[78-L] Command Performance

[Michael Biel]

From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
> 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. 

Great film.  You can see it at 
http://www.archive.org/details/CommandP1942

> 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.

Then how come they are showing the production and manufacturing of
records?  Of course there was the musician's union strike by the middle
of the year, but the manufacture of records never stopped.  It was
civilian electronics like radios and phonographs which stopped and
converted to military production.  I think when I heard the author speak
a year or two ago he made that same claim that they stopped
manufacturing records, and I thought I corrected him at that time.

> 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). 

It's not a real orchestra, it is whoever is around when they need an
orchestra.

> There's no conductor mentioned on the label, however there
> are lots of shots of the conductor, 

I think it is Charles O'Connell

> 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

The label titling is very sparse to allow for easy reading, so it looks
like a dummy label, but the ring form is legit, and there is a record
number in the shellac at the 6 o'clock position which I can't read.  The
label rings are uneven at the bottom with the inner ring closer to the
lettering than the outer ring, and there are no breaks in the rings.  I
do not have the ring code for the RCA Manufacturing Co. form so I do not
know which pressing plant that is the code for, but my assumption would
be Camden, of course.  

The 1943 catalog does show a Blue Danube by the International Concert
Orch cond by Shilkret on 35927, and one by Stoki and the Phila, and
another by Dorati and the London Phil, but since I think the recording
session was a dummy for the film, they couldn't use any of these actual
labels.  Also, the paper the labels are printed on is white.  I thought
the Victor labels were printed on black paper.  Anybody have a Red Seal
from the early 40s with a torn label handy?  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com