The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The "Gramophones and Cars" topic got me thinking: if you were going to take your portable out for a picnic in the park today, which songs/artists would you bring along? Say, about 10 to 15 records or fewer.

I can tell you exactly what records I took last Sunday.

As I was not in a park, but in an enormous field with over 1000 cars on display, I needed something loud.

Bix Beiderbecke, Pee Wee Hunt, Jack Hylton, Harry James, Gene Krupa and Joe Loss were the artists chosen. Pee Wee Hunt's "Twelfth Street Rag" is guaranteed to get people's attention!

Outdoor playing requires the use of loud tone steel needles, so the records I take are either duplicates or ones which I can afford to lose.

If I were to bring one of my portables to a picnic, the records would all be from the era of the machine. There would be fox trots, waltzes, a few Sousa Marches, and perhaps a vocal selection or two from John McCormick, Billy Murray, Alma Gluck, and maybe Uncle Josh, to name a few. A few patriotic selections would also be included.

Another point about outside playing which I should have mentioned in my previous post is, don't forget to bring a suitable container for your used needles, as most portables only have one needle bin which you will have filled with new ones.

I forgot to do this last Sunday, so the used needles ended up in the car's ashtray!

For a picnic in a park, I would try to re-create the days when most municipal parks had a bandstand in regular use. Marches, waltzes and perhaps a few Gilbert and Sullivan selections would be just the thing.

What not to bring:

• Collins & Harlan
  Moran & Mack
  etc...

Brandon wrote:What not to bring:

• Collins & Harlan
  Moran & Mack
  etc...

I would have just skipped right over them, not even thinking of the reaction if these WERE played... How times have changed...yes, I'd suppose you'd want to be PC in a public park!

I have all the Moran and Mack Viva-tonals. I should transfer them sometime!

For these gatherings one needs 1935+ records. Only they are loud enough. Even with loud needles the earlier one are too soft. Find a spot where you can put down your portable horizontal in all dimensions and within seconds you'll have loads of people looking and listening. They will be amazed how good those 'old' machines actually sound. I'm not talking about a VTLA, a wonderful machine, but sounding cr*p with anything made after 1920. I'm talking of post 1925 A-brand portables. I did a lot of parties with my 1930 HMV table model and people just didn't believe that the music came from that little horn on the front.
I well remember hearing my first acoustic gramophone, an HMV 102 portable, when I was 12, playing Miller's In The Mood. I knew it, because I had it on LP, but that stupid severely old-fashioned machine did it so much better.
I once had a discussion with my next door neighbour, a professionally trained alto about Jussi Björling. She had never heard of him. So I took her into my attic, wound up my gramophone and played some of his solos. She was blown off her feet. She knew several of the arias but had never heard such an intensive and beautiful version.
And that, my friends, is what it's all about for me. I'm not a machine collector, but many 78s sound so much righter on an acoustic machine.

Joseph Natus - The Man In The Overalls
Heidelberg Quintette - Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
Sousa's Band - Blue Danube Waltz
Red Wing - Frank C. Stanley and Henry Burr
Roses In June - Reed Miller
Silver Bell - That Girl Quartet
It's A Long, Long Way To Tipperary - John McCormack

And so on...

syncopeter wrote:For these gatherings one needs 1935+ records. Only they are loud enough. Even with loud needles the earlier one are too soft. Find a spot where you can put down your portable horizontal in all dimensions and within seconds you'll have loads of people looking and listening. They will be amazed how good those 'old' machines actually sound. I'm not talking about a VTLA, a wonderful machine, but sounding cr*p with anything made after 1920. I'm talking of post 1925 A-brand portables. I did a lot of parties with my 1930 HMV table model and people just didn't believe that the music came from that little horn on the front.
I well remember hearing my first acoustic gramophone, an HMV 102 portable, when I was 12, playing Miller's In The Mood. I knew it, because I had it on LP, but that stupid severely old-fashioned machine did it so much better.
I once had a discussion with my next door neighbour, a professionally trained alto about Jussi Björling. She had never heard of him. So I took her into my attic, wound up my gramophone and played some of his solos. She was blown off her feet. She knew several of the arias but had never heard such an intensive and beautiful version.
And that, my friends, is what it's all about for me. I'm not a machine collector, but many 78s sound so much righter on an acoustic machine.

The Alba 555 pictured in my "Gramophones and Cars" topic is one of the largest and loudest of the 15 portables in my collection.

From a distance, some of the visitors to the car show thought that there was a live band playing!