Quantcast
Channel: Big 10-Inch Record
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 829

Dinah Sings for Green Stamps

$
0
0
I don't mean the headline to suggest that Dinah was paid in S&H Green Stamps. Rather, this was a promotional record for a 1962 television show sponsored by Green Stamps.

Before I go farther, I should explain that Green Stamps were a pioneering US customer loyalty program most popular from the 1930s through the 1960s. Merchants would give the sticky little items out with your purchase, you would paste them into books, and then you could redeem the books for merchandise.

Dinah Shore was the face of the company in the early 60s, just as she had been for Ford and then Chevrolet earlier. She appeared in ads, other promotional materials, and in television specials sponsored by the company.


This present record is the soundtrack of her October 14, 1962 hour-long program, minus the ads, and was issued in advance to promote both Green Stamps and her slate of NBC specials during the 1962-63 season. I am not sure about the audience for the record. I haven't found any advertising material that mentions it as a premium for consumers, so it may have been intended for S&H employees and business associates, for NBC affiliates, or both.

It's quite a good record. Shore does the show without guests, solely with the help of the Even Half-Dozen vocal group and Frank De Vol's orchestra. The lively program includes several imaginative medleys concocted by her long-time accompanist, Ticker Freeman, which possibly were drawn from her night club repertoire, Dinah's singing is excellent, but at times she seems uncharacteristically ill at ease during the spoken repartee.

The sound can best be described as adequate. The show would very likely have been videotaped on Ampex's relatively new Quad format, then the sound laid off onto audio tape. The resulting sonics are good on Shore's voice, but otherwise can be distant. Announcer Harry Von Zell sounds like he is at the other end of a tunnel.

As a bonus, I've added an S&H radio ad featuring Dinah telling listeners that it's time to get ready for Christmas, while plugging her TV specials. The download includes several other print ads from the period.




Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 829

Trending Articles