[78-L] Major Records Sound Effects 78's

[Michael Biel]

David Lennick wrote:
> These were produced for theatre companies, radio stations (and television), 
> film producers..they made hundreds of recordings of sound effects and also 
> produced "mood music" (incidental or background music for radio and tv). Some 
> plays specifically called for Major sound effects discs, such as "The Glass 
> Menagerie".

This is where I got my introduction to Major.  We did Diary of Anne 
Frank when I was in high school, and the school bought the two 12-inch 
LP set of music and sound cues keyed to the script.  Even as a high 
school kid I knew that the hurdy gurdy they included was not a Dutch 
street barrel organ, and the mantle-clock chimes were not anything like 
the Westetouren clock tower carrillon.  I was a steady listener to Radio 
Nederland and already had a bunch of barrel organ records and the 
Capitol LP narrated by Hans Conreid, "The Sounds of Holland."  But the 
teacher told me to use the Major discs -- they paid for 'em.  I always 
wondered if the Broadway producers used them.  When we did the show here 
in my Kentucky town I finally did the sound right.  Real recordings 
including some I had recorded myself in Amsterdam, distant high-flying 
bombers flying over the heads of the audience using surround sound 
speakers and pan-pots,   and when the Nazis finally came, their shouts 
were multiple overdubs from that Major set coming from all sides of the 
theater from a four-track machine.   
>  There's also a disc of Mae Questel singing "Button Up Your 
> Overcoat" which I was sent on a CD a couple of years ago, by a list member who 
> seems to have vanished (I've asked a couple of times..are you out there?).
>
>   
We must of run him off.

> Eventually you could buy Major sound effects on LPs, along with carousel music 
> and background music, when they issued them for home use (to add to your 
> wonderful home movies or slide shows).
>
>   

They are still in business, and sell their stuff on CDs.  Tom 
Valentino's two sons run the company, and when I saw them a few months 
after he died they told me that they had gotten their first CDs while he 
was still alive, and they brought them and a player to the hospital. 
> Some people have been known to think highly of Major's discs. Most of the ones 
> I've encountered have been pressed on reground Grey Gull material or worse, 
> although eventually they put the stuff out on good vinyl.
>
> dl
>
>   

Remember, Valentino started in the business working for Gennett.  He let 
me take about a dozen test pressings made on different materials, but 
eventually all his pressings were done by RCA.

Mike Biel   mbiel at mbiel.com 
> Margaret Still wrote:
>   
>> My apologies if this has alredy been covered.
>>
>> I have two 78's on the Major Records label.
>>
>> Both are of sound effects: a gasoline pump, a Model A running, a motorcycle,
>> a squad car, and some children in a playground (who have an oddly consistent
>> noise level for a "live" recording).
>>
>> Who bought these things? Were they primarily mail order items sold to be
>> played at home?
>>
>> Best,
>> Margaret G. Still
>>
>>
>> ___________________________________
>>     
>
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