A Visit To Nauck's Vintage Records

Last weekend, I, along with Radio Dismuke contributors Matt From College Station, Eddie The Collector and Christian From Austin, took a trip down to Spring, Texas just outside of Houston to visit the impressive facilities of Nauck's Vintage Records and look through Kurt Nauck's large room full of "reject" records.

Kurt is extremely selective about the condition and collectability of the records he includes in his semi-annual auctions. Thus records with various flaws and those that are not in particularly high demand by serious collectors are set aside as rejects. But just because they are "rejects" does not mean that there is not plenty of great music to be had. In many cases, the condition issues are primarily cosmetic and do not effect playing quality. Other condition issues such as cracks can render even a very collectible record nearly worthless - but if the crack is tight enough for a stylus to navigate through, my audio restoration equipment can, in most cases, easily take out the resulting "clicks."

There were several thousand records to go through - so Matt, Eddie, Christian and I each grabbed a bunch of boxes and sorted through for stuff that we wanted for our respective collections. I ended up driving back to Fort Worth with about 400 some odd records. Many of these will gradually make their way into the Radio Dismuke playlist as I get the time to transfer, restore and digitize them. Others I picked up fall outside Radio Dismuke's 1920s and 1930s popular music and jazz format. These include swing, big band, operatic and about 75 1940s era V-Discs. Much of the music on V-Disc I find to be of only marginal interest. But I find the label to be interesting both for the role the records played in World War II and the fact that they often contain recordings that were not made available commercially to the general public. Some of the records I picked up that do not fit the Radio Dismuke format might eventually be featured as "Extras" in my Hit of the Week updates.

Matt, Eddie and Christian each picked up a good number of records as well. All three have always been very generous about making their collections available to Radio Dismuke so it is very possible that some of their acquisitions will eventually be broadcast.

Kurt's facility - built from the ground up to his specifications - is always a fascinating place to visit and is as much a museum of early recorded sound as it is a successful retail enterprise. Below are a few photos I took while we were there - but they do not do the place any justice. Perhaps next time I go down there, I will get my hands on a video camera and see if Kurt would be interested in providing a video tour of the facility and the many items on display.

Kurt Nauck, owner of Nauck's Vintage Records



A display cabinet of assorted cylinder records. Nauck auctions feature all pre-microgroove formats of recorded sound from the 1890s through the end of the 78 rpm era in the late 1950s.


This is the shipping room where the approximately 10,000 items in each auction are carefully packed for shipment to winning bidders around the world. The funnel in the middle is a dispenser for packing peanuts. On the far left is a giant roll of bubble wrap.


The trademark Pathe rooster. This was originally an advertising display for a Pathe Records dealer.


This is the room in which the semi-annual Bidder's Request Program aired on Radio Dismuke is recorded.

Matt sorts through some of the records he picked out.


Christian looks through a box of vintage sheet music.


Matt and Eddie look through unsold items from previous Nauck auctions.

After our visit to Nauck's, Matt, Eddie and I introduced Christian to the gastrointestinal adventure known as Pancho's Mexican Buffet. I don't quite know how to describe Pancho's. Let's just say that when I was growing up in Dallas/Fort Worth during the chain's heyday there were locations all over town which were best avoided on Friday and Saturday nights as they were usually jammed full of families with screaming and hyper kids. Pancho's is an all-you-can-eat establishment. In the photo, Christian is pointing to the table top Mexican flag that diners raise to notify the wait staff that they would like additional helpings. Pancho's does NOT rate very highly as far as Mexican food is concerned. However, if one takes the mindset that the stuff Pancho's serves is not Mexican food but rather an entirely unique genre unto itself, it can be oddly addictive - or at least I think so. Every so often, I actually crave the stuff and have to go in and get my fix. Christian is still talking to us - so presumably it was not all that bad of an experience for him.


"Pancho" - the cartoon trademark of Pancho's Mexican Buffet



Poor Christian is probably not aware that the pose I am asking him to strike for this photo is the same one as the man in Pancho's cartoon trademark. Hmmmm. Give him a shave, a sombrero, and a fake Spanish accent and he could become a corporate spokesman and go around telling the world about the wonders of Panchos! (Hopefully he will still be talking to me after this!)

Nauck's Vintage Records Broadcast

I am very pleased to announce the seventh semi-annual Nauck's Vintage Records Broadcast hosted by Kurt Nauck, owner of Nauck's Vintage Records, the world's largest and most prestigious auction house of rare and collectible vintage records.

During theses special broadcasts, Kurt generously makes all of the nearly 10,000 vintage records in his current auction available for the broadcast. During the broadcast, Radio Dismuke will depart from its strictly 1920s and 1930s popular music and jazz format and play recordings from just about every musical genre imaginable from the dawn of commercial recorded sound in the 1890s through the end of the 78 rpm era in the late 1950s. Many of the records in the auction are extremely rare and the vast majority have never been reissued in modern formats.

One of the things that is special about the broadcast is that it will provide listeners a rare opportunity to hear very early cylinder records played through Kurt's Archeophone - a modern, electrical playback device designed specifically for the reproduction and preservation of vintage cylinder records. Because an Archeophone costs over $16,000 owning one is beyond the financial reach of the vast majority of private collectors and they are usually found in institutions such as sound archives and national libraries. You, however, will have the privilege of listening to one during the broadcast. Late 19th century wax cylinder records are especially fascinating because very frequently they are the last surviving copies of the recorded performance.

In addition to vintage cylinders and conventional 78 rpm discs, there are other vintage formats in the auction as well including Edison diamond discs, radio transcription disc, picture records and cardboard Hit of the Week records. Radio Dismuke listeners have the opportunity to hear recordings from a wide variety of musical genres ranging from jazz and dance band music to classical, opera, blues, country and even early rock and roll.

For April's broadcast, we will be continue with the continuous rotation schedule format which has been well received for previous broadcasts. The program will start Saturday April 25 at 11:00 AM Central Time in the United States and will continuously repeat all day April 25 and April 26. The program will be aired again starting at 8:00 AM Central Time in the United States on Saturday May 3 and will continuously repeat all day. Because these broadcasts are several hours in length, listeners with schedule commitments may not be able to listen all the way through to any given broadcast. This format should provides opportunities for those who miss portions of the broadcast on one airing to be able to catch the rest on a subsequent airing.

For more broadcast start times in your time zone, click here.

I am always very excited about these broadcasts and hope you will have a chance to listen. They provide a unique opportunity to hear some extremely rare and historic recordings - a good number of which have not been available to a public audience in many decades. It is another example of how Internet radio is able to provide to a worldwide audience highly specialized, quality programing that traditional media outlets are simply not able or willing to take on.

Vintage Radios Play Again

It is still fairly easy to come across vintage radios in non-working condition. Radios that have all or most of their parts can usually be put back in working order if one has a basic understanding of electronics. The local vintage radio club near me even offers occasional workshops on how to do it.

I own several non-working vintage radios and keep them simply because they are very attractive to look at. I almost never listen to the ones that I have which are in working condition. Quite frankly, the problem with vintage radios is that they only pick up modern stations and, in my area, there is very little on such stations that I wish to listen to.

A while back I purchased an AM transmitter device so that I could broadcast Internet radio and music files on my computer to vintage radios throughout the house. Unfortunately it turned out that, unlike a similar FM transmitter, I would have had to construct an antenna in order to get the signal from one side of the house to the other. Since that is not my idea of a fun project and I already have a lot on my plate, my notion of broadcasting through the transmitter came to an abrupt end.

For those who have non-functioning vintage radio sets, my friend Christian Kohlhaas in Austin, Texas has successfully found other methods short of complete restoration of bringing them back to life musically.



Here is Christian's circa 1930 American Bosch floor model radio. The first time I ever visited his place a few years ago, I walked in and immediately saw the radio's dial lit up with vintage music coming from the speaker. Moments later, I heard my own voice announcing that it I was listening to Radio Dismuke.

The radio, however, is little more than a very attractive speaker. When Christian acquired the cabinet a good amount of its parts were either missing or broken, including the original speaker. He installed in place of the original speaker a similarly sized 1970s vintage Radio Shack speaker. He also got the dial light working and wired it to one of the radio's knobs. The speaker is connected to a long cord that can be plugged into a computer or stereo system sound jack.

Vintage recordings, to me at least, sound better through the radio than they do even very decent computer speakers. My guess is part of it might have something to do with the resonance of the wood in the cabinet.

Here is Christian's late 1930s General Electric table top radio. For its time this was a very compact radio. When he acquired it was just an empty wooden cabinet. It now plays music from an mp3 player and amplifier hidden away in the cabinet.

One of Christian's hobbies is participating in Eastern front World War II reenactments. He thought it would be fun to bring a vintage radio that played appropriate period music along to the reenactments. As you can see from the photo, the finish is in very rough condition in certain areas. This is actually very suitable for Christian's purpose in that a radio set that managed to make it to the front lines of a war was probably not in the best cosmetic condition.



Here is a view of what he built inside the cabinet. The speaker was taken from a broken 1980s vintage boombox. At the upper lift hand corner is an inexpensive USB stick mp3 player already loaded with vintage recordings. In the foreground is the amplifier that powers the speaker. If one does not already have an amplifier to use, one can build one from an inexpensive kit. Everything is powered by battery. Christian was able to wire one of the radio's control knobs to turn the power on and off. The other knob is wired to the mp3 player and is used to change the songs.




Finally, Christian does have a vintage radio that actually picks up regular stations. It is a 1934 RCA Model 143 tabletop radio. It was RCA's most expensive table top model and sold for $97.40 - which, adjusted for currency inflation was about $2,182 in today's money. Unfortunately, it is hard to judge its size by the photo - but it is very large for a table top model.

Home entertainment devices have certainly become far less expensive and technologically better in every way. But, like so many other areas of modern life, from a strictly aesthetic standpoint, they have a very hard time matching the beauty and quality that was commonplace in the 1920s and 1930s.

Vienna At Night - 1936

This film clip of Vienna at night from around 1936 is only 25 seconds long but every second is great. 

Back in the '20s and '30s, big city downtowns offered incredible neon light shows at night - especially in the entertainment districts.   The spirit still lives on in New York's Times Square but not a whole lot of other places. 

4th Annual New Year's Broadcast

I am very pleased to announce the 4th Annual Radio Dismuke New Year's Eve Broadcast in which Radio Dismuke will help ring in the New Year in all four continental United States time zones by spinning a variety of 78 rpm recordings from the 1920s through the early 1940s in a special live broadcast.

Joining me in the Radio Dismuke studio in Fort Worth, Texas will be special guests Eddie The Collector, Matt From College Station and Jerry From Dallas who will be bringing along lots of fun and interesting selections from their large collections of vintage 78 rpm records.

The New Year's Eve live broadcast will run from:

For North America listeners:

Wednesday December 31, 2008

10:00 PM - 3:00 AM Eastern 
9:00 PM - 2:00 AM Central 
8:00 PM - 1:00 AM Mountain 
7:00 PM - 12:00 AM Pacific

For International listeners:

3:00 AM - 8:00 AM Thursday GMT

Already have plans for New Year's Eve? Not to worry - the entire program will be rebroadcast on New Year's day. It will be a great way to recuperate from the sort of music that one is often subjected to these days at New Year's parties!

The New Year's day rebroadcast will run from:

For North America listeners:

Thursday January 1, 2009 

The recorded broadcast will be repeated back in a continuous loop throughout New Year's Day. The rebroadcast will start as soon after the live broadcast as it takes to process the 
recording and upload it to the Radio Dismuke broadcast server. The continuous loop rebroadcast will run though at least midnight Friday morning Central Time in the USA (6:00 AM 
Friday GMT). The replay of the broadcast that is still in progress at midnight will be allowed to complete before Radio Dismuke resumes normal programing for Friday. 

Here is a website that will be helpful for listeners outside of North America who wish to convert the broadcast schedule to their local time: http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc 

A link to a Technical Issues Blog will be available on the Radio Dismuke website at www.RadioDismuke.com

Excellent Acting - 1933

If you want to see an example of outstanding acting ability watch this very funny scene from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria. The scene does not contain a single word of dialogue so everything had to be conveyed entirely though facial expressions. You also do not need to speak German in order to follow it. 

If the film's title sounds familiar, it is because it was remade in America in 1982 as Victor/Victoria.

To fully appreciate the clip, a bit of background information about the film's plot is necessary. As with the better known 1982 remake, the central character is a struggling actress who gets an unexpected break when she agrees to fill in at the last minute for a female impersonator who is too ill to perform. The act becomes an immediate sensation forcing her to put on a permanent charade that she is a cross-dressing male. Renate Muller played the role in the 1933 film and Julie Andrews played the role in the 1982 version.

Much of the action in the 1982 remake revolves around a Chicago gangster (played by James Garner) falling in love with "Victoria" and the hilarious psychological trauma he goes through over his attraction to a woman he believes is a man. This aspect of the film does not take place in the 1933 version and, unlike the risque 1982 remake, all of the characters in the German version are heterosexual. James Garner's 1933 counterpart character, Robert (played by Anton Walbrook), learns about Viktoria's masquerade early on and decides to have a bit of fun with his discovery. Playing along with the charade, he offers to take "Viktor" out to do "guy stuff" such as smoking, drinking, flirting with prostitutes and getting a shave with a straight blade razor.

The scene in the clip is where Robert takes "Viktor" to a rowdy pub. Pay close attention to the facial expressions, especially those of "Viktor"/Renate Muller, which are very well done. Robert offers her a smoke - which she reluctantly accepts. When "Viktor" follows Robert's lead in reacting to the flirtatious prostitutes - well, as you will see, the results are hilarious.

When I first discovered this film clip on YouTube, it struck me as another great example of the incredible level of talent that existed in the early 20th century entertainment industry that is sadly so rare today.

While the film was produced in 1933 after Hitler's National Socialists had assumed power, the Nazi stranglehold on the Germany film industry had not yet been fully implemented and, in many respects, it retains a lot of the spirit of the Wiemar era.

Unfortunately, Renate Muller met a very sad end. The Nazi regime was eager to promote her as an "ideal Aryan woman" and there were even attempts to get her to engage in a friendly personal relationship with Adolf Hitler. When she resisted, she was put under surveillance by the Gestapo, possibly on grounds that she might have had incriminating information about Hitler. She also antagonized the regime by refusing to give into pressure to end a relationship with a Jewish emigre. Increasingly worried about her safety, she became addicted to morphine and entered a sanitarium. Muller died in October 1937 as a result of a fall from a window at the sanitarium. The German media officially reported her sudden death as being caused by epilepsy. Witnesses, however, reported that, shortly before her death, four Gestapo agents visited the sanitarium. Exactly what happened is unknown but it is speculated that they either pushed her out of the window or that she panicked and jumped when she looked out and saw the Gestapo agents approaching the building.

You can also see a nice musical performance by Renate Muller singing the theme song from the film here . And here you can see Renate Muller performing "Viktoria's" cabaret act.

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1934 Hollywood Party

Here is really entertaining clip both visually and musically from the film Hollywood Party.   In addition to a performance by Shirley Ross (perhaps best remembered for singing "Thanks For The Memories" and "Two Sleepy People" with Bob Hope), is a nice scat vocal by Harry Barris of the Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys trio which gave Bing Crosby his start. 

Despite all of the huge budgets and significant improvements in technology can you imagine the Hollywood of today coming up with something even close to this?