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By Recorded Sound Archives, April 16, 2010 2:53 pm

Alma Gluck and Efrem Zimbalist

Who is your favorite star couple? From Debbie Reynolds & Eddie Fisher to Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, love among celebrities is exciting.  We always want to know more. That’s the way it is today… it is also the way it was a hundred years ago.

In 1911 two Jewish superstars of classical music met and fell in love. They were young, they were talented, and they made beautiful music together.

The Zimbalist-Gluck romance provided lots of material for the gossips of their day. While the idea of such a wonderful pairing of talents was thrilling, there were those who pointed out that Gluck was six years older, as well as a divorcee with a daughter. Scandalous!

Before and during the early years of her marriage to the violin virtuoso, Efrem Zimbalist, famed operatic soprano Alma Gluck enjoyed a highly successful recording career. Her release of Carry Me Back to Old Virginny for the Victor Talking Machine Co. was the first celebrity classical recording to sell over one million copies.

After their marriage Victor/Victrola capitalized on a sure bet: recording the newlyweds together. You can hear two of the most popular of these recordings by clicking on the record labels below.

In his biography of Efrem Zimbalist (Efrem Zimbalist: A Life, 2004), Roy Malan  describes the process of making a recording in the days prior to the electric microphone. “The technique was very basic: a large metal horn was suspended from the ceiling; connected from its small end was a flexible pipe that pssed through a thick curtain to the etching machine in an adjourning room. Singers were instructed to face away from the horn on particularly high notes. Violinists had to position themselves with the sound holes facing directly into the horn’s mouth….The possibility of knocking against the metal rim had constantly to be guarded against (p.117).”

When they recorded together “the singer and violinist each had separate pick-up horns; Efrem later joked that his was much smaller than Alma’s: ‘They didn’t want me to play too loudly and spoil everything!’ (p. 135)”

Among their most financially successful recordings was the Zionist hymn, Hatikva, produced in 1919, and Old Folks at Home by Stephen Foster, produced in 1915.

While rehearsing for this latter recording, Zimbalist discovered that the obbligato was inadequate. He came upon the idea of playing Dvorak’s Humoresque at a slightly slower tempo instead. It was recorded this way and the recording became one of their most popular.

Hear the music.

The JSA has collected 20 song recordings featuring the combined talents of Alma Gluck and Efrem Zimbalist.

To hear all 20 song recordings,

click here.

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By Recorded Sound Archives, March 3, 2010 2:27 pm

In the early half of the 20^th century, Yiddish speaking audiences often connected with their roots and culture by listening to Yiddish radio programs produced in the USA. In 2004 the Judaica Sound Archives received a gift of 70 recordings of radio broadcasts produced in 1949 from the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

These broadcasts were recorded on 16-inch discs. Special equipment is needed to play such large recordings. Unfortunately, the JSA did not have the right equipment.  So the recordings sat in storage.

Over time, the JSA was given about 30 more 16-inch recordings, including 14 produced by Vistas of Israel.

As our collection of 16-inch records grew so did the pressure to find a turntable that could handle them. “I suddenly remembered that my employer had given me a large turntable in the 1970’s” said JSA Sound Archivist, Ben Roth-Aroni. Digging through items that had been in storage for over 30 years, Ben was able to eventually unearth the turntable.

But, when he put the first 16-inch disc on the turntable he realized that the tone arm bumped into the record. The tone arm needed to be raised so that the needle was above the record. Working with spare parts, he was able to solve the problem by raising the tone arm base.

Tone arm base before elevation

Tone arm base after Ben elevated it.

Some of these 16-inch recordings are quite unique.  For example, “some of them have grooves which spiral from the inside toward the outside instead of the conventional outside toward the inside. Also some have a “vertical cut.” That means that the needle rides up and down over the grooves instead of the usual “lateral cut” where the needle moves from left to right.” Ben said.

I asked Ben if a special needle was required to play these recordings. “Sometimes we need a special needle but often a 78-rpm stylus will work fine as long as we have a specially wired cartridge that works for the lateral cut discs.”

The JSA currently has over 400 Vistas of Israel radio broadcasts.  These programs were produced by the state of Israel from the 1950s through the 1970s. Fourteen of the broadcasts in the JSA collection were produced on 16-inch discs. We are currently involved in an extensive digitization project so that all of these Vistas of Israel broadcasts can be heard on the JSA website. With the addition of our newly revamped turntable these broadcasts can be included in this exciting digitization project.

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By Recorded Sound Archives, February 18, 2010 4:24 pm

Cleveland weather provides a rare opportunity for Floridians to shovel snow

Nathan Tinanoff, Ben Roth and Alethea Perez left South Florida to complete the final packing of the Jack Saul  recordings that will find a home at FAU’s Wimberly Library. They arrived in Cleveland to find a snow-covered landscape and frigid temperatures. How did the Floridians handle the weather?

Alethea said, “It was amazing! I got to throw my first snowball!” But they didn’t have much time to play in the snow, or make snow angels or even create a snowman, there were 78-rpm records to pack into boxes.

Each box holds 40 to 50 records and they packed almost 500 boxes over the Presidents Day weekend. That translates to between 20,000 and 24,000 records.

Working in both the Saul’s home and the furniture store they were amazed at what was still left behind. “This collection was so extensive that even after we packed two truckloads of recordings, it still seemed like there was so much more there,” said Nathan Tinanoff, director of the JSA. But as these pictures show, a lot of progress has been made in clearing out the clutter and packing treasured recordings.

Before

After boxes are packed

The 78-rpm records that were packed during this trip to Cleveland will NOT become part of the Judaica Sound Archives.  These 78-rpm recordings contain American pop music, classical music, opera and the works of many famous entertainers of 50 to 100 years ago. Because of the size of this collection FAU Libraries is establishing a new Vintage Record Collection which will be under the direction of Nathan Tinanoff.

Below is newspaper article from 1976 showing Jack Saul with a basement full of recordings. It seemed huge , but who knew at the time that Jack Saul would continue adding to his enormous collection of recordings for over 30 more years?

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By Recorded Sound Archives, February 8, 2010 11:31 am

Chuck Samberg and Gloria Magida (on right) visit the JSA to donate recordings to Nathan Tinanoff and Maxine Schackman (holding record album).

Valentine’s Day is certainly not a Jewish holiday.  But who says Jews can’t celebrate love?

The Yiddish word, beshert, can refer to any kind of fortuitous good match, such as finding the perfect job or the perfect house, but usually it refers to a perfect romantic match. Beshert brings people together no matter what obstacles might stand in the way.  “If it is meant to be, it will be.”

Chuck and Gloria connected romantically back in the early 1960s, after her first husband passed away.  They dated, they married.  But the time was not right for these two to live happily ever after. After five years they divorced and lost contact with each other.

But when two people share a destiny they will find a way to reconnect with each other, even after many years. Chuck’s father was a pioneer in Jewish comedy back in the 1930s. Known professionally as Benny Bell, he was a celebrity in Jewish circles.

When Gloria’s third husband passed away a few years ago she became interested in reconnecting with friends from her past. She especially wanted to reconnect with Chuck. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to find him.

Many times she sat at her computer and typed the name “Charles Samberg” into the Google bar only to be disappointed by the lack of results.  Then one day she typed in the name “Chuck Samberg.”  This time she got a link to FAU’s Judaica Sound Archives.

Her curiosity aroused, she decided to follow the link which led to one of the happiest surprises of her life!  What she found on the JSA website was 19 comedy albums by Benny Bell.  As she listened it brought back many memories of her childhood. And then she went to the Benny Bell biography page. And there, at the bottom of the page was a way to reconnect with her past. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

She sent a note. Now the two are reunited and enjoying every moment of it, looking back at the past with nostalgia, looking towards the future with joyful thoughts. “We’re very happy!” Gloria to me.

For more information about Benny Bell click here.

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By Recorded Sound Archives, December 18, 2009 3:49 pm

I was listening to my local public radio station while I was driving to work the other day. Roger Bennett, co-author of And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl, was talking with Marco Werman about his attempt to save decades of American Jewish music from obscurity.

We, at the JSA, are very proud of our participation in helping Roger and his co-auther, Josh Kun to find materials that eventually found its way into their wonderful book.

Even though he didn’t mention us by name, we knew who Roger was talking about when he mentioned visiting Boca Raton, Florida, “where old Jewish vinyl goes to die.” When JSA Director, Nathan Tinanoff listened to the interview he told me, “He got that wrong! The JSA isn’t where old Jewish vinyl goes to die.  It is where it goes to be reborn!”

The book is a wonderful compendium of stories, information, photos, and album covers from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Josh Kun, Associate Professor of communication and journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and   America, which won a 2006 American Book Award, co-authored the book with Roger Bennett who also co-authored Bar Mitzvah Disco.

The authors write about how they “encountered the Judaica Sound Archives of Florida Atlantic University, where Nathan Tinanoff and his devoted staff generously opened their collection to us.”  And where they found “thousands of LPs, shelf after shelf filled with dsicarded cardboard and vinyl that we gushed over like scientists marveling at new speciments” (p.17).

Looking through the book is an education and a trip down memory lane. From Steisand to Bagels and Bongos by the Irving Fields Trio, from Molly Pecon to the Four Bursteins, from Neil Sedaka to Theodore Bikel, the names and images pop off the pages.

The following JSA featured performers are highlighted in the book: Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, Oysher-Michaels Family, Benny Bell , The 4 Bursteins, Gladys Gewirtz, Shimon & Ilana Gewirtz, Gadi Elon.

A friend of mine who loves the book told me that when she goes on the JSA website it is like the “book comes to life” right on her computer. I can’t think of a nicer compliment.

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By Recorded Sound Archives, December 9, 2009 10:28 am

You might think that Adam Sandler has the last word when it comes to Chanuka songs.  But you would be wrong! The Judaica Sound Archives has hundreds of Chanukah songs that your whole family can enjoy. This year’s Chanukah Mix highlights 17 songs by some of our favorite JSA performers.

You might also enjoy these holiday albums:

Chanukah Favorites – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh

Chanukah Festival of Songs – Sidor Belarsky

Chanukah is Freylekh! – Lori Cahan Simon

Chanukah Melodies – Honore Singer

Chanukah Songs For Children – Shimon & ilana Gewirtz

Hanukkah Sing-A-Long

Hanukkah Sing-A-Long II

Hanukkah Sing-A-Long III

Hanukkah The Feast of Lights – Emanuel Rosenberg

Happy Channukah! – Fran Avni

Isaac Goodfriend Sings Hanukka Songs – Isaac Goodfriend

Kinder Songs – Holiday Songs for the Entire Family – Deborah Katchko-Gray

Latkes and Hamentashen – Fran Avni

Make a Chanukah Miracle – Cantor Benjamin Maissner

Mother Goose Rhymes for Chanukah – Honore Singer

The Chanukah Collection – Safam

The Chanukah Party – Fred Vogel (Narration), Jesse Silverstein (Songs)

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By Recorded Sound Archives, December 2, 2009 5:01 pm

Ben Roth-Aroni looking for treasures in a hidden closet

After his visit to Cleveland in October 2009 to look at the additional recordings that Jack Saul’s family had discovered in the furniture store and in a “hidden closet” in the family’s home, Nathan Tinanoff, director of the JSA at FAU Libraries,  said, “I could see right away that this was going to be a big job.” Last week he returned with Ben Roth and Alethea Perez, two JSA employees who offered to help pack the rest of the phonograph recordings that were earmarked for Florida Atlantic University Libraries in Boca Raton, FL.

Although the JSA team had packed about 30,000 recordings in September 2009, there was still a lot to do. The JSA team made a plan of attack.

Day 1: Explore the “hidden closet” in the house and determine which recordings would be shipped to FAU Libraries. Complete the packing of recordings in the house which had been identified but not packed during the previous visit.

Day 2: Explore the previously undiscovered basement of the furniture store to identify recordings for shipment to FAU. Pack as many of the recordings as possible.

Day 3: Pack as many recordings as possible.

The team was excited by what they found. Recording treasures and vintage 78 rpm recordings had been tucked away into every nook and cranny. Jack Saul’s enormous collection which had become disorganized and cluttered throughout his home and place of business were in the process of becoming a valuable research tool for teachers, students and scholars.

Ben Roth in front of store with folded boxes

Alethea Perez packing recordings previously identified in the Saul’s house.

Alethea Perez packing phonograph records in store.

Ben Roth sealing boxes filled with recordings.

Nathan Tinanoff making boxes in furniture store.

……

Alethea Perez & Nathan Tinanoff take a well-deserved work break as they pose in front of some of the boxes they packed.

“This second shipment of recordings from Cleveland will be almost twice as large as the first. We did a great job of packing recordings. Our backs hurt. Our fingers are bleeding. But are hearts are happy,” said Tinanoff.

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By Recorded Sound Archives, November 10, 2009 4:39 pm

The name of Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky can be placed alongside Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, Cantor Gerson Sirota, and Cantor Zawel Kwartin — the most honored names from the Golden Age of Cantorial music. The JSA’s online selection of recordings by Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky contains 13 albums from the JSA’s Collectors Guild and Famous record label collections, a total of 100 separate song tracks.

Moshe Koussevitzky was born into a family of cantors and so his vocal gifts were not overlooked, even at an early age. Born in 1899 in Belarus, he was a teeneager when WW I began. The Koussevitzky family relocated to Russia where his cantorial studies continued. By 1925 he could be heard in the Great Synagogue of Vilna, Poland. And in 1928 Koussevitzky was awarded the position vacated by the renowned great Cantor Gerson Sirota at the Tlomacki Synagogue of Warsaw.

According to Benedict Stambler, founder of Collectors Guild records, it was in Warsaw that Koussevitzky’s “voice reached its full power and brilliance.” His popularity spread as he performed throughout Europe and Palestine in the 1930s.

Trapped in Poland during WWII Koussevitzky was rescued by members of the Polish underground and brought to Russia. There he was reunited with his family soon afterward. After the German retreat he became the principal tenor in the Tiflis National Opera Company in Georgia. The four Koussevitzky brothers were all exceptional cantors. Moshe, David, Jacob and Simcha reunited in London in 1946 to give a stirring farewell appearance at the Royal Albert Hall before an audience of thousands.

The JSA’s online collection of Koussevitzky recordings encompasses the full career of this great cantor, from his early recordings to his later works. Of special interest is his recording of Sheyiboneh Beys Hamikdosh which allows the cantor’s full range of talents to be heard.

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By Recorded Sound Archives, November 4, 2009 11:34 am

You might be able to imagine the excitement that is generated at the Judaica Sound Archives whenever we uncover a genuine piece of history. Today I will share with you three 78 rpm albums from the Jack Saul Collection which have sitirred up some nostalgia here at the JSA.

(1)  Fanny Brice starred in the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1920s and 1930s. A pioneer female comic, she was one of the most popular Jewish entertainers of her day. And her fame became even greater when Barbra Streisand played the starring role in Brice’s life story, “Funny Girl” (1968). From 1938 until her death in 1951 Brice had an incredibly successful radio show based on just one character, Baby Snooks, a precocious, bratty toddler. This album of three double-sided 78 rpm recordings was produced in 1949 on the Capitol Records label.

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

(2)  Born in Brooklyn, NY as Moishe Miller Robert Merrill became one of the Metropolitan Opera’s most enduring and acclaimed baritones. He was also a famous baseball fan who often sang the National Anthem on opening day at Yankee Stadium.

In 1948 he recorded Brooklyn Baseball Cantata about an imagined World Series game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Yankees. Unlike the real world where the Dodgers consistently blew their chances, in this imaginary game the Dodgers were the winners! Fantasy became reality in 1955 when the Brooklyn Dodgers did actually beat the NY Yankees to win the World Series for the first and only time. This album of two double-sided 78 rpm recordings was produced on the RCA Victor Red Seal label. The sheet music, produced by Mills Music, which originally sold for $1.25 is included.

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

(3)  Paul Whiteman secured his place in history in 1924 when he commissioned and introduced George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Irving Berlin has been called “the greatest of American popular composers.” Born in Russia (1888), the family left for America when their home was burned to the ground. So it was in a crowded tenenment on Cherry Street in New York’s lower East Side that Irving Berlin (born Baline) grew up. His first big hit came in 1911 (Alexander’s Ragtime Band). He has written more than a thousand popular songs. During World War I his song, Oh, How I Hate To Get up In The Morning, became an anthem for the ordinary foot soldier.

The song became the band’s signature tune. Produced on the Decca label in 1939, Volume 1 of this collection of George Gershwin’s  most popular tunes consists of five double-sided 78 rpm recordings and includes: All Alone, Remember, Easter Parade, and How Deep Is The Ocean. Volume 2, also consisting of five double-sided 78 rpm recordings includes: Alexander’s Ragtime Band, What’ll I Do, Blue Skies,  and A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody.

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with US Copyright Laws these recordings are NOT featured on the JSA website (www.fau.edu/jsa). For further information about these or other recordings in the Jack Saul Collection, please contact the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries (561-297-0080).

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By Recorded Sound Archives, October 5, 2009 10:29 am

The excitement we were all feeling when the truck from Cleveland, filled with recordings from Jack Saul’s collection, pulled up to the Library’s loading dock was quickly replaced by focused activity. Everyone had a job to do and immediately jumped into action. Unloaders moved the boxes from the truck to pallets which were then moved with a handtruck through the Wimberly Library lobby into the elevator to the fifth floor where they were stacked for later unpacking. Other boxes were placed on carts and deposited in other areas of the library.

Of the 730 boxes in this shipment 255 are filled with recordings headed for the Judaica Sound Archives and the FAU Music Department’s Jazz Sound Collection. The remaining 475 boxes contain vintage 78 rpm recordings which will form a new FAU Library collection.

Transporting boxes through the Wimberly Library lobby

Removing boxes from elevator on Wimberly Library’s 5th floor