Morgan

This is obviously a continuation of an earlier discussion.  Some of the figures I gave were approximations. 

I also would be interested to hear of other's assessments of rarity, but so far as I personally am aware the disc which included "Old Black Joe - Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" is the rarest title in original format that is listed in most discographies. But then it was not technically an issue because it was recorded for private use. It has subsequently appeared on several LP and CD issues and in those formats is easy to obtain.

You have the complications of alternative takes, private recordings, discarded takes that have subsequently surfaced, and so on). Personally I think that there are possibly no straight answers because all would be hedged around by qualifications. (What was an issue? If it was never issued on 78 but later on LP/CD, does it count as an issue? 

If your interest is in what you can reasonably manage to find on the second hand market, there are some items that you are certainly unlikely to find in original format. 


 

Morgan, 

I know what you are after really - I fear I can get a little picky about definitions but it comes out of the job I used to do. Forgive me.

The fact is that, unlike some other artists, Bing had such a long reign and was so popular that many of the song titles were issued on several labels, and even on the same label under different numbers.

Some of those issues, with the otherwise identical title, are much rarer than others, and there were some dedicated collectors who pursued them very enthusiastically. But I have reason to believe that there are very few left who take this approach.

Most of the people with whom I now have contact pursue the music. Indeed one prominent member of the Crosby community made fun of me in public on another forum, for hanging on to my LPs - he was in the course of ditching his CDs in favour of keeping all his music on his digital player in MP3 format.

Personally I am not an expert on 78s. At one time I had a fairly solid collection, mainly confined to late 1930s on, but have retained very few, mainly for sentimental reasons, and they never get played. 

If you wish to build a collection I suggest you search ebay and as many of the record dealers who list their auction stock on line as you can. A good discography covering 78 issues in detail would be a great advantage - I personally fall back on "Bing Crosby: A Discography, Radio Program List and Filmography" by Timothy A. Morgereth published by McFarland & Company 1987. This covers all 78s and ends in 1957 so far as records are concerned. There are a few errors but more so in the radio listings than for records. 
 

When I was a young bloke - 12 or so - and visiting my Grandmother, who had an old upright gramophone with a pile of 78's from the late 20's and early 30's, there were a couple of Bing records. As soon as I arrived at her house my first question was 'can I play Bing, please?'.
The record was 'Thanks'/'Black Moonlight'. This poor old record had been played so often that I had to slow the speed down to make it sound like Bing. There was a small indicator that you could speed the record up or slow it down. Probably went down to about 65rpm.
One wonders how those 78's lasted so long with a heavy arm and steel needle grinding its way round and round.