Page 45 - summer 22

Practically everything Glenn Miller released during the war sold a million so I had to

include one.

(Clip No. 18 Vera Lynn The White Cliffs Of Dover 1942)
I don’t think I’d have got away without a Vera Lynn either.

After the war, the industry developed quickly and in 1948 Columbia was the first
with the 33 rpm microgroove record, much to the annoyance of Victor, who had
been working on it in the 1930’s. Victor then introduced the 7 inch 45 the following

year. It made sense because Columbia was big into classical music, while a lot of
Victors market was in Juke boxes. The equipment for playing records had now
become much lighter, so it was possible to make records using softer, non-breakable
PVC, rather than the brittle (and noisier) shellac. Records became known as vinyls.

Ever since the advent of electric recordings, film theme tunes provided a lucrative
source of material for the record industry. The film , The Third Man was released in

1950 and its theme, Harry Lyme became one of the world’s all time biggest sellers,
with over 40 million copies
(Clip No. 19 Anton Karas Harry Lyme theme)

For my last clip, I have Les Paul whose experiments with the solid bodied guitar led it
to dominate the pop music industry from the 1960’s.
Clip No. 20 Les Paul Nola 1950)

Tape recording became popular after the war, with stereo in the early 1950’s, but the
tapes and machines were very expensive. Much cheaper tape cassettes were
introduced in1963 which were popular for use in cars, but they often snapped. The
first demonstration stereo discs were released in 1957.
CDs were introduced during the 1970’s, which were expected to finish the market for
vinyls, and did for the fragile cassette, but home entertainment music continues to

be popular, and the vinyl has made a comeback. The Cd is particularly convenient for
engaging in my kind of hobby.

David Timpson
U3A 2021/22 History