A Party in 1959 Becomes a Party in 1960

I have two New Year related items for you today.

Almost six months ago, I shared a tape I titled "A Party in 1959", speculating on that date based on the music heard throughout. I have now come across a second tape from what sounds like the same party, and the contents of that tape, and the writing on the box (seen above), make it clear that this was indeed a party in 1959, specifically, a party held on December 31st, 1959, into January 1st, 1960.

And so, here is the remainder of what was recorded of that party, just in time for your own New Year's Eve celebrations. If anything, this is more raucous than the first half of the tape, which I suppose is to be expected as a party moves past the midnight hour, as this recording does just before the ten minute mark.

So listen in, and imagine yourself in your late teens, experiencing the first few minutes of the 1960's, as they happened.

Download: A Party in 1959-60, Part Two
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Jumping forward 24 years, here are excerpts from an otherwise stultifying recording of WRCQ's New Year's Eve/New Year's Day broadcast of a syndicated program of big band music (which was followed by the in house presentation of the same genre), which someone recorded for about four hours, on December 31st, 1983, into January 1st, 1984. I have excised almost all of the music, and left portions of two newscasts, which were also on the tape. For some reason, they ended the show at 11 PM, rather than at midnight, with the playing of Auld Lang Syne. and that's where the tape begins. Then there is another edit after the 11 PM news, followed by the lead in to the 1 AM news, and about four minutes of that broadcast. Not the most scintillating item in my collection, but a good tie in for this day before New Year's Eve, 2017.

Download: WRCQ on New Year's Eve, 1983 and New Year's Day, 1984
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A Party in 1959

Today, for your dining and dancing pleasure, an hour or so of tape to help you imagine that you are at a party, probably involving mostly young people - although there are certainly adults present, as well - in what I'm guessing was 1959.

The tape is dominated by the records chosen to be played nearly throughout, records which largely come from the mid to late 1950's, with none, as far as I heard, which came from after 1959, hence the date. But there are some other sounds here - conversations, shouts, laughs, etc., to reward those who choose to listen all the way through. (By the way, the loud noise heard at the start ends within the first 30 seconds.)

So sit back, pretend you have a houseful of teenagers, imagine that we have an actual President in Washington (Eisenhower, in this case), and that none of these young people are going to know what hit them, when the next 5-7 years are done with them.

Download: A Party in 1959
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A Group of Loud Girls, circa 1959

Well, I just enjoy this tape. It features a group of young women, around 1959, having some fun.

There's nothing particularly historical here, it's poorly recorded in places(specifically during the loudest section in the middle of the recording), and it mainly captures a few minutes of silliness, but that last quality makes up for any shortcomings for me.

The tape is just under 21 minutes long - there appear to be at least three different recording times involved. The first one would be that someone was recording pop music off of the radio (this, and some of the musical references by the girls, nicely dates this tape to some time around 1959). Most of that radio recording was erased, though, and we hear moments of it in between the early parts of the existing tape.

Then there is the main segment, which grows louder and louder (with those occasional gaps) as the girls involved start feeding off of each other and the energy level rises (as does a deep hum which seems to indicate a microphone level turned up too high. This segment suddenly ends just after the 13 minute mark, and most of the remaining 7 1/2 minutes involve at least some of the same girls (and, I think, one adult woman), without nearly so much franticness as before. It appears that this section was also recorded earlier (like the radio material heard at the start of the tape), and part of it was erased by the loud part.

As to the specific content of what these girls' chose to record, I'll leave that for you to discover. There's no specific high or low point, it just demonstrates the fun that was to be had for these people, being a young teen in the late 1950's.

Oh, and I wonder what Ray's doing right now.

Download: A Group of Loud Girls, circa 1959
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