In searching for something else online yesterday, I came across the following article in February 20, 1942, edition of The North Adams Transcript, North Adams, MA. I’ve only included a small portion of Today in Hollywood by Jimmy Fidler and am really only intrigued by one small mention of Jimmy Stewart in the right hand column.
“Lieut. James Stewart, U.S.A., is obliging camp mates with personal transcriptions which they keep or send to their wives and girl friends.”
There were no tape recorders in 1942, but there were machines which would record your voice onto a record or transcription disc. In fact, it was a booming business to make such records. I have a disc on which Mother Goose sings happy fifth birthday to me and personalizes it by singing my own full name. Many of you may also have such discs.
So, how many of these discs did Jimmy make? Better yet, how many still exist today? There’s no way of knowing, of course, but I’m beginning my search today. Hopefully many of you reading this will start a search also. Together, maybe we’ll actually find one of these recordings. Wouldn’t that be great?
