A Christmas Carol featuring Basil Rathbone 1942 Columbia Records 78 RPM Vinyl M-521

I listened to this one many times as a kid…blaring over the loudspeakers of my Grandfather’s antiquated turntable in his house during Yuletide. This particular version of Dickens’ tale was recorded in 1942 (or maybe 1943) on Columbia Records release M-MM-521 and presented on a 78 rpm three LP set. Basil Rathbone provides the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge and a cast of other Hollywood actors filled the various other roles. Please note that it is NOT a soundtrack to a film but rather a re-enactment of the Dickens story recorded with some music accompaniment. Leith Stevens provided the musical arrangements utilized in this production. This is being presented to you in one continuous long playing MP3 file (320kbps). The total length is 23:40 and the audio quality is suprisingly decent. This will be a nice addition to your holiday listening collection. Enjoy A Christmas Carol featuring the talents of Basil Rathbone! Cheers!

Read Carefully…..the link IS the password:AllScroogedUp (http://www.mediafire.com/download/5jljnmh9hw02g2w/RathXMSBone42.rar)

Sounds very interesting. Thank you 🙂

Thanks!

I just know I’m going to get flamed for nitpicking… but 78rpm records are not Vinyl nor are they LPs.

Aside from that, many thanks! 🙂

I just know I’m going to get flamed for nitpicking… but 78rpm records are not Vinyl nor are they LPs.

Aside from that, many thanks! 🙂

No flames here…and thanks for pointing that out. I guess my vernacular stumbled over the technical specifications in a haze of Dickensian fog :). Perhaps I should have said "78rpm Shellac Short Plays" (although some 78’s WERE [in fact] pressed in vinyl during the 1940’s due to shellac shortages during World War II). Anyway, enjoy the recording! Cheers!

Very interesting, thanks!

Thanks!

thank

Fantastic!

Thanks!

Huh. And all these years I thought 78s were primarily on vinyl. You learn something new everyday. Thank you for this!

Huh. And all these years I thought 78s were primarily on vinyl. You learn something new everyday. Thank you for this!

Yeah….I guess we all get "accustomed" to calling all those rotating platters "vinyl" (no matter what they were made of). I still remember these discs (from my Grandfather’s collection)…each was almost as thick as a plate…and if you dropped them they’d shatter almost like glass. He had a huge pile of old recordings….and and a gigantic and glorious old Telefunken cabinet/console. Mmmmmmm. Fantastic stuff. Anyway…I digress. Cheers and Happy Holidays!

If only they were… unfortunately they were made from shellac; a genuinely evil material which is completely rigid; 78s have no flex whatsoever and if you try to bend them, they will smash instantly. They also smash if you drop them – even from a few inches. This, I learned the hard way. Sometimes you’ll get a clean break which can be temporarily repaired… and sometimes the whole record will splinter into a million pieces as if you’d thrown a brick through a window.

They also crack in extreme temperatures and even whilst in storage.

I remember coming very close indeed to giving my best friend a right-hander after he joked with me about my nervy attitude to my record collection and tried to lighten the mood by THROWING across the room an original 1927 HMV pressing of George Gershwin’s own electrical recording of Rhapsody In Blue. I’m not the best catcher in the world but I nearly broke my back catching that one – and then I approached him with the intention of breaking his neck. I did get an apology, and he nearly cried when I told him the damn record was seventy years old and explained its historical significance… but I’ll resent him for that for the rest of both our lives…

[Edit: I swear to God, I wrote all that before I spotted your response above, Cratinus!]

[Edit: I swear to God, I wrote all that before I spotted your response above, Cratinus!]
No worries, tangotreats. I’ve got a few more collectibles from my Grandfather’s collection I’m digging through. Perhaps a few new posts of antiquated audio will follow soon. Feliz Navidad! Cheers!

Many thanks for this classic recording.

New link and Holiday Bump. Happy Christmas and Merry Kringle! Cheers!

Merry Christmas! Thanks a lot.

Thanks for the great share and Merry Christmas!

Thank you for the great post. Will celebrate this properly with listening to it on christmas eve.
And thank you all for the nice discussion of vinyl, shellac and the whole shebang. Brings back memories of my grandfather’s collection as well 🙂

Nice.
Thanks a lot.
But it’s a shame this rare recording wasn’t captured/released in an uncompressed format for the sake of preservation.

thank you for this – merry christmas!

This is so cool! I have a soft spot for Mr. Rathbone. Thanks for sharing and merry Christimas!

Thank you very much for this rare recording.

Thank you very much for this rare recording.

You are quite welcome, kane_nr2! A fan of Rathbone and Dickens (and old 78’s and LP’s) is a friend of mine. Cheers!

Christmas Bump and Happy Holidays to all! Cheers!

thanks

Very nice share Cratinus, thanks!

thank you for this interesting 78rpm

Something old for Xmas this year, thanks.

Thanks!

Thank you for this.

thank you!

Cratinus, may I ask:

Was this actual file digitized from 78rpms – or from the 33rpm rerelease?

I ask because there’s some reverb, which was often added in the later version.

Thanks!