Take me to...Teen Street!

As part of the Disney marketing machine supporting the film In Search of the Castaways starring Maurice Chevalier and Hayley Mills, 1962 also saw the release of the elder and younger star hosting a concept album called Teen Street. Featuring a romance theme the idea behind Teen Street was that teenagers are not only the same all over the world but similar from one generation to the next. The album is a bit myopic culturally and has the standard Disney idealization of what life is like.

The album showcases established recording stars like Disney-staple Annette Funicello and relatively unknown performers getting some exposure that is surely low-risk to the studio. Billy Storm and Gary Shortall both have some good entries to the album. Annette Funicello and the Sylte Sisters add no surprises with entries pretty typical for the young teen market sought by Disney. One song listeners may take exception with is The Wildest as sung by Shortall (22:02). While not his fault the tune sounds so derivative of Dion's The Wanderer that lawyers for the Laurie label must have been high-fiving each other for months after the release, assuming Gary U.S. Bonds didn't have his people all over it first. Pushover by Storm and Rovin' Eyes by Shortall are good listens and I recommend them.

Disappointingly for most fans, Maurice and Hayley do not sing on this album. The soundtrack to Castaways would have been doing well enough at the time and Teen Street was undoubtedly using combined star power to promote sales. They serve only as hosts with Maurice doing most of the talking, introducing the songs in something of a cohesive narrative about young people finding love. The album is mostly referenced for the fun cover featuring Maurice and Hayley dancing on a cartoon street.

You can listen to the entire album as one file here:

Here is the track list:

Side One
Teen Street - Group Vocal
Walkin' and Talkin' - Annette
Pushover - Billy Storm
Double Feature Movie - Sylte Sisters
Rovin' Eyes - Gary Shortall
Cinderella Jones - Sylte Sisters

Side Two
Double Date - Billy Storm
Two Against the World - Annette
The Wildest - Gary Shortall
Good Girl - Billy Storm
Teenage Wedding - Annette
To Be Continued - Sylte Sisters

Swingin'

For those seeking old books and LP records there are better places to browse than in San Diego.

One reason is the relatively young and transient population. Farther inland and on the other coast there are generations of collected belongings sitting in basements, attics and garages. Eventually one family member or other will dispose of the Grandparent's old furniture, books and music to the delight of treasure hunters of the region. In Southern California however, a lot of what is donated to thrift stores is late 1970s and 1980s music and tchotchkes. I've even discovered several decades worth of macaroni-adorned picture frames at one Salvation Army store.

The other reason San Diego is a poor resource for keen gear is the economy. Most of the used book stores have shuttered and the usual places one could find groovy LP's, the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores, have either combined all their resources into one store or done away with LP's altogether. While reducing the number of places the records are displayed makes sense for the business it hurts the shopper seeking cool stuff because multiple destinations meant that a browser could get lucky if his timing was right. All the LP's kept in one place means one faces constant competition has to be really lucky with the timing to score some choice items.

Recently I found a couple of Jonah Jones Quartet albums, Swingin on Broadway and Swingin' at the Cinema notable among the internet primarily for the pretty women on the cover. Of the JJQ discography these two albums are probably the easiest to find. I found multiple copies of each when browsing and purchased the two best of the lot. Oh, yeah...I agree that those stretch pants and curves, especially on the blond on the Cinema LP, are something else. The album art is pretty typical of the 1950s. Back then nearly anyone producing lounge-type music put an attractive woman on the cover because no one would buy an album featuring John Wilson and the Howard-Johnsons Off State Route 12 Experience on the sleeve. Sex always sold, don't get me wrong, but the producers of the lounge era LP escalated cheesecake and enticement into an art form rarely seen since. These particular albums are probably getting more attention now than before as the "Mad Men" style of fashion seems to be all the rage still. Too bad there are no model credits for the albums, at least none that I can find.
The music is good but not original other than the application of the JJQ style as they are covers of tunes already popular in the era. They are fun to hear as "lost" music and I'm really partial to their treatment of A Gal In Calico from the Cinema album. I think the Jonah Jones Quartet packed enough talent for a dozen musicians.

From the collection: Swingin' on Broadway (1957) and Swingin' at the Cinema (1958).

Something more than sexual

An album cover that makes me wish I was old enough to know you then.

The Immortal Ladies by The George Melachrino Orchestra (1956).

Sammy, The Sociable Seal

From Reader's Digest, Animals You Will Never Forget, 1969. Artist unknown.

Cover me

Bibliomania (1954) book cover pattern.

L'Amour (1957) book cover pattern with art, as far as I can determine, by Ruth McCrea. I could be mistaken but I think this illustration has appeared on lots of different things since it was initially created.

Laugh-In

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Viewmaster envelope and reels (#B497, 1968). Envelope is notable for the comedic catch phrases from the show being printed on the reverse. Goldie Hawn is notable for being ridiculously hot.

Handyman's Book

Binder and loose-leaf pages found complete at a dollar book sale. Loaded with useful repair tips, diagrams and detailed how-to instructions. Still basically useful except for the parts about vacuum tubes and cloth-insulated wiring.

Nice retro cover illustration featuring the swooning, enamored housewife proud of, and presumably wanting to copulate with, her man George.

I don't know about this living room. An aquamarine color scheme with the chair camouflaged to disappear into the carpeting. I never knew the Camelot era was so tacky.

Better Homes and Gardens Handyman's Book (1957 cover binder, updated to 1966 interior loose-leaf pages).

The Sensualists

From the collection. The Sensualists (Dell #D294, 1959).

Interior Design

Icon-filled pattern found on the interior of the covers of many Dell paperback books circa 1949 noting the various types of books the company published. In an era of largely misleading book covers the large identifying icon placed somewhere on the front of the book would let a reader (and vendor stocking the stands) know at a glance from what category of fiction they were browsing. Due to the extra expense of printing, interior cover patterns are nearly non-existent today.

From the Collection: Sinister Barrier

Sinister Barrier was originally published in 1939 for the pulp magazine Unknown and was re-issued for this 1985 volume with suitably horrifying cover art by the great Ralph McQuarrie.

From the Collection: Invasion from Mars

A Dell Backmap book. Invasion from Mars, Interplanetary Stories selected by Orson Wells (1949).

From the Collection: Armor

John Steakley has written a total of two books in his career thus far. Armor (1984) and Vampire$ (1991). Both books kick genre ass. Director John Carpenter even adapted Vampire$ into a movie that was enjoyable enough but doesn't really do the book justice.

Of the two novels Armor has the deepest plotting though readers are often split on the success of the two inter-mingling plots. I enjoyed both equally. While it is superficially reminiscent of Starship Troopers that goes only as far as the relationship between the the antagonists (the aptly named Ants) and the Armored Corps.

The novel tells two separate stories that crash headlong with a pretty good pay off at the end. One of my favorite novels for quite a while.

A sequel to Armor is in the works.

From the Collection: Jack of Eagles

Originally published in Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1949, expanded to novel-length in 1952 and re-issued in 1982, Jack of Eagles is one of the lesser-known novels of award-winning author James Blish.

James Blish was most familiar to me in my youth as the author who adapted the Star Trek television shows to book form and wrote the original Trek novel Spock Must Die! One of the ways in which I was introduced to a greater universe of science fiction was through screenplay adaptions of James Blish.

That Jack of Eagles has not been reprinted is a shame as this story is a must read for anyone who is a fan of tales involving telepathy, telekinesis and other mind powers. I would go so far as to say anyone thinking of writing a novel or cinema using those fantastic elements and want to experience how to do the subject matter right should read not only Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human but Jack of Eagles as well.

From the Collection: Dagger of the Mind

Hard to find and out of print, Bob Shaw's Dagger of the Mind is a good blend of science fiction and Lovecraftian horror featuring alien mind-control and murder.

Thought missing, this book was recently rediscovered in a mislabeled box from my storage area. The book was used along with a few others to top off a box before it was sealed.

Some art from The New Wonder Book of Knowledge

Another proof circa 1935 showing that stupidity was not always a virtue.


Note written on the inside front cover "From Uncle Virgil, Xmas, 1935."

The New Wonder Book of Knowledge (1935).

Related: Man's Crown of Distinction.

Friendly Greetings from ZOLAR

From the collection.

John Halifax , Gentleman

Pickings have been kind of slim for a collector of old books and LP's like myself. Thrift stores that once reserved entire rooms of valuable square footage to crumbling novels and vinyl have let the stock dwindle to almost nothing. This is occurring at a time when the groovy, cool or odd bit of entertainment ephemera of the past is of greater interest to collectors of vinyl. The youth market particularly is re-discovering LP's (several stores have consolidated their vinyl to one location or are separating them out before they get to the sales floor for sale via other outlets) and their scarcity may be due to this interest.

A sobering thought is that whether or not I am successful in finding something I like may have origins in the loss of a loved one from some unknown family. Books, statuettes and records are often disposed of via thrift stores from family members who are loathe to just trash the precious mementos of a deceased family member. Rather than toss boxes of LP's into the landfill it is hoped that others may find as much pleasure from the spoken-word styling of Jackie Gleason covering torch songs of the 50s as their mother once did. While the observation is purely anecdotal, cleaning out the parent's garage of a lifetime of media may be why there are so many copies of the same obscure Italian lounge singer and Swingin' Sixties instrumentals of movie themes at the local Salvation Army discount outlet. Hopefully (?) once Health Care reform is fully underway then the death panels will ensure a steady stream of old junk from Granny's attic will hit the Goodwill for collectors to pick over.

Sadly, books are becoming less important as technology renders print ever more obsolete. Thousands of books are just left to crumble from age. Truthfully there is not much of interest to be found in the copy of John Halifax, Gentleman that I scanned other than the book is of advanced age, published sometime between 1902 and 1945. Originally written in 1856 by Dinah Mulock it is a reflection of the times this volume was printed that the author is referred to only by her married name of Mrs. Craik.

The art by veteran illustrator of many Victorian tales A. A. Dixon is serviceable and competent but is rather generic. Fans of the artist may appreciate seeing some scans of his work that may not be available elsewhere. Also, those with an interest in antique medical devices could find some interest in the wheelchair used by one of the characters but it is unknown if the chair is truly representative of the devices of the time or merely an artists' fancy.

Of greater interest is the provenance of the book itself. Published in England, the inside cover bears a tag from the bookseller and personal notes of previous owners. These are artifacts that would shortly have been lost to history if not for being preserved here.

How the book made its way to San Diego, California in the United States will probably never be revealed. Moreover, the days when books were considered important enough to transport across a city during a move, much less to another continent are long past. Due to shipping costs most books are more likely to be disposed of in the trash or left in donation bins than taken along during a family relocation.

Fortunately much of the text of old, orphan works in the public domain are being preserved by libraries and other services and can be found online. Anyone who cares to read John Halifax, Gentleman can find it via Project Gutenberg or other resources. The accompanying art from the original books are rarely preserved or made available unless some publisher creates a collection for sale or amateurs like myself do so just out of enjoyment or a desire to share.

While I take pains to ensure the books remain intact others are not so respectful or cautious. I'm simultaneously horrified and grateful that industrious artists and entrepreneurs are raiding old magazines and books for the art and framing it or selling the individual pages off piecemeal. I myself own several antique and newer books full of gorgeous hand-drawn and highly-detailed illustrations of drawing and survey equipment and full-color aeronautical flight charts and night sky maps. These drawings just beg to be excised from the binding, framed and hung on a wall. While I can appreciate that old art is being preserved in some form damaging or destroying books for any reason makes me twitch a bit.

Here is a link to the entire set of scans of the art of John Halifax, Gentleman. Enjoy!