[78-L] Douglas MacArthur on 78

[Glenn Longwell]

I was searching through the archive yesterday for something completely different and found this thread which I had forgotten about - copied below from May.  Very fitting as I had just come home with a 4 record set of this speech as well.  There was discussion about the various formats it came in.  So I thought I'd share a picture of mine from Speech Arts Studios along with the album cover at the following address.  The inside of the front and back covers include the text of the speech.
 
http://www.majesticrecord.com/labelss.htm
 
Scroll to the bottom of the page.  This is one of those pages I haven't written much about the labels yet.  Haven't listened to it yet, been listening to some lp's I bought first.
 
Glenn
 
 
From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Not bad! That speech was issued on a number of labels including Mercury (LP), 
> Capitol, RCA and I think a few "white label" discs, but I hadn't seen it on 78s.
> dl

I have this set, and I might also have the Mercury LP version which if I
remember was in a white jacket with plain blue or black lettering.  My
78 set was in plain brown sleeves, and it is interesting to find out how
this was originally packaged, and that there was no album.  I also have
the Victor LP and the 2-disc Camden set they eventually issued with his
Duty Honor Country speech.  They had the best sound.  

Somewhere I have a 15-minute mail order record informercial from 1951
where the bonus record is a recording of the song Old Soldiers Never
Die.  Vaughn Monroe also recorded that song on Victor.  I also have the
soundtrack of the WMBQ telecast of the Chicago MacArthur Day "Parade"
which was used as the model of a "pseudo event" in a famous
psychological study by Lang and Lang.  This is the one where the worst
sportscaster who ever twisted our ears, Jack Brickhead er S_ _ thouse er
Brickhouse filled a half hour of TV time for a three-minute "parade".  I
asked him about this broadcast -- it went over his head that it was
considered one of the worst broadcasts in history -- and he said that he
had arranged in advance for MacArthur's car to pause in front of his
camera position.  "Look at that chin!  Look at those eyes!" Brickhouse
gushed.  He pumped up a three car and one band noontime motorcade into a
half-hour "event".  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 


Jim Whipkey wrote:
> I went to another auction and got a real bargain! Four 12 inch 78RPM
> records starring General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.
> 
> It's the complete address MacArthur made to Congress 4/19/51 after
> President Truman fired him. The label says Produced and Distributed
> without profit by the Chicago Tribune and WGN as a public service,
> manufactured by Mercuty Record Corporation, Chicago, Illinois. The set is
> in mint condition, was in the original shipping box, which I found
> fascinating, because the records were sent through the mail in a thin box,
> with only a piece of cardboard between each record. I've listened to the
> records, doubt if I had ever heard it before, I was still in high school
> when he gave the speech, have to say I believe MacArthur was correct in
> his assessment of things that day. It was all new to me, except the
> closing line, which most of us remember, I suppose, Old Soldiers never
> die, they just fade away. I did learn from his speech that it's a line
> from a song which used to be sung at West Point. And it surprised me he
> ended the speech by then saying merely "goodbye".
> Oh, I have to brag a little, was prepared to buy it, indeed, determined to
> try and buy it, and was surpised and amazed when I bid a dollar and no one
> else spoke up.
> 
> Jim Whipkey
>