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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 [email protected].

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 Many Dangers of Television

That piece of talking furniture over there;  you think it is a passive, entertaining friend. But is it really as innocent as it looks? 

Today we bring you five cautionary tales to help prepare you for the horrors and mind-bending strangeness that could issue from your television at any time, and not the ones coming from your satellite hookup. No, that thing has come unplugged, what you are seeing is issuing from somewhere else, perhaps even from your own mind. But who can tell?

We here at the WFMU Comic Supplement worry enough about the dangers of unbridled radio listening, but we also keep an eye on what's happening on 'telly', and what we see there isn't good. In fact, it is downright terrifying.

And, on the artistic side, we are VERY pleased to welcome comic book creative genius JACK KIRBY to the blog today, in two different tales.  We've been searching high and low for stories of his to present here, and this week we realized that we actually had two in our files that would be appropriate, so, one of our favorite storytellers is the guest of honor today, along with a couple of other fine artists.

Put down that remote control for a bit, and join us for this highly educational post - right after the jump!

Red Buttons and the Acrimony of Hilarity by Kliph Nesteroff

 "Television has never seen anything like the turnover of personnel on The Red Buttons Show. The writers, directors, producers and supporting players come and go so fast the star can't learn their names before they head for the exit." - Voice of Broadway, April 8, 1954 

"Mel Brooks, signed just a week ago as writer-director of The Red Buttons Show, has resigned." - Variety, September 30, 1954 

In the spring of 1952 NBC had a reputation as the domain of sketch comedy. The Texaco Star Theater starring Milton Berle popularized televised sketch, The Colgate Comedy Hour with Martin & Lewis amplified it, and Your Show of Shows introduced us to the work of Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. NBC's sketch comedy programs had something for each demographic, showcasing both lowbrow and highbrow styles, enjoying ratings dominance and critical acclaim. Competitor CBS was desperate to emulate NBC's success and in October 1952 attempted to do so by investing in a comedian named Red Buttons. His moniker fit his burlesque roots where it was common for nouns like Rags or Peanuts to be used as first names, an offshoot of burlesque strippers who also used strange pseudonyms.

The Red Buttons Show had an enormously popular first season on CBS and Buttons was hailed as "the comedy find of the year." But the second season was so disastrous that chroniclers called it the most severe fall from grace in comedy history. The Red Buttons Show was praised after its first several episodes, but press coverage soon changed from one of critical elation to a marveling at the chaos behind the scenes. “The first year Buttons was a major sensation,” wrote Colliers magazine. “The second year he went right down the tubes.” 

Success ruined Buttons as he destroyed his own show. His ego and anxiety expanded and his agitation was taken out on his employees. The slightest thing could set him off and his secretary was terrified of him. "Red scares me Monday [broadcast] nights," she said. "He doesn't make sense." He routinely fired employees after only a few weeks on the job. Variety called Red Buttons the only TV star with "more writers than scripts." The employees he retained often quit on their own, unable to handle the volatile, irrational atmosphere. He screamed at future legends like Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon and Mel Brooks, telling them to fuck right off. They did. By 1954 there were few comedy writers left who hadn't had some sort of terrible experience with The Red Buttons Show. Octogenarian comedian Bobby Ramsen says, "He fired all the people who later became the icons of American comedy. Red had different writers every week. 'They're not sending me out naked again! This is the worst crap I have ever seen!' God, he was terrible. Buttons became a monster."

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!

B. L. Mellinger Scams You at 33 1/3 RPM (MP3's)

Here's a cute little red, seven inch, 33 1/3 RPM record, featuring (after a cutesy bit with a female receptionist) the voice of Mr. B. L. Mellinger, president of the Mellinger company. He's going to tell you how to become a big wheel in the import-export game. 

My guess is this was a pyramid scheme, but if not that, at best it sounds to me like a pretty shady deal - some sort of out and out scam. I wonder how many people took up this offer, and how "immediately" one could act, if one were responding to a record, in order to get the best Mr. Mellinger was offering. 

B. L. Mellinger, Jr. - Here Is My Personal Message, Side One (MP3)

B. L. Mellinger, Jr. - Here Is My Personal Message, Side Two (MP3)

Record Label Side A (JPG)  |  Record Label Side B (JPG)

Comments can be sent to [email protected]

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 [email protected]