Pneumatic Cashier

[Wilma]

The Frank Sinatra album was with a bunch of other 78's that we bought at auction at very little cost.  While the album cover is worn looking, the records are still in pretty good shape.  I don't know how they sound as I have never tried playing any of them.  And since my girls are post Sinatra, they weren't interested.  While it should be worth quite a bit now, I haven't looked into the possibility.  Ordinary 78's can't even be given away.  I also have a single by the guy that did black face and made "Mammy" famous.  Can't think of his name right now but will later.  I did have some 78's of famous people for sale at an antigue store, but there wasn't any interest in them.

[frawin]

Wilma, that would have been the great  Al Jolson that sang Mammy and painted on the blackface.

[Wilma]

Now that you mention it, that's who it was.  I think I played that record once but it didn't nearly come up to what I expected.  The good old 78's weren't nearly as good as today's CDs.

[sixdogsmom]

Anybody remember seeing the first talking movie, 'The Jazz Singer' with Al Jolson? I had heard about it all my life, but got to see it just a couple of years ago on TCM. I was surprised that only part of it was in sound, and had the old silent movie sub-titles. What a shock that must have been for those movie goers to witness that sound track for the first time. BTW, it was a pretty good movie too. 

[indygal]

I grew up in a household where music was always playing, either live, on a radio or from a record player. My dad was an early rock-and-roll guitarist, in the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly vein, but we also had some earlier classics in the record collection. We had a few 78 rpm records that I remember playing. One was "Shine on Harvest Moon" and the other was "Mairzy Doats and Doazy Doats (and Little Lambsie Divey)" .....and I'm sure that isn't spelled correctly, but I'm sure there are forum readers who will know the song anyway and are probably humming it right now! .....

Other records I remember playing were Xavier Cugat, the soundtracks to "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Bllue Hawaii," and "The Sound of Music," Frankie Laine (a favorite of mine...it had "Granada" and "Jalousie" on this particular record), and Bo Diddley. Oh yes, and the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison (another favorite) and Bobby Vinton.

We had a portable record player but it looked like a large suitcase, and it sat on a TV stand next to an old steam radiator. I remember getting a mild electrical shock if I touched the record player while sitting on the radiator. I also remember using the 45 rpm record spindle as a microphone, and lip syncing in front of the living room mirror to all the great songs.

Earlier in this thread there was mention made of portable radios. I had a small black transistor radio when I was about 10 or 11 that I carried with me all the time. I even fell asleep listening to it. There were two stations that came in clearly: KXOK in St. Louis and WLS in Chicago. This was in the day of Larry Lujack, if anyone here recognizes that name.

[W. Gray]

I may receive some scorn, but the only use I ever had for Frank Sinatra was the enjoyment I received from reading Kitty Litter's book about him. (Her name was actually Kitty Kelley but she received the Kitty Litter nickname because a number of people questioned the authenticity of her sources in her various exposure books, including Sinatra's. However, no one ever successfully sued her.)

Sixdogsmom,

I have seen bits and pieces and have also heard the sound track to the Jazz Singer was a record somehow synchronized with the picture. For some reason it is billed as the first talkie but there were others before it, including "Don Juan" in 1926.

Indygal,

I remember coming across a 78 rpm player, which had a turntable that worked but there was nothing coming out of the speakers. However, by turning on the turntable, putting the needle to the record, and putting my ear close to it, I could faintly hear the music. Also, discovered I could hear the music by putting my thumbnail in the groove instead of the needle and could also faintly hear the music.

At one time, all the radio stations started east of the Mississippi River were required to start with a "W" and all the radio stations west of the Mississippi were required to start with a "K."

[W. Gray]

From 1967 to 70, I was in Heidelberg, Germany. There was no Armed Forces TV at the time, but there was Armed Forces Radio broadcasting out of Frankfurt. One of the announcers mentioned they had received letters from German listeners who said they could hear the station sometimes playing through the trolley lines on the Frankfurt street cars. They had also received letters from Germans saying they could sometimes hear the station through the fillings in their teeth.

One of my favorite programs was the "1605 to Nashville," a country and western hour long program played on the weekends at 4:05 pm. For you civilian folks, 4:05 pm and 1605 are the same. Since there was no advertising on Armed Forces radio, it was one song after another for 55 minutes. Apparently, their country and western deejays were few and far between.

By 1972, I was in Bangkok, Thailand, where there was no Armed Forces TV or radio but a Thai radio station was 100 percent American country and western with Australian deejays.

[Wilma]

Indygal, I remember that song well.  I even know all the words to it.  It was one of those things that just stuck in my mind, besides I think we had the sheet music to it.  If we did, then it was part of the songs that my sister played and we sang.  Another one we liked was Uncle Noah's Ark.  I could name a number of old songs that wouldn't make it with the young crowd now, but at least we could understand what was being said.

[Mom70x7]

All my kids learned Mairzy Doats! 

[W. Gray]

When buying something from a store (not all stores, though), the merchant had a counter with a cash register on one end and a large roll of wide heavy brown paper on a metal frame at the other end. He also had a "cone" of white string.

The string was threaded into an eyelet in the ceiling and the end of the string hung down waiting for the merchant to reach up and grab it.

After ringing up the purchase, the merchant pulled a length of brown paper from the roll and cut it off with a metal "cutter" built into the metal frame holding the roll.

He spread the paper out on the counter, placed your purchase on the paper, wrapped it with the paper, and then reached for the string. He cut off a length and wrapped it around all four sides of the brown paper bundle and neatly tied it for you to carry home.