Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Blast from the Past

or Now for something completely different (you Monty Python fans will take note)
When i was a little girl, a hundred years ago, we didn't have much TV - there was some but it was pretty limited. I loved what there was and have many fond memories of shows like the Mickey Mouse Club, Leave it to Beaver, The Patty Duke Show. Well i could go on and on.
What we did have - at least in my home - was a lot of records. We listened to a lot of records. Most were just music. My parents had a great collection. Sad to say most of those wonderful 78's were lost in a flood in my parents home years later. I did manage to save a fabulous Billie Holiday record of my Dad's. He was a huge Billie Holiday fan.
Anyway - we also listened to a lot of story records. Whole books on records with songs if they had 'em. I still remember 2 favorites - Pinnochio (with Jimmy Nelson, Danny O'Day and Farfel) and a recording called "Long Name No Can Say" narrated by a man named Paul Wing. I would lie down next to the stereo (it was a piece of furniture - a console) and listen to these over and over again.
I've been searching for those records for years. I am like that.
It took me years but i finally found a record, then a cd, of Christmas music by Mitch Miller. It was part of every Christmas in my childhood and i was determined to have it.
So last night i got a notion to go looking for those records again. Through a series of searches on ebay and google I happened upon a wonderful website that actually has the recording of "Long Name No Can Say' right on it! I couldn't believe my ears. Here's the website:
http://www.kiddierecords.com/
and here's Long Name No Can Say
It is terribly un-PC but back then - well they didn't think about those things. And it doesn't change the fact that i listened to it and loved it and had a huge blast from the past when i heard it again. Totally transported back - well a lot of years!
I emailed the man about Pinnochio - that recording was just thee best thing ever. I hope he has it. Anyway take a look at the website and see if any of your favorites are there.

2 comments:

Babsarella said...

Too fun!!! I think I may have had some of these records myself!!!

Donna Layton said...

Oh, how fun. I'll go look through the website. I remember Mitch Miller. Don't you just love how songs and smells can jolt you right back into the past like some sort of magic? So cool.