365 Days #113 - Aunt B. and the staff of the Children's Bible Hour - Tell Me Another Story, Aunt B. (mp3s)

MP3:
1. The Sting Of Death (14:31)
2. The Eye Of Love (10:06)
3. Why Can't You Be Thankful (12:00)
4. The Scarf (13:18)

The Children's Bible Hour (CBH) was founded in 1942 to fill what was apparently a void at the time in the world of children's evangelical radio. CBH grew rapidly and later moved into television and recording. Aunt B. (a.k.a. Bertha Trover Shooks) joined CBH in 1947 as office manager and in two short years rose to become Executive Director. During her tenure (she retired in 1972) she recorded numerous albums of the best loved stories from CBH's radio and television programs. Here is one of those albums.

"Tell Me Another Story Aunt B." consists of four tales of moral instruction from which we all can benefit. Here are simple life lessons; lessons we're all familiar with regarding love, honesty and not stealing things. As an added bonus, these particular stories come with a healthy dollop of evangelical Christianity at the end. Bon appetite!

All four stories/tracks are included today, but special notice should be taken of the first, "The Sting of Death" which is illustrated on the albums cover. The sunny aspect of that art work, with innocent Billy, his adorable puppy Spot and a smiling, cartoon serpent, belie the tragic events Billy is destined to suffer through and the incredibly harsh lesson he learns about lying.

This album is dated 1971, but listening to it, one suspects that the recordings are at least ten years older. The organ says cheese, the acting is delightfully wooden and the voice of Aunt B. sounds remarkably similar to that of character actress Mabel Albertson, which should provide additional enjoyment for listeners of a certain age.

The Children's Bible Hour still exists and is now known as CBH Ministries. It can be found here.

And if four stories aren't enough, Princess Sparkle Pony posted two earlier stories from the Aunt B. ouvre last April on her blog. You can find them here.

- Contributed by: Andre Dupuy

Images: Front Cover, Back Cover

Media: 33 1/3 rpm LP
Album: Tell Me Another Story, Aunt B.
Label: Singcord Corp.
Catalog: ZLP 824
Date: 1971

Comments

[Dave]

Wow these bring back some memories for me. Not from ever hearing these before, but I had a set as a kid that came in two books that each contained about 8 45s of bible stories. I think the adult on those was called Uncle Bob though. I'll have to dig them up at my Dad's and rip them some day.
Dave

["Jesus Is A Fraud" & "Dine On A Beagle"]

"Jesus is a Fraud"
to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus"
&
"Dine on a Beagle"
to the tune of "Fly Like An Eagle"

[Dave]

Got the records today from my Dad's. They came from "Sacred Records" in Los Angelas, CA back in 1953. There are 10 45 rpm records in each book with 6 stories and about 24 songs in each book. Called "Children's Library Bible Stories And Songs" as told to Kathy and Bill by Uncle Earle. They're pretty cheesy but a rare set nontheless. Each record is a different color either green, yellow, red or black. I see ebay has several of the Aunt B and Children's Bible Hour records for sale. Oh well. Just an FYI update.
Dave

[Princess Sparkle Pony]

Hooray for Aunt B! And thanks, WFMU, I am very honored to be cited here.

[Dave]

Here's a few files I made from the record sets I had as a kid:

Children's Library Bible Stories and Songs