The clock isn't edited out of the colorized photo, it's just cropped tightly enough that you don't see it (other than a very small bit of it, which is visible). Yes, definitely multiple flashes in the second photo. I'm not an expert on the history of film speed (and I'm having a hard time finding much out specifically), but my *guess* is the changes had more to do with 1) style and 2) the fact that Plaut was taking more casual/candid snaps rather than being somebody there specifically for a "photo shoot". It looks like many of the pre-remodel shots were taken without any sort of flash, so it was certainly technically possible at that point in our timeline (mid-1940s).
I found this photo that is labeled "Sinatra30thStreet," (possibly by yours truly, in error,) but is this Liederkrantz?
That's Liederkrantz. Note the mirror on the wall straight back from Frank. That said, I've never been able to completely figure out the floor plan there. Not yet anyway.
FYI, much larger version here: (untitled item) - Martha Holmes - Google Cultural Institute » "Nov 16, 1944"
More Sinatra at Liederkrantz for @MLutthans: Nov 16, 1944: (untitled item) - Martha Holmes - Google Cultural Institute » (untitled item) - Martha Holmes - Google Cultural Institute » (untitled item) - Martha Holmes - Google Cultural Institute » Surprisingly not seeing any more from Liederkrantz (or 30th Street) in the Life archive.
That date may not be accurate: The closest documented session in the Columbia files was Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1944. Sinatra recorded "If You Are But a Dream," "Saturday Night," "There's No You" and "White Christmas."
FWIW, the first-listed photo has AFM head James C. Petrillo there with Sinatra. The 11/16/44 date is noteworthy; it's just a couple days after Columbia reached an agreement with the AFM instrumentalists, effectively ending the "Recording Ban." In the other two pictures, that's of course conductor Axel Stordahl.
Perhaps Harold Keel (late 1940s), before he became "Howard Keel"? Google has a pic of him doing "Oklahoma!" in 1947; (looks more like this pic than the 1950s MGM publicity shots do).
Hi George, Welcome to the thread. I look forward to what you have to say and tell us about our subject. Howard/Harold Keel seems like a good guess, but as I look at the pictures I can find and compare to the ones I have, I'm not sure. What do you think? Harold/Howard Keel on the left, pic on right is Ray Noble and the mystery fellow. Ray Noble's most famous works, as near as I can tell, were with a singer/bandleader named Al Bowlly, and this is definitely not Al Bowlly. Ray's greatest hits album Love is the Sweetest Thing - Take Two Records » has Al Bowlly, Tony Martin, Howard Phillips, Larry Stewart, and Buddy Clark as male vocalists. The mystery fellow seems to be none of them, although I can't find any images of Howard Phillips. However, those songs were recorded 10 or so years before when I think the Ray Noble Liederkranz pictures were taken (1944-47?), and the mystery man looks younger than someone who would have been active then. Maybe. Edit: Well, the hair definitely looks similar on the two guys. Mystery guy looks like he has an easier smile, but I may well be wrong. I hope you are right....
Looking for a better quality version of that photo, I got sidetracked and found this. Frank at 30th Street. Date? Behind the Scenes With the 20th Century's Biggest Recording Artists Did I miss it before, or is this a new one for us?
The article claims 1951, albeit with no specifics: "When Smith photographed Frank Sinatra, Marian Anderson, Igor Stravinsky and Benny Goodman at the RCA and Columbia studios in 1951, he captured quiet moments of self-evaluation."
Stop the presses. That Sinatra photo is Liederkranz, not 30th Street. Same session? The Dorothy Kirsten photo is obviously 30th Street though.
This is Goddard with Oscar Levant and a shot of Oscar with the clock that I think is in lots of Liederkranz control room pictures [ I'm happy to have an opportunity to finally post pictures of Oscar, who I somewhat idolized as a kid for some reason. He was very funny, for one, and a ridiculously good piano player as can be seen in several Hollywood movies. We watched "An American In Paris" just the other day and he has several extended concert scenes in it. His persona at the time is one of the interesting contrasts of then and now: he smoked a lot, made public jokes of his very real pharmaceutical abuse and heavy alcohol use as well as his tenuous hold on mental stability. Those were big, funny jokes in that day and age. His dour look and temperament were amusing, and he was quite happy to share stories of his ups and downs. His autobiography, "Memoirs of an Amnesiac" (didn't have to look that up) was one of my favorite books until I read it again in a more modern time with more modern eyes. Still, he was a remarkably talented person (had his own TV show for a time, which I'm sure is where I got to know him) and I'm happy to put him in this thread. He was recorded a number of times by Columbia.
Yes. Is this Liederkranz Hall? With the cracked mirror visible in the arch below the light at the very far left?
Then those other pictures I posted are also taken at Liederkranz Hall. Edit: Although maybe not the Fred/Goddard/Oscar ones. That slanted window is definitely different. Maybe.
Ok, going back through the thread a bit, it looks like the earlier control room at Liederkranz had a rectangular window, while the later control room (when diffusers were put on the walls, etc) had the window that spanned two walls, with the angled bit on one end. Some photos starting at this post: History of CBS Records 30th Street Studio NYC (many pictures) Presumably the photo with Frank on the phone is from before the remodel, although it would be nice to have other photos from that session to confirm.
I've been trying to go through the Plaut pictures to identify and isolate all those showing the Liederkranz window, and I have to confess that I'm more confused than ever. And in following one of the links Luke posted referring to earlier in the thread, I found that I had mentioned suspecting that there were two control rooms in Liederkranz, maybe, an assertion which I had forgotten making. If there were, that would clear up some of this confusion about what it was like. But I haven't found confirmation of two control rooms, although I'll show what I've got and maybe you can help decide what was going on. But I did find some other interesting tidbits. This shot has an unknown person smoking in the control room. We can see a part of the same mixer that was in the pic of Fred that I posted in #1586 on the previous page. Here it is again: Same one? Back to the first picture: This shows the window on the left interior of the control room that has the angle built in, which we've seen in many pictures of Liederkranz. Now follow the guy's nose into the studio beyond the window. It looks like there's a part of a polycylindrical diffusor there, but a bunch of the furring strips (sp?) that are above and below the line of polycylindrical diffusors. Let's go into the studio: Hey, those are either being installed or torn out; my money is on being installed. These two pictures are from the same folder, so it's possible if not likely that they are from the same session. No idea who these people are so far. Now let's go back in time, before the diffusion was present at all. This is Sinatra with Axel Stordahl and orchestra. No diffusion on control room. Fortunately, it's a very wide and tall picture, and it looks like maybe there's a second viewing area above the control room. Certainly some kind of open space, and I think I can see part of a stairway through the open doorway which continues up. Unfortunately I haven't found any other wide and tall pictures other than what I've already posted here a year or so ago; here they are again: Ezio Pinza recording "Boris Godunov", and I bet the scaffold that we see in this and many other pics was to install the diffusion. I can't tell where in the studio from this pic but the next one (in the next post since I'm at 5 pictures now) shows part of the straight part of the control room window and the filled-waiting-for-a-window angled part. These and the next batch of pictures are 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.
Here are a couple of intriguing ones: This is Rudolph Serkin, who according to a handwritten note in the Index is recording Beethoven Sonata No. 8, on June 5, 1945 (the last digit is smeared but I'm pretty sure it's a 5). We can see a control room window behind him, but not only isn't there an angled part on our right, there is some kind of sign with wall and storage to the right of it. The sign is a light-up one that says "STAND BY" and "ON THE AIR", presumably for radio broadcasts. Here's another shot of it from roughly the same time period but with Edward Kilyeni: Second control room or same control room at different time? Another possibility: This is Morton Gould conducting, and we can see almost the entire control room window behind him. What's going on behind his head? The left side of the control room is completely dark, while the right side of the control room is completely bright. Was there a wall down the middle of the window dividing the space into two rooms? Here's another view of the area in question, same session: There's something happening there but it doesn't look like a wall to me. One more post then I'm done for a while.
Here's two more: This first one may be backwards, too. When I was going through the collection I was taking pictures as fast as I could and the negatives were in their sleeves as they were. I ask if it's backwards because that left wall doesn't look like any of the control room left sides, I think. Is that Howard Scott? What's different about him? I can't put my finger on it.... Here's one that definitely is him That's Morton Gould again on the left, same session I think. Howard's glasses are different but his dome looks freshly cropped rather than smooth. Both of these are younger pictures of him, with this one being later??? That's going to be it from me for a while, things are heating up here.
