Let’s begin with a little background on this recording. C. P. MacGregor owned and operated a recording company in Los Angeles. The company recorded, transcribed and syndicated a variety of radio programs from the 1920’s into the 1970’s. In addition, they also recorded hundreds of radio commercials and public service announcements. Several years ago many of the tapes from the MacGregor library came up for sale. We were lucky enough to secure several tapes of Stewart material. Two of those 7-inch reels of recording tape contained recordings of Jimmy Stewart which were recorded to help promote the Lake Arrowhead Boy Scout summer camps. One box contained the Stewart recording alone, before the music had been added.
The second tape has the complete produced recording with the music and effects added.
Note the notation on this box giving the release number for an album (CPM-12-2084). This album was meant to accompany a film strip showing photos of the camp and surrounding area. A date inside this box has the master being prepared on March 16, 1956. A signal placed at the end of each Stewart segment would signal the person running the projector to turn to the next frame.
The tapes themselves were not in the best of shape, with many of the splices in need of repair. The sound quality has also been adversely affected by time, but the tape is still enjoyable as you will hear. Also in one of the tape boxes was a copy of the original script which we have also included so that you can follow along with the recording. The audio has been edited to match each page of the script.
In the three years since we came into possession of this tape, we have made exhaustive searches of the internet trying to locate a copy of the filmstrip and record. To date, not even a mention of such items has been located. It is possible that this project never made it past the taping stage. If anyone reading this has any additional information, we would be glad to hear from you.
