[ELVIS Content] This is why you never give up looking for things…

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Joel Cairo, Mar 6, 2011.

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  1. Joel Cairo

    Joel Cairo Video Gort / Paiute Warrior Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    …because sooner or later, if you’re lucky enough, and in the right place at the right time, you just might find what you’re looking for!

    First, a bit of backtracking—one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had as a video restoration specialist occurred while I was working on the “Elvis/Ed Sullivan Shows” LiveFeed Video Imaging project for Andrew Solt. A piece that we ended up using in one of the shows was actually able to be restored utilizing an original tape recording of the program’s soundtrack, courtesy of an unknown TV viewer, who had a reel-to-reel tape tape recorder wired into his home system, and actually taped that [non-Elvis] portion of the show. Matching the visual improvements of the LiveFeed processing with a full-range soundtrack recording (as opposed to the scratchy, limited bandwidth of the low-fi standard kinescope film soundtrack) made an incredible difference in the final product; it also made me appreciate just how closely the original “live broadcast” look of these shows could be recreated, if the right materials could be used.

    But realistically-- what are the chances that any given program would exist, and in a usable state? Even these days, audiophiles are a blip in the population; consider the relative rarity of “hi-fi nuts” in the mid-to-late 50s… then look at the incredibly small subset of that group who had the technical know-how to wire a tape recorder in-line into their TV system. Add into the computations the fact that the cost of blank tape at that time was the modern-day equivalent of $30-35.00 per reel! Given an investment like that, even the most manic fan was quite likely to be very miserly with his tape, and if he recorded at all, was likely to do so at the slowest speed possible, to cram as much as he could on each reel.

    And then there’s the demographic of their tastes… pretty middle-of-the-road, for the most part, as you might guess. Occasionally we get lucky, and find a collection of material recorded by some jazz cats or musicians, whose tastes run to the more adventurous, but overall, there’s an awful lot of Metropolitan Opera and Lawrence Welk out there. [Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course… :) ]

    So as far as popular music and variety programs go, it’s really asking a lot to try and find usable recorded material that’s survived over the decades… that type of entertainment simply didn’t have much appeal to the taping crowd of that period. And as for that new thing that the kids were calling “rock ‘n’ roll”, well—let’s just say that anyone that listened to **that** was almost certainly too young to have the money or the motivation to buy something as extravagant as a hi-fi setup.

    Which is what makes this little box sitting next to me, containing a 7” reel of brown tape, all the more incredible. It’s fairly easy to figure out why the program on it was recorded in the first place (the recordist happened to be a fan of a particular big band), but not so easy to discern why this particular tape was saved.

    Whatever the reason, though, we can thank this person’s affinity for Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey’s orchestra for one of the most amazing (and highly unexpected) finds that I’ve come across: a [generally] complete in-line 7 ½ ips reel-to-reel recording of the February 4, 1956 edition of “Stage Show”, featuring the second national television appearance of a young man that Tommy Dorsey predicted was "...going to go a lot of places in the entertainment field": Elvis Presley!

    And I’m particularly delighted that this recording should surface, because this is my favorite of Elvis’ six “Stage Show” appearances—the band gives a flawless performance, with no trace of nervousness on anyone’s part, the selected material is **killer** (Elvis’ previous Sun Records hit “Baby, Let’s Play House” along with Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”), and the sheer jubilant enthusiasm of the performances seems to leap off the TV screen. Even with his undeniable talent, I’m convinced that the phenomenon of E*L*V*I*S would not have happened without the high-octane kickstart of these early “Stage Show” performances. Whether you love or hate the Colonel, booking those six dynamic appearances, perfectly timed to coincide with the appearance of Elvis’ first RCA releases, was one of the shrewdest moves that Tom Parker (or any manager, for that matter) ever made.

    So since it’s now possible from a technical standpoint to essentially create the equivalent of a videotape of the February 4th “Stage Show” appearance, will such a thing ever see the light of day? Hard to say. The Jackie Gleason estate, who control the US copyrights to the “Stage Show” material, would have to authorize such a restoration, and at this time, they apparently don’t see any compelling reason to do so. For their purposes, they feel the material that they have now (which derives from film-to-tape transfers done in about 1979) is sufficient. Since I’ve been told that they have no intention of issuing a package similar to Andrew Solt’s “Ed Sullivan” shows, I could see why they probably **don’t** see any reason to upgrade the “old movie” look of the archive. They’d hardly be the only ones that have made that decision.

    (Still, you’d think that the extra money to be made by licensing the upgraded audio track to Sony/RCA for use on a future project would be tempting enough…) :)

    At any rate, I just thought the Elvis-philes on the Forum would like to know that there **are** still treasures to be found out there in the world—even 55 years later!!

    - Kevin
     
  2. docwebb

    docwebb Forum Resident

    I wish FTD would lease it from Gleason's estate and put it out, maybe as bonus tracks to a future release. Many fans of Elvis early music would buy it.....but I don't think it has much interest to the general population.
     
  3. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Oh man what I wouldn't give to hear that little tape! :eek::eek::eek:
     
  4. Scott S.

    Scott S. lead singer for the best indie band on earth

    Location:
    Walmartville PA
    great read here
     
  5. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Think of the boxes of 7" reels sitting in garages owned by relatives of people who are out of the way, not on the internet, or have passed on. And nobody has looked at the reels in decades.

    There is good usable stuff out there that might not ever find it's way home.
     
  6. ledsox

    ledsox Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Very cool find. Fingers crossed that it will see the light of day, someday...
     
  7. Drawer L

    Drawer L Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Long Island
    It's stories like this,that keep us going!!!----After 50-odd years,something like that surfacing--AMAZING!!!!---Now,where's the stereo similcasts of "In Concert"???---You KNOW there had to be guys all over the country,that taped them every week.....
     
  8. apple-richard

    apple-richard *Overnight Sensation*

    Great stuff! I love reading things like this. Thanks for sharing! It makes what we love all worthwhile. Hopefully one day I'll find something really cool too.
     
  9. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    That's great and I'd like to hear more about the back story - like why only 1 of the Stage Show shows, especially if Elvis wasn't the primary interest?

    But really how does it sound compared to the kine? Unless it was recorded off air live in NYC from WCBS it still has a chopped off high end.
     
  10. Joel Cairo

    Joel Cairo Video Gort / Paiute Warrior Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Good question-- at this point, though, it's the only one that I've found from that collection. There are other Dorsey broadcast recordings, but only one "Stage Show" ep.

    As to the second question, the kine doesn't even compare. Frankly, if someone had just managed to record their local version of a kinescope (which would have been the case if this fan had been in the Mountain or Pacific Time zones), I wouldn't have even bothered to mention the find. Blissfully, though, this was an East Coast viewer, who was recording the live broadcast. Couldn't ask for anything more!

    [Well, OK-- maybe I could've asked for him to have recorded the **whole** show. He cut out most of the commercials and the opening monkey act, "Tippy & Cobina"]

    And I'm glad to see that this find has re-inspired a few people to keep up their search efforts... it's the only way things like this will continue to turn up! :righton:

    - Kevin
     
  11. drjohncarpenter

    drjohncarpenter Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    GREAT post. Thanks for sharing this, Kevin.
     
  12. billdcat

    billdcat Well-Known Member

    Its amazing to me that finds like this are still being made.
    Just wish the fans could buy it.

    By the way, The Ed Sullivan/Elvis DVD package is great,
    and should be in every Elvis fan collection.

    Sorry to hear that Tippy & Cobina are missing from the tape,
    I'm sure their fans are "dew"-y eyed over this.
     
  13. billdcat

    billdcat Well-Known Member

    Here's picture of one of the team Tippy & Cobina .

    Calling his agent to beef about having to share the stage
    with some hillbilly from Memphis.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member

    Location:
    Texas
    Kevin, have you shared this discovery with Ernst Jorgensen?

    Thanks!
     
  15. Joel Cairo

    Joel Cairo Video Gort / Paiute Warrior Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    No, I've not had an opportunity to converse with Mr. Jorgensen, either on- or off-line. Traded a few messages in the past with Kevan Budd, though.

    I'm sure somehow, if they think it's important enough, someone will see that Mr. Jorgensen hears about this, though...! :)

    - Kevin
     
  16. blueEyedSoul

    blueEyedSoul Active Member

    Location:
    England
    Thanks for posting this Kevin. It sounds very interesting. There are many who greatly appreciated your fine efforts on the Ed Sullivan shows.
     
  17. JLGB

    JLGB Senior Member

    Location:
    D.R.
    Thank you!
     
  18. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    Makes me wonder if a specialty label could manage to license and put out stuff like this...


    And not to get off on another note, but these kinds of situations are probably why copyright is supposed to EXPIRE after some period of time. Sorry, but I just don't feel much regard for the "rights" of folks who are just sitting on stuff never to release it.
     
  19. chicofishhead

    chicofishhead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chico, California
    Thanks for sharing this story, Joel.
    About ten years ago I read an article about a guy in New York City who had hard wired a reel-to-reel to his TV and had all these recording of live music programs that sounded better than the kinescopes. I've tried recently to find that article again, but couldn't.

    As for In Concert, a couple people have recently shared their off-air reels of the FM simulcasts, and I was surprised that they didn't sound that good.
     
  20. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Beautiful story. I love this kind of stuff. Too bad there's no clear path to getting the material released. But just knowing it has been located is great...
     
  21. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    somebody's gotta bring Ernst's attention to this.
     
  22. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Not quite on the level of importance as Elvis' show, but in the late '90s at a garage sale I bought some old 1/4" reel to reel tapes. One of them had a Louis Armstrong "Timex Jazz All-Stars" show and the other had a Benny Goodman "Swing Into Spring" show, and both were beautifully recorded in-line off a TV in 1958.
     
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