[ARSCLIST] Fwd from Mike Biel: Re: [ARSCLIST] Rare early '30s ETs on eBay

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Forwarding this at Mike Biel's request. DL)



>> Sammy Jones wrote:
>>> Some posters on this list might want to take a look at the following link:
>>> http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjack_jett
>>> Quite a few National Radio Advertisers discs of the Mirthquakers  program 
are being offered, as well as a set of Irresistible Imps
>>> programs.  These are sets of 12-inch discs, and not 16-inch. I assume this 
is just a little before 16-inch discs became
>>> the standard in radio recordings.
>>> Have these discs been in circulation before? Are there dubs available? 
Sammy Jones

Thanks for the heads up on these. National Radio Advertising Co. was the first 
company to syndicate radio programs after Amos 'n' Andy.  Brunswick did their 
recording, and Ross Laird's Brunswick Discography lists all the ones that were 
in the files and in collectors' hands.  The info on these 20 discs included a 
lot that weren't in the book.  There were several thousand NRACo discs made 
between 1928 and 1932, and some are in circulation, but most have just 
disappeared.  A group of about 140 of them from an heir of one of the recording 
engineers were discussed on the 78-L a week or so ago before the 78-L died. 
Both Ross and I now have the list of these, and hopefully the collectors who 
have these now will released the audio.  Two of those discs are Sousa himself 
conducting Victor Herbert's American Fantasy for the 1929 Bond Bread World 
Tour.  I'm trying to get this exciting info to Paul Bierley and the ailing Fred 
Williams. Sousa's introduction and The Stars and Stripes Forever from this 
program have been released in the past on several CD sets.  Paul Bierley and 
others have guessed incorrectly on where they were recorded, but the accurate 
info is in Ross Laird's Brunswick discogramhy.  The full story of the company 
is noted there as well, and also in my dissertation.  More info and photos (as 
well as these discs) have come to light since both of these publications, and 
perhaps I need to do another ARSC presentation on this.

These are the first Shilkret Novelties discs I've seen in circulation.  I do 
have a few later 16-inch discs from the Byers Lab. A few companies started to 
use 16-inch 33s in late 1929, and for several years both sizes and speeds were 
in use.  The FRC rule requiring each separate record to be announced as being 
recorded was a disadvantage to the companies using shorter 78 discs. It is fun 
looking at the Bond Tour program announcements to see how Deems Taylor works in 
the word "transcription" or "transcribed" in each introduction.  Even Sousa 
uses the word in his introduction!.   By the time the rule was changed, the 
move to 33 was already almost complete.

Quoting "joe@xxxxxxxxxxx" <jsalerno@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Did you also notice that they are offered singly, even tho a complete
> program, where that is available, spans several discs?

There were no complete Mirth Quaker programs, while there were two complete 
Shilkret Novelty programs and one Imps program.  Having the discs separate 
would make the bidders more desperate!  Indeed, the two complete Shilkret 
programs were expensive!

David Lennick wrote:
>> Have you told Harlan? And Niel Shell needs to know about the  Shilkrets. 
Who's OTRJAMIE who has bids on a number of these? Drool.
>> dl

As soon as I saw these I contacted Niel.  Since he has the original metal 
stampers for all but three discs in the whole series, he already had the 
contents of the discs being offered.  The fact that these discs actually came 
from a radio station was the first confirmation he had that the programs 
actually made it into distribution.  That information alone was important to 
him.  While he said he didn't need to bid since he already had the recordings 
in the metal parts, he was interested because one of the bidders 
victortalkingmachine, was a friend of his.  And now me, of course.

He mentioned that otrjamie was Australian, so I contacted an Australian friend 
of mine who identified the bidder and said that he does not tend to put his 
hoard into circulation.  And that anybody thinking of outbidding him would have 
to have VERY deep pockets.  Thus I knew I was skunked out of any of the ones he 
had already bid on.  I dislike the fact that the OTR (Old Time Radio) hobby is 
becoming captive of some hoarders with deep pockets.  Niel emailed me that he 
was sorry that I didn't get the one Shilkret disc that did not go to Australia, 
but I replied that the other bidder deserved to win one because he had done 
such a good job of making the Aussie pay.

With that in mind, I will be eventually putting dubs of the 12 discs I got in 
the auction plus  the other discs of National Radio Adv. Co. I already have in 
circulation, but these things will take some time.  Maybe I'll have Harlan do them.

And by the way, Steve Barr, I'm sorry I had to outbid you on that last disc, 
but I had to try.  Besides, I asked Niel to get you the discographical info on 
the whole series if that is why you wanted the disc.

Mike Biel  mbiel@xxxxxxx