Orthophonic sound!

Orthophonic sound is not some alternative to monophonic, duophonic, stereophonic and quadraphonic sound. Orthophonic means that the recording was designed for playback on a light tracking (relatively speaking) and with electric not acoustic amplification. In short, Orthophonic is the brand RCA used. Electrical recording was developed at Western Electric. It was the manufacturing arm of big Ma' bell. This was a really productive engineering group. They produced the Vitaphone system, Westrex optical sound, single-groove stereophonic sound, indestructible home phones, productivity studies, and half-a century of other innovations.Western Electric saw the same problem in acoustic reproduction that everyone else did. The signal to noise ratio sucked. The signal was low and the noise was high. The noise came in two forms, inferior recording technology, and playback based on energy produced by friction. Western Electric solved this at each end of the equation. they and other companies were improving recording technology. Electrical recording was a series of steps, but playback was all them. There are some great phonograph manual scans here. Of course they were met with resistance when they showed it off to the record companies. Much like stereo did in the 1960s, this change threatened to make their entire existing catalogs obsolete. But the rapidly improving quality of radio gave them competition in terms of fidelity. this was not an innovation they could afford to shelve. Both Victor and Columbia experimenting with electrical recordings in 1924. Radio had raised the bar even at this early stage, and the two media platforms saw each other as competition.

**AUDIO EXPIRED**

In the 1950s, RCA Victor re-used the brand to introduce new innovations in LP fidelity with the name "New Orthophonic." It's about as original as "New England" and "New York." But it worked. RCA saw the brad as one that succeeded, one that kept them alive through the golden age of radio.

A Milton Cross Christmas

I discovered Milton Cross via RCA 45-5106-B. It's a 78 with two tracks. The B side is an orchestral rendition of "Jingle Bells Fantasy" by the Victor Salon Orchestra. The A side is a reading of "The Night Before Christmas" by Milton Cross. It's read over a smooth string piece similar to the B side. Lee posted the B side last year. It's expired but it's such a worthy Blog.
I Found a single reference to it in the book 45 RPM: The History, Heroes & villains of a Pop Music Revolution. The book refers to the release as a 45 and to Milton Cross as a source of the music. These may be both incorrect. My copy is clearly a shellac 78, but still sports all the packaging described. It may have been later released as a yellow vinyl 45. But the reference is still informative.

"One of the first 45 records with a full color, four picture sleeve was a recitation of "The Night Before Christmas" (47-0141) by Clement C. Moore, with Music by Milton Cross and the Victor Salon Orchestra. The record had not only a sleeve with an aerial shot of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer but also a fold over flap with another full-color illustration of angelic, caroling children. It was issued as part of RCA Victor's Youth series in 1949."

So the real question was "Who is Milton Cross?" It turns out that he was the announcer for the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts on WABC-AM for 43 years. That's from their first program in 1931 until his death in 1975. He was also host of a classical program called "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street."

He was first hired by Tommy Cowan at WJZ-AM in 1921 while it was still based in Newark. It relocated to Manhattan as part of the NBC Blue Network. He did several children's programs including "coast to Coast on a bus", "Presenting A&G Pipsies" and "Children's Hour." With all that in context it begins to make sense that he be tapped to narrate that old Christmas recitation. RCA also had him read Little red Riding Hood and others. he also did some lesser known narrations of "the Great Foodini" for Caravan records. More here.

Late in his career he did a sunday night swing show and even hosted the Quiz program "Information please." George Ansbro wrote an autobiography in 1986 that tells as much about Milton as himself. It was reprinted with an introduction by Leonard Maltin in 1999. More here.

DO YOU KNOW THIS RADIO?

When I first saw this I thought it was an RCA model 45X11. but the chassis is wood and clearly older than that. Eventually I had to admit that I have no idea what model this is.

It's an RCA-Victor somthing and it's portable. It has a space in the back for a battery and no power cord, or if there is a power cord it's long lost. There's a handle on top so it's a portable somthing . It's resemblance to the 1940s Philcos is too strong for it to be much odler or newer. Anyone know what this is? It reminds me of Motorola Model 50-XC-3, but this is obviously an RCA, and lacks the "polish" of that model. it's got that nice dark finish like the RCA T63, but dosen't look a damn thing like it otherwise.