[78-L] Research assistance from this knowledgeable group

[Cary Ginell]

Mebbe they think we'll save someone a lot of salaried overtime by giving them the info for free. 

Cary 

On Oct 1, 2012, at 1:27 PM, "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca> wrote:

> Something called The Paley Center doesn't have this? What's wrong with this 
> picture?
> 
> dl
> 
> On 10/1/2012 2:46 PM, David Weiner wrote:
>> Anyone have any research suggestions for my friend Jane Klain?
>> 
>> Dave Weiner
>> 
>> On 10/1/12 2:39 PM, "Klain, Jane"<JKlain at paleycenter.org>  wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear Friends,
>>> 
>>> There are so many of you on this list who are historians and experts
>>> about the history of recordings and records.  So I turn to you....
>>> 
>>> A researcher/friend, whom I've worked with on numerous TV projects, is
>>> currently just starting research on what promises to be an exciting
>>> documentary series.  Here is what she is specifically looking for at this
>>> early date, but I'm sure that she will want to contact experts on the
>>> list as the project goes along:
>>> 
>>> "As I mentioned, NYC-based film&  television production company Show of
>>> Force is making a multi-part (possible 8-hour) documentary series for PBS
>>> on recorded music. We're at the earliest stage of research and
>>> development for the series and, as I mentioned, have decided to first
>>> create a 7-10 minute in-house" sample" reel -- just to share with
>>> colleagues at PBS and other potential broadcast/production partners the
>>> approach to the series/story.
>>> 
>>> You said you'd kindly send this query out to colleagues in the "cast
>>> recordings" group, to see if they have any radio/audio (I dare not dream
>>> of video-newsreel-film?) related to the launch of the LP by Columbia
>>> Records in 1948.
>>> 
>>> There was reportedly a Columbia Records LP launch event for the press on
>>> June 20, 1948 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC. After that, Columbia
>>> presented the brand new LP in Atlantic City for industry people. (We have
>>> audio from an RCA preview record sent around to excite people about their
>>> new 45 rpm record. So, we'd love to have a similar audio promo for the
>>> new LP!)
>>> 
>>> FYI:
>>> Here's a quick account of the Waldorf event I found quickly online:
>>> RE: THE LAUNCH of the LP in 1948
>>> Edward Wallerstein:"...June 20, 1948, the first public demonstration was
>>> held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. By this time. Bachman and the rest of
>>> the team had managed to lengthen the LP to about twenty-two minutes. As I
>>> stepped up to the podium to address the fifty-odd representatives of the
>>> press, on one side of me was a stack of conventional 78-rpm records
>>> measuring about eight feet in height and another stack about fifteen
>>> inches high of the same recordings on LP. After a short speech I played
>>> one of the 78 rpm records for its full length of about four minutes, when
>>> it broke, as usual, right in the middle of a movement. Then I took the
>>> corresponding LP and played it on the little Philco attachment right past
>>> that break. The reception was terrific. The critics were struck that only
>>> by the length of the record, but by the quietness of its surfaces and its
>>> greatly increased fidelity. They were convinced that a new era had come
>>> to the record business..."
>>> 
>>> Here's a quick account of the Atlantic City event:
>>> "...At our annual sales convention a little later in Atlantic City, Paul
>>> Southard, our sales manager, had a rather clever idea: He designed his
>>> speech so that it ran exactly the length of The Nutcracker Suite, which
>>> was on one side of an LP. When Paul began to speak the stylus was placed
>>> on the record, which continued playing very softly in the background.
>>> When the speech ended and Paul removed the stylus, the distributors went
>>> wild. And the reception in the stores was overwhelming..."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> NEWS ABOUT COLUMBIA LP RECORDS press release (from Tom Tierney/Sony Music
>>> Archives Library) dated June 21, 1948 reads in part:
>>> "Long Playing Microgroove Disc Demonstrated by Columbia Records -
>>> Revolutionary New Home Phonograph Record Plays 45 Minutes -- Entire
>>> Symphony on One 12-inch Disc...A revolutionary non-breakable Microgroove
>>> phonograph record which plays 45 minutes on one 12 inch double-faced
>>> record with full fidelity and absence of distortion hitherto unknown in
>>> this field was demonstrated to the press here this weekend by Columbia
>>> Records Inc....At the press demonstration Edward Wallerstein, Chairman of
>>> Columbia Records disclosed that a wide and representative library of
>>> selections from his company's catalog is immediately available on LP
>>> Microgroove records...classical and popular numbers..."
>>> 
>>> The editors here would love any ca 1948 launch audio/radio announcements
>>> or promos on the birth of the Columbia Records LP.  Please let us know if
>>> anything occurs to you re this. We are looking for a celebratory tone.
>>> Thank you."
>>> 
>>> Does anyone have the audio/radio material she's looking for?
>>> 
>>> Thanks for any assistance,
>>> 
>>> Jane
>>> 
>>> Jane Klain
>>> Manager, Research Services
>>> The Paley Center for Media
>>> 25 West 52nd Street
>>> New York, NY 10019
>>> (212) 621-6631 (p)
>>> (212) 621-6646 (f)
>>> jklain at paleycenter.org
>>> http://www.paleycenter.org
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> 78-L mailing list
>> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
>> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l