Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-14
start recording studio in Carnegie

start . recording studio in Carnegie
Hall.
Sometimes a boy and a girl will
sit down and 60 into kind of baby
talk and 1--WE which seems to have
come in on the wings of a jeep
Again the message is all too plain"
Frank told me.
"A few days ago pretty bru-
nette dropped in and said she had
message for friend in England.
She didn't think any practice for
timing was necessary. So from the
control room the engineer gave her
a signal to start.
The girl said hello into the
microphone and nothing more while
the record went on making neat
little grooves. After a minute or
two Of silence, she said 'good-by,'
and that was all"
Recording Patients"
Franks engineer, F. Sumner Hall,
Is long, thin and pleasant fellow
from Worcester. Mass, who talks
with the abstraction of scientist in
1oNC Will lid WI n, SokloioClo LAG
most exciting job the wiring of
hospital so that 5000 people could
listen to music as form of therapy.
He Is the man who handles re-
cording patients" who are too shy
and self-cohscious to have any one
else in the control room. 1t was his
idea to turn down the lights, offer
water and even chocolates to them
while they get in the mood"
Not so long ago young Southern
girl came in with an English officer
to make recording. They had no
plans about what they would say,
agreeing merely to signal Mr.. Hall
when they were ready to have him
start recording.
Katherine Hepburn movie when she
held up her finger for the engineer
to cut in. The Englshman did most
of the talking, remarking about the
American parties which had i'm
pressed him, the hospitality an
Englishman meets everywhere In
New York. Suddenly he began
lClillS llCl ljC lOfCu lie i,
unprepared, was left speeches..
They Try Again.
Il could see how disappointed the
boy was" Mr.. Hall told me. But
in few days they were back again
to make another record, saying he
had broken his on the way to his
ship. OF course. this time she had
agreed ahead of time to say Yes
The second record was so sue
cessful that she returned two
months later to have it copied. She
was afraid she would wear 1t out
by continuous playing before he re-
turned"
Besides the thousands of record
ings made in the studios, the record
ing companies are busy copying
records made by boys at camps all
over the country. Offered free as
publicity stunt by various firms,
they are made on coated cardboard
and right there's one thing about
which all those who cherish these
camp-made records should be
warned.
They are as fragile as paper
shoe box left out in the rain. If
any one wants to keep one of them
for a permanent record, he or she
should rush 1t to professional
studio and have 1t copied-before
playing even once.
Messages Lost Forever.
Frank pointed to a stack of rec
ords which were beyond recovery,
their sincere and poignant messages
lost forever.
Most people have blissfully OPP
timistic notion of the beating a
record will take. They feel vaguely
that they can be restored like a. torn
photograph. They forget that the
recording is mechanical and once
the grooves have been worn down
they are gone forever.
You can picture how we feel
when a mother or wife comes in
with a battered cardboard record
of son killed at Guadalcanal and
thinks we can bring his voice back
to her"