapes are from near the end of his reign - mid to late '60's and into 1970 or 1971. But that's it.

Enjoy!!!

Download: Jack Eigen, Volume Two
Play:

Oh, and I mentioned pictures! Here are three of the pictures which were sent to me, courtesy of a long time Eigen and WMAQ fan from those days, named Allen. Here's Jack Eigen himself, in October, 1967:

Here's a slightly blurry picture of Steve Allen (left) and Tony Bennett, who were on the air with Eigen, at the time of this photo:

And finally, this is Jim Hill, who took over every night after Eigen's program. He and Allen were lifelong friends, after getting to know each other when Allen went to the station, many times, to be in the audience of Eigen's shows:

~~

Speaking of reader/listener feedback, I've continued to receive further requests for posts of Beautiful Music Radio, and by chance, I came across one just this week.This tape is of the cleverly named KABL, which identified itself as being in San Francisco (get it? KABL), until the FCC told them they had to be upfront and honest and identify that they were licensed and were broadcasting from Oakland (and if you don't know why a station might misrepresent that fact in the bay area, well, there are plenty of websites which could explain it - and it's a very unpleasant reason, indeed, one with ramifications that persist - literally - to this day). 

Anyway, this is clearly two different, short segments. The first one has a newscast which places it firmly right after the Republican convention that year, so likely July or early August of that year (the brief mention of Lucky Lager will no doubt let you know that this comes from yet another tape in the same collection that I have delved into for the last two posts). There was then a gap in the tape (which I've eliminated) and a second segment of the same tape, with a reference at the end to Thanksgiving being on the way, so that is no doubt from November of the same year. I'm guessing that for some who wished to hear more Beautiful Music, there is too much talking and news here for your taste, but that's what I found (and honestly, it's what makes it interesting to me). 

Download: Beautiful Music KABL, Oakland/San Francisco, Two Segments from 1964

Play:

~~

And here's something quite a bit shorter - and it's from the first part of the KABL tape, above. These ads were likely recorded for use on KABL, as the announcer involved worked at the station, according to a few web sites I just perused. 

Here's announcer John K. Chapel, recording three ads for The Rose Exterminator Company, and one for Leisure Town in Vacaville - about 45 minutes from Oakland, by the way. This retirement community is still a going concern. 

These is a raw tape for the commercials - there are brief comments in between the third and fourth ads. 

John K. Chapel: Three Ads for the Rose Exterminator Company and one for Leisure Town

Play:

~~

And finally, as you've all been waiting for, it's another in the series of very short reels. By chance, the small reel I selected at random actually has more material on it than the ads I excerpted from a full size reel, just above. 

This is a demo reel for a commercial pitchman named Al Gates. Based on a quick web search, he seems to have a very well known guy in the radio commercial voice talent and voice over biz, although his is a common enough name that I could well have been looking at more than one Al Gates. 

This is an interesting set of commercials in that one of them contains a self-referential moment - Al Gates narrating a commercial about... Al Gates. 

Download: Al Gates' Demo Reel

Play:

The 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, Jonathan Winters Uncensored and More

Hi, everyone,

It's time to update the ol' Scotch Tape Box History Series. I believe I can hear you whooping and hollering from here!

I have to say up front that I do not know exactly where this design fits in. Each of the last four boxes that I've shared seem to date from somewhere in the period 1958-1965 or so, which is mostly a period that my family bought precious few new tapes, as we only replaced our faded Concertone with a newer model in the fall of 1963. And even then, my father seems to have favored a brand called "Knight" (which also went through some interesting box design changes).

So I'm certain that the last four (including this one) come from that era, but really can't put a better date on them. However, today's offering is a definite change of pace. All of the previous designs prominently featured some representation of the reel of tape held within, and/or played up the quality of the tape or some special feature (extra length, weather balanced, etc.), this one contains none of that. It has a type number (141, indicating a 1200 foot reel), and some space age era illustrations. We're also told it's part of the "Tartan Series, whatever that was. But that's it. As with the previous boxes, the Scotch pattern has been relegated to a half-inch on the right edge of the box.

I suspect this box was in production longer than the last few that I shared, as it turns up more often, particularly more frequently than the last two.

Things get a lot less interesting, design-wise, from here on out.

~~~

The big offering for today is a remarkable piece of tape recorded live, off the air, in England, in 1962. It features virtually the entirety of the 1962 "Eurovision Song Contest". If you are unfamiliar with this amazing and unique event, you should really read up on  it, but if you don't want to, I'll tell you that it is a contest between some of the nations of Europe, held every year, to determine the best song of that year.

That it doesn't succeed in this is self-evident - for many years, a very specific few types of songs were offered up, intended to appeal to the generic middle-of-the-road European judge. Monty Python famously ridiculed this tendency around 1970.

The only worldwide hit to have come out of the contest, as far as I know, is the magnificent "Waterloo" by Abba, which may well have broken the mold, and perhaps brought more variety to future contest, but I really don't know.

The recording heard here features an announcer who seems more suited to a golf tournament, breaking in with hushed explanations and comments via what sounds like a walkie-talkie, at opportune moments.

Aside from a moment to turn over the tape, the whole thing seems to be here - all the performances, the intermission music while the countries are deciding on their favorites, the voting, and the second performance of the winning song. For me, I only liked a couple of the songs, neither of which got many votes at all.

I've probably made this sound awful. It isn't - it's weirdly wonderful, and certainly a moment in time that has long-since passed. Just think, less than six months after this contest, The Beatles recorded their first Parlophone Records 45. I have to think that, at least by the 1964 Eurovision contest, the difference between the songs performed at this contest, and what actual Europeans (and the rest of the world) were listening to, must have been as wide as the ocean.

Download: Various Artists - The 1962 Eurovision Song Contest
Play:

~~

Next up, something really remarkable. At least, that's the case if it's as rare as I think it might be.

This is a short tape of Jonathan Winters, at some undated point in his career, but I would guess the 1960's, performing without the restrictions of the day, for either stand-up (which he actually did very little of) or of album releases.

Over the course of these 13 or so minutes, you'll hear Winters - who has an audience of only a few people - engage in a series of mostly very short vignettes, punctuated here and there by words that would have been bleeped, at the time. The scenes include a bit about having diarrhea, a bit of gay comedy (the one thing not unheard of in his released comedy), some lighthearted material about a rape, some fun about teenage masturbation, and in the last (and by far the longest) bit, a parody of a hip black guy, which features the use of several racial and ethnic slurs.

Again, maybe this is commonly known of and circulated. But I've only found one reference to it, on an acetate (and indeed, it seems likely that this is a recording of an acetate), so I'm guessing it's fairly rare.

Download: Jonathan Winters - Unreleased, Off-Color Material
Play:

~~

The next tape, featuring Larry Blair talking about "The CIA" came in this box:

I am almost certain that this tape was recorded as accompaniment to a slide show, perhaps for use in High School or College classes. The factual reporting, with very little opinion on either side of any issue, and the open-ended nature of the ending suggests that it was meant to be followed by conversation, a written assignment, or both.

On the other hand, I doubt that this tape was the item that went with the slide show. I suspect it's far more likely that Larry Blair used this tape as a demo reel to promote his own talents as a reporter or voice-over/commercial pitchman.

Download: Larry Blair - The CIA
Play:

~~

And assuming that I'm correct about Larry Blair's tape, it's something of a coincidence that the "very short reel" I pulled out at random for today post is ALSO a demo reel, in this case for Harry Chase, an actor known primarily for his voice work, and who has credits on IMDB as recently as 2012. Here is his demo reel.


Download: Harry Chase - Voice Talent Demo Tape
Play:

Late Night Gossip Radio, New York City, 1959-1960

Before I get to another quartet of tapes, I wanted to continue with the "Scotch Tape Box" series, which you can follow by clicking the link for "Scotch Tape box History" at the bottom of this post. I'm going to do my best to share these in chronological order, although I'm not sure on a couple of styles, but this post is the exception. 

Because while the 3 inch, 5 inch and 7 inch boxes produced by scotch each went through myriad changes during the '50's, they seemed to have largely stayed with one style, throughout, for their 10 inch product. Maybe they were setting it apart because it was even more likely than the other products to be used by professionals in the recording studio (and indeed, this was a sales point, right on the box). Regardless, every ten inch Scotch reel I've found from the early days (and admittedly, I haven't seen that many) has looked like this: 

Similarly, every Scotch box I've ever seen with this design has been a ten inch reel. I don't think they ever housed smaller reels in boxes that looked like this.

That box has considerable wear. This particular tape is one of six 10 inch reels my family owned and used, all of them filled before I was born in 1960, and this is the only Scotch brand one of the six. The others were all Audiotape brand. Unlike almost all our family's early tapes, there are no personal family recordings on this tape - it contains a performance of a Paganini violin piece and a collection of live Benny Goodman performances.

~~

Not so very long ago, I obtained a couple of five inch audiotape reels, labeled professionally with a "TV Time Recordings" logo, and featuring segments of "The Bea Kalmus Show" on WMGM radio, New York, dated exactly two months apart, and both of them featuring a local New York starlet named Fairfield Mason. I'm certain these came from Mason's collection or that of her family, as each tape is clearly excerpted from a much longer radio show.

And what a show it must have been. I'm not particularly a fan of this "gossip column on the air" style of radio, which Irv Kupcinent did for years here in Chicago. In fact, I find it aggressive in its vapidity. On the other hand, its certainly a snap-shot in time, and a time where this version of show-biz might have felt quite strong and steady, even though it was nearing the end of the line.

Bea Kalmus is written up in a few places as the first female DJ in the country, and I have no idea if that's true. She also made albums, appeared in a forgotten film titled "Disk Jockey" (which I would love to see, as it also features an appearance by the Weavers - but no one seems to have it) and would sometimes sing along with the records that she played. In between, on her late night show, which came from a local restaurant (as did Kupcinent's), she would interview the stage, screen and music stars who were in town.

If Bea Kalmus' star has faded to almost nothing - and significant mentions of her on the web are minimal - Fairfax Mason, the guest heard here, does not appear to have been much of a star even in 1959 or 1960. The potential Broadway show she mentions in each broadcast does not appear to have ever come to fruition, and she has only one Broadway credit to her name, a small part in "How to Succeed", a few years later. A deeper search in Google Books finds that she was still working as a singer/entertainer in 1992, at what appears to have been a small New York club. But Bea treats her as if she was Ethel Merman.

I, for one, cannot stand Fairfax Mason's laugh.

Here are both tapes, from November 26th, 1959 and January 26, 1960, dates which nicely book-ended Mason's trip to Newfoundland, where I'm sure it's quite lovely at the start of winter. The second interview is nearly twice as long as the first.

Download: The Bea Kalmus Show, with Fairfax Mason - 11/26/59
Play:


Download: The Bea Kalmus Show, with Fairfax Mason - 1/26/60
Play:

~~

Going in about as random a different direction as I could, here is a bit of virulently right wing propaganda - John Birch Society style - railing against the United Nations. I only have tape four of the series, and if I had more, I'd annoy you with those, too. By the way, the crackling sound is on the original tape. A quick search shows that Mary Davison wrote multiple books on this and related subjects, and was called a "whistleblower about the United Nations" at least once.

Download: Mary Davison - The United Nations, Tape Four
Play:

~~

And finally, something very nice randomly selected by my towering stack of Very Short Tapes (this series can also be linked, at the bottom of this post). This one turned out to be a Demo Reel for legendary voice-over talent Hal Douglas, who was particularly well known for his narration of movie trailers. Here he is heard in a series of commercials and segments of commercials, in a demo reel for potential customers.

Download: Hal Douglas - Voice Talent Demo Reel
Play:

Vivian Cherry - Singer/Songwriter

If you search for the name Vivian Cherry, you get a lot of hits. If you eliminate those connected to a photographer by that name, you still get a lot of hits. Literally: she has been in hit movies (Everyone Says I Love You), sung on popular commercials (Have a Coke and a Smile) and on a variety of records, particularly jazz albums.

What she hasn't had - as far as I can tell - is much success as a solo singer under her own name, or with her own material. But within my catacombs I came across two five inch reels containing a total of eleven songs which she sings, and, according to one of the boxes, wrote.

These are not particularly in a style that I appreciate much, but it's an interesting listen, she clearly has an abundance of talent, and there's no reason except for luck and the right people behind her that would have kept Vivian Cherry from being as successful as any number of singers who did make it to the charts in the '70's and '80's (my guess is that these are from the '70's, although the studio identified on the boxes was open until 1985).

Here are the two reels, heard without edit as they played on my machine. I have not edited the individual songs, the titles of which can be seen above and below.

Download: Vivian Cherry: One Set of Songs
Play:

Download: Vivian Cherry: Another Set of Songs
Play: