Any of you collect 78 rpm records?

[crainbebo]

Well, do any of you collect 78 rpm records? Not LPs, not 45 singles, but vintage 78 records? I do, and have at least 85 in my collection. They include many popular artists, country, big band, swing, pop, and sometimes Hawaiian music! 

This is my huge collection: starting with the first record album book I go through. The first thirty are posted here.

1: Dick Jurgens: Mississippi Mud/Kiss-Kiss-Kissin in The Corn (Columbia, 1947)
2: Tennessee Ernie Ford: Ballad of Davy Crockett/Farewell (Capitol, 1950s)
3: Jo Stafford/Johnny Mercer: Conversation While Dancing/On The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (Capitol, 1945)
4: Kay Kyser and His Orchestra: Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate-The Positive/Like Someone in Love (Columbia, 1944)
5: Frankie Laine: Shine/We'll Be Together Again (Mercury Celebrity Series, 1947)
6: Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra: Boogie Woogie/Weary Blues (Victor, 1938)
7: Frankie Laine/Jimmy Boyd: The Little Boy and The Old Man/Tell Me a Story (Columbia, 1953)
8: Margaret Whiting/Jimmy Wakely: Wedding Bells/Sliping Around (Capitol, 194?)
9: Jo Stafford: Just Another Polka/My Dearest, My Darling (Columbia, 1953)
10: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra: My Guy's Come Back/Symphony (Columbia, 1945)
11: Glenn Miller and His Orchestra: It Happened in Hawaii/Moonlight Cocktail (RCA Victor, 194?)
12: Johnny Bond: Tennessee Walking Horse/Sick, Sober and Sorry (Columbia, 1951)
13: Oklahoma Ed Moody/The Six Westernaires: Can't Win, Can't Place, Can't Show/What Good Would it Do (Black and White, 1948?)
14: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys: If You're From Texas/We Might as Well Forget It (Okeh, 1942)
15: Art Wengel and His Ragtime Cowboys: Just Lonesome for You/Yodeling Polka (King Records Hollywood, 194?)
16: Sarah Vaughan: Penthouse Serenade/I've Got a Crush on You (Musicraft, 1946)
17: Sarah Vaughan: Out O' Breath/After Hours (Columbia, 195?)
18: Sarah Vaughan: I Can't Get Started/What a Difference a Day Made (MGM, 1949/50)
19: Sarah Vaughan: Tonight I Shall Sleep/While You Are Gone (Columbia, 1949)
20: Sarah Vaughan: I'll Know/De Gas Pipe She Leaking Joe (Columbia, 1951)
21: Sarah Vaughan/George Treadwell's Orchestra: Body and Soul/Everything I Have is Yours (Musicraft, 1946)
22: Sarah Vaughan/Percy Faith's Orchestra: Say You'll Wait for Me/My Tormented Heart (Columbia, 1952)
23: Sarah Vaughan: I Ran All The Way Home/Just a Moment More (Columbia, 1951)
24: Sarah Vaughan: Our Very Own/Don't Be Afraid (Columbia, 1950)
25: Frankie Carle and His Orchestra: Beg Your Pardon/The Dream Peddler (Columbia, 1947)
26: Frankie Laine: Rock of Gibraltar/High Noon (Columbia, 1952)
27: Vicki Young: Honey Love/Riot In Cell Block Number Nine (Capitol, 195?)
28: Lionel Hampton and His Sextet: I Miss You So/One Little Tear is An Ocean (Decca Personality, 1947)
29: George Shearing Quintet: For You/Little White Lies (MGM, 1950)
30: Tony Martin: Philosophy/Here (RCA Victor, 195?)

That is my first 30 records of my collection. Another thirty coming soon! I have more than 85, so this is only about 1/4 of the collection.

-crainbebo

[dmargalotti]

That is my first 30 records of my collection. Another thirty coming soon! I have more than 85, so this is only about 1/4 of the collection.

OK - granted math was not my favorite subject.  However if you posted a list of 30 records and claimed that to be 1/4 of your collection, wouldn't your collection then be 120 records, and not 85?  30 out of 85 is slightly more than 1/3rd.  I'm just asking...an impressive collection nonetheless.

[Alan McCall]

An elderly friend of the family called me last year to say she was moving away, and did we have
any use for some old music she had.

It ended up being a number of 45s and several album books of 78s. Most of them are along the lines of the titles
you mentioned. She donated it all.

So I guess I have kinda sorta joined the 78 collectors!

[Bongwater]

I collect a lot of early blues, R&B and jazz 78s from the 1910's to 1950s (many African-American owned labels pressed 78s well into the 1950s. I'm digitizing them to CD as many of the original master tapes/acetates have long been destroyed or lost to time.

In fact, many of Victor's more obscure 78s are collectors items for that reason. Just before the old Camden pressing plant was demolished, many collectors were allowed to take what was left, after the Caruso, Big Band and other key seller masters were taken by RCA (which was a LOT left remaining....from the 1890s to the 1950s.) The remaining discs nobody claimed were destroyed with the demolition....

The inheritors of one early label has taken it's masters and used them for skeet shooting!

http://www.bubbaguitar.com/articles/78rpm.html

So collecting 78s today is definitely a worthwhile thing.....you never know what aural treasures lay in those grooves.......

One of the richest sources of obscure and collectible audio is WFMU 91.1 in East Orange, NJ, a freeform station (if there ever was one......)

http://wfmu.org/ (They have a twice yearly record fair in New York City I plan to attend next year....)

Their blog is also a fun read.

Also check out:

http://www.ubu.com/outsiders/365/index.shtml (for some of the STRANGEST recordings ever put to shellac, vinyl, tape or Eva-Tone soundsheet......all on free and legal MP3s)

 

[crainbebo]

That is my first 30 records of my collection. Another thirty coming soon! I have more than 85, so this is only about 1/4 of the collection.

OK - granted math was not my favorite subject.  However if you posted a list of 30 records and claimed that to be 1/4 of your collection, wouldn't your collection then be 120 records, and not 85?  30 out of 85 is slightly more than 1/3rd.  I'm just asking...an impressive collection nonetheless.

Sorry. That was just an estimate.

-crainbebo

Another thirty records coming your way in just minutes!

[crainbebo]

And here we go! Thirty more 78 rpm records in my collection!

31: Glenn Miller and His Orchestra: Sleep Song/Sweet Eloise (His Master's Voice UK, 194?)
32: Peggy Lee: Sunshine Cake/Goodbye, John (Capitol, 1949)
33: Roy Hamilton: So Let There Be Love/If I Loved You (Epic, 195?)
34: Louis Armstrong: Basin Street Blues (Decca Personality, 1954)
35: Ink Spots: You're Looking for Romance (And I'm Looking for Love) (Decca, 1941)
36: Red Nichols and His Orchestra: Tears From My Inkwell/I Never Knew Heaven Could Speak (Bluebird, 1939)
37: Arnett Cobb and His Orchestra: Jumpin' The Blues/Without a Word of Warning (Okeh, 1951)
38: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys: Liberty/The Kind of Love I Can't Forget (Columbia, 1946)
39: Bing Crosby/Harry Owens: Sweet Hawaiian Chimes/Little Angels (Decca, 1950s reissue)
40: Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra: Sneakin Out/That Wonderful Worrisome Feeling (RCA Victor, 1946)
41: Bing Crosby: Rose of Santa Rosa/That's How Much I Love You (Decca, 1946)
42: George Barnes Sextet: Laughing at Life/Barnes at Dublin's (Keynote, 1946)
43: The Eddie Heywood Trio: Plymouth Rock/Chillicothe, Ohio (RCA Victor, 1947)
44: Jo Stafford: The Night Watch/Suddenly There's A Valley (Columbia, 1955)
45: Lefty Frizzell: You're Just Mine/I'm An Old, Old Man (Columbia, 1952)
46: Jimmy Wakely: I'm Sending You Red Roses/A Tiny Little Voice in A Tiny Little Prayer (Decca, 1943)
47: Bobby Wayne: Shawl of Galway Grey/When The Wind Was Green (London, 19??)
48: Frank Ferera/John K. Paaluhi: Hawaiian Waltz Medley/Klina Waltz (Victor, 1926!, my oldest record in my collection)
49: Dick Todd: Here Am I Broken Hearted/Oh How I Miss You Tonight (Carnival, 19??)
50: Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra: Heartaches/There is No Greater Love (MGM, 1947, #10001! First record released by MGM Records)
51: Ray Price: I'll Be There/Release Me (Columbia, 1953)
52: Bob Crosby and His Orchestra: Skater's Waltz (In Swingtime)/Eye Opener (Decca, 1939)
53: Dennis Day and His Orchestra: Johnny Appleseed Overture/Mama Macushla (RCA Victor, 194?)
54: Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers: Figaro/Beside a Moonlit Stream (Brunswick, 1938)
55: Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra: Bewildered/Corn Bread (RCA Victor, 1948)
56: Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye: Chickery Chick/I Lost My Job Again (Victor, 1945)
57: Lawrence Welk/Ted Reems: South/Piccolo Pete (Decca, 1941)
58: John Wilfahrt's Concertina Orchestra: Helena/Jolly Lumber Jack (Vocalion, 1929)
59: Tony Martin: Tonight We Love/I Guess I'll Have to Dream The Rest (Decca, 1941)
60: Rex Turner/Varsity Orchestra: Candy Kisses/I Must Be In Heaven (Varsity, 194?)
61: Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra: Aren't You Kinda Glad we Did/Changing My Tune (RCA Victor, 1946)

The last of the collection soon!

-crainbebo

[crainbebo]

And here we go! The final part of my 78 record collection!

62: Oscar Peterson Trio: I Hear Music/Autumn in New York (Clef Records, 19??)
63: John K. Almeida and His Hawaiians: Lovely Hula Hands/E Naughty Naughty Mai Nei (The 49th State Hawaii Record Co., 19??)
64: Arthur Prysock: Wheel of Fortune/'Til All The Stars Fall In The Ocean (Decca Personality, 1952)
65: Perry Como: Without a Song/More Than You Know (RCA Victor, 1950)
66: Phil Brito: Come Back to Sorrento/Besame Mucho (Musicraft, 194?)
67: Lionel Hampton: September in The Rain/Everybody's Somebody's Fool (Decca Personality, 1950)
68: Patti Page: This is My Song/Butterflies (Mercury, 1953)
69: Ames Brothers: Sentimental Me/Blue Prelude (Coral, 1950)
70: Silvana Mangano: Anna/I Loved You (MGM, 1952)
71: Tony Bennett: Stranger in Paradise/Why Does it Have to Be Me? (Columbia, 1953)
72: Frankie Carle and His Orchestra: No Baby, Nobody for You/I'm Glad I Waited for You (Columbia, 1945, cracked, taking back to thrift store soon.)
73: Gene Krupa and His Orchestra: Pass The Bounce/Me and My Melinda (Okeh, 1942)
74: Dinah Shore: The Gypsy/Laughing on The Outside (Columbia, 1946)
75: Dick Haymes/Ken Darby Singers/Victor Young and His Orchestra: Santa Claus is Ridin' The Trail/By The Old Corral (Decca, 1944)
76: Merle Travis: Follow Thru/I Like My Chicken Fryin-Size (Capitol Americana, 1946-47)
77: Tex Beneke/Miller Orchestra: A Girl That I Remember/Surprise Symphony (RCA Victor, 1947)
78: Andy Parker and The Plainsmen: Texas Belle/Ruby Red Lips (Capitol Americana, 1947-48)
79: Charlie Spivak and His Orchestra: Yesterday's Gardenias/White Christmas (Columbia, 1942)
80: Helen Forrest: Worry, Worry, Worry/Cincinatti (MGM, 1947)
81: Alfred Newman/20th Century Fox Studio Orchestra: Conquest/Fulfillment in The New World (Mercury, 195?)
82: Bill Boyd and His Cowboy Ramblers: If You'll Come Back/There's A Light Shining Bright (Bluebird, 1940)
83: Ray Bloch: Arkansas Traveler/Turkey in The Straw (Signature, 1946?)

That's it, My collection! I will post updates as I get more 78s.

-crainbebo

[stormy01]

What are any of you using to play these 78's? I used to have a Dual 1229 and sold it - big mistake! What turntable do any of you recommend now?

[crainbebo]

I use a Califone Classroom record player (Model 1430C) that I got for only $15! Works great, and the light on the needle works too!

-crainbebo

[Bongwater]

I use a classic Admiral tube HI-Fi portable with output jack, circa 1961. The warmer sound (yet slightly noticeable turntable rumble) regardless makes it all sound good.

i actually have two brand new old stock needles for it still I bought off eBay.