[78-L] Command Performance

[DAVID BURNHAM]

There is a video out called "Command Performance" which was filmed in 1942 and follows the entire process of the manufacturing of a record from making the wax to the home listener.  I attended the centennial event for the RCA Victor building in Camden on Sunday and they were showing it there.  Apparently it was shot at a time when they stopped producing records at that plant so they could convert it to military use.  Anyway, what I'm curious about is that the record they are making is a recording of the Blue Danube Waltz by the Victor Salon Orchestra, (I thought that orchestra was retired by 1942).  There's no conductor mentioned on the label, however there are lots of shots of the conductor, but more curiously, there are a number of clear shots of the label but there is no number on the record.  Was this a real record or was it just a prop record for the film?

db