WFMU's Beware of the Blog

"Lucky Fights It Through" and Other Romantic Encounters

"When Joey put that trumpet to his lips, he blew against the walls of love and hate and every personal feeling I had for him ... And my heart came tumbling down!"

--- And from another story:

"Lucky Jordan was a tophand cowpuncher. He knew steers and horses. He knew the tricks of sticking on a wild bronc's arching back, the loop of a lariat in midair, the thrill of diving towards the curving horns of a brahma bull inside the rodeo arena. But there were some things Lucky didn't know. On the subject of women, he wasn't so wise. So this is Lucky's story and it opens on the graze ground of his little mill iron ranch, over a branding iron fire ... "

Yessir, romance is in the air today at BOTB's Comic Supplement!  We're back with a passel of cool stories and art, including work by two giants in the comic book field: Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Kirby!

Let's learn a few love tricks from the true-life entanglements and foibles presented in our tales today - join us right after the jump!

A Few Mysterious Rock and Roll Obscurities, Circa 1959 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 63) (MP3's)

STOP THE PRESSES: All of the songs featured in the post have been identified by several helpful correspondents. Read on for the answers, in Bold, below!!!

Over 15 years ago, I was at yet another large rummage sale somewhere, and came across a tape in a metal cannister (the type more typically used to hold 8mm films), labeled simply "Rock and Roll". This, of course, could have been anything from early Rock and R & B, to Beach Boys albums to 1970's stadium rock and beyond, but it certainly the sort of thing I would take a chance on. 

It turned out to be a recording of about 60 (mostly) rock and roll singles, many apparently recorded off the radio (based on snippets of DJ chatter and AM electrical interference here and there). But the odd thing was that these were not the standard "biggest hits" I've come across on nearly every other tape featuring old rock and roll that I've come across.

A handful of songs would be immediately familiar to anyone who enjoys the music of the era - all of them from 1959, dating the tape nicely. Another quarter of the songs might be known to people with a more intimate knowledge of that period - non-hits by Chuck Berry, The Poni-Tales, Ritchie Valens, Bobby Darin, Bobby Day, Art and Dotty Todd, and several others that I've been able to identify with the help of the internet in the ensuing years. What was remarkable to me was the sheer number of non-hits and tracks I still can't identify. Whoever made this tape managed to capture - in about 40 of the 60 tracks - records which were not national hits. And yet most of these seemed to be off-the-radio recordings, meaning that either the area in which they were recorded had a ton of regional hits, or that the person recording was lucky enough to listen to a station which had an unusually large playlists. 

As I've winnowed the songs I can't identify, over the years, I've been left with about a dozen, including a few that I really enjoy, and one that I just adore. So I'm putting the word out to all of those out there who also know and love this period in American music, and might know who/what a few of these are. I'm offering up six today. 

The second track on the tape - and the one I've never grown tired of listening to - is an alternate version of a song recorded by Robin Luke in 1959 or 1960, titled "Well Oh, Well Oh (Don't You Know)". It seems unlikely that someone would do a cover a of a song which was on a failed 45 by an artist who had only had one hit, so perhaps this was the original version and/or perhaps regional hit. I have tried, on two occasions, to find out who this performer might be, from noted experts in early rock and roll, and they were both stumped. I love the energy of this record, the vocal - which owes something to both Elvis and Buddy Holly - the Bo Diddley beat of the verses, and rimshot kicking it into the swinging chorus. I could do without the honking sax, but otherwise, it's just about perfect, and immeasurably better than the rather toothless Robin Luke version, which you can hear here.  

Unknown - Well Oh, Well (Don’t You Know) (MP3)

As it turns out, I was unable to find this song because Robin Luke's people changed the title. The above is the original track, titled "Well Don't You Know" performed by the song's writer, George Weston, in 1959!

My second favorite track on the tape was a nonsense/novelty record which I've titled "Great Scott", which is probably not correct. It's full of silly, fake words, and someone shouting more ridiculous verbiage with a ton of reverb. 

Unknown - Great Scott (?) (MP3)

This is actually "Crazy Talk" by the Loafers!

There are four more tracks from the tape that interest me enough to want to know what they are. I have guessed at the titles of three of the four, and have no idea on the fourth. I hope these (and the two above) are of interest to readers/listeners like me who love this era of American music (despite, in my case, the fact that these records come from the year before I was born!!). Most of the tracks start moments after the actual start of the record, and those are technically incomplete. But the final track, below, seems to be missing perhaps half of its length, and, being that it's an instrumental, I have no idea how to identify it, unless it's by someone who knows the track already. 

Unknown - Wanna Dance (?) (MP3)

That's "Wanna Dance" by Frank Pizani!

Unknown - Tra La La (?) (MP3)

That's "Ooh-Sha-Lala" by Mickey and Kitty!

Unknown - Sweet Shop (?) (MP3)

That's "Sweet Shop" by Randy Stevens!

Unknown - Unknown Instrumental (incomplete) MP3)

That's "Rockin' Crickets" by Hot-Toddys (featuring Bill Pernell)!

Rock and Roll Tape Can (JPG)

If anyone knows the remaining mystery song, or if you just want to offer up a comment - at bobpurse@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Lee R., Ken E., Steve C., Stewart B., Bruce M., Rich M., and Hellodes, who each offered up suggestions and/or answers to the mysteries of this obscure roll of tape!

The Story of Xavier Cugat & Other Super-Friends

 


"A caressing, torchy voice that enchants even the most hardened theater-goer, plus an astonishing beauty, make gorgeous Lena Horne one of the most exciting blues singers of our time. Her haunting style of singing has lifted this Brooklyn girl to the top of the nation's outstanding entertainers."

We missed a post due to illness here at the WFMU Comic Supplement, but we're back with a vengeance this week with all true-life stories of famous music and entertainment stars of yesteryear, as depicted oh-so-realistically in comic books of their day.

We've got six whole life stories to learn about so let's get right down to it; come and join us for non-fictional fun right after the jump!

Franklyn MacCormack and Friends Discuss Old Time Radio, March, 1964 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 62) (MP3)

This tape came to me with a batch of others, none of them in boxes, and with minimal indication of what it might contain. There is a sticker on the reel, seen at the right, which reads "Radio's Nostalgic Yesterdays, 3/30/64

That sticker's information is true enough, but what it doesn't say is that the tape contains a rare recording of the legendary WGN Radio personality, Franklyn MacCormack, chatting with a few other long-time radio voices, about the history of radio, in particular, what would later become known as "Old Time Radio". The show was part of a series - an episode of "The Reviewing Stand" - which brought together personnel from WGN and WNUR, the radio station run by Northwestern University. 

Also featured in the conversation are Willard Waterman (best known as "The Great Gildersleeve"), radio producer James Jewell, and moderator James H. McBurney, then dean of the school of speech at Northwestern University.

Besides the involvement of MacCormack, I find this discussion particularly interesting because those taking part don't have any notion - indeed, they don't seem to think it would be possible - of the comeback in popularity of what would become known as Old Time Radio (OTR). That comeback would begin taking place in the early '70's, thanks to, among others, Chuck Schaden, whose career reviving OTR shows and stars started right in Evanston, mere blocks from Northwestern, a career that took him to the Radio Hall of Fame.

There is an assumption, mentioned a few times here, that these shows no longer existed in any playable form, which Schaden and many others demonstrated to be untrue, and which you can still determine to be inaccurate via visits to myriad OTR websites, as well as eBay.

They also discuss the likelihood of OTR drama and comedy being attempted anew in that day and age, 1964, and their belief that it could work. Aside from the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, no attempts made after that point that I'm aware of (Theater 5, The Zero Hour, etc.), actually did make and keep an audience. 

And of course, in the midst of this, there is the requisite, gratuitous slapping down of the rock and roll music that had taken the place of "good" radio; music which, we're told, is un-hummable and forgettable. Interestingly, it was this very week when The Beatles held the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100, with some very memorable work indeed. 

Just an interesting conversation with a couple of radio legends involved. I enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too. 

Franklyn MacCormack and Friends (MP3)

Tape (JPG)  |  Tape Label (JPG)

Comments can be sent to bobpurse@gmail.com 

"The Stranger in Studio X!"

 

"It was the weirdest fifteen minutes that anyone at radio station WBOR ever remembered. The spine tingling series of misadventures, which made that night so memorable, began exactly at midnight, on an otherwise routine evening . . . And there were those who saw the occurrences of the next quarter hour the sort of eerie puzzle to which no man would ever find an answer. Those never-to-be-forgotten moments of bewilderment and fear started in the middle of Dawn Creighton's popular disc jockey program . . . Started, in fact, at the very moment the door to Creighton's broadcasting booth opened , and in walked . . . "The Stranger in Studio X!"

As you can see, we'll be back in the radio studio for another storyline today, as well as experiencing some raw terror as provided by a television set (big surprise there!),  a violin-playing clown, and a radio.

So snuggle in close and let's explore today's menu of four short stories dating from 1947 to 1952, all pre-comics-code stuff this time, nice and raw! 

Plunge into another exciting installment of the WFMU Comic Supplement, right after the jump!

The Sound of Good Selling! (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 60) (MP3's)

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!

To help you celebrate, here are two tapes from my most recent acquisition: a pair of undated tapes from Lorin-Frank Productions, Inc. In this case, these are Volumes 3 and 5, the only two tapes of that series that came in this bundle of seven advertising reel to reel goodies (all on five inch reels).

Many of these are jingle commercials, with vocals at the start and finish and music beds in between. Volume three contains ten selections, volume five only has five selections (including two for Noxema - they seem quite similar, but are identified as different radio and TV ads). One of these in the latter batch is for National Beer, although it in no way can compete with the classic National Beer ads created by "Star Ads", which I've previous posted here and here, and which can also be viewed here.

Here is Volume Three:

1.) Lorin Frank Productions - WTAE Jingle (MP3)

2.) Lorin Frank Productions - Noxzema Background Score (MP3)

3.) Lorin Frank Productions - Genesee Jingle (MP3)

4.) Lorin Frank Productions - Gold Medel Jingle and Background (MP3)

5.) Lorin Frank Productions - STP Jingle (MP3)

6.) Lorin Frank Productions - Chevy (MP3)

7.) Lorin Frank Productions - Noxzema Jingle (MP3)

8.) Lorin Frank Productions - Viz Eye Drops (MP3)

9.) Lorin Frank Productions - Bisquick Jingle (MP3)

10.) Lorin Frank Productions - Carling Jingle (MP3)

Volume Three Tape Box (JPG)

And here is Volume Five:

1.) Lorin Frank Productions - Radar (MP3)

2.) Lorin Frank Productions - Bee Hive Golden Corn Syrup (MP3)

3.) Lorin Frank Productions - National Beer "Gone Native" (MP3)

4.) Lorin Frank Productions - Noxema Complexion Lotion (MP3)

5.) Lorin Frank Productions - Noxema Complexion Lotion (MP3)

Volume Five Tape Box (JPG)

NAME THAT TRIVIA!!! A New Party Game via the Record Player, circa 1966 (MP3's)

So imagine it's the fall of 1966, and, since you and your family have recently moved to the new high-end subdivision, you want to get to know your neighbors better. What better why than hosting a dinner party, after which you'll play a game? Perhaps you'll invite the neighbors on either side of you, and the those from the three houses on lots that are across from yours and those other two neighbors! And next Friday, the kids will all be at the school dance!

You have lots of new recipes to try out!

But the real fun will come after dinner, when you break out that album you bought over the summer, the one you got as soon as you heard about it back in July, the one on the Frisky record label, featuring everyone's favorite quizmasters, Phyllis Hedeman, James Dukas and Jerry Roberts, "NAME THAT TRIVIA!". It came with even answer pads for everyone, see?: 

Name That Trivia Answer Pad, Side One (JPG)  |  Name That Trivia Answer Pad, Side Two (JPG)

You've touched the needle down on the record just to see if the questions are too hard or too easy, but they seem just right for people of your vintage. Things like:

"Remember 'Pebeco'? What would you do with it?"

and

"what was that chased away that villian, 'Mr. Coffee Nerves'?"

and

"What was a Hooverville?". 

This sounds like a LOT of fun! Here's hoping your party goes well!

Phyllis Hedeman, James Dukas and Jerry Roberts - Name That Trivia, Side One (MP3)

Phyllis Hedeman, James Dukas and Jerry Roberts - Name That Trivia, Side Two (MP3)

Front Cover (JPG)  |  Back Cover (JPG)

Comments can be sent to bobpurse@gmail.com

"Death Song" and Other Delights (1940 - 1953)

"The desire to gain retribution is one of the strongest of human passions,  actually capable of transcending the grave itself! As it did when Henri Marleau heard a murdered man play his ... Death Song!"

Teaser #2:

"Dr. Hormone, world's greatest scientist, goes to Washington to defend his country against imminent invasion by Nazia. With him are his his granddaughter, Jane, and his bodyguard - the Five Fleamen."

Just two samples of some of the timeless prose that we have to serve you today in the WFMU Comic Supplement!  We will kick off with two short pre-comics-code horror tales from the early 1950s, and then hop in the WABAC machine to visit early 1941 and some very peculiar characters from the title Popular Comics.

Feast your eyes on some choice four-color madness, right after the jump!

An Advertising Sample Reel from the Mid-'70's (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 58) (MP3)

Here's a nice little five inch reel of tape, containing some of the work by the William D. Cunningham & Associates, Inc., Company, whose promo reel for voice talent I featured four years ago. The dates for these various ads, based on some of the products featured (and the presence of a Bicentennial ad) would appear to be in the 1974-1977 range. 

In many places, this reel has the ads literally back to back, with one starting as the previous one ends, so I haven't attempted to separate them out - you can hear them below as they were intended to be presented - a blast of 18 examples of the "Producer's Music Service" (as it's called on the box), in just under 15 minutes.

Some ads are just music beds, others have introductory and closing vocals with music beds in between, and others are full singing ads. Some are brief, others don't conform to the typical 60-minutes-at-most rule (the Jet Ski ad runs over 90 seconds).

The individual tracks are listed in the scan to the right. 

Producer's Music Service - 18 Ads (MP3)

Tape Box Front Cover (JPG)  |  Tape Box Back Cover (JPG)

I wish I could get some of that Carbonated Kool-Aid. 

Comments can be sent to bobpurse@gmail.com

A Record-Breaking Affair (Redux) June 1952

"Sally loved working in a radio station, and she loved Hugh Clancy, the stations leading disc jockey, until that fateful day when her hopes for a career and a beautiful romance crashed and shattered at her feet..."

You'll thrill, you'll cry, you'll rock to the beat of today's two nutty music-influenced comic book tales. We'll prove again that radio and romance don't mix!

Well, I goofed up last time and didn't get my post for the blog completed on schedule, so here we go with another try!

First up, we'll warm up with a short tale of the Vigilante from December 1950, which involves a "ballad about an imaginary buckaroo" and the radio broadcasts thereof, followed by a romance tale based at a radio station, along with all of the heartache that that naturally entails!  

Some very tight and slick 1950s comic book art on display this week - right after the jump!

A Pair of Fun Female Vocal Demo Reels (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 56) (MP3's)

Somewhere along the collecting path, I managed to acquire a stack of tapes labeled "JW", and containing a variety of singing performances by a woman who presumably has (or had) those initials. 

These are a bit unusual in the world of demo tapes. Virtually all demo reels I've heard have a single purpose, usually one of three. They are either to display someone's singing talent, perhaps to sell him or her as a performer worthy of signing or hiring to perform live, to demonstrate the songs themselves for someone who might want to perform them, or to market the commercial voice-over (or singing) potential of the performer, in order to seel him or her as a commercial voice artist. 

The JW tapes seem to combine the first and third of these purposes, with song excerpts alternating with full commercials  that the singer had done (the selling of the songs themselves seems unlikely, given that no complete songs are heard, and that at least one of these is a very familiar (former hit) song). 

The songs are generally nothing to get worked up about, although a few of them have promise. My guess is that it is the commercials here (most of which are complete) which will be the attraction. A lot of them are quite fun. One thing that's interesting to me about the commercials selected is that "JW" is not always a solo start on them, or even clearly discernible from other vocalists. 

The first of the two tapes heard here is labeled circa 1967, runs about six minutes, and contains the following tracks, as labeled on the box: 

1.) Must Be Love (song excerpt)  

2.) Out of Love (song excerpt)  

3.) Junket (ad for Fudge)

4.) WELM (38 second Elmira station ID jingle) 

5.) 'Cause I Was Mad (song excerpt - my favorite one on either tape - love the echo!)

6.) Polka Dot Pigs (Crispy Critters cereal ad)

7.) I Hear a Melody (song excerpt)

8.) Losin' Heart (song excerpt)

9.) KLRD ("here's the time" radio jingle)

JW - JW Sing Reel Circa 1967 (MP3)

JW 1967 Sing Reel Tape Box (JPG)

The second tape is labeled 1975, runs about 9 1/2 minutes, and contains the following tracks, as labeled on the box: 

1 & 2.) Cougar (two ads: A. Final, and B. Fever (i.e. in the style of the song "Fever"))

3.) Hunts (sauce ad)

4.) Oo La La (Air France ad? - can't make out if that's what she says or not!)

5.) Little Blue Star (song excerpt)

6.) I Knew (song excerpt)

7.) Wedding Bell Blues (song excerpt)

8.) Please Stay (song excerpt)

9.) Pokla Dot Pigs (same track as on the 1967 tape)

10.) (Title is Illegible on Box) (song excerpt)

11.) Sky Bar (candy bar ad - and it's great to hear an ad for the mighty Sky Bar - haven't had one in YEARS!)

12.) When I Am With You (song excerpt)

13.) Munch (Post Toasties ad)

14.) Sugar Pops (cereal ad)

15.) Are You Early (the same jingle identified as "KLRD" on the earlier tape, minus the final stinger)

JW - JW Sing Reel Circa 1975 (MP3)

JW 1975 Sing Reel Tape Box (JPG)

Incidentally, I do have more of these tapes - these are labeled # 2 and # 6. If there is interest, I can post them. Assuming, that is, that I can find them in the catacombs - these two got separated from the bunch, and I'm not sure where the others are. 

Comments are still disabled - feel free to contact me with any clarifications, corrections, thoughts or requests for more at bobpurse@gmail.com

Imps, Pixies and Surrealism (1947-48)

Today brings one of my annual preparing-for-vacation-trip posts, with a dash of comics for kids (we'll get back to the second part of our Music Master series next time). First, some Pixies, from their fourth comic book, issued in 1947. This one caught my eye recently because of a mention I read about a scene from this book that was censored in a later reprinting. Well, that had to be something worth a look, and we'll see a couple of highlights from this odd comic book to open our post, followed by a really nutty Captain Marvel story from 1948 that also tickled my fancy. Just some light reading today, to break up the 'harder' stuff that I have lined up for future posts.  Join me for some surrealism and insect fun after the jump!

The Adventures of 'Music Master', 1942-1945 - Part One

"Flung into a series of amazing adventures by his impetuous nature, and intense hatred of injustice, John Wallace finds himself the possessor of the wonderful Pipes of Death and becomes the Music Master, matching long forgotten secrets of the ancients against the marvels of modern science..."

So begins the nearly three year run of a character high on the list of "Most Oddball and Bizarre" comic book characters from the Golden Age, our pal the Music Master, who needs only a note of music, or at least a burst of sound approximating a musical note, to perform strange and fantastic feats. Even though studying weirdo comic book character ideas is a long-time obsession of mine, I had only recently learned about this fella while trolling through old issues of Famous Funnies, one of the early magazines published in the comic magazine format. In the later issues of FF they began to introduce original in-house characters (in addition to their standard fare of newspaper strip reprints), and also promote new ones from their sister magazine Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics. In one of these colorful in-house ads I noticed a new character being promoted named 'Music Master', who sounded like a shoe-in for a WFMU blog post, or at least worth a closer look. Luckily, these magazines are in public domain, so I downloaded the entire run of Music Man stories to study.

In his first yarn our protagonist is quickly stabbed in the chest and mortally wounded with a violin bow. Well, now, this had me going right off! I certainly haven't seen any comic book crooks deal out violence that way before. Thanks to the musical ministrations of Antonini the famed violin maker he is not only revived (using an 'ancient Egyptian instrument') but his body has become "...attuned to the frequency of musical sound waves, and that he can identify himself with any musical note so that his body will react and cling to the waves of sound, and he will be transported with the speed of sound to the source of the music.". As time passes the writer of the series, Stephen A. Douglas, also the editor of the magazine, develops many more unusual things to do with hero 'John Wallace's' audio-based powers, often venturing into surreal territory.

While not one of the most amazingly weird hero characters from the early 1940s (and there are a lot of VERY strange concepts that were tried), he has his moments, along with some lovely art here and there by various hands. Come along and join our long-haired composer/player/super-hero as he battles crime right after the jump!

Lucky Lager: The 1964 Radio Ad Campaign (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 55) (MP3's)

Hot on the heels of the three-part series of Bob Hahn radio jingles from earlier this year, here's another reel full of fun ads. Produced by one of the most famous advertising agencies in the world, Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - better known as BBDO, it's a series of ten ads (well, maybe just eight) for Lucky Lager, dating to March of 1964. 

To my ears, the first two ads ("Hootenanny - Regular") are identical, and the box suggests this, as well. The last two ads ("Hootenanny - Northwest") also seem to be identical. In addition, these two sets of ads only differ from each other in that a couple of lines are changed near the end of the respective ads. This is why, although I have ten tracks posted, I'm pretty sure there are only eight ads here. But in case I'm wrong, I've included all of them.

And all of the ads are based on the same music, and, with one exception (the "Lift Top" ad), on the same basic lyric. There is ad heard in Spanish, but it still seems to contain essentially the same text, albeit in another language. There are also two ads featuring famed bluesman Jimmy Witherspoon. One features his own take on the material, at the standard 60 seconds. The other, though (track 8), while the other is, surprisingly, two minutes and 45 seconds long (the tape box claims it's four minutes long!). It's not clear to me where this would have been aired or under what circumstances. 

Also of interest is the "Roaring Twenties" ad, which does a particularly bad job, in my hearing, of capturing the sound and feel of that era, and "Lift Top", which appears to describe a very early attempt to get around the problem of sharp pull tabs. 

1.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Hootenanny Regular Ad 1 (MP3)

2.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Hootenanny Regular Ad 2 (MP3)

3.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Roaring Twenties Ad (MP3)

4.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Twist Ad (MP3)

5.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Witherspoon Ad (MP3)

6.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Spanish Ad (MP3)

7.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Lift Top Ad (MP3)

8.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Jimmys Jam Ad (MP3)

9.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Hootenanny Northwest Ad 1 (MP3)

10.) Batton, Barton, Durstine and Osborn - Lucky Lager Hootenanny Northwest Ad 2 (MP3)

Lucky Lager Tape Box (JPG)

"Tee & Vee Crosley in Television-Land Comics" (1951)

"In the following pages,  you will learn of the exciting adventures of two typical American youngsters, TEE and VEE CROSLEY in "Television-Land". We hope you will enjoy them but only as a prelude to the even more exciting and fascinating adventures you will enjoy when you have Crosley Television and Crosley Kitchen Appliances."

Indeed - what red-blooded American youngster could resist that pitch? Thus begins today's comic book excavation into a particularly dark and strange corner of 'corporate' comics, usually free magazines designed to instruct or sell products or both. This book is a really messed-up example of this type of advertising and goes deeper in the confidence in its own power of persuasion than anyone who reads it now will believe. The pitch within is not just HARD sell - it goes many an extra mile to hammer its points home over and over in the context of a cute funny animal kiddie comic book world populated with an excess of appliances and characters obsessed with gadgets and features of same.

Herein is a confusing mixture - were the children this was apparently aimed at really expected to be interested in the relentless intrusions of Crosley products for their post-war suburban home? Enough that they would nag Mom and Pop about said merchandise, using the comic book as a spiced-up candy-coated catalog / script to convince them and soften them up to the virtues of all things CROSLEY? It is indeed a very sick and desperate ploy, and one which I doubt really worked very well. On the plus side, though, the art and package itself is professional and attractive, clearly by a studio that already knew how to produce slick kiddie comics; and the interactive 'game / toy' feature pages are particularly well-done and look like they would be a lot of fun to actually cut out and assemble and play with.

Come along with Tee and Vee, our brother and sister protagonists, as they explore the excitement (and not in a dream sequence, either!) of the magical world built by Crosley. It's all right after the jump!

Dow Brewery, Brewers of Dow Ale: Bob Hahn Radio Commercial Presentation Reel # 4 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 54) (MP3's)

Over the past two months, I have shared the contents of two tapes, from a group of four reel to reel tapes I recently purchased, sampler reels of the work of Canadian ad-man Bob Hahn. Volume Three of the tapes contains just two ads, in multiple minor variations, and one of those two ads is represented on Tape Four, so aside from two versions of one track, I've skipped over the third reel. Today, the fourth and final reel. There are seven ads and five other fragments on this tape, and all but the last of those twelve tracks are for the products of the Dow Brewery. 

The Dow Brewery did not survive with its good name intact for much longer after these 1961 ads, as you can read about here. 

The tracks on this tape are divided into similar ads for different markets. First there is a square dance track, one for Canadian stations and one for American stations. Aside from minor cosmetic differences, these two mainly differ in that in Canada, "Dow Brings Out the Best in Cheer", while in America, "Dow Brings Out the Best in Beer". There's a sociological research paper waiting to be written within the decision to alter those words for the differing market.There is also an isolation track of the advertising tag line. 

This is followed by two ads featuring harmonica orchestras. Both are heard with vocals in English, then in French versions (which amount to the instrumental harmonica tracks, with voiceover in French at the end. The moment at about 18 seconds into the second ad (in both languages' ads) is one of the weirder things I've heard in an ad from this era. In the English ad, it's startling; in the French ad, it makes no sense whatsoever. 

These are followed by more excerpted sections of the square dance ads - I'm not clear on the use of the two short end pieces which I've grouped together as the 9th item here (the "wild tag" listed as the 11th track is identical to the 8th track, and is not included). Finally comes the only non-Dow ad of the reel, which is for Parliament Cigarettes.  

At the end, I've included the only ads which were unique to reel three. These are American and Canadian versions of an ad for Kingsbeer. The differences here are all in the second verse - the American version focuses on the brewing and the taste of the beer, while the Canadian version repeats the first verse heard in both versions. 

Here, dear readers and listeners, the Bob Hahn Presentation Reel, Volume 4: 

TRACKS REMOVED AT REQUEST OF COPYRIGHT HOLDER

A Trio of 1940s True-Life Musical Comic Book Stories

Todays Comic Supplement spotlights three now-obscure 1940s entertainers, as depicted in the magazines Doc Savage ( v.2 #4, June 1943), Picture News ( #10, February 1947), and Melody Lane ( #01, Feb-Mar 1950).

The personalities we will learn about are Fanny Brice, Margaret Whiting and Johnny Desmond. These gripping TRUE comics are unrated and absolutely REAL, so get set for a thrill-packed comic book read - right after the jump!

Cigarettes and Beer: Bob Hahn Radio Commercial Presentation Reel # 2 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 52) (MP3's)

Last month, I offered up the contents of the first in a group of reel to reel tapes I recently purchased, sampler reels of the work of Canadian ad-man Bob Hahn. Today, volume two of those tapes. All but two of the 12 ads on this tape are for or cigarettes (two ads) or beer (eight ads).

The most interesting aspects here, to me, are in the five Molson ads, with their varying focuses on what people in different fields would consider to be two things which go together perfectly - I wonder at what point advertising would cease making reference to Minstrel shows. Also of interest is that these ads are each 70 seconds long, a length which I've not generally seen in the hundreds of ads I own.

I also get a kick out of the slogan at the focus of the two ads for Dominion stores: "It's Mainly Because of the Meat!" I'm sure those of you who play with sound can use those cliips. I know I will. 

As with the previous set, these are dated October, 1961. Without further ado, the Bob Hahn Presentation Reel, Volume 2: 

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TRACKS REMOVED AT REQUEST OF COPYRIGHT HOLDER

Bob Hahn Radio Commercial Presentation Reel # 1 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 51) (MP3's)

I recently acquired four rather wonderful production reels, the product of someone named Bob Hahn, featuring works created for the Canadian Radio market. These seem to have been sampler reels, and like many of the commercials I've been lucky enough to come across from the '50's and early '60's, they are all really nice, and quite magical in places. Today, the tape labeled as the first of the four: This particular reel is dated October 9, 1961, which (and this is entirely unrelated) was also John Lennon's 21st birthday.

I've grouped them together where there were ads for the same product, unless those ads included full minute ads, which I've largely separated out into their own files. A few are no more than music beds, and many contain instrumental passages meant for voiceovers. In all, there are 20 ads heard within the 11 tracks below. 

A few notes on the tracks:

Track three is interesting in that it contains the voices of some Canadian radio personalities, including Gordon Sinclair, who would become more well known in the US over a decade later, when he wrote and recorded the original version of the spoken word hit "The Americans". I don't know what "Big 8" was (featured in track 5) - there is a soft drink company by that name in Canada, but it only seems to have existed for the last 30 years or so. Tracks 8 & 9 sound identical to me, but were separate on the list and the tape, so both are included. And although track 11 does not metnion the Dow company (at least, I don't hear it) in the lyrics, this ad is referred to on the "take sheet" (reproduced below) as "Dow Square Dance". 

Enjoy! There are more where these came from!

Comments can be sent to bobpurse@gmail.com - I will try to add any received to this post. 

TRACKS REMOVED AT REQUEST OF COPYRIGHT HOLDER

Selling Your Savings and Loan, 1950's Style (MP3)

Here's a keen little seven inch 78, which I'm guessing, based on the musical styles, is from the mid to late 1950's. It came to use from "Adverising Division, Inc.", in Chicago, and is the third in a series. 

As the salesman says in opening this little two minute wonder, "You can't sell 'em, until you tell 'em!", and what he wants to help you sell is your savings and loan operation. 

There follow two examples from a total of nine available commercials in the package. It's not clear to me how buying these ads would make them "yours exclusively" - what if two savings and loans bought the package in the same market? 

Regardless of all that, the ads are two wonderful examples of the bouncy, peppy and positive-sounding ads of the day, and the second one also has the benefit of all that great reverb which was such a hallmark of the era. As I always seem to say when I share commercials from that era, I wish radio still sounded like this. 

Advertising Division, Inc. - 3rd Series Singing Commericial Service (MP3)

Record Label (JPG)

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