While we do know the titles of all the discs in our collection that are labeled, we are only now learning what exactly is on them. One recent encoding turned up something pretty rare in the OTR world.
Have you ever heard of “rehearsal recordings” of shows? Well, what I’ve read about them is that they are sometimes opportunities for the cast to have some fun with the script or commercials. Others are reputed to be rather racy, or salty. Well, one of our discs is all three!
The disc was labeled back in 1945 as “Not for Public Consumption”, but the director of our organization has okayed making it available to you. It will take some work before it can be put up here (clean-up and research, mostly), but hear it you will.
A Question (or two):
First question:
Nothing new has come to our collection since the last mention, but one the CHRS members is willing to let some of his discs be encoded for you. I am looking over his holdings and found a number of shows that are only partials (15 minutes or so of a show that was 30 minutes or more).
So I have a question: Is anyone interested in partials? If I find that these shows are not available generally, I can put them up here, but only if people say they want partials.
Second question:
We need help putting a date on a program, but being all volunteers, our time is limited searching down certain details. I’m hoping some of our readers with more time or better access to a library can help with this.
Can anyone tell us the date of birth of Patrick James McNulty, son of Dennis Day? It should be around 1948.
Publicity
Many thanks to author Martin Grams for his mention of us in his blog . He has written a number of books about old time radio and blogs about this and other vintage media and nostalgia topics.
Partial shows are always welcome. Many times they are the only existing recordings of a particular series. For other series, there are many of us in the hobby called “completists” who seek all possible recordings of series of programs because they can often shed light into production details or continuing storylines.
Many drama programs have “re-caps” embedded in dialogue or narration that allow listeners to catch up with storylines of that show. Show writers knew that not all listeners could tune in at the exact beginning of a program all of the time. The DVR is spoiling us: the idea of assembling around a radio or a TV at a certain time is disappearing, and the idea of piecing together a storyline after missing a show opening has been replaced by the rewind button on our remote controls.
Yes, I love partials if they’re the only record we have of that show. They provide important insight into a program, and their historical value (and, often, intrinsic interest in their own right) make them worth hearing.
As both previous posters have stated, partial recordings can be quite important. I stand in full agreement and look forward to hearing them. Thank you for offering these and all the other audio you have posted. Your work is greatly appreciated.
If a show doesn’t exist in full (or isn’t circulating) then a partial is important as it’s all we’re going to get, and better a partial exists than nothing at all. As long as it’s labelled as a partial people will know what they’re getting and nobody can complain.
Another interesting point is that sometimes you have to put out something that’s inferior in some way (whether incomplete or poor sound quality) to force someone else to come forwards and say “Hang on, I’ve got a better version of that” who otherwise might not have bothered or not considered anyone wanted his copy.
The thing about partial shows is that, eventually, the other half might turn up in another collection, particularly if the show was syndicated.
When transferring partials, I always leave the original file with extra space at the beginning or end, in case the other part is found, to allow for flexibility in editing it to its mate at some point.
Partial shows are always welcome. Many times they are the only existing recordings of a particular series. For other series, there are many of us in the hobby called “completists” who seek all possible recordings of series of programs because they can often shed light into production details or continuing storylines.
Many drama programs have “re-caps” embedded in dialogue or narration that allow listeners to catch up with storylines of that show. Show writers knew that not all listeners could tune in at the exact beginning of a program all of the time. The DVR is spoiling us: the idea of assembling around a radio or a TV at a certain time is disappearing, and the idea of piecing together a storyline after missing a show opening has been replaced by the rewind button on our remote controls.
Thanks for your comment, Joe.
It’s good to learn that “completists” exist, otherwise we might have passed these by.
Yes, I love partials if they’re the only record we have of that show. They provide important insight into a program, and their historical value (and, often, intrinsic interest in their own right) make them worth hearing.
Thanks for the reply, Dr. I’ll look into whatever partials we can get from this kind person.
Does anyone else have some input on this?
As both previous posters have stated, partial recordings can be quite important. I stand in full agreement and look forward to hearing them. Thank you for offering these and all the other audio you have posted. Your work is greatly appreciated.
StJ
Thank you, St. Jack, for your reply.
Are there any dissenting opinions out there?
Or further support?
If a show doesn’t exist in full (or isn’t circulating) then a partial is important as it’s all we’re going to get, and better a partial exists than nothing at all. As long as it’s labelled as a partial people will know what they’re getting and nobody can complain.
Another interesting point is that sometimes you have to put out something that’s inferior in some way (whether incomplete or poor sound quality) to force someone else to come forwards and say “Hang on, I’ve got a better version of that” who otherwise might not have bothered or not considered anyone wanted his copy.
Thanks for making this very good point, Dan. I doubt we would have come up with this ourselves.
The thing about partial shows is that, eventually, the other half might turn up in another collection, particularly if the show was syndicated.
When transferring partials, I always leave the original file with extra space at the beginning or end, in case the other part is found, to allow for flexibility in editing it to its mate at some point.
Thanks for your comment, Rand.
I’ll make sure to use your suggestion above, as well.