Hi David

That would be great.  Please email me the list.  Thank you.  Thane

Now that more of Bing's radio work is being made available does anyone know if we will ever get more from Kraft?  How much of this still exists?

Hi

Yes Richard the project is coming along nicely.  With respect to the half hour shows which were broadcast between 1943-46 most have survived, if not as a complete Kraft show then as an edited AFRS program.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to track down all the shows yet.

From 1943 the following shows are missing from my collection:
430107
430211
430225
430318
430617
430701
430708
430715
430722
430729
430805
431014
431209
431223

From 1944
440127 (second half)
440210

from 1945
450222 (first half)

from 1946
460509

I have, however, been able to locate all but 33 songs which were recorded on Kraft between 1943 and 46.  Interestingly, several recordings from the rehearsals for the Kraft shows have also survived.

Regarding the shows in the full hour format recorded between 1935 and 1942, far less have survived.

45 minutes of a show from 1936 has survived.  I'm only aware of one complete show from 1937, two from 1938, none from 1939 or 1940.  About a dozen or so shows seem to have survived from 1941 and the same for 1942.

Many songs from these shows have however survived.  We have over 125 songs from 1942, over 115 from 1941 (including the first rendition of White Christmas), over 110 from 1940, over 105 from 1939, over 133 from 1938, over 45 from 1937, over 38 from 1936 and 6 from 1935.

While there are many hundreds of songs that I have not been able to locate, many which are unknown to me must exist in various collections around the world. It would be nice to think that one day that they will see the light of day.  While this may seem like wishful thinking only 2 days ago I came across 2 songs from 1939 which were previously unknown to me ... a barbershop version of In the Evening by the Moonlight with banjo backing and a brilliant version of Silent Night.  So I'm still hopeful that more will come to light.

If anyone else is interested in cataloguing Bing's surviving Kraft shows/ songs please feel free to drop me an email.

Cheers

Thane

Last edited by thane (24/6/2011 2:42 am)

thane wrote:

Hi

Yes Richard the project is coming along nicely.  -- - - - -
- - - -
If anyone else is interested in cataloguing Bing's surviving Kraft shows/ songs please feel free to drop me an email.

Cheers

Thane

Thane,

Congratulations on this job. Your listing is of great help to me and I presume to others also. My personal thanks.

David, 

If you can fill any of the gaps identified by Thane we will be indebted to you also.

I hope that others might come forward in response to Thane's request.

I'm sure we all hope that Thane has laid some robust foundations for a definitive list.

I hope, Thane, that at the right time, you may be able to go public in some form with your complete listing, including songs (and sources??).

I also posted a story about this project on my Bing blog. I have had 3500 visitors this month so maybe some will come foward who can also help...

http://bingfan03.blogspot.com/2011/06/bing-and-kraft-music-hall.html