[78-L] Metropolitan Opera broadcasts in the old house

[Kevin P. Mostyn]

Mike,

I have interspersed your snipped statements with my replies.

>Biel: "Do you have the discs?  That's where the network indication is
noted.  
In general I have found that people who transfer OTR do a lousy job of
transcribing the important label information -- and that includes some of
the catalogers at LC over the years.  Elizabeth only said that "at least
one" had a White Network indication, which does not mean that the LC
transcriber bothered to note this on the transfers they did.  That's why I
always prefer to look at the disc if possible."

Mostyn: The scans that I posted a few days ago:

http://www.mostyn.com/images/19360329.jpg

http://www.mostyn.com/images/19391230.jpg

...were made by me of discs in my personal collection. These are only
samples, I have dozens more. In other words, yes, I have the discs. You are
welcome to inspect them or play them. If you doubt that I have them, you are
welcome to ask my friend of nearly 40 years, Michael Gray. Mike has been a
guest in my house more than once and has held these discs in his own hands.

Here are scans of some more, one side from each program. I have the programs
in whole, more or less.

http://www.mostyn.com/images/19350801.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19360329.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19360816.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19360820.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19361113.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19361224.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19370131.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19370621.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19370704.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19370712.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19370719.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19380522.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19381206.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19381224.jpg
http://www.mostyn.com/images/19390815.jpg


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>Biel: "NBC did not allow recordings to be used on the network until January
1949, therefore there was never any real reason for them to make the
recordings for themselves."

Mostyn: I beg to differ with your statement. The Boston Symphony Dress
Rehearsal program of November 22, 1948 and all subsequent weekly broadcasts
of that program were made from transcription discs. The AFM would not allow
the rehearsals to be broadcast live, because they feared that Koussevitzky
would display his often rude and peremptory treatment of the musicians. I
have a photocopy of a newspaper article that discusses this very matter. I
also have nearly all the broadcasts, 1948 to 1951.

----------------------------------------------------------

>Biel: "I am not sure if Sonic is a good indicator of what was in the NBC
archive and what came from other sources.  I'd go beck to the NBC card
catalog to be sure."

Mostyn: Sonic is but one of several catalogs used by the recorded sound
division. It is no longer updated, they now use the ILS, but the data in it
has not been transferred elsewhere. Sonic contains the catalog of the NBC
disks that were transferred (preserved) to other media. Only some of the NBC
discs have been so transferred. A very great many of them, to be sure, but
not all. There are computerized shelf (or rather crate) lists of the rest of
the disks. The actual NBC paper card catalog of the discs remains in the
Museum of Broadcasting or whatever its name is now. The LC has copies of the
cards, on microfiche or something like that. Many of these are hard to read,
I have studied many hundreds of them and I have Xeroxes of many.

The paper card catalog that is in the LC is the catalog of NBC broadcasts
(not recordings), starting about 1930. I have gone through that extensively,
as well as the WEAF/WJZ logs.

I first studied the NBC card catalog in the early 1970s, when the NBC
Archive still existed in NYC.

-----------------------------------------------

>Biel "LC doesn't even like to loan discs to program owners, but will sell
them the services of their in-house recording restoration laboratory.  There
may have been exceptions, but I know some pretty important clients who only
got transfers."

I agree completely with that statement, it does represent the current
position of the LC. BUT, in the past, that was not always so. I personally
myself borrowed *hundreds* of transcription discs from the LC, both ABC and
NBC, in the early to mid 1970s. At that time, I was the Chief Engineer of
the Boston Symphony Transcription Trust. The discs were brought to Boston,
where I transferred them. Then they were returned to the LC.

A few years ago, I was doing extensive research at the LC. While going
through some thousands of unsorted and uncatalogued ETs, I found some of the
NBC Est. that I had taken to Boston and then returned. They still had my
written notations on the sleeves. They had not been properly reshelved by
the LC and were essentially lost. I did cull them out and showed them to LC
staff. I wonder if they survived the move to Culpeper.

By the way, these NBC ETs had been in the NBC Archive, but had been donated
to the LC circa 1959, when the head of the music division, Harold Spivacke,
made a concerted effort to gather all known ETs of Koussevitzky and the
Boston Symphony. The donations were noted on the NBC recording cards. This
was long before the whole collection was donated to the Museum of
Broadcasting.

----------------------------------------------------------

>Biel: "Read my dissertation.  I covered in detail all of your speculations
over 30 years ago.  The percentage of the programming which they recorded is
not anywhere near as large as you would think, and certainly not for this
purpose." <big snip>

Mostyn: I have read your dissertation. Many years ago. I have it here in my
library, both in bound paper book form, two volumes, and in PDF form. It is
of course a fabulously comprehensive and scholarly work, before which I
humbly grovel and for which I am most grateful.

However, it is not (I pray) the last word on the subject, since hopes
springs eternal that more early broadcast recordings survive.

Despite the written instructions from NBC corporate, as well as duly signed
contracts, recordings were made by NBC of *many* pre-1940 Met Opera
broadcasts. I think that I have demonstrated this beyond dispute.

As for the NBC Archive recordings, as well as the card catalog of same, one
should not assume that these constitute the totality of what NBC recorded.
For example, I am reasonably sure that *none* of the transcriptions whose
scans I have posted, exist in the NBC collection at the LC.

The story of these transcriptions, as is typical of many stories regarding
Est., is a sad and tantalizing one. Here is what little I have been able to
discover. If anyone knows more, please share it. All those referred to below
are dead and alas, I never took the opportunity to interview them.

For many years, RCA operated a shortwave facility in Marin County,
California, not many miles from where I live. There were separate receiving
and transmitting sites. For some purpose, unknown to me, NBC sent
*thousands* of ETs there, starting in the mid 1930s. I speculate that this
was used for excess storage or that, possibly, these were broadcast, on a
delayed basis, via shortwave to the Far East.

In the 1950s or 1960s, a group of collectors, including at least Phil
Elwood, Stan Farwig and Vic Gerard, found out about this huge stash. Certain
"arrangements" were made and some discs were "borrowed" on a "long-term"
basis.

At some point, someone decided that they needed the space and the collection
of ETs was dumped into the nearby ocean. (sob)

The ETs that I have some of those held by Stan & Vic.

--Kevin Mostyn