"'Uncle Tom" started my fascination, what was yours?

[larryh]

I have hauled around for over 50 years now a strange little record on Columbia of "Uncle Tom" played on Drum and Piano by Harold Kopp & Sammuel Jospe. Something about the underlying piano melodies has stayed with me all that time, still evoking a familiar sense of fun that the old Aeolian of my Grandmothers father played in her basement. Can you recall or post a record that stuck you and you never really forgot it, adding to your interest in Victrolas of all kinds? The record is somewhat worn I suspect but always from what I recall had this sort of muddle of sound.

Uncle Tom, Columbia 2058

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jhq6oqbfkA


Larry

[phonogfp]

It didn't exactly start my fascination, but there's an acoustic Victor called Sometime, by the Victor Salon Orchestra or something like that. I was 13 or 14 the first time I heard it, and as soon as it started to play, it was very familiar; note for note. Even at the end, when the violins go real high into a quiet yet dramatic climax, I knew it was coming. It put chills down my spine, because there was really no way I could have known that record so intimately. My parents hadn't heard it, so that ruled out it ever having been played around the house or at relatives' homes. It's still a mystery to me. And whenever I play it, it's still a little spooky. Deja vu.

George P.

[Curt A]

Back in the '60s, I found a record that was in a Victrola VV-XI that my dad and I bought at an auction. When I played it, it stuck in my brain - "Where's My Sweetie Hiding?" It's still there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG_be7Nmw84

[larryh]

Sounds great, lucky to get a nice pot selection with your victrola. Electric playback does have some advantages, not so prone to the peaks that tend to effect many acoustic records on mechanical diaphragms. Great set up you have.

[gramophone-georg]

When I was little I spent a lot of time at my grandparent's place in Clifton, NJ, across the river from us in Brooklyn. They were always well- to- do, and from what I understand my grandfather was so in demand as a draftsman they never experienced the depression. Anyways, they always had all the latest gadgets. I remember a huge Magnavox in the living room that must have been a Concert Grand.

But... down in the split level finished basement/ bar there was a big huge fascinating machine full of very brittle records... from the best of my recollection it must have been a RAE 26, or whichever version of that played 78 and 33. I remember being allowed to play with it and spending hours listening to all the records.

They got married in April 1930 in NYC- my grandmother was a 1st generation Brooklyn Swede. My grandfather was from the Canton Ohio area and went to NYC to take a job and that's where they met. They were both big fans of the Bernie Cummins orchestra at the New Yorker Hotel... family legend has it that they "ditched" their own wedding reception and went to dance to Bernie. My grandfather knew Cummins who was originally from Akron, Ohio somehow.

Anyways, that's what got me started at the ripe young age of about 7, LOL.

They were really into the music scene and had quite a collection of memorabilia... Artie Shaw at the Blue Room and Benny Goodman at Carnegie... I'll bet THAT was something to see!

I may be the only person here that actually ate at the Stork Club, too... my grandfather used to take a bus to work and my grandmother had the car. A couple times she met him in the city for lunch with me and we went to the Stork for lunch... must have been just before it closed because I recall it being sort of dark and dingy inside. Knowing my grandparents, lunch was likely mostly liquid...

Anyways, that's what sparked it. Unfortunately both the Electrola and the Magnavox as well as all the records are long, long gone. One of these days...

[larryh]

On the Electrical record player side of collecting I remember after the world war II which my father was in , they purchased their first home in around 1947. For that they purchased a brand new Blonde Zenith radio record player. It had 78 speed only. That is where I first saw the large 12" albums of classical and pop music. I still have a soft spot for those albums as well. The next year or so the record companies came out with 45 and 33 rpm records, quickly dooming the Zenith to obscurity. However it became the entertainment center for Monday NIght Radio programs of the "Lux Radio Theater" as well and many other dramatic shows. Again I still have a collection of those which fortunately now due to companies like Radio Spirits have very clear offerings of the early shows of all kinds. I also notice that You Tube has a huge amount of Dramatic Shows. If your interested in checking out one of the best try searching for Broadway's My Beat, or Night Beat, both fairly serious productions for the time.

[edisonplayer]

I have a copy of the OKeh of "Where's My Sweetie Hiding?"by Arcadia Peacock Orchestra of St.Louis in my oak Brunswick Model 117.I also have the "Uncle Tom" record on Columbia.edisonplayer

[alang]

In the 70s my older brother borrowed an LP from a friend for some kind of costume party. The LP was some Greatest Hits record featuring the Comedian Harmonists. That got me interested in 1920s/30s music and I started looking at flea markets etc. That was back in Germany and I only had an old 1950s record player to play them. A few years after we had moved to the US in 2000 my wife brought home an Edison DD Baby Console from an auction, which started my passion for restoring phonographs. Since the Edison did not play my 78s I had to add more machines for those, and also some Diamond Disc records, which brought me to where I am today. Somewhat crazy and enjoying every minute of it.

Andreas

[Curt A]

A while back, I watched the movie about the Comedian Harmonists who were extremely popular in Germany and all of Europe in the 1920s and 1930s until being Jewish became unpopular... very good movie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedian_ ... sts_(film)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqyI3UGg9iQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9DFdBAwJds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRI_5U-ozJ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lznypmG2t6A

[Wolfe]

I had flitted about with being interested in 78 recordings, but what really kicked it off in a more serious way was a Columbia LP called The Sound of Genius : Legendary Recordings 1903-1956. Casals, Hess, Mary Garden and other classical and operatic Columbia 78's were featured on that album. It was issued in 1964. I found it among my grandpa's records and he let me keep it, I don't think he ever played it. It was given out to people who had been members of Columbia's record club. I discovered the record about 1984, when I was but a half-pint. I still have it.