[78-L] (no subject)

[David Lennick]

Steven C. Barr wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Stephen Davies" <SDavies at mtroyal.ca>
> Writing in a philosophical mood, and knowing that there can be
>> only speculation, without an absolute answer....  Recorded immortality
>> hand in hand with mortality.
>>        I was wondering about how TV kicked into high gear in the 1950's,
>> and the late nights were filled with old movies, even some silents.... How
>> the TV audience at some point in time (1958, 1959, 1960....?) would
>> realize that many of these early actors were now dead.  Any ghoulish
>> feeling might be mixed with an engrossing plotline and/or a blossoming
>> sense of camp based on the style and foibles of previous generations.  (I
>> don't think people were mislabelling it "Nostalgia" yet.)
>>        So was there a similar watershed moment in the history of 78's,
>> when people realized that the majority of recorded sound belonged to
>> deceased personalities?  Or was the 78 rpm era based always on new songs,
>> new styles without any retrospective similar to the TV programming and no
>> sentimental prickings?
>>        There seems to be a great sense of addressing posterity in the
>> earliest Edison recordings.  At some point, recorded sound became so
>> common that it was just a consumeable moment rather than a historic event.
>> When did discs regain the status of  being a legacy?  I presume the
>> answer depends on what genre of recording is being considered:  classical,
>> popular, spoken word...
>>
> No...the "swing generation" of 1936-40 were mainly interested in the music
> played by "current" (and thus still-alive) musicians! There WAS a "20's"
> revival in the mid-to-late fifties (see under "Thoroughly Modern 
> Millie"...?!)
> 
> More later...!!
> 
> ...stevenc 

Thoroughly Modern Millie was 1967, actually..following the New Vaudeville 
Band's pseudo-20s hit "Winchester Cathedral" and the 20s and 30s nostalgia from 
the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, preceded by the Temperance Seven (all nine of them)....

dl