The Typewriter Concert | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Leroy Anderson   (1908 - 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces; many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. (It was once said that because of Arthur Fiedler expressions while conducting his orchestras, he looked bilious and should have "worn looser shoes and eaten more roughage.")

    As with many of his other compositions, Leroy Anderson wrote the Typewriter for orchestra, completing his work on October 9, 1950. Various ensembles have covered it many times.

    Younger people will not remember when most of the music issued on 10 or 12-inch diameter records. The 78 Revolutions per Minute Vinyl records played on large bulky machines. The records held about 3 – 5 minutes per side. Eventually technology provided for smaller grooves, which extended playtime as well as quality. In addition, slower speeds and smaller size became popular. The 45 RPM became the standard for the 1950's generation. It was compact and the players were much smaller than the 78 RPM versions. That coincided with the Elvis era and the pop record boom.

   My uncle worked for a radio station in Marietta, Georgia. He bought the used recording machine from the station when they upgraded. It would make a record on a metal aluminum disk coated with black lacquer. By the time I came around the blanks were pretty much gone, but my cousin Art and I were able to make a couple of records. There were quite a few family recordings from shortly after World War II until the early 50's. I often regret that I did not make tape copies of them but a 7-10 year old child had other things on his mind. When dad passed in 2005 there was a stack of the 78 records in the basement along with the few remaining family recordings. The family recordings had deteriorated beyond repair. I reluctantly discarded them and sold the professional 78's to a record store at bargain pricing. One interesting thing about the recording process was you had one take and one take only. That required planning and practice. There was no redubbing or overlay recording on that primitive machine.   Home Made Archaic Records

   In the hands of the right artist, even a simple typewriter can make music or humor.

    Jerry Lewis doing a pantomime of the classsic using an invisible typewriter.

        Link to above

   Here is another version performed by the III Marine Expeditionary Force Band. Who says Marines, don't have a sense of humor?

   For the purest among the dwindling crowd, here is the original recoding posted to YouTube with the record label. The Typewriter – 1953   If there are really any bored readers left who can endure the minutia, here is the link to an extended playlist of old recordings. There are some great old time released on this listing. The YouTube 1953 HITS ARCHIVE Playlist-by title sort (MusicProf78)    Move along now, there is nothing else to see here.

Grandpa's Diary Chapter 7.