[78-L] Top Ten Soundalikes

[David Lennick]

Sammy Jones wrote:
> Many thanks to David Lennick for the wonderful CD sets of the Top Ten
> albums!  Assembling a complete collection of the original 78s would probably
> take hundreds of dollars.
> 
> Question:  upon a cursory listen, it seems obvious to me that none of the
> shows' actual theme tunes are used.  They are all soundalikes!  Even "The
> Yankee Doodle Boy"/"Love in Bloom" medley in the Jack Benny album is a
> soundalike.  
> 
> Did Top Ten not want to go to the expense to license the real deals?
> 
> It seems like the Jack Benny segments are very familiar to me even though
> I'm positive I've never heard the album before.  Is it possible they were
> used on a "Best of" Jack Benny set?  Possibly a tape from Metacom/Adventures
> in Cassettes?
> 
> Sammy Jones

I'm assuming they went for "soundalikes" to avoid paying for the real things, 
although the Amos 'n' Andy set used "Angel's Serenade" which I believe they 
substituted for "The Perfect Song" during the ASCAP ban. On the other hand, the 
Jack Benny album did play "Love In Bloom" in its entirety. That set might sound 
familiar because it WAS issued on LP, in a Murray Hill set, or at least parts 
of it were. Metacom might have used that material as well. I know the Duffy's 
Tavern set appeared on LP because I've seen a print ad for it in an old Schwann 
catalog.

dl