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I have two strange orthophonic records. Both are orange label Victors - the first is a one sided Polish record which looks exactly like a 10" 78, but is actually a 33 ⅓ - the second is a Polish puzzle record with an orange label and is a 78. The 33 ⅓ is the "puzzling" record - does anyone know anything about this?

Both are strange and terrific! I had no idea that ethnic Program Transcriptions were ever made.

The 33 ⅓ record is what I am curious about. Was this an initial attempt to change the standard from 78 to 33? It has a Victor back like an early one sided red label record...

Curt, those sure are interesting.
Funny, I was listening to my Victor (22745) Puzzle Record today.

Here's a little information by an executive from that time period...
http://www.stevenlewis.info/crosby/lphist.htm

This may be a good site to to ask more questions...
http://www.bsnpubs.com/rca/rca33.html

James.

I've read Wallerstein's LP story before, but just read it again and enjoyed. Many thanks for sharing that link!

James,
Do you have any other puzzle records?

Link to some of my puzzle records... Click the "play" button to start a slideshow, or just click and drag the pics to display them...

http://www.preservemymoney.com/PuzzleRe ... cords.html

Curt A wrote:James,
Do you have any other puzzle records?

No. That is the only one.
I like the concept of it, but most of all I like the music that's on this one!
It is a very interesting area to be collecting!

James

Whenever I see articles about the "history" of the long playing record, I usually get irritated because they are usually in error.

The Wallerstein recollections are in error so far as his guesswork about the 45rpm development at RCA. He theorizes that RCA didn't know what they were doing and had no plan for countering Columbia's product in 1948. The 45rpm record AND the radically new automatic record changer to play it had been developed by RCA before WWII and put on the shelf due to lack of interest from the corporation. Sarnoff apparently didn't know about it until Columbia made their presentation to him of the LP, whereupon he tried to give the RCA Record Division grief for being flat-footed. They told him about the 45 and he authorized the immediate plans to put it into full development and production which took another year or so to complete.

But the Wallerstein article does further illustrate the BS that gets promulgated as "history". He states what probably any engineer already knew. That the Columbia LP was not so much an "invention" as a development of existing technology. Edison invented the microgroove record with the Amberol cylinder at 200 lines per inch (LPI) pitch and put it in production in 1908. Modern microgroove vinyl LPs average about 200 LPI pitch. Not to mention his further invention of the genuine LP disc record at 450 LPI and 80rpm that played for 20 minutes per side in 1926. And RCA introduced the 33-⅓ rpm speed to the public in 1931 (it had been used professionally earlier) as well as the Victrolac vinyl-based record compound even earlier. So much for Columbia "inventing" anything. And Goldmark didn't do anything except act as the project manager and mouthpiece for the product for Columbia. Yet all you see in the popular "historical" articles about the LP is how Goldmark "invented" the LP at Columbia. Baloney.

Wallerstein also seems to be incorrect when he implies that Columbia was mastering on tape in 1947 and quit disc-cutting immediately. Actually, I've seen several references to the South Pacific original cast recording being captured on both formats (tape and 16-inch lacquer discs) in the spring of 1949. Furthermore, an online Peggy Lee discography states that Capitol was recording on tape regularly by late 1948:
http://www.peggyleediscography.com/p/capitolee1b.php

Columbia's use of 16-inch lacquer-coated discs as a recording medium beginning in 1939-40 is perhaps what really distinguished their LP efforts. Cutting on wax meant that the wax master had to be electroplated before it could be safely played, and thus any playback was inherently one generation (or more) removed from the original recording surface. Lacquer-coated aluminum permitted access to the original groove without the generational loss that came with using metal parts or finished discs.

Some Victor Program Transcriptions, especially of popular material, were mastered directly; their matrix numbers contain an "L" in the prefix (like the "Victor Artists Party", which is LBRC-70138. L = long-playing; B = 10-inch; RC = cut on RCA equipment.) Others were dubbed from pre-existing masters, including much of the classical material.

-HA