Transcription Mystery Disc #243

This 6.5-Inch, metal-core, Voice-O-Graph is dated September 4th 1954. My Voice-O-Graph labelography calls this a Black on Green (metal variant).  I've found them dated as early as 1951 with the green label and as late as 1955 and the Blue label of the same design as early as 1947. There are a few locations by that name:  a beach park near Cleveland, a township in New Jersey, and a neighborhood of the Bronx, NY. It's impossible now to say which it was.

Edgewater Park


The recording rates in my top 5 most bizarre out of anything I've ever digitized.The recording was partly backwards. All of it had strange audio artifacts that I'd have trouble doing without digital manipulation. the parts that are intelligible mostly consist of strange shouts, hoots and hollers toward the end I can clearly understand words.. but they do not make sense in the order they are used. It's just odd. I'm assuming that none of these people were sober.

Transcription Mystery Disc #241

This is a 6.5-Inch, paper-core Voice-O-Graph acetate home recording. I've already worked out a good labelography for this type of recording blank. I classified this as Red-On-White and have seen dates around 1964.It was the end of the line for Voice-O-Graph discs.

Kerry Hills by Barry Murray & E. Mahoney

The recording is of a man and a woman, singing in harmony (sort of). He is quite flat.  They find their pace toward the end of the recording and I can start to make out the words clearly. As titled, they are singing a traditional Irish tune, The Kerry Hills a tune more recently recorded by Brendan Begley in 1987. It's a more obscure traditional, something that indicates they were very serious Irish music fans, or otherwise. they also sing a slightly different version then the Begley recording [source] again indicating a much older song with a wider array of lyrical variants. Ex.

Of the days so merry
When we plucked the berry
On the verdant slopes
Of the Kerry hills

I've seen the Atlantic
Both wild and frantic
I have traveled far
From my native home

Transcription Mystery Disc #237

This is a metal core, Voice-O-Graph. It's clearly dated to August 17th 1949. It also notes that it was recorded in Washington D.C. The disc is the earliest I have seen for this make of Voice-O-Graph blank. All those others I've found are after 1951.  But as expected the earlier discs typically have the metal core.

Mother and child


The audio is quite serviceable for being 65 years old. The recording is of a mother and a child that is learning to speak. The child is hard to understand, but that's not the fidelity, the kid just doesn't have that talking thing down yet.  You can't glean much context from that kind of conversation. But I did catch that daddy went to Georgia on the train. No first names no last names... that's all there is.

Transcription Mystery Disc #217

"We are all visiting Atlantic City for the evening." That's the opening sentence on this 6.5-Inch paper-core, Voice-O-Graph disc. The recording is unlabeled, save for some crayon markings scribbled across the envelope... the name looks like Matt. The connection is dubious. They identify their location as "Stone Harbor." This is actually a town between Wildwoods and Ocean City, near Avalon. Aside from being the namesake of a small vanity record label it's non-notable. The main speaker has a New Jersey accent is is probably a local.

Stone Harbor VOG


The disc came to me in terrible shape but I was able to clean it for a better quality rip. In some cases you can carefully wash the playing surface without moisture getting to the paper core. If you succeed you might get good playback. If you fail the playing surface is destroyed by the expanding paper rippling the shellac surface. The original recording had good levels making reductions in bed noise more feasible. A woman giggles and calls out their names. Genie, Archie, Barbara, and Todd. They try to sing together but can't stop laughing.

Transcription Mystery Disc #171

This disc was so bent that I had to manually intervene and bend it back. This is a dangerous move as any flexing of the core can de-laminate the acetate from the substrate. In other words the coating can peel right off. But in this case the bend was so pronounced the needle couldn't track whatsoever. So steps were taken to save this 78 rpm metal-core oddity.

Sentimental Reasons


The disc is labeled With both names and a date "Johnny singing, Atlantic City July 7, 1948."  This recording is almost exactly 65 years old. We know where and when it was recorded. The vocalist, Johnny opens with "This song is for my darling wife, Sentimental Reasons."  then he broke into an acapella version of "(I Love You) for Sentimental Reasons."  two years previous Nat King Cole had a huge hit with it so he is most likely emulating this version. But Eddie Howard, Dinah Shore and even Charlie Spivak had cut versions of the song by the time Johnny got around to recording this abbreviated version.

You will notice that the brand name Voice-O-Disc is very similar to Voice-O-Graph.  I've never seen the make before but it's likely they were a cheap knock off disc offered to vendors using Voice-O-Graph discs. In this case I know they were recorded at Atlantic City, it might have even been a small run with labels slapped onto a known blank. It's impossible to say now.

Transcription Mystery Disc #127

This is a Voice-O-Graph disc from May 11th 1947.  It has an outer-edge start and is recorded at 78 rpm. The disc is similar to the ones in my Labelography under the category "Red on Beige." It fits nicely in that batch chronologically as well, between 1946 - 1948. I still debate whether or not the Red-on-Unbleached disc is of the same or a slightly different make. This disc does not add to that discussion.

 Black Magic


The recording is of a woman singing "Black Magic" accapella. The whole recording is barely a minute long. I edited a couple pops and cleaned up the noise a bit. No heavy processing was required thankfully. Judy Garland recorded the song in 1942, the same year it was published, which is probably the version that inspired this rendition, despite the 5-year gap.

Transcription Mystery Disc #105

This is a later Voice-O-Graph Disc of a very similar make to the "Black-on-Yellow" disc I tentatively dated to 1964. See labelography here. This disc is markedly lighter and more beige than the Black-on-Yellow disc.  I considered that it might be faded, but if so, it managed to fade without fading the text or the color on the reverse side. As unlikely as that is, I also consider it unlikely that there are variants of such similar hue. Like the "Teal-on-Unbleached" disc, my current thinking is that this is a manufacturing blem. Cheap manufacture and poor quality control may have led to a wider variance in color than intended by design.
Maybell Machine


None of these late variants have confirmed dates yet. This one includes a mailer but without a post-mark.But the back of the envelope notes that postage is 10¢ for first class. According to this site the first class rate was 5¢ per oz from 1963 to 1967. A total of 10¢ would put the whole unit at under 2 oz. That's at least plausible. But since this mailer is missing it's cardboard inserts I can't be certain what the weight was. Until I find a complete unit no confident estimate can be made.

There is no text on the disc itself, but the mailer is labeled in messy cursive "Maybell Machine." The recording spins at 45 rpm and has an outer edge start. the recording levels are pretty low but what's going on is quite clear. We have a drunk teenager singing acapella. She sings what sounds like a hymn for about 45 seconds them busts out a couple bars of Jingle Bells before getting cut off.

Transcription Mystery Disc # 46

 This is another 1960s-era Voice-O-Graph disc. Unlike most others it's clearly labeled both on the disc and on the sleeve. It does however, lack a date. It starts at the outside edge and spins at 45 rpm.

All The Way


The bed noise was particularly pronounced but I filtered off the worst of it making a readily listenable chunk of audio. I applied a very light high pass filter and a standard 900 Hz low pass filter. Leaving a thick  slab of mid-range where most of the amateur recording occurred anyway.

The vocalist is doing a cover of a well known Frank Sinatra tune "All The Way" which was recorded in 1957. It was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn. This would tend to indicate that this Voice-O-graph belongs earlier in the labelography than I have previously thought. But, lacking a affirmed date, it remains uncertain.

Transcription Mystery Disc #114

Another week, another unlabeled acetate recording. This one is recorded at 45 rpm which only occurred with these later discs.  It's in very good condition, but the recording levels are low so I had to take unfortunate steps to filter off a noise that sounds like some kind of direct drive motor.

"...we thank you for all the fine things"



The recording begins with an organ rendering a few bars of Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Then a man with a thick accent thanks Emile and Martha for hosting their visit to New York. His English is clear but his grammar awkward. He names his wife as Mariette before passing the mic to her, then she says several things in a language I am unfamiliar with. Sadly it turns out to be more or less undateable from it's contents. But the blank is identical to a variant I dated affirmatively to 1959. It's no stretch to place it around that date.

Voice-O-Graph Labelography (Part 9)

This is my eighth update to my Voice-O-Graph Labelography project. Today I have two variants and a little more information. These are, as so often is the case, undated. These two fit nicely into the 1960s set of discs in the labelography. the first is a Red-text variant of the Blue on White disc, what I'm labeling as the Red on White disc.  I also have a variant of the Black on White disc that dates affirmatively to 1957-1959. This disc is identical except that it's center has not been punched out for a RCA Victor 45 rpm adapter. What is more interesting is that thsi un-punched 45/78 rpm acetate makes clear that the design of the Red on White disc has some features from the Blue on White disc and some features from the Black on White disc. It's correlative, but uncertain that this disc falls between the two in the chronology.

The extra holes in that one and the other early 45/78 rpm disc have 3 holes surrounding the spindle hole, similar to the Dictaphone layout. It is possible these were specifically intended for that device. Remaining work needs done in the area of date confirmation and integration of the anachronistic metal-core green label discs. I also do not discount the possibility of more color variants. [Contributions are always welcome if you know more.]

Red Top on Yellow: Unknown, assumed to be first disc1943?

GEM Mutoscope Disc: 1945?

Red on Yellow: 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947

Red on Beige: 1946, 1948

Red on Unbleached: Unknown 1940s?

Red On Blue: Years 1947

Teal-on-Unbleached : Year: 1948 (assumed)

Blue on Blue: Year: 1948

Black On Red: 1948

Black on Green: Years:1951,1953 - 1955 (also had metal core variant)

ESO Mutoscope Disc: 1950s?

Mutoscope Black Label: (45 rpm) Years????

Black on White (punched) (78/45 rpm) 1957, 1959

Black on White (unpunched) (78/45 rpm) 1957, 1959

Red on White (4 holes): Unknown assumed 1960s?

 

Red on White: Unknown assumed 1960s?

Blue on White: Unknown assumed 1960s?

Black on Yellow: Years 1964?

Black on Red: Unknown assumed 1964?

Yellow Label Unknown assumed 1964?

Transcription Mystery Disc #101

So I found the time to rip this recent addition to my collection. It is fortunate that I have a set of similar discs to cross date it with. It is unfortunate that only only of them can be dated with any confidence. A similar disc was dated to 1964. For more on that please refer to my growing Voice-O-Graph Labelography project (Part 8.) Click HERE for details.

Red On White VOG

Overall it's fidelity is pretty good. It's is a recording of a mother trying to sing with two small children. The first tune is"Show Me the Way to Go Home" by Irving King in 1925. It had a popularity resurgence because of the drunken sing along scene in the film Jaws. But Jaws came out in 1975 so this most certainly pre-dates that film. I don't recognize the second song so I can only fall back on that 1964 date as an approximation.

Voice-O-Graph Labelography (Part 8)

This is my eighth update to my Voice-O-Graph Labelography project. I have enough information to post just one more variant for the list today. I have found a red-text variant of the Blue on White disc. I have assumed that it too dates to the 1960s. Looking now at those four of very similar design I suspect that the paper labels predate the writable surface discs. Cost saving measures tend to appear in the declining side of a products popularity. Eliminating the label removes a step from the manufacturing process. It's a shame neither of those discs have confirmed dates.

Remaining work needs done in the area of date confirmation and integration of the anachronistic metal-core green label discs. I also do not discount the possibility of more color variants. [Contributions are always welcome if you know more.]

Red Top on Yellow: Unknown, assumed to be first disc1943?

GEM Mutoscope Disc: 1945?

Red on Yellow: 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947

Red on Beige: 1946, 1948

Red on Unbleached: Unknown 1940s?

Red On Blue: Years 1947

Teal-on-Unbleached : Year: 1948 (assumed)

Blue on Blue: Year: 1948

Black On Red: 1948

Black on Green: Years:1951,1953 - 1955 (also had metal core variant)

ESO Mutoscope Disc: 1950s?

Mutoscope Black Label: (45 rpm) Years????

Black on White (45 rpm) 1957, 1959

Blue on White: Unknown assumed 1960s?

Red on White: Unknown assumed 1960s?

Black on Yellow: Years 1964

Black on Red: Unknown assumed 1964?

Yellow Label Unknown assumed 1950s?

Voice-O-Graph Labelography (Part 7)

This is my seventh update to my Voice-O-Graph Labelography project. I have enough information to post just one more variant for the list today. Sadly it is undated and I have not found anything to corroborate it's age. It is similar to no other disc in the labelography. Presently it is listed as "Yellow Label." I have found evidence of anther disc that I will document later. It is just a red-text variant of the Blue on White disc. I've estimated to date to the 1960s.

Remaining work needs done in the area of date confirmation and integration of the anachronistic metal-core green label discs. I also do not discount the possibility of more color variants. [Contributions are always welcome if you know more.]
Red Top on Yellow: Unknown, assumed to be first disc1943?

GEM Mutoscope Disc: 1945?

Red on Yellow: 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947

Red on Beige: 1946, 1948

Red on Unbleached: Unknown 1940s?

Red On Blue: Years 1947

Teal-on-Unbleached : Year: 1948 (assumed)

Blue on Blue: Year: 1948

Black On Red: 1948

Black on Green: Years:1951,1953 - 1955 (also had metal core variant)

ESO Mutoscope Disc: 1950s?

Mutoscope Black Label: (45 rpm) Years????

Black on White (45 rpm) 1957, 1959

Blue on White: Unknown assumed 1960s?

Black on Yellow: Years 1964

Black on Red: Unknown assumed 1964?

Yellow Label Unknown assumed 1964?