The False Ducks Blahg

     Interesting title? I’ll get to that. Let me first update you on my father.  In my last blahg, WHAT HAPPENED TO MR. HENDERSON?, I wrote about my Father and our experiences with Belleville General Hospital (BGH) in Belleville, Ontario.  If I haven’t said how much I dislike this hospital or how really bad I believe the hospital is, let me say it now:  Belleville General Hospital Sucks!!  My Father came home on October 15th and I decided I didn’t want to fight with the hospital anymore.  On October 18th we had to send him back to the hospital because he had pneumonia.  The hospital did not put him on any anti-biotics, knowing he was going back out into the wide world, and so without the pre-thought of this simple precautionary measure, my Father got pneumonia.  The hospital tried to blame us for it saying we hadn’t given him water flushes through his feeding tube so he wouldn’t become dehydrated at that we allowed him to lie flat and not at a 45 degree angle.  Shut up BGH, we were not told about the water flushes and the home-care that they provided didn’t do the flushes.  We also always had him on a 45 degree angle even when sleeping.  So he’s back in BGH and we’re back in the ring fighting with them until he can come home again.  Sorry for the long winded sidetracked opening. 
    

So, 16 inches of trouble.  What does that even mean? Well, this has been a blahg that I have wanted to write for a few months.  Back in April, I came across a listing on Ebay for the following: 

This is a RARE Vintage 1945 Large 16” Thesaurus / Orthacoustic Vinyl Radio Broadcast Transcription Record. Made by RCA – NBC National Broadcasting Company / NBC Radio Recording Division, this 16” record is titled on both sides “Music Fights for Infantile Paralysis / Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl & His Orchestra – March of Dimes Campaign”. The record is Orthacoustic #ND4-MM-9649/50. The record is in very good condition with only some light surface wear & a few light scratches. It includes the original plain brown paper sleeve, that has wear mostly just in the corners.

If you click on the picture on the left you can see how big this 16 inch record is.  It’s 16 inches!  It wasn’t the size of the record that made me want to buy it but what was listed on the label on one side.  Click on the close-up picture of the label to the right.  It clearly shows three songs:  “I Dream of You”, “The Trolley Song”, and “When You’re Alone.”  It was that last song, “When You’re Alone” that launched me into buying this record. 

     Now I don’t think I need to tell you that I’m an avid Sinatra fan and collector.  I’d never heard of a song recorded by Sinatra with the title “When You’re Alone.”  There exists a song called “When You’re Alone” published in 1919 and credited to Eugene West & Otis Spencer.  I can’t find lyrics for it but here’s a video on Youtube of an instrumental version from the 78 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra:

I did quite a bit of research online and could find nothing that would link this song to Sinatra but I thought maybe the listing on the label was wrong.  I realized that Sinatra had recorded a song called “When Your Lover Has Gone” which contained the following lyrics: 

When you’re alone, who cares for starlit skies
When you’re alone, the magic moonlight dies
At break of dawn, there is no sunrise
When your lover has gone

It was quite possible that the label misidentified the song but I couldn’t be sure.  Sinatra did record “When Your Lover Has Gone” on December 19th, 1944 but again, I didn’t know if this was the same song that was on the record.  I just had to know. 

     The fact that the record was a 16 inch record didn’t deter me and at the cost of $20 and another $25 for shipping, I became the highest and I believe the only bidder.  It wasn’t until after I paid for it and it was on my way that I actually gave any thought to how I was going to play this enormous record.  My regular turntable could only play a maximum size of a regular 12 inch record.  The 16 inch record wouldn’t fit because there was no room between the the platter and the tone arm.  So I researched how I might be able play this massive record and found a video on Youtube when someone adapted a way to play a 16 inch transcription record on a regular turntable.  Check it out: 

     I found this to be a very interesting video but I didn’t have all of the components that this guy had but I thought I might be able to create something that would accomplish the same thing.  The following videos represent a log of what I went through to play the record.   Unfortunately I was holding my Ipad the wrong way around so the videos are very narrow.

     Video number 1:  The record comes:

 

Video number 2: My current stereo can’t play a 16 inch transcription record:

 

Video number 3: I talk about cannibalizing an old record player:

 

Video number 4: The tone arm is out and what’s left to do:

 

Video number 5: It Works!:

 

     Later on, I added two new 16 inch transcription records to my collection.  They are both Treasury Star Parade shows.  The first is #307 from December 17, 1943 and the second is #311 from December 27, 1943.  I received these last week and decided to show an udpated video of my setup recording #311 to my computer:

 

     All of these radio shows are extremely rare and not readily in circulation among fans.  I thought I would also share these with my readers.  First up is “Music Fights for Infantile Paralysis / Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl & His Orchestra – March of Dimes Campaign”.  This is from early 1945 or late 1944 because the record label says “Broadcast Between Jan. 14 – 31 Only.”  There are three five minute shows per side with a total of six shows and with one song per show.  Side one features the songs “I Dream of You”, “The Trolley Song”, and “When You’re Alone.”  Side two features “I Heard That Song Before”, “There Is No You”, and “Brahm’s Lullaby.”  I present all six shows in one full length track:

 

     Next are the two Treasury Star Parade shows.  First up is show #307 from December 17, 1943 featuring the songs “There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin”, “If Loveliness Were Music”, and “I’ve Had This Feeling Before”:

 

    Next is Treasury Star Parade #311 from December 27, 1943 featuring the songs “Falling In Love With Love”, “The Music Stopped”, and “I Couldn’t Sleep A Wink Last Night”:

 

      So about now, you’re probably wondering about that alternate title to this blahg “Like Father, Like Son”.  Well, recently my son Noah posted the first in his Youtube video series about Analog Resurgence.  While I’m all about the old records and the technology to play them, Noah’s all about old cameras for filming and photography.  Check out his first full video all about Kodak Super 8 film:

 

     So I guess the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.  Is that phrase even correct for this analogy?  Maybe it should be “both records are playing at the same speed.”  I don’t know.  Just subscribe to his video channel and keep checking back for more content from him and more blahgs from me.  Maybe he’ll update more than I do.  Stop nagging already!

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