I think that first one is in the old control room in 30th St, too. That last link has lots of Korean or Japanese or Chinese language that I bet is interesting, but there's definitely a bunch of good pics and lots of movies, too. Regarding his attire at any particular month, I'll just note that in the documents that you and bmoregnr cite there are lots of descriptions about how he'd bundle up in the warmest weather and leave it at that, since I can't prove anything one way or another. Also, I'll note again how much I enjoy watching On The Record. FWIW.
OK, moving away from this winter-clothes-in-summer talk, here are a few Plaut collection pics that have me stymied. These will all be from an Igor Stravinsky session that took place before 1956. The index identifies the woman as Blanche Thebom, an operatic mezzo-soprano, and google tells me that in 1953 she was in the Stravinsky recording of The Rake's Progress, conducted by Fritz Reiner and also sung by Eugene Conley, Hilde Gueden, Norman Scott, Mack Harrell, Martha Lipton, Paul Franke, and Lawrence Davidson. The fellow she's with doesn't look like any of the google results for the men that I see, and I don't recognize anyone else in the pictures as looking like any of the named men, although this fellow on the left of the next one and the middle of the following pic might be Fritz Reiner: I thought that last one was interesting because the fellow on the right is carrying an oversized record album in an Audiodiscs sleeve. Haven't seen many or maybe any other pics of people carrying records in the studio, although I won't say there aren't any others. Edit: Now that I see those last two pictures next to each other, the fellow on the right in both pictures seems to be the same person. Here's a bonus picture of Howard Scott wearing Stravinsky's bowler hat (if that's what it is) Recognize anybody? Thanks!
That's a 16" lacquer master (or dub) disc. If the session this picture is from was recorded to disc (either when tape wasn't being used, or done in tandem), it's from the very early days of the studio, unless a dub was done to 16" disc for this person from a master tape, but I'm not sure how likely that would have been.
I'm willing to accept the consensus that it wasn't Fritz. Any ideas when these pictures of him were taken? This session would have been in the early 50's, 1953 if it was Rake's Progress. Have to keep looking, I guess, to find something else that Blanche Thebom did with Stravinsky between 1949 and March 1956.
Reiner turned 65 in Dec. 1953. Not sure when those pictures were taken, but I'd say sometime in the 50s. He died in 1963 at age 74.
I'm having a hard time with the exact size; are you sure that's 16", and not 12"? It seems more likely to me that it would be a reference acetate, rather than a master part. Perhaps not even from the current session, but something brought to the session. I'm not sure if it has been verified, but my recollection is somebody (Frank?) stated that prior to tape, masters were cut via phone lines at 799 Seventh Ave, and that 30th Street didn't actually have cutting lathes.
It looks like a 12" disc to me, but if it is 16", it's probably a transcription disc, intended for broadcast. Columbia was one of many companies that made transcription discs.
I wasn't sure. When Dan said oversized, I looked at it again and thought it was possible. It's a little difficult to judge, but it does seem like it could be larger than a 12".
I don't see a radio label on that disc, though it could be one-sided with the blank side visible. However, many (if not all) CBS one-sided radio transcriptions still had a (different) label for the blank side, at least in the 1940's.
It looked bigger than the guy's head to me, which made me think it was bigger than 12". I stand corrected.
14 inches, perhaps? I have a mother disc (plated at Mastercraft in New York - not to be confused with the Memphis mastering studio of the same name) of Side 1 of the stereo issue of The Modern Jazz Quartet and Guests' Third Stream Music on Atlantic, and the diameter of what I have is a tad over 14 inches.
Time for some more "Please ID these People". We'll start with the coolest one first. This is the old control room, and an extremely rare shot of the back of the console. Not sure who the fellow is; he looks like he should be an engineer or equipment maintenance guy. Can't tell what he's doing. On the left we can see a row of cables going into/out of the console. They must have been using P-3 connectors, as XLR's had not been invented yet/weren't in wide use. Above the console we can see the tape machine area lit up, and maybe the top of a mono machine sticking up above the back of a rack? Behind him we can see one of those RCA speakers in the corner. The window is to the right, and above that are the original monitors that were later removed. Now look where they intersect with the window wall: those are HINGES attaching their bottoms to the wall. Removing those speakers would leave the mortised cavities where hinges used to be, and that explains those random atrocities on the beautiful (!?) molding around the control room window!!!!!! Finally, an explanation! I have to confess at a feeling of triumph to finally figure that out. I also confess to looking at the control room window in that picture for quite a while, trying to determine if it was actually a rectangular window rather than the U-shaped window we are familiar with, but I think the photo is not showing a sharp corner on that window below the speaker but that the speaker is hiding where the window goes up over there. I was hoping this fellow was the same as the one behind the console, but am leaning against that. What do you think? He is in an office like we've seen before, and I feel like I've seen the pattern of windows and arches on the building across the street out the window, but can't put my finger on that. Now we'll go out on a remote. The folder has the handwritten note "Adjutan Theroux engineer" but there are no pics of him. This is an E. Power Biggs session, apparently, and I assume that's him on the organ. That's a lot of basses there. Any idea where this is or what music would have that kind of orchestra? That diagonal line sure looks like a hanging mic line to me, but I can't find where it terminates on the left. It seems to stop in thin air, which make one think it's a scratch. Mighty consistent scratch, though. And I only see one mic, one of those RCA's, just in front of the organ pointing down toward the strings. These next people might be singers for that session although there are no pics of them at the session, just in the break/green room with Mr. Biggs. He looks like a salsa singer and she looks like a poet and they both look familiar, but I can't place them. Thoughts? These pictures are again from MSS 52, The Frederick and Rose Plaut Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University, gathered with the help of Richard Boursey and Emily Ferrigno, wonderful librarians.
Dan, there is photo of Ad Theroux on page 38 of the book "Sessions With Sinatra" ... Sessions with Sinatra
