[78-L] Original 1926 Columbia Test Pressing - Baby Doll

[David Lennick]

Have we determined that this is indeed a shellac or vinyl pressing? It didn't sound like shellac to me, more like a disc being played with an improperly matched stylus like the ones typically found in turnover cartridges. Many vinyls sound that noisy till you try a few different points on them, and that label looks like what I've seen on many 40s and early 50s vinyls. A vinyl pressing would have been made at the time Columbia was issuing its first Bessie Smith LPs in the early 50s, to determine if the recording was worth reissuing.

 

dl
 
> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:26:58 +0000
> From: bruce78rpm at comcast.net
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Original 1926 Columbia Test Pressing - Baby Doll
> 
> Pursing Fiction, Please !! Not having ever owned a Test Pressing record, and not having the knowledge of one that you experts have I turned to a trusted friend and called him with information and he concluded based on what I told him in describing the record that it was in fact an original test pressing from 1926. Unfortunately I left out one key incrediant in the analysis and that was the name of the Columbia Recording Company. Having said that, again thanks to everyone who have come forward with additional information so I can post an accurate description of this record when it goes on Ebay this weekend. Not having the knowledge of these Test Pressings and how they were handled by the record company, I was told that Take 2, which this is, was the actually take released by Columbia at this Recording session for mass distribution to the General Public. Given that, why was it necessary to do another test pressing of Take to in 1939 or thereafter ? Maybe to determine if the mas
> ter was still in suitable condition for mass distribution ? Just a guess, maybe there is better answer, can anyone help on on this? 
> 
> Bruce 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jim Shulman" <jshul at comcast.net> 
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com> 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 4:47:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Original 1926 Columbia Test Pressing - Baby Doll 
> 
> Amazingly, nobody has commented on the video postings that this is a 
> later-than-1926 pressing! 
> He's still pursuing that fiction. 
> 
> That's not to say it's not a fascinating record, and perhaps a pressing of 
> an unissued take (a Bessie Smith expert would have to confirm or deny that.) 
> It's also likely desirable to a collector. However, it sure wasn't pressed 
> in '26! 
> 
> If there were a label for custom pressings (or test pressings) in 1926 that 
> identified the company, it would have been called the "Columbia Phonograph 
> Company", not the "Columbia Recording Corporation". 
> 
> I've owned some Ellington test pressings from the 1940s with this same 
> label. 
> 
> Jim Shulman 
> Wynnewood, PA 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com 
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Sean Miller 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 4:24 PM 
> To: '78-L Mail List' 
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Original 1926 Columbia Test Pressing - Baby Doll 
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think this is an "original" 1926 
> test by any means. Columbia tests from the 1920s didn't use that label at 
> all, but a much plainer one. I've seen plenty of late 1930s, 1940s and 
> 1950s era tests on the label type of your Smith test, even many of earlier 
> material like this, so my guess is that you have a later era (late 1930s or 
> 1940s) test pressing on shellac from the original master, not a 1920s test 
> pressing at all. I'm not saying it isn't a cool piece by any means, just 
> that it's a later test pressing. 
> 
> Sean 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com 
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of 
> bruce78rpm at comcast.net 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:55 AM 
> To: 78-L 
> Subject: [78-L] Original 1926 Columbia Test Pressing - Baby Doll 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTRUwskzC4 
> 
> Bessie Smith Original Test Pressing from May 4, of 1926. 
> 
> An advance peek at the Actual Record that will be posted for Sale on 
> Saturday. 
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