Wednesday, January 22, 2025

NRR Project: 'Gang Busters' (1935)

 

NRR Project: ‘Gang Busters’

Broadcast of July 20, 1935

30 min.

Gang Busters was the noisiest show on the air,” writes the great old-time radio historian John Dunning in his definitive On the Air. It definitely started out with a bang – a literal bang, followed by breaking glass, machine-gun fire, a police siren, and the marching tread of prisoners. Gang Busters was serious about crime. (Thus the phrase “come on like gangbusters.”)

The show was the creation, and professional rebirth, of its producer Phillips H. Lord. He began his career in radio as Seth Parker in 1929. In it, he portrayed a gentle and wise New Englander dispensing piety and gentle humor, mixing hymn-singing and cracker-barrel philosophy. At first immensely popular, a set of scandals later sabotaged Lord’s career and the show.

Lord planned his comeback. He sought to tell stories of the FBI, and in 1935 started his true-crime series under the title of G-Men. In this, he had the early cooperation of J. Edgar Hoover, head of the organization. Beginning with the story of the killing of John Dillinger, G-Men ran on for a year, until excessive FBI interference led Lord to change the show’s name to Gang Busters, and its focus on true crimes reported from across the nation.

The most important angle of the show was its avowed authenticity. These weren’t made-up stories, they were “authentic police case histories.” The show’s narrator would interview a law officer “by proxy” (meaning an actor portrayed the officer) about the crime, and the show would segue into the tale of the law-breakers.

The criminals were easy to identify – they used slang and contractions. (All law officers portrayed were well-spoken and grammatically correct.) Out of their sleazy minds would hatch a scheme to get rich quick by felonious means, and quickly they would set to work. Soon also would the law get wind of their activities, and move swiftly and decisively to arrest them.

Justice was always served on Gang Busters. Additionally, the show would broadcast special alerts at the end of the show – bulletins identifying criminal suspects, and calling for listeners to keep an eye out for them (several criminal were evidently apprehended due to the efforts of listeners).

Lord was back in business. The show ran for a healthy 22 years, and influenced all the crime shows that followed it.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: La Chicharronera.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

NRR Project: Met Opera, 'Tristan und Isolde' (1935)

 

NRR Project: ‘Tristan und Isolde’

Metropolitan Opera, New York

Broadcast of March 9, 1935

Featuring Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior

3 hours, 16 min.

The Metropolitan Opera in New York was founded in 1883. It has been broadcasting live over the radio since Christmas Day, 1931.

This kind of advocacy is important. When I was young, I tuned into the Met because it was free; we didn’t have money for cultural pursuits. Gradually, I got turned on to opera, and became a huge fan. I still listen in.

At the time, it was a bold move – “giving away” a performance over the air. However, the Met sought to reverse the downturn in audience attendance caused by the Great Depression, and the promotional value of these broadcasts was immense. Initially, only selected acts were broadcast. Starting March 11, 1933, complete operas were broadcast, and after some more time, the weekly broadcasts during the opera season settled down to Saturday morning on the schedule.

Amazingly, this tradition continues today, nearly a century after its inception. Saturday mornings are still the province of this program, which is now heard on all manner of networks and individual affiliate. For 20 weeks a year, you can experience the best in opera, both the standard repertoire and new works.

Of course, a key part of the appeal of the Met’s Saturday matinee broadcasts is that they are live. There is nothing as exciting as live performances; as a listener there’s the feeling that anything can happen. (I have been listening to them for 40-odd years, and haven’t encountered any disasters or foul-ups yet.) The consistent high quality of the broadcasts, which includes expert commentary, interviews, and special features, means that people across the country and now indeed around the world can enjoy and learn more about this art form.

Opera is often derided for being too elitist, or too difficult. Yet a long-running series like the Met’s is proof that there is an audience for it out there. One hundred and fifty ago, the opera was for the masses – everyone could enjoy it on the level of which they were capable, and did. It’s simply music, drama, dance, and art mixed together into a fanciful and moving multidisplinary experience. When it’s done right, it’s overwhelmingly entertaining.

This broadcast, all three-plus hours of it, is a remarkable listen – even in mono, singers and orchestra come through in a clear and balanced way. Whether you will like this performance depend really on whether you like Wagner, which I don’t. I can still appreciate, however, the glorious singing of soprano Kirsten Flagstad as Isolde and the great heldentenor Lauritz Melchoir as Tristan.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Gang Busters.

Monday, January 13, 2025

NRR project: Sounds of the ivory-billed woodpecker

 


NRR Project: Sounds of the ivory-billed woodpecker

Recorded 1935

The sounds of this historic recording issue from the wilds of the Singer Tract in rural Louisiana. There, in 1935, scientists recorded the calls of the ivory-billed woodpecker for the first and possibly the last time, as the bird is now widely considered to be extinct. Go to Cary O’Dell’s excellent essay at the National Recording Registry to find out more about the bird itself and the expedition that captured it.

It is a melancholy recording, when considered in context. The ratio of humans to wild animals has increased exponentially over the past 200 years, as industrialization and population growth have wiped out animal habitats. The list of extinct species is long, and getting longer by the day. Sometimes it seems as though mankind will exterminate the natural world around it before destroying itself.

At any rate, it is humbling to listen to a sound that will never be heard again. It is haunting to hear the bird cry out, perhaps to no response.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Flagstad and Melchior sing Tristan and Isolde.

NRR Project: 'La Chicharronera' (1936)

  NRR Project: ‘La Chicharronera’ Narciso Martinez and Santiago Almeida Recorded Oct. 21, 1936 2:40 I could not do better than Hecto...