VERY SHORT REELS FESTIVAL!!!

 Today I have something a bit different. Every time I go to upload more stuff for this site or my other site, I can quickly get a bead on how interesting the most recent post, and its various parts, turned out to be to readers/listeners. And that's because I can see how many times each sound file has been accessed (whether played or downloaded - it doesn't distinguish). 

So it is that I have, for a long time, known that the most popular - or at least the most visited - part of each of my posts is the Very Short Reels feature. Those segments can get anywhere from two to five times as many listens/downloads as the average file. 

So today, I'm going to offer up nothing but tracks which are under five minutes long, a veritable VERY SHORT REELS FESTIVAL!!! Because this is sort of a massive undertaking (I have to attach each of the files, twice), I'm not going to have much to say about any of them. 

I have so many of these that this would probably be a good idea even if it didn't seem to be my most popular feature. This post features 25 files. I have nearly that many left of this length to share, going forward, and no doubt will be making more in the coming weeks and months. 

And overview: I am not claiming that all of these are from tiny tapes, which is what I usually feature in the segment titled "very short reels". Some of these are the sum and total of what was on a reel. Others constitute something I found interesting on an otherwise uninteresting reel - maybe two minutes from a 90 minute reel, or maybe five minutes from a ten minute reel, or anything in between those two extremes. I'm going to share them pretty much in no particular order. 

And now, let's get started!

1.) Let's kick things off with a recording of a fellow who had a few things to say about Juvenile Delinquency in Indiana: 

Download: Unknown - Speech on Addressing Juvenile Delinquency in Indiana

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2.) Here are two fellows who are working on an Alvin and the Chipmunks impression, one speed lower than he will play it back: 

Download: Chipmunks Impression

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3.) And for those of you who don't have the technology to speed that up 100% faster, here's what they sound like, as Alvin and his brother: 

Download: Chipmunks Impression (Sped Up)

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4.) Here's an ad for a Transmission Shop which no doubt dates from the days not long after Rap Music went mainstream. I find this ridiculous, and ridiculously entertaining. 

Download: Weber Transmission Ad

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5.) Here's one about about as from the one above as possible: Several takes at doing a promo for a then-upcoming Studs Terkel program. 

Download: Studs Terkel Promos

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6.) I've labeled this one "Brief, Difficult to Understand Phone Conversation", and that about covers it:

Download: Brief, Difficult to Understand Phone Conversation

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7.) This next one is heard, as are all the others, exactly as it spools off the reels. But this one is more than a bit chaotic. It would appear that a radio station had some sort of a treasure hunt going on, and someone, from the station or elsewhere, recorded bits and pieces of the daily "clues", back to back to back, sometimes not catching the entire segment. 

Download: Unknown - Treasure Hunt Clues

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8.) I have several tapes involving someone named Buddy Black, who was a radio personality.... somewhere, at some point. Here is an audio letter, from another Buddy, to Buddy Black, on his 50th birthday, in 1961: 

Download: Audio Letter to Buddy Black on His 50th Birthday

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9.) Here's are two young children, doing a math problem while recording a message to someone, or perhaps pretending they are on a radio station. I'm certain this was once a longer, and probably quite enjoyable segment, but all but the last 43 seconds of this recording were erased by some other material, and this is what was left. 

Download: "Working on All Kinds of Subjects"

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10.) All I'll say about this next one is Get Ready To Feel Hungry - YUM!

Download: Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs Recipe Ad

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11.) The title of this one pretty much says it all: "Almost Telling a Story and Singing Along with Sinatra":

Download: Almost Telling a Story and Singing Along with Sinatra

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12.) And say, weren't you just asking what bands were coming to the larger Chicago area for concerts? Do you want to spend our money on Peter, Paul and Mary or Ted Nugent? 

Download: WKQX and WDAI Concert Line

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13.) As I may have mentioned in the past, I was gifted with about a hundred tapes from a fellow in Kingsport, TN, about 20 years ago. Nearly all of these were recordings of local classical concerts, but here's a neat little segment of local radio, including part of a neat Pepsi ad, from one of those tapes. 

Download: Brief Segment of WKPT, Kingsport, TN, Newscast and Pepsi Ad

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14.) Here's something I greatly enjoyed: from an otherwise fairly faceless and dull tape of a live performance recording by a small combo, here's a moment where they start "Bye Bye Blues" with the sax player introducing the tune in a different key than the rest of the band. The goofy part is less than a minute long, but I've left in the entire performance, in order to give a flavor of the rest of the tape. There are also a few spots here where everyone is not quite on the same beat of the measure. Both the wrong key issue and the beat issue are mentioned in the comments at the end.

Download: Unknown Combo - Bye Bye Blues (In Different Keys)

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15.) Well, after that, perhaps you'd like a Rheingold Beer: 

Download: Rheingold Beer Ad

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16.) This one I labeled "Weird Short Tape". The speaker here appears to have been using a tape recorder which ran at a variable speed, based on how much tape was on each side of the three inch reel. I've come across this phenomenon on three inch reels many times. I think it was probably a small dictation style machine that only handled three inch reels. Usually, the voices seem to get closer and closer to what their actual voices sounded like as we get towards the end of the tape: 

Download: Weird Short Tape

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17.) I have previously shared short tapes of Firestone Tire ads. Here is another one, not previously shared, from May of 1969, featuring four ads, as detailed on the box: 

Download: Four Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Ads - To Start 5-5-69

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18.) Someone named Larry Ferrari had a program of organ music, somewhere on some TV station. His show was followed by "You Asked For It". Here is a tape with a short fragment of the end of Larry's show and the beginning of "You Asked For It": 

Download: The Larry Ferrari Show & You Asked For It (Fragment)

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19.) Here's a 1982 Dentyne Ad: 

Download: 1982 Dentyne Commercial

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20.) And a 156 second tape containing some unlabeled production music. This actually seems to be the same track, twice, and the tape box, indicating a length of 65 seconds, probably confirms that:

Download: Unknown Production Music

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21.) Aside from the sped-up Chipmunks recording, this next one is the shortest of the batch, at 22 seconds. Here, someone promos a foreign policy special, to be hosted by someone named Dancy. Or perhaps Dancy is doing the promoting. Maybe the tape box will make it more clear to one of you than it does for me: 

Download: Unknown - Three Takes on a News Headline

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22.) Here's all that's left of an audio letter. What's heard here is the end of the first side (the rest erased by something else), the very start of the second side, then the end of the second side (again, the majority of the second side having been erased. It's a little choppy, but I hope that makes sense. 

Download: Short Fragment of an Audio Letter

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23.) Another segment from those Kingsport, TN tapes. This is a fairly creative and interesting ad for a used car lot. Nothing in the first 40 seconds gives ANY indication as to what this ad is promoting. The tape continues for a moment with part of an ad for a pharmacy. Too bad we didn't get to hear any of that stomping Tex Beneke music. 

Download: Scott Motors Used Car Lot, Kingsport, TN

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24.) I made an exception for the randomness of this presentation, due to the just passed 4th of July Holiday. The last two items have patriotic themes. First is a Public Service Announcement for safe driving in Astoria, Oregon, another one of more than a dozen tapes from a station in that town, which I bought more than a decade ago, and which I have featured here multiple times. 

Download: House of Chan 4th of July Safety PSA, for KAST-AM

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25.) And finally, from the "What the Hell Was That, Man?" file, comes a reel I've named "Weird Stars and Stripes Forever Tape". If you don't listen to any of the other tapes here, I really encourage you to listen to this one. It's pretty out there, as out there as 53 seconds can get, anyway. 

Download: Weird Stars and Stripes Forever Tape

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Well, that's my show for today. I hope you found something - and maybe even several somethings - to enjoy! Please let me know if you'd like to see this feature repeated. 

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

Helloooo.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download: Kids Sing "I Saw Her Standing There"

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

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

Download: A Series of Explosions

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A Gaggle of Giggling Girls - The Sequel

When I started this project, nearly three years ago, it was on the occasion of the closing of WFMU's "Beware of the Blog", where I'd been posting, among other things, an item (or more) from my reel to reel tape collection once a month or so.

The very first thing I shared here was one I had been excited to post at WFMU, but never got the chance. I called it "A Gaggle of Giggling Twelve Year Olds". Between what I heard on the tape and (mostly) what others dug around and found out, we determined that the family lived on the far South Side of Chicago, in the Roseland area. I even had one person who not only determined the name of the family, but knew an extended family member, and got us in touch. However, further conversations (including what was potentially another batch of tapes) fizzled out quickly, with little more said.

Since then, I've found that my collection houses multiple further tapes from the same family, some identified largely by the presence of the same bird heard in the post linked above (as well as familiar voices), and a few which contain more recordings of the children in the family and, in this case, their friends.

And while I initially labeled the previous tape to having been from the 1950's, it's clear from this recording, which seems to be from a short while later (based on the similar ages of the girls to that first tape), that we're at least in the second half of 1961.

And this is another smorgasbord of fun. The clue to the year comes early, with some recreations of Bill Dana's character Jose Jimenez. There follows a litany of names and ages from the girls, including at least one home address in, yes, Roseland. Later, a rendition of Dick Biondi's "On Top of a Pizza", again places us in Chicago, and at least in 1961. And the same dad heard as on the first tape, takes part, from time to time, in the fun.

There are songs (a variation of "Tavern in the Town" and, at the end, the singing of "Tonight" directly over the Ferrente and Teicher version). There are MANY skits (a number of which, oddly enough, involve someone pretending to be a toddler wetting her pants), Donald Duck impressions, and several badly played piano solos by one of the participants (leading to multiple sketches pretending to be at a recital, or interviewing people afterwards). And there are, unfortunately, a few moments where the casual racial stereotypes common to the day and age crop up for a moment.

And, at one point (about 25:45), someone makes the odd threat, a phrase which I can find nowhere else in my memory (or on Google), saying, regarding some unnamed person, that she'd like to "Choke Him In the Heart".

This is another really fun, really special recording. I hope you enjoy it.

Download: Unknown - A Gaggle of Giggling Girls - The Sequel
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"Christmas, 1961, At Mom Mom's"

"Record, Daddy, I wanna see what happens..."

Thus begins a lovely little 28 minute tape labeled "Christmas 1961 at Mom Mom's".  I am enchanted by this sort of tape, which capture special moments within families, or friends or neighbors, or all three.

Very shortly into the tape, we are treated to much of the Chubby Checker/Bobby Rydell remake of "Jingle Bell Rock" (which we'll later learn was among one child's favorite records at that moment). But this is an exception: the rest of the tape features music, singing and talking featuring Mom Mom's family.

I will not do a moment by moment summary here, but I will mention a few favorite moments. I adore the little song that a couple of kids sing starting at the 8:30 mark. The communal singing of "Silent Night" at 13:30 is sweet. There is also a boisterous version of "Sweet Sue - Just You" around the 16 minute mark, and a nice rendition or two of a Hebrew song at the 22:00 mark.

Oh, and it's not your speakers: around 18:20 there is a weirdly double-recorded section, with both a piano piece and a separate vocal piece having been recorded on the same part of the tape.

(There are a few truly dull moments, too, including some badly played guitar licks which start around the six minute mark and which - at two minutes - go on too long, but even these give a flavor of who these people were and what the gathering was like.)

I hope you enjoy this little slice of Christmas from 54 years ago. Another Christmas recording will follow early next week.

(A final word on the ticking that can be heard through much of this recording: I mentioned a few months ago that my reel to reel machine was sick and in the shop. Well, you see, it was imprinting everything I played with that damn ticking, and this was one of the tapes where I realized that it was happening. The imprinting is permanent. The various loudnesses of the ticking is an indication of how much or how little I've boosted the sound to any given segment of the recording.)

Download: Christmas, 1961, at Mom Mom's
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A Gaggle of Giggling Twelve Year Olds

To start the sharing from my reel-to-reel collection on this site, here is the post I intended to simply be my next post at WFMU's Beware of the Blog. However, when I learned that the WFMU blog was to be closed to new posts (effective July 30th), I offered up a taste of some rare Dora Hall material instead, and decided to make this wonderful tape my first post here.

And this is indeed a wonderful tape. It dates to April 10th, 1959 (this is mentioned near the end of the recording), and features a 25 minute slice of a slumber party, during which the father of the girl hosting the party interviews the girls, orders them dinner and tries to get them to make jokes. There is something truly wonderful and exhilarating about the energy and exuberance captured here.

At the start of the recording, the girls identify themselves as all belonging to something called "The Golden Keys", although this is never explained. The host girl's father then begins interviewing each of the girls, all but one of which is 12 years old, and all of which are attending one of the local Catholic Schools (and will be for High School, as well). At one point, the man recording tapes himself making a jokey call to a local pizza place and orders mostaccioli for the girls (and do I possibly hear him call one of the people at the restaurant "dad"? - he is certainly very familiar with the folks at this establishment). This evening meal is ordered without meat sauce, but with a follow-up order of sausage pizza to be delivered at midnight. It is, of course, a Friday, and no one in this house would have eaten meat on a Friday. But as soon as midnight hits....

The adult in the room is relentless in requesting jokes or funny stories from the girls, who absolutely refuse to take part, until he offers a prize (which is never awarded). The moment he says that, the girls all get very excited, and talk over each other to tell jokes - there are four of them, and they certainly do reflect a simpler, more innocent era. Two of the jokes involve Catholic themes and the other two involve wordplay about butts.

There are so many little moments here to treasure, like the moment when the interviewer makes a joke about the fact that one of the girls' last names is "Beer". The girl in question laughs infectiously throughout her little interview, and then when he makes the joke, there's a moment of silence, and then another girl offers an embarrassed laugh. That's perhaps my favorite moment but the tape is loaded with little gems like that.

The tape ends with the interviewer wondering about their future, and hoping to play this tape back for the girls as they approach the end of High School in five years. How very different life must have been for these girls in the Spring of 1964, from what it was in the Spring of 1959.

This is the sort of tape I dream about finding - home recording, a single moment in time, life happening the way it does, all of that and so much more. I think maybe I like this so much because this was the sort of dad I was when my girls were this age, and I've continued to interact with their friends, as they've grown up and changed, on a very relaxed, peer level.

Perhaps someone out there can put together the names of the schools and figure out where this tape was made. I'd be interested in that, although I don't know that I have the time to actually make that effort.

Download: A Gaggle of Giggling Twelve Year Olds

or Play:  

Incidentally, this recording comes from a family which owned a bird which liked to make a lot of noise. For the rest of this tape - 20 minutes before this segment and another 15 minutes after it - they recorded the bird going through all of its noises, all the things it knew how to say, and ringing its bell. This is beyond tedious. For those who are interested in what I'm talking about, here is the five minutes which directly follows the slumber party, heard without edit of any sort. Enjoy!

Download:  Noisy Birdy

or Play:  

UPDATE - 7/28/15: Two commenters have left information indicating beyond a doubt that this family, and the girls who were friends of the host, were living at the very southern edge of Chicago, most likely in or near the Roseland area. The details of their findings are in the comments. THANKS!!