Even old Santa needs to take a breather every once in a while, and as this doodle plainly shows, Santa chooses to spend his free moments listening to the Hi-Fi. This doodle hails from George Melachrino And Orchestra-Christmas In High Fidelity (RCA Victor LPM-1045, 1957), and according to a price tag still on the LP, the record originally cost $2.88 from The Bike Kumler Company. What a bargain!
You read it right, this is doodle number fifty! To mark this milestone, we've got the biggest, most intricate doodle yet. This one took three different scans to piece together, and you really have to click the picture above to take you to the bigger picture to be able to appreciate everything that's going on in this dilly of a doodle. This doodle took up most of the backside of Jo Stafford With Paul Weston And His Music From Hollywood, The Norman Luboff Choir And The Starlighters-Ski Trails (Columbia CL 910, 1956). It's not purely a Christmas LP, but the tracks are either Christmas songs or at least winter-themed. And the doodle is tightly tied to the title since it shows you many of the popular ski resorts in the then-current 48 states. And they even threw in some water skiers for those of us in Florida who've never seen snow, much less mountains. If you look at this doodle long enough, you'll see wonderful little details like skiers with broken legs or a couple sunbathing with their skis as lounge chairs or cars stuck in the snow or even a jokester about to cut the tow rope on the water skiers. This is certainly a picture that rewards a detailed viewing. The signature on this sketch is Donald F. Moss, who appears to have been an artist employed by Sports Illustrated for many years. (It may not be the same fellow, but there's a good chance it is.) The main recording artist is Jo Stafford, all those other people comprise the orchestra, backup singers and chorus. Jo is actually married to Paul Weston, so his presence here is no surprise.
This ring-a-ding-doodle is from the back of Lawrence Welk And His Champagne Music-Jingle Bells (Coral CRL 757186, 1957). It's a pretty nice doodle, and it's not even a Capitol or RCA Victor LP! Everybody knows about Lawrence Welk, and his infamous TV show. When I was little, I can remember leaving the room when my grandparents would watch it on TV. I was more interested in watching the Dukes of Hazzard on a different channel. It seemed like they were watching a channel that broadcast straight out of the past.
Technical note-This is the first doodle that was so large I had to scan it in two sections and paste them together in Photoshop. Not too bad of a job, if I do say so myself. The King would be proud!
Today's doodle is hardly a doodle at all, but I figured it was appropriate somehow. Everyone has heard of Christmas Seals, although I think they are less well known now than to earlier generations of Americans. The picture above is from the back of a promotional LP called For Christmas Seals (Style D-1965, 1965), and this particular volume features Peter, Paul And Mary on one side, and Lorne Greene on the other. There was a small series of these LPs, and each featured an informational program from the artist in support of Christmas seals and their fight against tuberculosis. Unfortunately, my sleeve contained a radio transcription disc which I figured might be what it should contain, but I was wrong. The record contains two non-Christmas shows from WNYE. Snooze-ville. If anybody out there has this program, or any others in the series, please let me know... (OK, I cheated here a bit, since the picture below is from the front of the LP, but if I hadn't told you that, you'd never know.)
For the curious among you, some of the other artists listed on the back of this LP as having similar LPs are Eileen Farrell, Eddy Arnold, Barbra Streisand, The Wayfarers, Eydie Gorme, Steve Lawrence, Al Hirt, Andy Williams & Mitch Miller. They also list several compilations of celebrity spot announcements. Somebody out there has got to have copies of these...
Today's Christmas doodle is an angel that looks like an old woodcut. I hope that still counts as a doodle. This visitor from the ethereal plane is found on the back of Kurt von Baum Conducting The Homburg Symphony-Handel's Messiah (Premier Albums XM/S 1). This looks to be a cheapie release on a no-name label, but you never know where the next doodle might turn up. You have to turn over every stone, or in this case, every album, looking for that pot of gold.
For the second time since I sent my camera in for repairs, I see a rainbow. Not a piece of a rainbow, not a little slice of color in the spray from a garden hose, but a full blown, horizon-spanning, afternoon thunderstorm rainbow, with a hint of a double rainbow if you look closely to the left. This was at my parent's house, so Mom offers to let me use her camera, which is my old camera. It was like going back to a Brownie after you've gotten used to your Leica. Of course the batteries were dead, so I had to get that fixed first. Then I had to remember how to turn it on. Then I had the realization that it's a fixed lens, meaning no zoom. Anyhow, what you see is what I got. No adjustments, no nothing. Enjoy! (I won't tell you how bad this picture looks on Mom's old, dark monitor. I hope it looks better for you...)
It's amazing how fast the doodles are multiplying around here. I suppose that's bound to happen when you post something every day. Today's doodle is from Hank Thompson And The Brazos Valley Boys-It's Christmas Time (Capitol/EMI ST 2154, 1964). Once again I've ended up with a foreign pressing, this time from the UK. Well, at least I have the sleeve to a foreign pressing. I wasn't paying attention on whatever day I bought this, probably just grabbing and buying at random, and when I got home, I discovered the wrong vinyl between the covers. I was sorely disappointed. I wanted to hear such tracks as "I'd Like To Have An Elephant For Christmas" and "It's Christmas Everyday In Alaska". Hmmm, I see one on eBay right now, and the seller is only a few miles from here... Wait, it's out on CD. Anyhow, it's a nice country-themed doodle.
The calendar page this week is a seagull on the seawall at Ft. DeSoto. Exciting stuff, eh?
Here's a delightful set of doodles that I almost missed. I found this record in a pile of stuff I thought I had already doodlized, but it turns out that I hadn't. So here're seven little doodles from the back of Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir (RCA Records SL10911, 1959). Don't ask me how, but I ended up with an Australian pressing of this LP. I'm sure there are collectors out there who know that from the catalog number I listed, but I know it because of the little blurp on the backside (right below the partridge picture) "Records manufactured by RCA of Australia Pty. Ltd." Anyhow, these seven doodles are sprinkled around the back cover. The music on the inside is pretty good, too. If only this copy hadn't come over from Australia on the bottom of the boat. It's rough, believe me! (Anybody know anything about this group? Google is failing me on this one...)
