Old Recordings......WWII

[RonJ]

MY SIL found some recordings of her Dad made in the 1940's. She describes them as smaller, about the size of a 45 rpm but with a smaller LP sized hole in the center.
Would these be 78 rpm recordings?

 

[kennyb]

they are probably 33 1/3 recordings...some had the small hole 7" in size...it may also play at 16 speed

 

[RonJ]

Thanks. I hope they are 33 1/3. She doesn't have a record player and mine only plays 33's & 45's. They have Red Cross labels on them.

 

[Landpimp]

I need to find something to play grandpa old radio show one, he did a daily show in Seattle durning WWII on Victory Gardens and other stuff(he was the local extension agent), I didnt know this untill just a few years ago, grandma gave me the recordings, am sure I can find some old player laying around at one of my old old clients houses

 

[m1gunner]

You can digitize the records by taking the output from the stereo and inputing it to the soundcard on your computer.

Save as a WAV file then convert to MPG.

This way you can share with family members and not put additional wear on the records every time you play them.

 

[WaistGunner]

I am lucky enough to have recently found of these little records made by my grandfather to my grandmother and (then infant) mother. It was amazing to hear how young grandpop sounded. He was 23 at the time, serving with the US Army in New Guinea. It took me a few tries to make it work at 33 1/3 RPM. I too have to get it digitized.

 

[opoefc]

I remember the Red Cross made available at some of the USO Canteens, a booth where you could record a message, or whatever, to send to the folks back home. These were small, thin discs about the size of a later 45 rpm record, but played at 78 rpm, as I recall. This was during WW2 period, and may have also been done during the Korean War period. The Red Cross got a bad rap during WW2 for charging us GIs for coffee & donuts, but overall I think they did a good as possible job, considering they operated in some pretty wierd and unfavorable conditions.

 

[MK]

My grandfather sent one or more of those back home before he
shipped out in 1944. I've got a copy of the one he sent to his
parents and a sister.
It's hard to tell the month by what they announce as it's clipped,
It's something 24, 1944... May, June, or July maybe according to
the schedule of the ship being launched and commissioned maybe.
They left for Pearl Harbor, and other parts in Oct 1944.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Canotia_(AN-47)
Here is a digi copy of the record.. BTW, my aunt has the original,
and she said it was on cardboard, or something like that.
Kind of like the records they would give away on cereal boxes..
They would coat the box with harder vinyl and put the grooves
into the vinyl. I think it was 78 rpm.. I don't know where it was
recorded, IE: USO, Red Cross, or whatever, but GEM razors seemed
to be a sponsor for this one.
Nothing exciting, but you can hear what one sounded like..
http://home.comcast.net/~disk100/marvin.mp3

Myself, I would be kind of surprised if the records the OP found
were not 78 rpm. 33 rpm existed back then, but pretty rare.
Almost everyone in the 40's ran 78's for the most part.
I'm not sure if many home phono's had 33 rpm back then..
That didn't really become that popular until the late 50's,
early 60's or so when the LP albums got to be big sellers.
I've got a 1948 RCA console here in the room, but I've got
stuff piled on top of it, so can't look to see if it's got 33 rpm
at the moment. :/

 

[RonJ]

I guess we'll find a way to play them, one way or another.
My wife's Dad died when she was 13 (1960) and she hasn't heard his voice since then.
I'm sure it'll be a very emotional moment when we get things working.