[78-L] Nation's Forum, was Re: No Saturday Delivery (no, not the USPS)

[David Lennick]

Looks as if the series is here:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/nfhtml/

Click on "speaker" for a list of the participants. The only disc I own is the 
Pershing ten-incher.

dl

On 9/4/2011 11:37 AM, Donna Halper wrote:
> I am re-sending this, since I sent it yesterday at 5.06 pm and it never was
> posted. I am also copying David (as I copied Mike).
>
> First, if this has been asked and answered already, I apologize-- there was a
> long period of time over the past year when my entire focus was on finishing my
> PhD (which, as I may have told the list, I did in May). So here's my question.
> I was reading some old microfilm from the Boston Herald/Boston Traveler (sister
> newspapers back in the 1910s and 1920s). This was from 13 April 1925, a big ad
> for Jordan Marsh Department Store. They were announcing a sale on "2500
> Nation's Forum 12-inch Double Disc Records" for 25 cents (original price of
> $2.00 stamped on every record!). These were, according to the ad, "orations by
> notable Americans on one side, a stirring American march by Prince's Band on
> the other side." While I am certain pleased that Prince had a band, I was also
> fascinated to see that among the speakers were Calvin Coolidge, Henry Cabot
> Lodge, Warren G. Harding, and the guy with the biggest ears I have ever seen,
> former postmaster and current movie censor Will Hays.
>
> I had no idea that Coolidge (who was the subject of some jests over his very
> nasal speaking voice) made any records for "Nation's Forum," so is there a
> back-story about this label or this project? The topics seem to be informative
> and patriotic-- for example, Coolidge did "Law and Order" (#61) and "Equal
> Rights" (#58) and I assume no controversy was ever discussed-- no mention of
> segregation or discrimination of any kind. Most of the politicians who recorded
> the speeches seem to be Republicans, and I have no idea if that was by design
> or because they were in power at that time. Anyway, can somebody fill me in on
> these discs?
>
>