Margaret Sanger

I recently learned that Margaret Sanger, the famous advocate of birth control and founder of what became the Planned Parenthood organization, subscribed her grandchildren to the Young People's Record Club. Two letters from Sanger to the Club are contained in Sanger's archived papers.

Canada Lee's other YPR connection

In addition to narrating "Jazz Band" for Young People's Records, Canada Lee also sublet office space from YPR at 40 W. 46th St., where the company was headquartered from 1946 to 1949.

Canada is most often remembered as a casualty of blacklisting during the Red Scare. His being blacklisted had nothing to do with his connection to Young People's Records, but there was a Young People's Records connection to his being blacklisted.

During the sensational 1950 espionage trial of Judith Coplon and Valentin Gubitchev, some secret FBI documents were made public, and one of them accused various celebrities of being Communists or "fellow travelers." Canada was one of those so accused.

The attorney who defended Gubitchev during that trial was the owner of Young People's Records, Abraham Pomerantz.

Not that there's any significance to that...

Memo

Just an artifact from the archive...

Pfeffer / Anderson

David Pfeffer and David Anderson were child actors in the 1950s, and performed on many CRG titles. If anyone has contact info for either of them, please email me at haymarketaffairs@sbcglobal.net

TG on CD

Smithsonian-Folkways has just reissued some of Tom Glazer's classic in-concert children's recordings. Stefan Shepherd has summed it up nicely in a brief review on his popular Zooglobble blog. I like his comment that this CD constitutes a "master class on how to play to kids." As an historical document, it does indeed present abundant evidence of Tom's ability to "tune in" to children and "get them on his side," as one reviewer put it almost fifty years ago. It has all worn very well because the songs are timeless, as is their performance. And some of TG's best singing is here; especially check out his soaring vocals on "Now Now Now." That song, which he and Lou Singer adapted from "Hava Nagila," was originally recorded in 1951 by June Valli and issued as a pop single by RCA Victor; I wish Tom had recorded the single himself!

And now for some discography trivia, which doesn't appear in the CD booklet.... All but three of these tracks were first issued on two LPs: TOM GLAZER'S CONCERT FOR AND WITH CHILDREN (Washington Records) appeared in 1960, and TOM GLAZER'S SECOND CONCERT FOR AND WITH CHILDREN (Wonderland Records) came out in 1962. The Washington disc, and probably the Wonderland disc, consists of solo recordings made in Washington DC in 1959, at one or more concerts sponsored by local record shop owner and concert impresario Robert Bialek, who was also the proprietor of the Washington label. The Washington LP was reissued on Wonderland Records in 1962, and both records reappeared in 1973 on the CMS label as ACTIVITY AND GAME SONGS, volumes one and two. The additional three tracks on the Smithsonian-Folkways CD come from the third volume of ACTIVITY AND GAME SONGS, released in 1977; on these songs, Tom is accompanied by a small band, and it sounds to me like they were recorded in the 1970s, perhaps in proximity to the release date.

As for the cover art on the CD, I do like it, with a reservation or two. The caricature of Tom, which is based on a photo that appeared on a few of his late 1960s LPs, is funny, wonderfully rendered, and probably more appealing to kids than the relatively dry cover art that Folkways is known for. However, I fear that the "wacky" caricature perpetuates the image of Tom as just some guy who wrote silly songs like "On Top of Spaghetti." Compare that to his contemporary, Pete Seeger. Nobody thinks of Pete as a wacky guy, and there are no wacky caricatures on Pete's many children's records. If I had to describe Tom in one word, it would be "literary." He was also serious and funny, witty and corny, scholarly and folky, loving and nasty, proper and bawdy, liberal and reactionary. And maybe a little bit wacky on the side.

Milo Sutliff testimony on Record Clubs (1956)

In early 1956, Milo Sutliff testified before Congress regarding the record club business. He said: "Last year I took a census which was not very difficult because I called the Book of the Month Club and found out how many records they ship and I called Music Masterworks and found out how many they shipped and of course I knew how many [of Music Treasures of the World] we shipped, and between us we shipped 3,300,000 classical symphony records through the mail." In contrast, he continued, "We shipped, maybe, 30,000 pop records." As of that moment, Sutliff reported that MTW had 599,411 members, adding that "some of them have canceled—lots of them—actually, 185,000 have canceled, and never bought a record. They said, 'Send me this for 10 cents, and they never bought a record.'"

Grenell's FBI File: Advertising Men's Post 209

To my surprise, there are a few interesting nuggets in Horace Grenell's FBI file (which I didn't receive until after RCR was published). In one document, for example, an FBI agent claims that YPR/CRG co-owner Milo Sutliff was an American Legionnaire. Sure enough, the New York Times archive confirms that Sutliff was at one time (1931) the Commander of the Advertising Men's Post 209 of the American Legion. Which adds a touch of irony to the Legion's attacks on YPR.

"R3" REVIEW PT.1: The Two Howard Hansons

In Rhythm Riots and Revolution ("R3" for short), David A. Noebel relied heavily on Howard Hanson's musical expertise, cited him with awe on 11 pages, and even deemed him "prophetic" (p.86). Hanson, the noted American composer, conductor, and YPR editorial board member, had written a couple of snobby essays in the 1940s for the American Journal of Psychiatry, in which he condemned the "concentrated doses of rhythm" present in "Hot Jazz" and "violent Boogie-Woogie." However, while declaring Hanson to be a prophet, Noebel simultaneously accused him, in a footnote, of being a Communist (p.37).

How can this paradox be explained? Since the arch anti-Communist Noebel would never knowingly praise a Communist, he must have either not read his own footnote, or else believed that there were two different Howard Hansons.

This is particularly amusing, considering Noebel's advice that "A reading of the footnotes...is strongly recommended, not only for verification purposes, but also for vital additional information" (p.11).

Loewenthal/Lowell: From Beethoven to Happity-Yappity Appetite

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

When researching RCR, I noticed that Eugene Lowell was identified as "Eugene Loewenthal" on his original YPR contract. (Actually, it might have been simply "Loewen" -- my notes are sketchy and my memory foggy.) I never followed up on this until recently. His wife had told me that he recorded with Stokowski in the 1930s, but I never knew which recording until I realized that there is a Eugene Loewenthal credited on Victor album M-236, a 1934 recording of Beethoven's 9th. According to the album insert, the chorus members were students at the Curtis School, which indeed Eugene was.

As far as I know, the only other commercial recordings on which Eugene appeared as Loewenthal (or Lowenthal) were the controversial trio of titles put out in 1946/47 by the Winant kidisk label. He portrays "Happity Yappity Appetite" on IT'S FUN TO EAT; "Brighty-White the Wall" on IT'S FUN TO BE NEAT; and "Happy Toy Chest" on PICK 'EM UP AND PUT 'EM AWAY AT TOY-TIME. These discs were universally panned by reviewers. Educator Beatrice Landeck called the first one "a superficial and high-handed treatment of a very delicate problem." Hecky Krasno and Philip Eisenberg observed that the "tunes are catchy, but if you have a feeding problem in the family we advise seeing your local psychologist"; they had similar comments about the other titles. Helmut Ripperger, proprietor of the Book and Record Shop in Manhattan, remembered: "When the [first] album arrived and we saw that the main character was Goodee assisted by Doc Clock, Happity-Yappity Appetite and Sip-Sup Supper we began to have slight misgivings which were ably and repeatedly confirmed by the unwary who wished to listen to it in the shop." The producers did, however, manage to get the progressive educator Angelo Patri to endorse it. (His endorsement does not appear on the successors.)

Music Treasures circa 1964

As mentioned in RCR, Music Treasures of the World records were, at some point, sold by the Grolier Society. (My only evidence at the time: some MTW jackets refer to MTW as being "a division of the Grolier Society.") After RCR was published, I found a non-dated MTW direct-mail circular originating from Americana Interstate, Inc. -- Grolier's mail-order arm. I had assumed that Grolier's MTW franchise dated from the late 1950s. However, I recently discovered an Americana Interstate ad for the MTW club in the November 1964 issue of High Fidelity. (Headline: "THE BIGGEST HI-FI RECORD BARGAIN EVER!") By then, the records were being offered in "Electronic Stereo," in addition to the original mono. I've seen only one MTW "stereo" disc. It has a red label, as opposed to the standard blue.

UPDATE: I just found a couple of MTW discs in Americana Interstate shipping boxes, postmarked 1962. So the "no later than" beginning date of Grolier's MTW should be revised from 1964 to 1962. As if it matters...

MTW and the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission objected to Music Treasures advertisements, and in 1956 decreed a "Consent order requiring New York City operators of a record-of-the-month club under the trade name of 'Music Treasures of the World,' to cease representing falsely that those who became 'associate members' by purchasing a record for 10-cents might cancel their membership at any time, and to cease shipping records and attempting to collect payment after the required notification had been given." Many years later, John Stevenson explained: "They wanted an immediate explanation with the headline that there was a commitment if there was a commitment. Of course, you could cancel, but they don't like the inertia factor at all. So we tightened the offers."

Broadcasting Yearbook 1938

Listing for Universal Recording in the 1938 issue of The Broadcasting Yearbook, indicating Lester Troob as Manager (column 5).

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Henry Brant 1913-2008

Henry Brant, composer of PENNY WHISTLE, KITCHEN MUSIC, and THE LONESOME HOUSE, died this past Saturday, 26 April 2008. He was 94. I believe that KITCHEN MUSIC, which was commissioned by Young People's Records in 1946, was only the second recording ever made of Brant's music -- the first being EIGHT SONGS FOR SOPRANO, THREE VIOLAS, AND PIANO which was issued by the New Music Quarterly Recordings label in about 1937. YPR's Horace Grenell later recorded several of Brant's pieces for the American Recording Society and Desto labels. I should also mention the wonderful orchestral arrangements he did for the Charity Bailey records SINGING IN THE KITCHEN and MORE PLAYTIME SONGS ("LOOK AT MICHIE BANJO"), both issued by Young People's Records, the latter also by Children's Record Guild. And if you haven't heard THE LONESOME HOUSE, it might be the most musically unusual children's record ever made, so look for it on Ebay. Here's the Washington Post obit.

Lester Troob 1912-2008

Lester Troob, one of the main movers of Young People's Records, died on 22 March 2008. He was 95. His career in the record biz goes back to the mid-1930s, when he was among the first to work with lacquer ("acetate") disc recordings. During World War II, he was a recording supervisor in the news division of the Office of War Information. He was with Young People's Records from the beginning, as production manager and, later, President. After YPR, he developed the recording division of the Book-of-the-Month-Club, which he ran from 1954 to 1979. In 1953, he was the film editor and music supervisor of the classic movie Little Fugitive, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and won the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Lester is a major character in my book, and I remember him with great fondness.

Ofslager book

In 1957, Norman Ofslager took 20 Music Treasures of the World booklets and hand-bound them beautifully into a hardcover book. He also created an ingenious table of contents in his own meticulous handlettering, which he printed and bound into the book (see picture above). I know all this because on the inside back cover it is written: "Handbound by Norman Ofslager 1957." Thank you, Norman, whoever you are!

Tom Glazer poetry book

This is fun, especially if you like lines like:

"So you're off to Macchu Picchu
So far away I can't ricchu"

Actually, I'm partially responsible for one of the doggerels here -- an untitled verse that Tom inscribed on a baseball that I arranged for him to autograph for the Dylan aficionado Mitch Blank. It begins:

"Here's a ball for a nice guy, Mitch
Who for balls has a very deep itch"

American Young People's Theatre

YPR's theatre company. (Click to enlarge.)

Music Treasures mailer

A 4-page direct mail circular for Music Treasures of the World.

CRG Western Union

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

While touring South America in 1950, Walter Hendl became desperate for money, so Horace Grenell, courtesy of the Children's Record Guild, sent him a check via the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Legend has it that Hendl, a notorious ladies man, once had an affair with Eva Peron, the famous wife of the famous Argentine dictator. I wonder if that had anything to do with this. I hope so!

We Shall Overcome original

Recorded by Horace Grenell and Ray Hagerty. Cover design by Ajay.

We Shall Overcome reissue

Folkways/Broadside reissue of the original. (See above.)

Festival Record Club

This is what Music Treasures of the World looked like in South Africa.

Tall Fireman Paul

This, like ON THE RANCH (see previous entry), is quite rare. Brad Levy from San Francisco says: "I (or my parents) had that record when I was two years old back in 1961. I must have played it forty times a day for a couple of years. I LOVED that record! I still remember the story and the tune. My wife and I recently had a baby daughter, and it was then that I remembered about this record...."

On The Ranch

Folk scholar D.K. Wilgus called this record an "atrocity," but I think it's pretty good. (How can any record be an "atrocity"?) I think this might've been Cisco Houston's final recording.

Charity Bailey rhythm kit

Charity Bailey's "Rhythm Kit" was packaged in a container very similar to a board game box. This is a picture of the lid.

ARS Colonial

1952 American Recording Society reissue of the New Records original.

Colonial reissue

1965 Folkways reissue of 1952 American Recording Society title (see previous entry). Folkways also reissued another ARS title that same year: EARLY AMERICAN PSALMODY / MISSION MUSIC IN CALIFORNIA (itself a reissue from the obscure New Records label). For Horace Grenell's reluctance to release these tapes to Moe Asch, see letter "Grenell to Stevenson re Asch" (posted elsewhere on this site).

Chesterfield Music Shops

Some day I might get around to posting a history of Chesterfield.

Your Hit Parade

Thanks to Irene Malvin and Ray Charles for identifying many of the names.

Bernard Ades

YPR's lawyer-accountant Bernard Ades (pronounced A-diss) is the central character in Joseph E. Moore's book MURDER ON MARYLAND'S EASTERN SHORE. (Clipping purloined from Moore's website, OrphanJones.com.)

Philharmonic Family Library ad

Someday I might get around to posting a history of supermarket records.

Rocket away!

Here's the recording, on Raymond Scott's self-owned label, of the composition of which parts were used for YPR/CRG's Rocket to the Moon.

AMICA Bulletin

Pictured is the August/September 2007 issue of the Bulletin of the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association. On the cover is Judith Sidorsky in 1926. She was 14 years old at the time, when she recorded a piano roll (possibly two) for the Welte-Mignon company. Piano roll collectors were unaware of the roll's existence until 2007, when a dealer in Michigan unearthed one of them. When I found out about it, I contacted Judith's son Rob with the news. Turned out that he had in his possession the roll that Judith had been given back in 1926; it had been in the family -- unheard -- for all those years. So he sent the roll to me, and I took it over to a gentleman here in Austin named Ken Caswell, a leading piano roll expert who has a couple of the world's finest "reproducing pianos" for playing such rolls. It was quite a treat getting to hear the roll, 82 years after it was originally made, on Ken's LOUD, vintage Feurich piano.

Molarsky Quintet

The insert for the album that Delmar Molarsky recorded for the Timely label in 1940.

Living Language

A circular that was included in Living Language boxes.

Boulanger's class

Nadia Boulanger at piano. Horace Grenell 6th from right.

A page from Horace Grenell's FBI File

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

I didn't receive Horace Grenell's 350-page FBI file until after my book was published. Unlike most FBI files, this one actually contains some interesting stuff. One thing that makes it different is that it is actually two separate files. There's the original file which was initiated in 1951, and then another file initiated in 1965 as part of a security clearance when Grenell was hired to do a recording job for the White House. So in addition to a new investigation, the 1965 file includes an historical review of the 1951 file.

To be continued...

Ned Rorem at Desto session

Ned Rorem, Jim Holmes, Helen Vanni, Horace Grenell, Phyllis Curtin at a recording session of Gloria, September 27, 1972. (Photo by Eugene Cook)

ARS Catalog

The artwork is by Russell Patterson. It is the same image that was used on the plastic Music Treasures of the World jackets.

Langston Hughes

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

SOUNDS by Horace Grenell and William Schuman

Rough sketch of the cover of a manuscript, apparently intended to accompany an album for the then-new Musicraft label. More (but not much more) about this in RCR.

World Record Club

Here's one of several CRG titles licensed by the World Record Club of Australia. There was also a club in Australia called the Children's Record Guild, but it didn't have anything to do with the American CRG.

Another Little Bitty Baby

Tom Glazer (credited here by the pseudonym "Hopkins") made the first recording (for YPR) of the African-American spiritual "Go, I Will Send Thee," which he re-titled "Little Bitty Baby." The song was subsequently recorded many times, by many singers. This Columbia recording indicates YPR as the song's publisher.

Abe Pomerantz is Watching You

A feature article in Fortune magazine (late 1960s) about YPR's original owner.

Sidorsky Welte-Mignon

Listen to it here.

Ajay

This Ajay postcard is addressed on the reverse to Judith Sidorsky.

Doubleday Stevenson

Train to the Zoo

I think I already posted this, didn't I?

Wrigley's Chewing Gum

A YPR promo tie-in with Wrigley's Gum, circa 1947. (Click to enlarge.)

Girl playing "Toy Symphony"

BOMC CRG Coupon

Score for Emperor's New Clothes

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Commissioned by YPR, premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1949.

Abe Pomerantz

This dates from about 1968. Photo by Duane Michaels.

Universal Recording lacquer disc

YPR Brochure

Rob Grenell as the "Phonograph Boy"

George Rasely

Star of Robin Hood, Emperor's New Clothes, etc.