[78-L] Strange Victor couplings

[Michael Biel]

In the past we have discussed a late 40s pressing of Gershwin playing 
the Rhapsody In Blue where one side is the acoustical and the other is 
the electrical.  It turns out a number of us have that one, so it might 
have lasted in stock along time.  But here is a coupling of the 
electrical RIB that I have never seen and have never seen anybody 
posting about it.

Would you believe a copy of one part of RIB backed with the other part 
of Mississippi Suite?  They would be scroll labels and would be CORRECT 
couplings!

I was leafing thru the 1930 Victor catalog I got a few months ago, and 
after the section in the white pages listing the Musical Masterpieces 
albums, there is a section headed Automatic Victor Instruments.  They 
explain the availability of the machine and first discuss two sets of 
varied classical pieces, A-5 and A-7.  Then starting on the next page 
are three pages (!!!) of SINGLE Musical Masterpiece discs that can be 
paired with others for you to create your own continuous program.  The A 
sides would be one work, and the B sides another.

35891 is Rhapsody In Blue Part 1 backed with Mississippi Suite Part 2.
35892 is Rhapsody In Blue Part 2 backed with Mississippi Suite Part 1

There are about a hundred of these type of couplings listing, most of 
them Red Seal.  Remember, these are NOT IN ALBUMS.  They are sold and 
priced individually.  Most are 2-part pieces, but some are 3 or 4 part 
pieces and allow you to play a full piece without having to flip over in 
the middle.  The four parts of Fountains of Rome are backed with the 
four parts of Don Juan on 9185-9188.  In the alphabetical listing you 
only find the standard manual release, Don is 9114 and 9115, Fountains 
9126 and 9127.  Set A-7 is interesting because among the seven works on 
the ten discs is Schubert's Unfinished Symphony which if you get it on 
set AM-16 you would have to get up and flip the stack of three records 
over after three sides, but on A-7 the six sides would play in a row.

This is a fascinating comparison with the first Columbia Lps.  Most, if 
not all of the early Lps break a long piece in the middle because they 
did not generally put two different works on one album!  Here Victor 
provided a way that some works could be heard without a middle turnover 
by having albums or sets with multiple different works.  But these two 
sets and these automatic singles seem to have had a shorter life than 
the Program Transcriptions!  And RCA Victor never brought out this idea 
again, such as when they came out with the 45 -- no matter how fast the 
special changer was you still had to flip over the stack in the middle 
of the symphony.

One other point about the Columbia Lp in 1948 -- the first Philco 
changers used a second arm for the Lp, and that arm was not automatic!  
You could stack 78s on the changer but only play one Lp side at a time.

   Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com