Oodles Of Doodles CC

Yep, you read it right. This is my 200th doodle post. I had no idea I could post this many doodles. Many of these posts have featured more than one doodle, so I've actually thrown up many more than 200 pictures. And in the tradition of putting up more than one, this time I'm sharing two doodles from the same artist I shared for doodle #100. That's right, The Three Suns. (The Three Suns were also a big hit at Christmas time, and I'm sure they will be again this year. Wait and see!) The dancing doodle above is from their Dancing On A Cloud (RCA Victor LSP-2307, 1961). I think the cloud could be a little better on that one, but who am I to complain?

The second doodle is from Twilight Memories (RCA Victor LSP-2120, 1960), re-recordings of many of the Suns' early hits. This one also sported a tagline on the front, "Suns' Greatest". Hope you enjoy this double play.

Oodles Of Doodles CIC

Time to head south for a doodle from Ruth Welcome-Zither South Of The Border (Capitol ST 1397). I don't usually leave the text in the doodles I share here, but I figure that in this case, the lettering is an important part of the picture. You get a little bit of everything in this doodle, a musical instrument (possibly the first time I've gotten a doodle of a zither), a map of Mexico, and a very stylized sun. OK, maybe it's not everything, but it's a lot.

Oodles Of Doodles CXCVIII

From 1959, this is Al Caiola-High Strung (RCA Victor LPM-2031, 1959). I don't know if there is a stereo version of this, since the liner notes mention that the record was actually recorded in 1957, before there was anything like commercial stereo. I've no idea why it sat on the shelf for two years before release. Either way, it gives us a nice doodle for a Saturday evening.

Elektra

I found this inside a copy of Oscar Brand-The Wild Blue Yonder (Elektra EKL-168) a few months ago, and I've been meaning to share it ever since. This is a small tri-fold brochure showing all of the records then currently available from Elektra Records in the winter and spring of 1960. It also shows why I see so few of these records today. The prices seem to be a dollar higher than the other retailers of the day. All of the info I've found from major labels such as RCA Victor and Capitol shows that records were priced around $3.98 for hi-fi (mono) and $4.98 for stereo. Elektra was asking for an extra dollar each, and that was probably a tough sell. Anyhow, you can read the brochure and see the wide variety of artists on Elektra. Remember, this was many years before The Doors, or even the whole rock-n-roll movement.

Oodles Of Doodles CXCVII

How's about a few musical instruments for you today? These hail from the back of Buddy Morrow-Impact (RCA Victor LSP-2042, 1959), a collection of TV theme music I picked up yesterday. I don't always listen to the records I post doodles from, but in this case, I couldn't pass up versions Peter Gunn, Perry Mason, Rawhide, etc. And boy, was I glad I listened. There's some great stuff in these grooves. I guess I should have suspected as much, since there was a tag on the front that said "A Stereo Must".

You know what, this record is so good, I think I'll share it with you. Well, maybe not. Looks like this one is on CD, combined with it's follow-up, Double Impact. Maybe I need to look into that CD... By the way, do you think it's a coincidence that this record includes two themes that were both later covered by The Blues Brothers? Hmmmmmmm......

The Colors, The Colors

While I'm on the subject of colored vinyl, did you know that when RCA first introduced 7" 45 RPM records they were all on colored vinyl? I guess it was to help you find your favorite music, as the different colors specified different types of music. Here's a sample of the blue and the red, with blue meaning show tunes, and the red is classical. I think there was also green for country, orange for something, and I forget the other colors. They are all pretty much impossible to find anymore, especially the really good tunes. I found these today in a couple of boxed sets of records. I need to find a better way to scan them, they look much better than this in real life. The scanner works by reflected light, and these records look best when the light is passing through them.

Oodles Of Doodles CXCVI

They crammed a whole orchestra into this small strip of a doodle, yet still it's not very interesting. This is from the flip of James Verity Conducts The 110 Strings Orchestra-Themes From The Movies Volume 2 (Tops Mayfair Stereo 9642S, 1958), a very budget label. The sleeve is in terrible shape, it literally fell into two parts when I first picked it up, but that helped me to realize that there was a beautifully colored slab of vinyl on the inside. As you can see below, it's bright yellow with some brown mottled down through it. You never know what you're going to find until you look inside the cardboard. The front cover actually features a promo photo of Betty Grable from the movie Three For The Show, which is a little odd. I can't find any connection between any of the tracks on the record and that movie. Oh, well...

A Product Of Am-Par Record Corp

I'd never seen a 7" sleeve from ABC-Paramount until today. The empty sleeve was crammed into a box set of 4 7" records from RCA Victor for whatever reason. There wasn't even a record in the sleeve. I don't know why I liked it, I guess I just wanted it because I'd never seen one before. Now I have one and I'm making you look at it.

Oodles Of Doodles CXCV

I stumbled across a large collection of polka records the other day. I was tempted to buy the whole stack of maybe 50 records, but I resisted the temptation, instead buying only the neat looking ones, or the ones with interesting song titles. That's how I ended up with the great doodle you see above. Look in the background and you'll see a member of he orchestra playing an accordian. I guess that's about the only way to identify this as a polka doodle. This picture comes from Johnny Pecon And His Orchestra-Pecon Polka (Capitol T883). I have very little desire to actually listen to this record, but maybe someday if I get invited to Oktoberfest, I can break it out and play it. Maybe.

Whoops, I forgot to point out the signature. It's there on the bass players left arm. I think it says Robt Limber, which I assume is Robert Limber. Hmmm, there's an illustrator by that name popping up on Google, but only from book sales. Gotta keep hunting.

Oodles Of Doodles CXCIV

Looking almost like a ghostly photograph from the 30's, here's a doodle from the nostalgic look back that is Hal Kemp And His Orchestra-The Great Dance Bands Of The '30s And '40s (RCA Voctor LPM-2041, 1959). There is a pencilled-in note on the back of this LP indicating that the original owner got it from the RCA Record Club for $3.98. I guess they didn't want to pop for a stereo version, which would have been $1 more. Or maybe this one wasn't available in stereo. What I do know is that there was a tagline on the front stating Collector's Series, so let me get that into this post, too.

Mike Douglas-RIP

In honor of the passing of Mike Douglas this week, I offer up this, his first Christmas LP. (I believe there was a second one on the Word label, but I don't have it. Yet...) This is Mike Douglas-My Kind Of Christmas (Epic BN 26322, 1967). I can't tell you anything more about Mike Douglas than what you've already seen on the news tonight. I have very vague memories of watching him when I was young, along with Merv Griffin and Dinah Shore. They were just at the end of their time, and new people like Sally Jesse Raphael and Oprah were on their way in. But I still prefered The Price Is Right. Anyhow, I recorded this LP last Christmas season, but never got around to chopping it into tracks or scanning the cover in. I did all that this evening when I heard of Mike's passing. Many of the songs are pretty bland, and I think that's why I never shared it out last year. The two highlights are the previously unheard by my ears (The Story Of ) The First Christmas Carol and Touch Hands On Christmas Morning. Anyhow, download it and give it a listen in honor of the inventor of afternoon talk.

Oodles Of Doodles CXCIII

Wow! How's this for a groovy doodle? And yes, the aspect ratio is correct, it's squished together like that on the back of On Tour With The New Glenn Miller Orchestra (RCA Victor LPM-1948, 1959), I don't know why. But who wouldn't want a flivver like this, with lots of instruments piled high on the roof and the running boards, an angel for a hood ornament, and an exhaust that plays sweet music? And if all that weren't enough, you get a tag on the front, "Time To Dance"! This could well be the perfect record for me. Whoops, almost forgot to mention the signature. Looks to me like it says Dillon, which has popped up here before, although it didn't look quite the same. (You'll probably see more doodles similar to that one I just linked to come this Christmas. I picked up another copy of the LP I scanned that one from, and it had a three page insert inside with even more doodles. Bonus!)

Oodles Of Doodles CXCII

More musician doodles here at Ernie (Not Bert)! These players are from the flip side of Glen Gray And The Casa Loma Orchestra-Sounds Of The Great Bands (Capitol W1022). I think these are meant to be some of the members of the great bands being saluted here, but I suppose it could just as well be the Casa Loma Orchestra. I'm afraid I wouldn't recognize them. Wouldn't you know it, there's a version of Snowfall on here I could have shared out last month. Oh, well, there's always next July...

Oodles Of Doodles CXCI

I know it's too early for Christmas, and too late for Christmas in July, but I still want to mention how much I love Kay Starr's The Man With The Bag. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's a little doodle from a Kay Starr LP that has nothing to do with that song, or even Christmas. This vignette is from The Hits Of Kay Starr (Capitol T415). I have to assume that it's meant to be Kay on the stage in the spotlight, but you never know. This looks to be a budget LP of previously issued material of unknown age. Kay seems to have bounced around a lot in her career. I recently found a full LP on RCA Victor, and I know I've seen LPs on other, more budget-oriented labels, if you get my drift.

Oodles Of Doodles CXC

Is this the first nautical doodle I've shared? I think it is. Anyhow, this is a tall ship from the back of The Windjammers (RCA Victor LSP-2196, 1960), a self-titled LP from three guys singing folk songs. I know nothing about these guys other than what I read on the back cover. If I tell you that their names are Harald, Kaare and Sven, you can probably infer as much about them as I got from reading the column and a half of backstory. There's also a great tag on the front, "Folk Songs Of Many Lands". I've only ever seen this single copy of this LP, and it's a promo copy, so I suspect it was never very popular.

Seeking Pig Welders

My company recently placed a help-wanted ad in the local paper. There seems to have been some confusion over exactly what we wanted, though. Instead of TIG welders for a fab shop, we seem to have advertised for a pig welder in a fab shot. I guess spell checkers don't catch all the mistakes, now do they? No wonder we didn't get many responses...

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXIX

I hadn't seen a big doodle in quite a while, but I stumbled across this one last night in the archives. This half page beauty comes from Red Nichols And The Five Pennies-Dixieland Dinner Dance (Capitol ST 1297). There's so much detail in these big doodles, you can look at them again and again and still find something new. There's a signature down in the lower left, Frank Page. No hits on Google that seem to match. (Well, there's an editorial cartoonist by that name, but he seems much too young to have done this.) It's a shame that these talented artists are practically unknown and untraceable these days.

Update: I was paging through some of my earlier doodles, and I found that there is a signature 'F. Page' on the second doodle I ever posted way back when for Louis Prima and Keely Smith-Together (Dot DLP 25263, 1960). Same fellow? Probably.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXVIII

I'm on a doodle roll for some reason lately. I don't know why, I just felt the spark, I suppose. They're a real pain to scan in, as my main computer is running the 64 bit version of Windows, and there are no drivers available for my scanner. So I have to connect the laptop to the scanner, scan the pictures in, then move them across the network onto the big computer so I can edit them. But as long as I'm in the mood, I'm going to try and get as many of them up as I can. This rather sedate dancing couple, looking as if they are at a well-chaperoned prom, comes from Latin Dance Party Vol. 1 (Promenade 2204), and features Perez Prado along with Eddie Maynard (who isn't mentioned on the front cover at all). The label on the LP doesn't even specify who plays which tracks. I just love these cheapo labels...

Ros Mambos

I was pretty sure I had another of these great LP paintings by the mysterious Demilio, and here it is! This is from the cover of Edmundo Ros And His Orchestra-Ros Mambos (London LL 1092). I brought you two (1, 2) other LP covers by this guy earlier in the week, and linked you to a small website that has a few more, including this one. Now I have yet another series of albums I have to keep an eye out for...

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXVII

Here's a pretty cool Latin American scene for you from the reverse of The Norman Luboff Choir-Apasionada (RCA Victor LSP-2341, 1961). I've also got a mono copy here, LPM-2341, and I can assure you it has the same doodle on the backside. They also share the same tag on the front, "Songs Of Latin America". The stereo version cuts off the bottom half of the girl's guitar on the front cover, though, and the mono version cuts off the top of her head. But then I shouldn't tell you that if I'm not willing to scan in the whole cover of both records and show you.

More Of The Same

I had another picture of these flowers I threw up the other day, and some of you liked it, so here's another. Pretty cool, aren't they? I love the dark background.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXVI

One more doodle for tonight and I think I'm done. Here's a pair of dancing couples and some Spanish lace. Not too shabby. This is from the reverse of Freddy Martin And His Orchestra-Lush And Latin (Capitol T998). You can never go wrong with dancers.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXV

When people hear me describing these doodles, I imagine this is what they think about. Very simple line drawings, sort of flowing, quite abstract and swirly. This is from Arthur Lyman-Hawaiian Sunset (HiFi R807, 1958). I see some flowers in there, a bird, and I think that trail at upper right is supposed to represent a bee. No, wait, that's leftover from a stamp used by radio station WFBF to identify this record as one of their own. Let me go back and clean that out of there... Here, no more "bee trail". Sorry 'bout that.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXIV

Another day, another few doodles. This first one is by a familiar, yet unknown artist. The initials RR have shown up several times (here, here and here) previously here at Ernie (Not Bert), but unfortunately, no other info has come to light on who this might actually be. This guy reading and smoking AT THE SAME TIME(!) is from the flipside to The Melachrino Strings And Orchestra-Music For Reading (RCA Victor LSP-1002, 1958). Oh, and you even get a tag on the front, "NEW". Not too exciting, that one.

Wait a minute. Didn't we get a "NEW" before? Yep, a previous tag from the same guy, George Melachrino, featured NEW. Small world.

A Nest With No Birds

Uh-oh, here's trouble. This hornet nest is in a maple tree near my parent's house. Surely no good will come of this. It is quite attractive, though. I like all the different shades of brown.

Green On Pink

Here's a picture I took back in June, but didn't share. I always gain a greater appreciation for my pictures some time after I took them. I guess I blew past this one because it's slightly out of focus or something. Anyhow, this lizard (or anole, if you want to get technical) was hanging out in a crepe myrtle tree at Mom & Dad's house. He didn't stay put for long, though. I guess he realized how much he stood out against those pink blossoms and didn't want to become bird food.

In The Future

If you're like me, you have a hundred thousand or so digital pictures laying around on half a dozen hard drives and umpteen hundreds of CDs and DVDs. And you have no idea what you'll ever do with them all. Well, it turns out that Microsoft is working on ways to do something useful with them. They're looking at ways to take all those pictures, actually multiple pictures of the same object, and turn them into 3D views. I'm sure it's a long way off still, but they have some interesting stuff to look at for now. Imagine being able to take a dozen or so shots of the strip in Las Vegas, then being able to travel it in three dimensions via those photos. It sounds incredible, but they're hard at work on it. Well have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I'm going to have to take even more pictures!

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXIII

Not all of my doodles are from classic LPs of the 50s and 60s. They aren't even all from good albums. In this case, the LP is by a local entertainer in South Florida, from the late 70s or early 80s. The caricature you see above is of Ray Wood, and is from the back of the LP Ray Wood Plays Banjo (Viva 1054/1055). It's even autographed! This may be a generic sleeve that Ray used for other releases, since the title is on the LP, not the sleeve, and the tracklist on the LP is actually a sticker. Gotta save that money, I suppose. There is a signature on this doodle, I think it says Rodz. I'm not finding anything on Google with that name, though.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXII

Can there be anyone out there in the history of recorded music who's more doodle worthy than Spike Jones? I think not. So from the pen of the famous MAD artist Jack Davis, here's a little bit of art from the back of Spike Jones And His City Slickers-Thank You, Music Lovers! (RCA Victor LPM-2224, 1960). The front also features a painting by Mr. Davis, this time in color. If I loved you all more, I'd scan it in, but I don't have that much energy. The front does sport a tag with the catchphrase "Spike's Funniest Hits" though, which I have taken the time to scan and share below. Enjoy!

This Week In August

Where is this? Let me think for a sec... Oh, yeah, this is a view of Pompano Beach, Florida, overlooking Hillsborough Inlet from the top of the Hillsborough Lighthouse. Beautiful, isn't it? Well, except for all the high rise condos...

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXXI

How many doodles can I possibly squeeze in here today? You have no idea, really. They're everywhere around here. This guy on the bike is from Lawrence In Dixieland-Lawrence Welk Plays Ditties With A Dixie Beat (Dot DLP 3317). He doesn't look anything like Lawrence Welk, though. And I'm not sure what a guy on a bike has to do with Dixieland.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXX

Once I get started on these doodles, it's hard to stop. Here're two pairs of dancers, along with a couple members of the band from Stan Wolowic And The Polka Chips-They All Dance The Polka (Capitol ST 1766). They're certainly a happy group, aren't they?

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXIX

Ah, here's another dancing couple, this time from Leroy Anderson Conducts Blue Tango And Other Favorites (Decca DL 8121). I like this couple much better than the one I posted a few minutes ago. Very elegant, very stylized, very simple. That's what doodles are all about.

Oodles Of Doodles CLXXVIII

A doodle a day keeps the bloggers away. No, wait, that's not right. I'll have to think about this. Anyhow, here's a doodle of a couple getting down at a Hofbrauhaus from the flip side of German Beer-Drinking Music (Capitol DT10008). It's really tiny, so it got sort of fuzzy when I blew it up. Still, it's a nice addition to what is becoming a large collection of dancing doodles.

Two Cigarettes In The Dark

Ah-ha! I knew if I hunted long enough, I could find that other album. I mentioned this LP in my last post as being by the same artist. There is no signature that I can find, but the style does look very similar, so I think we can attribute it to the mysterious Demilio. This detail is from the front cover of Robert Farnon And His Orchestra-Two Cigarettes In The Dark (London LL 1052). I need to keep trolling the archives to see what I can find...

Some Enchanted Evening

I don't have any good reason for posting this picture, other than I liked it. I actually looked at the record it was from on three different visits to the junk store where I found it, but didn't buy it until the third time. Something about it just makes me like it. The woman reminds me a little bit of Bruce Willis' girlfriend in Pulp Fiction. Anyhow, this is a detail from Stanley Black And His Orchestra-Some Enchanted Evening (London LL 1098). It's missing maybe a 1/4" from the left side of the picture because I was too lazy to scan it twice and stitch the parts together. Sorry. There's a hard-to-read name in the lower left corner. Demilio, maybe? Yep! I guess I'm not the only one to appreciate his work, but they don't have this one! I've got the one they show, Two Cigarettes In The Dark, but I can't find it right now...