Skip to main content

story identification - Looking For 78 rpm Childrens' Records With Fairy Tales and Classical Music


When I was a kid, we still had my mother's 78 rpm record player and her collections of childrens' albums from her own childhood in the 1950s. There were a lot of old 10-inch records with it, but there were a few two-record sets that made particular impressions on me.



These two-record albums had fairy tales, acted out by several actors and a narrator, and they were set to pieces of classical music. Mostly, the actors sang along to the music, with original lyrics. The insides of the double albums had cartoons of the things going on in the the stories.


We had three such albums that I remember: A Midsummer Night's Dream (music by Mendelssohn), Sleeping Beauty (music by Tchaikovsky), and Aladdin (Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov). On the Aladdin record, I specifically remember the "wicked uncle" character singing,



"Down, down, down, in the deep dark cavern.
Down he'll go, and then I'll have him.
He does not know the old lamp is magic!
Ha, ha! Ho, ho! It's tragic."



I'm certain that we had at least one more, but it is escaping me at the moment.


For years, I have been trying to locate these audio recordings again, since the old records are now long gone. By I have no idea what label released them, or when they were made, except that it was probably between 1945 and 1960. Internet searches have not turned anything up, so I thought maybe SF&F might be able to help.




Answer



These could be records from label "The Children's Record Guild". This label was active from 1950 - 1957 and their releases included Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I haven't heard them myself so I can't confirm if the recordings match your description.


Sleeping Beauty sleeve image


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more