RECORDISC 78 RPM Record: WALTER WINCHELL 1942 World War II Era Radio News Report

$

19

This Recordisc 10-inch 78 RPM home recording contains parts of a World War II era radio news broadcast featuring Walter Winchell. The labeling on Side One, first of all, identifies the content as "Walter Winchel, October 4, 1942", and the recorder is named as C. R. Lloyd. There is no date on the second side, but my guess is it's a continuation of the same broadcast. 

Side One opens with a commercial for Jergens Lotion, which stressses the product's suitability for use by "girls in airplane factories." That is followed by Walter Winchell's rapuid-fire delivery of several brief news stories, including:

- the fatal crash of an airplane in Newfoundland

- the FBI's arrest of another "leading Italian Fascist" in New York

- the arrest of a Japanese prince and army officer as an "enemy alien"

- the St. Louis Cardinals' vistory over the New York Yankees in a World Series game

- Hitler's thwarted attack on Moscow and his failure to wipe out the Russian Army

- A failed Nazi Gestapo plot to steal American war plans

- Senate debate of the 1942 Tax Bill

- the expected revision of the laws defining "enemy aliens"

- the safety of President Roosevelt on a recent controversial "secret trip to a foreign country."

- New York Mayor LaGuardia's investigation into alleged police negligence in response to "Nazi inspired vandalism" in Brooklyn

- the arrest of an Italian American newspaper editor on charges of spreading pro-Mussolini propaganda.

Both sides end abruptly, almost mid-sentence, so I can't claim it's a complete news broadcast. Plus, the record is bent or warped at the edge, so the needle just bounces around for the first few revolutions, making the start of each side difficult to follow. If you're careful, you might be able to flatten it out, as the core of the record appears to be aluminum, so I don't think it's a heat-related warp.

The record looks like it needs a good cleaning, or it could just be an uneven pattern of wear, but it is still extremely audible, although it has audible background hiss throughout as well as the jumping due to the warp at the start of each side. Because of variations in tracking ability and needle weights, however, I can offer no guarantees as to how well it will play on your equipment.

International Buyers – Please Note:
Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying. Customs fees are normally charged by the shipping company or collected when you pick the item up. These fees are not additional shipping charges. We won't under-value merchandise or mark the item as a gift on customs forms. Doing that is against U.S. and international laws. 

If any of our pictures fail to show up, first try a right-click on the cross or fractured picture image, then a left-click on "Show Picture" (you may have to try more than once). If that fails, please contact us and we can send pictures to you by e-mail or direct you to their websites.

See our seller list for other interesting and unusual items, in fact bid on several and you might save on shipping and handling. If you buy multiple items, and if it's feasible and cost-effective for us to ship the items together, we will gladly consider requests to combine shipping at a reduced cost. Just e-mail us (I'm not allowed to give you an e-mail address here, but our aol.com e-mail user name is also Redhouse31), and we can provide combined shipping cost estimates on a case-by-case basis. Depending on weight and other considerations, we typically offer full shipping rate for the first item, then 50 cents or $1.00 per item. If you are paying for multiple purchases through Paypal, you are responsible for your own re-calculation of any shipping discount we have offered you. Oh, and this may sound obvious, but we can't reduce the shipping charges for items on which we offer free shipping.

EBAY MAIL SYSTEM: If you have any questions, comments or information, please contact us directly (Redhouse31 at aol . com), and not through the eBay e-mail system. We prefer e-mail communications that come directly from your e-mail address to ours, with a simple subject line that states the item number and a brief description. If you don't e-mail us directly, please don't blame us if you don't get a response from us. The clever one-click eBay contact systems (like "Ask Seller a Question") frequently end up in our spam filter, or we delete them because (surprise, surprise) they look exactly like spoofs. Use of the eBay click-and-send features also increases the likelihood that our replies to you will end up in your spam filter -- if you avoid direct contact with us, we won't be in your address book. And, if you need more reasons for not using the eBay buttons, the messages that do reach us lack clear and concise headers indicating who the e-mail is from or what it's about. It's tough to sort our mail when everything is from eBay. In fact it's akin to sorting M&M's alphabetically. We also request that you send all e-mails (including Paypal payments if applicable) from the same e-mail address as you use for bidding. Use of multiple e-mail addresses just makes it more difficult for us to track our correspondence with you if we ever need to go back and review it at a later date.

PAYPAL: Let us preface this by saying that Paypal has never been our preferred method of payment, but we realize it is now basically the only form of payment that eBay allows. For international orders, therefore, we now accept payment only by Paypal, unless you initiate some other form of payment that we agree to in advance. Repeat, in advance, please. For orders within the US, our understanding is that eBay doesn't allow us to request payment by check or monkey order, but our mailing address is given in the SALES TAX paragraph below, and we can't stop you from mailing money to us, in fact people do it all the time. Our business name is Red House Antiques. 

Please note also that, due to Paypal's ridiculously over-protective "Confirmed Address" policy, we no longer honor requests for shipment to third party addresses, and we reserve the right to refuse to ship to unconfirmed addresses, especially overseas. If you have any questions about this, please contact us prior to bidding so we can review your options. If you are paying for multiple purchases through Paypal, please make the payment as a single lump sum payment, rather than trying to pay for each item separately.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING COSTS: If the eBay auto-calculator is not responding, or if you think our shipping costs are too high, please contact us prior to bidding to determine your shipping options and costs. Repeat, prior to bidding, please. Because of Paypal's proof of delivery requirements, we are not always able to offer the cheapest forms of international shipping. And, unless you choose Express Mail International (which is both insured and tracked), you agree that you have no recourse to file claims against either us or Paypal in the event of loss or damage in transit.

SALES TAX: Maine residents, please also include sales tax in the amount of 5.5 percent of the winning bid amount. The only way to avoid this is to send us a copy of a current Maine Resale Certificate, either by fax to 207-222-2478, or by mail to Red House Antiques, 52 Day Road, Gorham, ME 04038. Or as an e-mail attachment - our aol e-mail address, once again, is Redhouse31.

Good luck, bidders!

Oh, and two more things. First, a reminder that, because we sometimes lose track of who's paid for what, you must agree that we may self-insure if we require insurance and omit to purchase it at the Post Office. Second, because of abuses we have experienced, we have given up on the eBay feedback system, so we neither give nor expect feedback. Third, our terms and shipping methods, etc., may be negotiable on a case-by-case basis, so please contact us prior to bidding if you have any questions or requests. And finally, click here to check out our other items!