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...