GILBERT AND SULLIVAN HIGHLIGHTS on THESAURUS TRANSCRIPTIONS, based on 1939 TV
$
30
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Description
In 1939, television was known to only a few people in the United States, but there were some ambitious programs, including a couple of Gilbert and Sullivan classics: HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance. The performers included Jack Cherry, Walter Preston, Ray Heatherton, Margaret Daum and other reliable singers, all under the direction of Harold Sanford. No film or kinescope copies are thought to exist, but in 1940, Harold Sanford directed the recording of six radio transcriptions of Gilbert and Sullivan highlights for Thesaurus, which provided recorded libraries to subscribing radio stations. Thesaurus was part of NBC and discs were recorded and manufactured by RCA. Here is the complete series, plus two duplicates, from a set of file copies stored away for decades. Performers are not identified on the labels or in the Thesaurus catalog, and each disc consists of selections randomly programmed, but all are from Pirates, Pinafore and The Mikado. For example:
RECORD 826, SIDE 1:
1. From Every Kind of Man
2. I Am the Very Pattern
3. So Please You, Sir
4. O Joy, O Rapture Unforeseen
RECORD 830, SIDE 1
1. We Sail the Ocean Blue
2. A Maiden Fair to See
3. Behold the Lord High Executioner
4. A Wand'ring Minstrel I
5. As Some Day It May Happen
These are 16-inch vinyl pressings, outside start, 33 RPM, standard groove (i.e. 78 needle). Discs generally in G to E condition, some sides look unplayed, some have caught dust particles, some discs may have been used extensively on radio.
THESAURUS 826 (2 copies)
THESAURUS 830
THESAURUS 835
THESAURUS 840 (2 copies)
THESAURUS 845
THESAURUS 850
These are large discs, require a turntable capable of playing 16" (many of the old Lencos will handle them), and will cost a bit more than usual to ship. Recreate television history!
