A Magic Box and a Screen of Blackness (mp3s)

1. Seven Words and a Magic Box (8:28)
2. Can We Escape the Screen of Blackness? (7:57)

Rounding out my collection of Bert Tenzer advertising records are these two mini-dramas. From 1963, Seven Words and a Magic Box (cover image) might be the earliest of the recordings, and it uses a very different narrative style more akin to documentary than breaking news. We'll travel back through history to see how a tiny village's dedication to craftsmanship made the modern world possible with superbly precise Hermes typewriters.

Can We Escape the Screen of Blackness, from 1965, is my favorite of the lot. It's steeped in 1960s sci-fi imagery, with Rectangle M preparing to fire its electronic guns at the Screen of Blackness that threatens to make the world a dull and conformist place. Mason Adams returns to lend his considerable acting talents to the track, and the rest of the family voices are the same as last week's The Most Important Event of the Year. This time the topic is color television, and as someone who writes about technology, it's fascinating in this HDTV world to hear the excitement that surrounded the arrival of color televisions that most of us now can't wait to get rid of. They sold those square boxes as "widescreen" sets back in the day. Some things never change.

Comments

[bartleby]

That accent sounds nothing like the accented English of people of the Savoy region.
As if it wasn't enough to have lost the non-luxury watch trade to the U.S. and Japan in that era. Must they also suffer the indignity of having non-savoyan actors in their promotional materials?

[Chaerephon]

I have a Tenzer record called either "Whole City Reported Ready to Orbit" or "A City in Orbit." I have never been able to find out any information about it. Haven't listened to it for some time, either, but as I recall it seems to deal with real estate, perhaps earthly, perhaps not.