Oodles of Doodles LXXXIV

Some rather odd doodles for you today from The Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival (Angel 35800, 1958). This classical release is from the mind of Gerard Hoffnung, who is also responsible for the doodles you see here. I guess it's supposed to poke fun at classical music, or more correctly, at commercial use of classical music in things more mundane, like TV advertising. Or perhaps I don't get it at all. But it does provide for a few nice doodles. These doodles are from the cover of the LP, as well as an included booklet which attempts to describe the weird goings-on found on the record. The doodles are credited as being from various books by Mr. Hoffnung, and you can see more of them on the website linked above.

Bloom County Meets Polk County

Whoa! Talk about a trip in the Wayback Machine! Somebody call Sherman & Peabody! I just scanned this drawing in from the back of my senior class yearbook, circa 1988. My buddy Scott was quite the artist, and he drew this in there for me. The car is a 1965 Chevy Chevelle Malibu convertible that I owned at the time, and the characters are Steve, Bill, Binkley, Milo & Opus from the comic strip Bloom County. There was nothing funnier to us at the time than Bloom County, and certainly nothing cooler to me than my car. I took it off to college that year, where it survived only a short while before the top was destroyed in a hailstorm. After that, it went downhill fast, and eventually became a pile of junk. To this day, the old rotted-out hulk sits back in a field behind my parents house. (Sorry about the blurryness on the left side of that scan. I must not have gotten it into the scanner right. or maybe I need a new scanner, this one is getting a little bit long in the tooth.)

Oodles of Doodles LXXXIII

You've seen lots of musical instrument doodles here at Ernie (Not Bert), but this is the first harp we've featured. This instrument features appropriately enough from the back cover of The Stanley-Johnson Orchestra-Have Harp Can't Travel (Liberty LST 7118). The front cover has a great picture of a short person trying to man-handle a large harp onto a city bus. There is actually a credit to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority on the back for the use of their bus, but no word of where the harp came from. I guess the title is a take off on the old TV western Have Gun-Will Travel, but I first was exposed to the phrase through the name of my father's business when I was growing up, Have Tractor Will Mow. Somewhere around here I also have an LP called Have Piano Will Travel by Crazy Otto (Decca DL 74157). I guess it was a popular phrase for a while.

Oodles of Doodles LXXXII

Here's our latest doodle find, courtesy of Jim Reeves-The Intimate Jim Reeves (RCA Victor LPM-2216, 1960) . What a great view of Jim in the studio recording the tracks for this LP. And the record was produced by our old friend, Chet Atkins. I guess back in 1960, this was considered country music. Funny how times change. Below is the tagline from the front of the LP, "Tender Tunes". And as a special one-time only bonus, you get an extra tagline down at the bottom. "It's A Hit" is from another Jim Reeves LP, He'll Have To Go (RCA Victor LPM-2223, 1960). They really cranked out the records in those days, didn't they?

The End Of The Day-Classic Ernie

Here's another sunset for you guys. This is from my favorite spot for pictures at the south end of Anna Maria Island at Longboat Pass here in Florida. You can see the breakwater in the shadows near the bottom of the picture. I hope to have my camera back in another week or so, and then I can start taking new pictures. That'll be the day!

Oodles of Doodles LXXXI

The cable has been out for the past couple of hours, so all I've been able to do is scan, scan, scan. So you're going to have to bear with me for a bit here. I've got a couple of doodles here from Pat Suzuki With Henri Rene And His Orchestra-Pat Suzuki (RCA Victor LPM-2030, 1959). The subtitle of this LP is Miss Pony Tail, and they have certainly emphasized her ponytail in both the cover photo and in these doodles. There is also a tagline on the front cover that says "Vocal Fireworks", which you can see down at the bottom (You know how much I love those!). As a special bonus, you'll see a four-pack of very, very, very similar doodles down below that are taken from The Many Sides Of Pat Suzuki (RCA Victor LPM-2005, 1959). And here's where the story gets interesting. This second LP was originally issued on the RCA Victor subsidiary Vik without the doodles. (I previously posted a scan of the Vik label from that LP in hopes of finding out more info on the label.) Anyhow, you can easily see the similarities found in the doodles on these two LPs. I wish I could ID the artist, but I don't spot a signature or initials.

Oodles of Doodles LXXX

Here's another giant map doodle for you, this time featuring the whole world instead of just the United States. This is from the back of Bing Crosby And Rosemary Clooney With Billy May And His Orchestra-Fancy Meeting You Here (RCA Victor LPM-1854, 1958), a truly exceptional record which I can highly recommend. I bought this on CD and it stayed in the player for months on end. But about the doodle, I know almost nothing. You can see little doodle versions of Bing and Rosie in there, visiting all the places mentioned in the songs on the record. In fact, if you look close, you can see numbers next the doodles that actually correspond to the track numbers that mention those areas.

Oodles of Doodles LXXIX

I stopped off at the Salvation Army store after work today and bought a few records. They were all in terrible shape, but I had to get them, since I hadn't seen them before in any condition. The first was Stu Phillips-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Buck Rogers In The 25th Century (MCA 3097, 1979), the second was The Spacemen-Music For Batman And Robin (Roulette R-25322, 1966). And the third one provided us with the doodle above, Original Soundtrack From The Saturday And Sunday Morning ABC Television Series Multiplication Rock (Capitol SJA-11174, 1973). This just goes to show that the record labels are never below printing up a black-on-white jacket to save a little money on printing costs. I turned three the year this came out, but Multiplication Rock (and Schoolhouse Rock) was still on TV when I was watching Saturday morning cartoons. I don't think I can sing along to any of the tunes on here, though.

Bienvenidos a Miami!-Classic Ernie

Earlier this year, I went to visit a lighthouse in Boca Raton, Florida. After I had spent most of the morning there, I went out exploring, and in search of another lighthouse down south of Miami. On the road leading out to Key Biscayne, I had a great view of part of downtown Miami. The day was a bit overcast, so I didn't get the color saturation and brightness I usually like, but it's been my only chance to visit Miami so far, so these shots will have to do. The above shot is the skyline after dark. I waited for hours as the sun went down, and boy was it cold! The picture below is from earlier in the day. You can see a windsurfer in there if you look close. I couldn't believe he was in that water as cold as it was.

Oodles of Doodles LXXVIII

Real quick, one more doodle before bedtime. This New York cityscape (could it be any other city with the Empire State Building looming so large?) comes from the reverse of Latin Rhythms Featuring Jan August At The Piano (Mercury MG 20274). The only thing that might make this illustration any cooler would be if there were some dirigibles flying around, or perhaps a little, tiny King Kong atop the Empire State Building. Now that would be great!

Our Man In Nashville (More Taglines)

After bringing you all those taglines last weekend, including "Romantic Guitar" from Chet Atkins, I decided to hunt for more of Chet, and here're three more from Mr. Guitar. Above is "Guitar With A Beat" from Teensville (RCA Victor LPM-2161, 1960). The tag is the same on the Living Stereo version, but my copy was banged up, so I scanned a mono copy that was in better shape.

Next up is "Electrifying" from Chet Atkins' Workshop (RCA Victor LSP-2232, 1961).

Last but not least is "Guitar Favorites" from Mister Guitar (RCA Victor LSP-2103, 1959). There are still a few Chet Atkins LPs from this period that I don't have, so I'll have to keep searching.

Oodles of Doodles LXXVII

As I mentioned yesterday, I love these doodles with a record theme, so this is a good one in my book. This particular copy of the doodle was scanned from Hill Bowen And His Orchestra-I Married An Angel: Vol. 4 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL 1004, 1957), but the doodle is repeated on all 12 volumes in the series. Well, I assume it's on all of them. So far I only have 6 of the 12, but I'm still searching. I'm also searching the web for info on the series, but to no avail. I thought maybe the Custom label meant it was a pressing for a company promo or something, but the back of the LPs don't seem to support that. Anyone with any info on the series is welcome to post a note. Other titles in the series are:
Volume 1-I Could Have Danced All Night
Volume 2-Hands Across The Table
Volume 3-Hits From Hollywood
Volume 5-Love On Broadway-Hill Bowen And His Orchestra
Volume 6-Latin Holiday
Volume 7-These Foolish Things
Volume 8-A Lazy Afternoon-Malcolm Lockyer And His Orchestra
Volume 9-The Girl That I Marry-Jack Say And His Orchestra
Volume 10-Very Hi-Fi Organ
Volume 11-A Trip To Romance-Tony Osborne And His Orchestra
Volume 12-We're Having A Party-Malcolm Lockyer And His Orchestra
Catalogue numbers are sequential, from RAL 1001 to RAL 1012. Artists are shown from the ones I have, the others are from a list of titles on the back of each LP.
(I know I've got more than six of these, but I can't find the others. Perhaps I have too many records...)

Oh, wait, I'm supposed to talk about the doodle, not just the record. This doodle is signed Tom Scheuer, who shows up a number of places on the internet, like here and here. I guess he did work for Marvel Comics & DC back in the fifties, and eventually became the head writer for Murder, She Wrote (after changing his name to Tom Sawyer). Cool.

[Update: I got an email from Tom Sawyer, the artist of the above doodle. He doesn't remember doing this exact illustration, having done thousands of pieces over the years, but he felt it was certainly his style. And he emphasizes that they are illustrations, not doodles! It's great of Mr. Sawyer to take time out to answer an email from someone asking about work he did 48 years ago. Thanks!]

Complex-Photo Friday

The theme of the week over at Photo Friday is 'Complex', and this is what came to mind. This sculpture is in downtown Tampa, Florida, and is one of the places I always stop when I'm in town taking pictures. It's down among the sckyscrapers, so the light is always bad, but this shot isn't too bad. At least I got some blue sky in there. (I'm 513, so don't forget to vote this weekend!)

Oodles of Doodles LXXVI

I'm not sure what to call this grouping of five doodles. A penta-doodle perhaps? Should they be arranged into a pentagram? Perhaps not. That wouldn't be in keeping with the squeaky-clean music of Scrapbook: The Voices Of Walter Schumann (RCA Victor LPM-1465, 1957). According to the liner notes, the scenes above are some of the moods that the music on this LP is meant to evoke. More interestingly, those same notes mention that Mr. Schumann was the composer behind the "famed Dum dee dum dum theme for Jack Webb's Dragnet"! Now that's something to get excited about.

Oodles of Doodles LXXV

I don't believe I've posted many doodles from various artist compilations, so I dug this one up. Today's Top Hits Vol. 14 (Capitol T 9130, 1956) is a collection of tracks from Capitol's top artists at the time, including Frank, Dean, Nat and a whole host of lesser stars. Although only in such stellar company could Tennessee Ernie Ford, Nelson Riddle, Ray Anthony and Les Paul & Mary Ford be considered 'lesser'. Maybe the 'lesser' refers to Kit Carson & The Four Freshmen. Yeah, that's the ticket. Those two are surely out of their league here. Anyhow, I love doodles that relate somehow back to records, and here's a hip teenaged couple listening to their favorite LPs by Capitol artists, naturally.

Speaking Of Turtles...-Classic Ernie

Since I brought you the other turtle story below, I figured I'd bring you this guy too. He was trying to wander in to our shop one day at work, so I carried him back to his pond. But not before taking his picture, of course.

Turtle Adventure!-Classic Ernie

Just yesterday, I brought you an adventure with big cats, and today I bring you an adventure with big turtles. What more could you want out of a blog? These first two pictures are actually from the same day I saw the cats. I think it was the day before Halloween, 2004. I went to the beach at Ft. DeSoto to try and catch the sunset, but it was overcast. I was wandering around trying to find something to shoot when some guy told me a big turtle had been caught up at the Gulf pier. I wandered that way, thinking the turtle would be long gone by the time I arrived, but I was wrong. There on the sand at the base of the pier was a giant female loggerhead turtle. She had swallowed the hook and bait from a fisherman's line, and it was lodged deep in her throat. The proper authorities had been called, and all anyone could do was wait. About a dozen of us stood around, taking turns pushing the poor girl back up on the sand when she would try to crawl away, and splashing water on her so she wouldn't dry out. I must have taken 200 pictures. You can see how big she was in the picture below. After about two hours, a truck from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium came along, and they loaded her up and took her in for treatment. The next weekend, I drove up there and asked about her. They had gotten the hook out, and she was in a tank wth another turtle where she was doing just fine. You can see her being hand fed at the aquarium in the bottom picture. Quite the adventure!

If You Think I'm Bad

Check out the website of this guy in Japan. I should be so prolific. (Maybe if you can read Japanese, you could tell me what exactly this guy is on about. Surely he doesn't own all these records and cactii and lamps and seashells and cars...)

Oodles of Doodles LXXIV

They say three's a charm, so here's doodle the third for today. Marty Paich-I Get A Boot Out Of You (Warner Brothers W1349, 1959), but you knew most of that because I left all the text in place. Usually I'll airbrush out the text from a doodle, but this time I felt it was an integral part of the art. You be the judge. If you saw this LP in the store, I'm sure you'd buy it right away, since there's a girl on the front in the shower. And she's drying herself off with a towel monogrammed 'HIS'. It just doesn't get anymore hip than that. Well, the doodle is pretty hip, too. Everyone from butchers to aviators to beatniks to cowboys to executioners seem to enjoy this album. Like wow!

Oodles of Doodles LXXIII

The push is on to try and hit 100 doodles before the end of August. The goal is in sight, but I'm going to have to keep the pedal to the metal. Or the needle to the vinyl at least. So our second doodle of the day is Felix Slatkin-The Military Band (Capitol SW1056, 1958). Another fine doodle from our friends at Capitol, this one features an entire military band, from the conductor, through the brass section, all the way to the drums. Look close, and you'll see that every soldier in this parade is a little bit different. Not much sometimes, but different. This LP appears to be out on CD. I'm often amazed by what gets released on CD and what doesn't.

Oodles of Doodles LXXII

I figured you needed a break from the RCA doodles, so how's about a Capitol doodle? This is from Leo Perrachi And His Orchestra-Brazilian Cocktails (Capitol T 10122). Talk about your festive doodles! I wish they were all this exciting. This lady is able to dance, sing and mix cocktails all at the same time! (The LP spells Leo's name different from all the hits I got on Google, but I'm pretty sure it's the same guy. He recorded the first versions of Antonio Carlos Jobim songs ever!)

Update-For a limited time, you can download the tracks from this LP though this blog entry. I also posted the full front and back covers over there if you're curious.

Lions & Tigers, But No Bears-Classic Ernie

Back in the days before my camera was broken, I tried to go out hunting for pictures every weekend. Sometimes I had a hard time finding new places to shoot, and I'd venture further afield than usual. One of those days found me in San Antonio, Florida, at the Rattlesnake Festival. That was pretty much a bust, but they had a few big cats there from a wildlife refuge. I forgot the name of the refuge during the next few weeks, but when I went hunting for it, I found another one a little bit closer in Tampa. These pictures are from Big Cat Rescue. For an entry fee of about $20, they take you on a tour and you get to see all the cats they have rescued, either from owners who couldn't afford the upkeep of a giant kitty cat, or from people who abused them, or even from defunct animal shows and circuses. Some of their animals are actually retired from Siegfried & Roy, who pay for the care and feeding of their animals in perpetuity. If you get the chance, go vist this place, it's worth the trip, camera or no.

Another Week In August

OK, if you're still with me after the weekend of vinyl fun, here's a calendar page for this week. If this were on the menu at the Chinese food joint, it would be called Yellow And Orange Delight. It's a field of marigolds that I shot at the Disney Pop Century Resort up in Orlando.

Oodles of Doodles LXXI

One last doodle for today, this time from The Ames Brothers-Hello Amigos (RCA Victor LSP-2100, 1960). This guy is happy, not because of the Ames Brothers, but because of the line on the front cover most people miss: Orchestra Under The Direction Of Juan Esquivel. Yep, that Esquivel. Cha Cha And Romance, indeed!

Tags, Tags, Tags And More Tags

I promised more of these RCA Victor taglines, so how's about a lucky eleven? This first one is "Band Music" from Marching With The Coldstream Guards (RCA Victor LSP-1684, 1959).

More fun from the big island with "A Hula Party" from The Mauna Loa Islanders-Music Of The Islands (RCA Victor LSP-2061, 1959). There's a beautiful girl on the cover of this one, but she's holding a shell the size of her head and I'm waiting for a giant hermit crab to reach out of it and clamp onto her lovely ear.

Here's the first of a one-two punch from Henri Rene And His Orchestra. This first one states "Man, It Swings!" from the LP Riot In Rhythm (RCA Victor LSP-2002, 1959).

The second tag from Henri Rene (which looks like it predates the other one based on the catalog number) is Compulsion To Swing (RCA Victor LPM-1947, 1959), and it says "Band With A Beat". Two albums in one year? These days it takes some bands two or three years to crank out another CD. (I previously brought you a doodle from the back of this LP, but I'm sure you already knew that.)

Here's one that's pretty popular in some circles. I thought I was pretty lucky to stumble onto this copy, even though it's mono. "For Woofers & Tweeters" is from Esquivel-Exploring New Sounds In Hi-Fi (RCA Victor LPM-1978, 1959). This one has a nice doodle on the backside that I should share with you all someday.

If you want to be touched by an angel, be sure you go out and find any of the classic LPs by Della Reese. This one states "Della With Brass" and is from the self titled LP Della (RCA Victor LPM-2157, 1960). I wonder if she suspected she'd have a second career on TV 40 years later?

From the pre-angel Della above to the full-gospel Blackwood Brothers-Beautiful Isle Of Somewhere (RCA Victor LSP-2248, 1960). I don't know where The Beautiful Isle of Somewhere is, but the Blackwood Brothers advertise it as "The Eternal Paradise".

This one may be the oddest in the bunch. Piano Roll Discoveries (RCA Victor LSP-2058, 1959) is a various artists record featuring performances captured on piano rolls years earlier. Slightly spooky, if you ask me. Somehow I doubt that these were "Original Performances In Stereo".

Everybody knows that Chet Atkins is Mr. Guitar, but "Romantic Guitar"? Well, that's why this LP was titled The Other Chet Atkins (RCA Victor LPM-2175, 1960). It's stuff that you might not normally have expected from RCA's Man In Nashville.

Here's another two-fer for you. This first one is Frankie Carle-The Golden Touch (RCA Victor LPM-2139, 1960), and it claims to be filled with "Piano Pearls"

The second selection from Frankie Carle & His Rhythm actually predates the first, and is only the second of these tagged LPs that I've found from 1958. The tag "Music For Dancing" comes from 37 Favorites For Dancing (RCA Victor LPM-1868, 1958).