[78-L] Edward VIII Abdication on records
Sammy Jones
sjones69 at bellsouth.net
Mon Jul 2 15:29:03 PDT 2012
It seems like my Edward VIII Abdicaton speech record collection keeps growing! Discussion of the commercial records of the speech comes up from time to time on this list. The last time was in March of last year. I've got the 10" Brunswick version as well as two different 12" versions. All shellac and probably available for sale in stores shortly after the broadcast.
I've just gotten a couple of new copies that are very interesting; perhaps unique. Both are 12" vinyl pressings by RCA . One is single-sided and recorded at
33 1/3. The reverse of the disc has the RCA Victor spiderweb pattern. The other is a double-sided 78. The content of both is identical, and includes an American announcer at the end that is familiar from some of the commercial recordings of the speech. These discs, however, include a bit more of the announcer at
the end, and he mentions the speech was a presentation of NBC through cooperation with the BBC. Nice to know the source of the aircheck! The handwritten label on the 33 1/3 indicates the pressing was made for Hal Wallis (presumably the Hal Wallis who produced Casablanca). Both discs have white, handwritten labels.
The matrix number for the 33 1/3 is VIS-6141-56. The dead wax also says #533. The matrix numbers for the 78 sides are VIS 6145 and VIS 6146; no other numbers in the wax. Both discs are center start with arrows drawn into the wax pointing to the beginning of the groove (like is often seen on 1930s radio transcriptions).
I'm wondering if it's possible to tell what Victor's purpose was in making these discs. Purely for paying clients who contracted for copies of the broadcast? Do ledgers exist that cover these matrix numbers? Where were the masters cut? Calling Mike Biel!
I'm also very curious to know if anyone else has seen custom-pressed copies of the Abdication like this.
Thanks,
Sammy "Abdication" Jones
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