[78-L] "Dramatic Sketches", "Medea" & Dame Judith Anderson's 112th or 113th birthday-any more 78s?

[David Lennick]

Maurice EVANS! Sheesh. Sorry, haven't mainlined my coffee yet. And if the 78rpm 
box set shows 1949, then it must have been issued at the same time as the LP (I 
have the 78s but minus the box).

David Lennick wrote:
> The long lead-ins are characteristic of Victor's Hollywood recordings of the 
> late 30s and early 40s. 1943 is likely for the Dramatic Sketches, especially if 
> there's no musical accompaniment. Not sure if I have that album. Medea was 
> recorded in New York, April 9 & 12, 1948 and issued first on Deccalite 78s and 
> in 1949 on DLP 9000 (later DL 9000). She also did two unissued sides in 
> February 1951 (maybe for one of the ANTA albums) and she recorded scenes from 
> Macbeth with Maurice Anderson in (I think) 1941, also for Victor.
> 
> dl
> 
> victrola78s at aol.com wrote:
>> On this date in 1898 or 1897(depending on which source you believe) 
>> Dame Judith Anderson was born in Adelaide, Australia. I have here in my 
>> hot little hands(well, one, anyways) Victor Red Seal DM-960, "Judith 
>> Anderson in Dramatic Sketches". This is a 3-record set, 12" discs. When 
>> was this recorded, & was it ever issued on Lp or CD? The first piece 
>> has an voice intro stating "This dramatization opens with a scene in 
>> the living room of a little farmhouse anywhere in the United States 
>> during 1943"-who was the voice? Sounds like a wartime set issued to 
>> bolster American morale & wave the flag(which I don't have a problem 
>> with). The reference to 1943 supports my surmise, but...
>>
>>   The pieces read are: Milton Geiger's "Lincoln's Letter to Mrs. Bixby", 
>> "The Fog" & "The Statue of Liberty" by John Latouche, & "Passages fron 
>> the Sermon on the Mount(from Chapter V of the Gospel according to St. 
>> Matthew". Label credits only mention "with Gene Leonard and supporting 
>> cast, unaccompanied mixed quartet"-nothing else in the way of musician 
>> credits at all. Who was Gene Leonard? My feeling is this is the kind of 
>> material Nathaniel Shilkret would've overseen, rather like "Ballad for 
>> Americans". Also, there seems to be quite a long lead-in time to each 
>> side before the recording starts up again-was this an awkard dub? I 
>> recall that the sides to Lynn Fontanne's "White Cliffs of Dover" start 
>> the same way.
>>
>> Anderson's "Medea" Decca 78rpm set & DL-9000 Lp have a copyright year 
>> of 1949 on the album jacket. Anyone know when this was recorded? The 
>> first time I heard this was on the 78s, loaned to me by Rosemary S. 
>> Nesbitt, my theatre professor at SUNY-Oswego. Nesbitt had seen the 
>> Broadway run of "Medea" in 1948, & in 1981 had directed the play at the 
>> college(where yours truly at 19 was engaged as a spear-carrier in 
>> Jason's guard). I picked up the Lp version in 1986 at a library sale, & 
>> later got it autographed by Anderson.
>>
>>   I had the extreme pleasure of meeting  Dame Judith twice in 1989 in 
>> Santa Barbara, when she was 91. The first event was at the Lobero 
>> Theatre, where at the close of Zoe Caldwell's show she reprised her 
>> role as the nurse in "Medea" with Caldwell in the lead. The second 
>> event was at the Alchema Theatre, where after an introduction by Robert 
>> Mitchum she did a reading of Robinson Jeffers' prose & poetry. This was 
>> videotaped on a Sony Betacam-wondering if that ever saw the light of 
>> day, except in an archive.
>>
>> Incidently, Anderson wasn't made a Dame until 1960. She had done TV 
>> versions of "Medea" in 1959 & "Macbeth" in 1960. Rewarded in the 
>> queen's honors for these dramatic plums? No, she got her DBE after 
>> finishing "Cinderfella" with Jerry Lewis. Well, hey, what was the evil 
>> stepmother but a watered-down "Medea" or "Lady Macbeth" anyways?
>>
>> Dennis "Creon" Forkel
>