As a thank-you to those of you who are still with me after such a long hiatus, here’s something that I think is pretty special. This was one of my grandpa’s “b-sides,” where he really only cared about the material on the other side. This was totally unlabeled and undocumented in his records.

Jimmie Fidler was apparently a somewhat controversial entertainment reporter who had a weekly Hollywood news show. I don’t know the exact date of this program, but the one on the reverse was from February 4, 1944 so I’ll assume it’s close to that date. It is FASCINATING, a real time-capsule of the entertainment world. Just to drop a few names from this program: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lena Horne, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Greta Garbo, Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye… and that’s not all. It’s a real “who’s who” of the day. The show is sponsored by Arrid antiperspirant, and includes a few good ads for that (as well as one ad for liver pills).

This record was in really bad shape, with the lacquer cracked and delaminating. In the middle, you’ll notice significant pops and drop-outs. I recorded this several times over, at both 78 and 33rpm (I could only do portions at 33), and tried to piece it together as best I could. Even so, there are places where anything from a portion of a second to a few seconds are missing. I encourage you to keep listening; it improves again as you get nearer the end and the content is so good that it’s worth it.

I’m not posting a picture since there’s no label on this. If you’d like a picture anyway, let me know and I’ll put one up.

Thanks again for your patience while I got both life and technical issues straightened out!

 

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