[78-L] Milestones Among the Tombstones

[David Lewis]

Dr. B writes:

I was just discussing on the phone a few hours ago how all of the first 
Columbia Lps were reissues of their 78 albums, and then Uncle Dave has 
to screw things up with CL 6004 by Dinah Shore.  >>>>
Sorry Mike, I seem to have that effect sometimes. However, it is useful to clarify what milestone I'm seeking; it doesn't matter as much to me that a given 8-track, 10" LP wasn't released in the 78 album format but that the selection was prepared specifically for release on LP, such as was the case in CL-6071 "You Thrill Me" by Doris Day. Although they issued the 78 album set also, none of the material was previously released and all of it was recorded within a few months of the release date of August 1, 1949. As Nigel Burlinson has helpfully provided the provenance of some of CL-6004 I can accept now that this isn't quite the case with "Dinah Shore Sings;" some of it was previously released, some was not and some of the tracks are of unknown origin and even one originally issued on V-Disc, a shadowy area of commercial recording for non-commercial purposes. I have a poor scan of the back cover of CL-6004 that has the edge cut off, but in part it reads, "A lo[ng] list of best-selling Columbia records testifies to the wi[de] appeal of her songs, and in this collection she offers a var[ied] group of some of her favorites. Here you will find [...] sentimental ballads that she sings so lovingly, [to-]gether with her memorable version of 'Oh! Susannah' and a [...] of Cole Porter's most delightful [...] And [..] she sings the lovely 'They Didn't Believe Me' by Jerome Ke[rn], and 'The Gypsy,' one of her most outstanding [...]"

I think the key word here is "collection," though CL-6004 seems to be a sort of a hybrid, made up of previously released, unissued, and perhaps some measure of specially recorded material. I don't disbelieve that Dinah herself may have been involved in the selection of the material and that these really were chosen because they were "favorites" of hers. If it did not appear in another format, perhaps that was the result of an agreement with Dinah not to make it so available, as a special enticement to those investing in the new LP format; she was their top pop artist in 1948 as all those copies of "Buttons and Bows" out there firmly attests. 

So the search continues... Here is an image from an ad of Dinah shilling the failed microgroove single format, which must've been very shortly before she left Columbia as in 1950 she went back to RCA Victor.
http://www.box.net/shared/p20yd8zdqfkjt3r70mh1     

Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com