[78-L] Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service ( ENSA)

[Hans en Corrie]

Thanks Alan,

Both sites were known to me .............. Interesting, those British
'V-Discs".
http://keepswinging.blogspot.com 
BTW: Jumble sale is in my dictionary and it seems a correct word for a kind
of junk market ..............

Hans

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
[mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] Namens Alan Bunting
Verzonden: maandag 25 juli 2011 19:04
Aan: 78-L Mail List
Onderwerp: Re: [78-L] Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service ( ENSA)

>I've never heard of ORBS. This might be an interesting presentation for 
>an ARSC Conference.

>I've never heard of a jumble sale either. Must be a British term. Never 
>heard that word used on either Dr. Who or Torchwood.

>joe salerno


I'll leave jumble sales to someone else but here's a piece from The
Gramophone of December 1943 about ORBS.

Listings of many of them may be found here:

http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/dancebands/IndexPages/ORBS%20issues.htm

Many ORBS recordings featuring Sidney Torch, George Melachrino, Sir Vivian
Dunn and others have been issued on Guild Music's "The Lost Transcriptions
Volumes 1 and 2", and Volume 3 with yet more is scheduled for the end of the
year.

Alan Bunting
　

GRAMOPHONE STARS IN UNIFORM
They are still Recording Programmes to their Comrades Overseas
by SAM HEPPNER
THE catalogues nowadays are sadly depicted. Does this mean that the
gramophone factories and all the large recording studios scattered about the
vicinities of St. John's Wood, Brixton and Hayes are idle, derelict husks ?
Not at all. Fhey are busier now than ever they were in peace time, for in
this " global " conflict (to quote Mr. Wilikie) many types of skill and many
forms of specialised technique which, you might suppose, are completely
alien to the whole business of war, have their part to play. The gramophone
has long been regarded as an instrument of recreation and a means of escape
from the world of violence ; but it now demonstrates its powers of serving
the cause. 
Apart from all the technical activities that go on under the forbidding and
uninformative label of "secret work," the gramophone companies are now
mainly occupied with what is known as Service Recording. This represents a
scheme for supplying radio entertainment to the Forces in all theatres of
war. The Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service, as it is called, has been
in operation for the last eighteen months or so and, in that time, it has
sent hundreds and hundreds of recorded programmes to forty different centres
where they are re-diffused from the local transmitters. Programmes of all
sorts - symphony concerts, variety, features, string quartets, musical
comedy, dance bands, talks, etc. From the West Indies to Bombay, from
Iceland down to Madagascar, its places where the troops seldom get a flesh
and blood concert party and manage to tune into the B.B.C. only in those
rare cases where a short-wave set is available, "Services Calling"
programmes may
 be heard. All these programmes are written, devised and produced by Service
personnel - officers and men with the special talents required for the job.
Each of the three Services has its own Radio Production Unit which is
designed to utilise the talents of the many famous recording and
broadcasting figures who are now in uniform. Now that the gramophone
companies are restricted by the Board of Trade from producing more than a
very limited number of new recordings each month, you may be wondering what
has become of all those popular artists whose names used to grace the
monthly catalogues. The answer, in many cases, is that they are still
recording - but for their comrades overseas, and in the course of military
duty. Any listener with the Forces overseas is liable to hear a programme of
music by Signalman George Posford, conducted by Pilot Officer Sidney Torch,
sung by Regimental Sergeant Major George Melachrino and introduced by
Leading Aircraftsman
 Alvar Liddell 
You may well imagine what a joy it is to good musicians to be detailed for
recording duties at the London studios. Put yourself in the shoes, say, of
Pte. Frederick Riddle, who, after weeks of tedious fatigues, packs his
beloved viola and turns up at H.M.V. at 0800 hours the next morning. Imagine
the pleasure of Staff Sergeant Eugene Phd (Ordnance Corps) who, having
finished a rigorous battle-course, spends a couple of days in the studios
leading a little string combination of khaki-clad musicians. The services of
Frederick Grinke, now in the R.A F., are also used from time to time.