VICTOR ARTISTS PARTY Introducing Victor Program TranscriptionsEE- 1931 First LP
$
50
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
HERE IS A TRULY EPOCHAL RECORD, an engineering marvel and a harbinger of the distant future: "THE VICTOR ARTISTS' PARTY." This was the first release on the brand-new (July, 1931) 33-1/3 RPM Victor Program Transcriptions. These records held up to ten minutes on a side, and promised a bold future for the medium: "Here's something new the RCA Victor people have developed: A long-playing record that can hold an entire Vaudeville act, or even a Symphony - plus the wonderful new instrument to play it on!"
Thus spake FRANK CRUMIT, who then emcees this whole entertainment, lasting over ten minutes, beginning with a couple of his big hits, "THE GAY CABALLERO" and "DONALD THE DUB." Then come VICTOR ARDEN and PHIL OHMAN, duo pianists, with "WEDDING OF THE PAINTED DOLL." THE REVELERS (the great vocal quintet who were the inspiration for the Comedian Harmonists), are next, with "THE WOMAN IN THE SHOE" and "WHEN YUBA PLAYS THE RHUMBA ON HIS TUBA." Wrapping everything up is NAT SHILKRET AND THE VICTOR ORCHESTRA, with the complete "MARDI GRAS" movement from Ferdé Grofé's "MISSISSIPPI SUITE" (an even hotter version than Paul Whiteman's 1927 Victor).
The flip side, "THE VICTOR MUSIC FESTIVAL" presents Nat Shilkret and the Orchestra again, with a smorgasbord of light classics: "THE MEISTERSINGER OVERTURE," "SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME," "FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLE BEE" and "MARCHE SLAV."
Several ironies wax afoot: This record was the last hurrah for ALL of these Victor artists! In the deepening Great Depression, their contracts were not renewed, and 1931 and '32 saw the final records by Crumit, Arden and Ohman, The Revelers AND Nat Shilkret. Plus, the LP medium itself laid a big egg with the public. It didn't help that after this promising start, Victor NEVER issued "entire Vaudeville acts," or anything else that really exploited this hot new medium, but instead, dubs of ordinary 78s, or stingy seven-minute medleys. Duke Ellington, for example, would have been happy to compose a brand-new ten-minute suite, but instead was obliged to record medleys of his established hits. The Victor Long-Play record died a whimpering death in 1934, and wasn't heard from again until after World War II.
So here, after all, is one of the only records that really ROCKS the early Long-Play medium, showing its true potential!
This original 1931 Victor Program Transcription is in EE- condition. Plays cleanly throughout.
*****
These records come from my private collection, which I have been accumulating since 1967, and now am downsizing! My highest priority in these eBay auctions is to give you the best possible idea of a record’s true condition and aesthetic value. I always post at least four clear images, showing the record fore and aft, a close-up of the label, and the whole disc, warts and all. If my purple prose won’t cut it, the pictures will! Shipping is done with expert care. Your record will brave Media Mail in a stout corregated box, between four sheets of cardboard and a couple of “packers.” I hope you are amused by these descriptions, and by the quality of service being offered.
price rating
