62-Hey Norton

Another slightly out-of-the-ordinary share today, and maybe something special. Versions of the story of the Nativity are about a dime a dozen on old 78s. And the collection at The Internet Archive is full of them. I shied away from downloading and sharing most of them, though I think one or two have snuck in this season. But before I passed by this one, I noticed a familiar name on the cover.  Take a close look, see anyone you recognize?  How about Art Carney? You know, the guy who played Santa Claus in that episode of The Twilight Zone. He also showed up in The Star Wars Holiday Special, among other notable roles. He even released a Christmas single back in the day, rapping 'Twas The Night Before Christmas on one side with Santa And The Doodle-Li-Boop on the flip. And here is another holiday credit for the guy. I can't quite pick out his voice from the other actors, but maybe you'll have better luck than me.  If you can spot him, let me know.  This is The Story Of The Nativity-Narrated By Walter Hampden.

MEGA

Update-5 Jan 2023-Added a tracklist for searchability.

 1. Walter Hampden-Narrator, With Hester Sondergaard, Roger DeKoven, Santos Ortega, Art Carney, Betty Kroeger, Maurice Ellis, William Quinn, Richard Hamilton-The Nativity - Part 1
2. Walter Hampden-Narrator, With Hester Sondergaard, Roger DeKoven, Santos Ortega, Art Carney, Betty Kroeger, Maurice Ellis, William Quinn, Richard Hamilton-The Nativity - Part 2
3. Walter Hampden-Narrator, With Hester Sondergaard, Roger DeKoven, Santos Ortega, Art Carney, Betty Kroeger, Maurice Ellis, William Quinn, Richard Hamilton-The Nativity - Part 3
4. Walter Hampden-Narrator, With Hester Sondergaard, Roger DeKoven, Santos Ortega, Art Carney, Betty Kroeger, Maurice Ellis, William Quinn, Richard Hamilton-The Nativity - Part 4
5. Walter Hampden-Narrator, With Hester Sondergaard, Roger DeKoven, Santos Ortega, Art Carney, Betty Kroeger, Maurice Ellis, William Quinn, Richard Hamilton-The Nativity - Part 5
6. Walter Hampden-Narrator, With Hester Sondergaard, Roger DeKoven, Santos Ortega, Art Carney, Betty Kroeger, Maurice Ellis, William Quinn, Richard Hamilton-The Nativity - Part 6

61-Scoop Ten

Ready for another scoop? Here's another sampling of what's left in the Christmas pile, nearly two months after we started. Some of these are new finds but some of them are things that I had ready to go on day one and just haven't gotten to until now.  It's been a crazy season with lots of highs and maybe a few lows, but not too many. I can see the end from here, but I've got a few days left in me.  We'll see how it goes. One special record today is the one directly below by Ernie Lee And His Southerners. When I was a wee lad, Ernie hosted the morning show on the local CBS (now Fox) affiliate, WTVT, AKA Big 13. I had no idea he was a one-time national recording artist on a big label, though I did later find a record he released locally with members of his morning show, which I think was called Breakfast Beat. I can remember the local news and weather, a fishing report with Salty Sol from John's Pass, and frequent songs from the small set. I don't remember any of the songs, unfortunately, and that local album wasn't very interesting. This song is a little better, and I'm pleased to be able to share it as part of the winter festivities around here. This record and all the rest come to us from the fine folks at The Internet Archive, specifically their Great 78 Project. Download and Enjoy!

MEGA

Update-5 Jan 2023-Added a tracklist for searchability.

1. Hal Kemp Orchestra-Skinnay Ennis On Vocal-It's Winter Again
2. American Novelty Orchestra-Jingle Bells
3. The Weavers With Orchestra Directed By Jimmy Carroll-One For The Little Bitty Baby
4. Tommy Reilly (Harmonica) With The Vic Hammett Quartet-Parade Of The Tin Soldiers
5. Harry Reser And His Orchestra-Vocal Chorus By Tom Stacks-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
6. Rev. Cleophus Robinson-Silent Night
7. Fred Bergin And His Music-White Christmas
8. Johnny Desmond With The Ray Charles Singers-Orchestra Conducted By Tony Mottola-A Marshmallow World
9. Gloria Elwood With Bob Martin & His Orchestra-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
10. Father Flanagan's Boys Town Choir-Rev. Francis P. Schmitt, Director-When Christ Was Born; O Holy Night (Cantique De Noel)
11. Ernie Lee And His Southerners-You Can't Pick A Rose In December
12. Ray Bloch, His Choir & Orchestra-Adeste Fideles
13. Frank Luther With Piano, Violin And Clarinet Accompaniment-The Night Before Christmas

60-Chanukah At Last

I posted back during Chanukah that I hadn't been able to find any music for the season this year, but then this turned up.  It's not really a song, but a long version of the story of Chanukah. I suspect I couldn't find it because it's called Chanuko here, not one of the more common spellings I was hunting for. And unlike almost all the other shares this season, this one is by a single artist from a single album. This is John Conte-The Chanuko Story (Union Of American Hebrew Congregations, 2x10" 78 RPM RPM EBC 53). As usual, I dug this up from the deep depths of The Internet Archive. They've got a great collection over there, check it out!

MEGA

Update-5 Jan 2023-Added a tracklist for searchability.

1. John Conte, Narrator, With Cast-The Chanuko Story-Side 1
2. John Conte, Narrator, With Cast-The Chanuko Story-Side 2
3. John Conte, Narrator, With Cast-The Chanuko Story-Side 3
4. John Conte, Narrator, With Cast-The Chanuko Story-Side 4

59-Yet More Little Bits

I'm here on a Saturday to bring you another big collection of really small tracks. I'm having a lot of fun with these little songs, and I hope you are as well. Today comprises all the tracks from one album, and a total of four sides from two others. And three of the songs here were previously shared as by Unknown Artist, but I was able to find the whole album package and get the artist info for you. If you go back two days (here), you'll see a label that looks like one of the ones below. You can delete those three older tracks if you like, if you want to avoid duplicates in your collection. Other than those, everything else here is new today. Hope you're enjoying the extended Christmas season this year, there's just so much to share from The Internet Archive!

MEGA

Update-5 Jan 2023-Added a tracklist for searchability.

1. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Joy To The World
2. Earl Rogers-Little Wind
3. Earl Rogers-Merry Snowflakes
4. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
5. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Christians Awake
6. Earl Rogers-Santa Claus Is Coming
7. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Family's Thanksgiving (AKA Thanksgiving Song)
8. Earl Rogers-Little Me
9. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Oh, Holy Night
10. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-As With Gladness, Men Of Old
11. Earl Rogers-My Cold
12. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Over The River
13. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-I Am Thankful
14. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
15. Earl Rogers-Timothy Tim
16. Earl Rogers-Little New Year
17. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Long, Long Ago And Indian Dance
18. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-We Three Kings Of Orient Are
19. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Away In A Manger
20. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Faith Of Our Fathers
21. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Decorating
22. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-The First Nowell
23. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Oh! Little Town Of Bethlehem
24. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Angels From The Realms Of Glory
25. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Ring The Bells Of Christmas
26. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Christmas Carols
27. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Oh! Tannenbaum
28. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
29. Margel Ayars-Vocalist, Bernice Gamble And Florence Bassett-Pianists-Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
30. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Silent Night
31. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Oh Come, All Ye Faithful
32. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Good King Wenceslas
33. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
34. The Carollers-Mixed Voices With Brass Quartet And Organ-Deck The Halls With Holly

58-The Ninth Scoop

Time for the ninth collection of totally random Christmas songs downloaded from The Internet Archive. I've long run out of most of my theme collections, so you're just going to have to enjoy the songs on their own, one at a time, and hope that they somehow manage to keep you in the Christmas spirit, even though Christmas was what, three weeks ago? Not too many more shares, I assure you, so stay tuned and complete your collection. Allow me to bring your attention to the Vinter Undervear song from Stan Boreson, noted Scandinavian dialect comedian who later covered many a Harry Shearer Christmas song. Even his partner Doug Setterberg shows up here as co-writer on what has to be one of the earliest record appearances by either fellow. I was so surprised to find this one and so happy to be able to bring it to you. I hope you enjoy this record and all the rest today!

MEGA

Update-5 Jan 2023-Added a tracklist for searchability.

1. Ozzie Nelson And His Orchestra-Christmas Night In Harlem
2. Hadda Brooks Trio-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
3. Shannon Quartet-Jingle Bells
4. Rawicz & Landauer (Pianists)-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
5. Father Flanagan's Boys Town Choir-Rev. Francis P. Schmitt, Director-Silent Night; Shepherds Awake; Sleep My Child Jesus
6. Freddy Martin And His Orchestra-Vocal Refrain By Merv Griffin And The Martin Men-Christmas Time
7. Fred Bergin And His Music-Deck The Halls
8. Little Jimmy Dickens-No Place Like Home On Christmas
9. Raymond Mixed Quartet-O! Little Town Of Bethlehem
10. Junior Programs Opera Company-Saul Lancourt, Director-Robin Hood-Part 2-The Christmas Festivities
11. Stan Boreson-Vocalist & Accordion With Gay Jones At The Piano-Sewed Up In My Vinter Undervear
12. Burl Ives With Choir And Instrumental Accompaniment By Jimmy Carroll-There Were Three Ships
13. Roy Rogers And Dale Evans With Foy Willing And The Riders Of The Purple Sage-Wonderful Christmas Night
14. Marjorie Hammill, Soprano-RCA Victor Orchestra-Ardon Cornwell, Conductor-Birthday Of A King

57-Even More Little Bits

I hope you're really enjoying these collections of short Christmas (and Chanukah! and New Year's! And Las Posadas!) songs because I've got yet another batch of them for you today! These things are really a little bit hard to find at The Internet Archive, mostly because they aren't tagged Christmas, so you have to go looking for a specific song or a word, then dig, dig, dig until you find what you're after.  The good news is that once you find one, a whole double handful usually fall into your lap because they're all part of a series, and often multiple records across the series will have a song I want. But on the bad side, they're not consistently organized, so it's often hard to tell what tracks are where, or what sides belong to the same record.  But I think I've got it all figured out here, except for a few where I just guessed at how many tracks are on the flip side. There's not a whole lot of discographical information about these educational releases out there on the web, so I hope I'm doing my part to spread the good word about these old records that probably shaped your musical childhood in some small and probably forgotten way. Oh, of special note, the name Jack Halloran shows up on one of the labels below. Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to have sung on any of the songs I shared, but it was neat to spot a familiar name. On to the music, and enjoy!

MEGA

Update-5 Jan 2023-Added a tracklist for searchability.

1. Unknown Artist-Bom, Bom, Bom
2. Unknown Artist-O Come, Little Children
3. Unknown Artist-Carol Of The Birds
4. Unknown Artist-Las Posadas Songs
5. Unknown Artist-Piñata
6. Unknown Artist-Christmas Chant
7. Unknown Artist-I Saw Three Ships
8. Unknown Artist-The Rocking Carol
9. Unknown Artist-Now It Is Christmas
10. Unknown Artist-Pat-a-pan
11. Unknown Artist-Ring The Bells Of Christmas
12. Unknown Artist-Christmas Carols
13. Unknown Artist-We Love Christmas Day
14. Unknown Artist-Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
15. Lawrence Lane, Nancy Carr, Ruth Slater-O Come, O Come, Immanuel
16. Nancy Carr-Christmas Dance
17. Donald Gramm-Hush, My Babe
18. Bruce Foote-Hallelujah!
19. Nancy Carr-Cradle Song
20. Virginia Speaker-Over The River And Through The Wood
21. Nancy Carr-My Candles
22. Lawrence Lane-Sweet Oranges
23. Nancy Carr-Break The Piñata
24. Unknown Artist-Snow
25. Unknown Artist-Winter Song
26. Unknown Artist-Winter Fun
27. Dorothea Brodbeck, Soprano-Marilyn Palmer, Alto-Virginia Speaker, Soprano-Christmas Hymn
28. Virginia Speaker, Soprano-Ann Andrews, Alto-Silent Night
29. Virginia Speaker, Soprano-Ann Andrews, Alto-Christmas Caroling Song