John McCormack Sings Again

[epigramophone]

I have just acquired this RCA Victor album MO1228, an unusual item to find in the UK. It contains six Red Seal 10 inch records numbered 10-1434 to 10-1439 comprising opera, lieder, song and ballad repertoire. Most of the recordings are acoustic, but with added run-in and run-out grooves.

The text inside the cover suggests that the album was issued posthumously. Do any of our American members know the date of issue, and whether any other singers were commemorated with similar albums?

[OrthoSean]

It's post-war, I want to say 1946-7. If I recall correctly, most or all of the sides are master pressed too.

There were sets of Helen Morgan and Hal Kemp also issued as "memorial" albums also on Victor / RCA Victor and I'm sure lots of others, but these are just off the top of my head.

Sean

[bfinan11]

Also adding to the list - the massive (35 or so 45EP's in two album books) Glenn Miller memorial released by RCA Victor in the early 50s. Did that set ever exist on 78? I'm guessing just by sheer size no...

[Henry]

See https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8392776 .

The date given there is "194-?". Guess they don't know either.

Have you tried http://www.mccormacksociety.co.uk/ ?

[OrthoSean]

Well, as I said, it's post-war for sure. If my post-war catalogs weren't buried in storage, I could at least nail down the year, but I still think '46 or '47.

Sean

[gramophone-georg]

Well, as I said, it's post-war for sure. If my post-war catalogs weren't buried in storage, I could at least nail down the year, but I still think '46 or '47.

Sean

"RCA Victor" tells me it's 1947 or later. I have that set somewhere in my "sale" room.

[OrthoFan]

According to this 1949 Billboard article -- https://books.google.com/books?id=MA4EA ... 47&f=false -- it was 1948 -- "issued last year."

HTH,
OrthoFan

[Henry]

Good sleuthing, OrthoFan!

This thread raises (yet again) the topic of dating re-issue albums. It would seem, from the cursory Google search that I did around this album (MO-1228), that the usual Victor discographies don't list re-issue albums. Thus the necessity to do a wider term search outside of the usual discographical sources. I suppose that it's all part of the challenge, and the fun, of this hobby!

[epigramophone]

Thank you gentlemen. My grandparents heard McCormack in concert several times, and although my grandfather died long before I was born, I could and should have asked my grandmother for her recollections while there was still time.

The Billboard article is particularly interesting. I have the Lily McCormack book, and whilst on holiday in Ireland I bought the Gordon Ledbetter biography from the Killarney Book Shop.

I see from the article that Victor issued a 78rpm album entitled "Memories of Caruso". That will be one worth looking for.

[Wolfe]

^ If Memories of Caruso features dubbings, or the electrical re-recordings, it may not be much worth listening to. The (common to find) Metropolitan Revivals album of Caruso has dubs.

The only John McCormack 78 album I have is the Victor scroll set with Nat Shilkret.