rand’s esoteric otr

Well, now we come to the end of our early to mid-30s "true crime" drama series, "The Police Reporter".  And we go out with a bang with "a story of gangsters, violence and bloodshed!"

Program 26 looks at a series of payroll robberies that occurred in Chicago in 1920.  A site on the mafia in America has some info on the real case.  This previously uncirculated show was transferred from an original shellac Radio Release, Ltd transcription, pressed by Allied Recording in Hollywood, matrix number A-1127.

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Now we start digging into our syndicated serial "Monticello Party Line" in earnest this week with the next two episodes in the series.  Program 674 was originally heard April 28, 1938 and, as usual, is sponsored by Syrup Pepsin.  In the last show, Carlton Ross and his sister were shopping for a house; in this episode, Aggie is dying of curiosity to find out their decision and tries to get Clem out of the house so she can find out more.

This previously uncirculated program was transferred from the original Flexite syndication transcription pressed by Columbia, matrix number 341818.  The show date is noted in pencil on the label.

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We don't talk much about that young upstart - television - on the blog, but I thought you might be interested in what the boys in the research and development department have been up to.

The Paley Center has online a very early attempt at creating a kinescope.  It's a silent reel of clips from a 1939 live drama, "The Streets of New York, broadcast by WNBT.  A very young Lloyd Nolan is featured in the cast.

This is probably one of NBC's tests of how to record a broadcast for later viewing.  Someone posted a curious film from NBC demonstrating how kinescope technology had advanced by 1939 - that film includes a clip from a 1938 television broadcast, comparing it to kinescopes created in 1946 and the present day.

Think anything will come of this television business?

You might also want to check out a clip I found on YouTube of a color lenticular kinescope excerpt from Ernie Kovac's 1956 "Silent Show" and the 1958 dedication of a Washington, DC television station, the earliest color videotape to survive, streaming in it's full original 30 minute running time on Veoh.

Michael Utz recently donated another curious little disc to my collection, this one from the American Cancer Society's 1948 Fund Drive.

Cancer, along with mental illness, and several other health issues, used to be very taboo subjects - the disease could be so devastating that it wasn't something that was talked about in polite company.  This little drama "Square Moon", attempts to combat this attitude and the resulting fear and misinformation that can result.

In the show, a man goes to his doc with a sore on his lip and deals with the prospect that he might have cancer by trying to find out as much about the disease as he can.  The description of cancer he reads in a book at the library makes it sound like the disease is a Communist invasion.

Unintentional creepy moment in the program:  He visits a cancer research lab and the doc there offers him a cigarette to calm his nerves (and he thanks the doc for it on his way out of the lab).

The show was recorded by the American Broadcasting Company Recording Division.  It was digitized from a vinyl American Cancer Society transcription, matrix number ABC 562

Thanks again Mike for this unusual show!

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If you were born in May and you enjoy the blog, consider this your birthday present. 

I admit, this isn't a radio transcription, but it's great fun and a one-of-a-kind recording.

In this post, a 16" soundtrack disc to a lost film short, "James A. Fitzpatrick's Movie Horoscope Series - May".  Fitzpatrick Pictures made mostly short travelogues with some entries distributed by MGM and there's no documentation I can find about this particular series.  I would assume they would have released one of these each month for different signs of the zodiac.  The short gives you the low-down on the personality of people born in May and some famous individuals from history who share May birthdays.  The series is so obscure, I didn't even find a listing for it at the Internet Movie Database.

The label notes that it's production number 62052 with sound recording done on the RCA Photophone process.  So the film was recorded with the "sound on film" process and this disc was used for showings in movie houses that still had setups for Vitaphone discs.  The disc was pressed by Victor, matrix number FIT2-62052-21 and is dated 1930.  The film elements to the short appear to be lost.

Listen closely around the 3:30 mark and you can hear the distinctive "ringing" of a tube in the sound equipment, probably caused by some kind of vibration in the equipment, a technician bumping against the tube or some other electrical problem.  I have an lp issue of some of Bell Labs early electrical recording experiments of the twenties and this "ringing" was a problem they'd sometimes encounter during recording sessions.

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The "Prudential Family Hour" was a popular 1940s series of light operetta and classical music heard on CBS.  AFRS rebroadcast the series as "The Family Hour" on their network.  Like many regular live music programs of the period, there aren't many episodes in circulation - Goldin lists about forty examples in his database, primarily from AFRS discs.

In this post, we hear program 74 of the series as heard on AFRS and originally broadcast on CBS on December 17, 1944.  The first tune on the program is a rousing version of "Beat Out That Rhythm on the Drum" from "Carmen Jones".  Our host is Frank Gallop and his smooth, round announcing tones.  Heard on the show are regulars Patrice Munsel, Reed Kennedy, Jack Smith and Al Goodman and His Orchestra.

Our show was transferred from original vinyl War Department AFRS vinyl transcription. The date is from the disc matrix and I believe it's a previously lost episode.

I've got a couple more programs in the series I'll drop in for you in the coming weeks.

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