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THOMAS L THOMAS Welsh Baritone

Live Aircheck from the 1945 Radio Show American Album of Familiar Music


fade in Orchestra playing, announcer introd the song Our love is like an Evening
THOMAS L THOMAS Margaret Down and Entire Cast

sing "Our Love"

// Record was original one sided, B side has the recording of a 1960s pop song, which has been scratched out.


10"  Speak-o-phone Recording Studio NY acetate aluminum core 33 rpm standard groove (IOW like a Transcription disc)

Condition:

EXCELLENT  close to pristine faint scuffs, plays very quiet faint crackle
A SUPERB COPY

The American Album of Familiar Music is a radio program of popular music broadcast from October 11, 1931, to June 20, 1954, first on NBC, then on ABC and then on local stations.[1] Directed by James Haupt, the show was produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, better remembered today for creating Ma Perkins and numerous other soap operas.

Sponsored by Bayer Aspirin, the show highlighted performances by a variety of vocalists, instrumentalists, and vocal groups. When it began on October 11, 1931 on NBC, the lead vocalists were Frank Munn and Virginia Rea, two of early radio's top stars because of their previous appearances as "Paul Oliver" and "Olive Palmer" on The Palmolive Hour (1927–31). Ring Lardner observed, "under any name, they sound as sweet." Lardner outlined his "perfect radio program" for The New Yorker magazine, and found a place for The Revelers along with Paul Whiteman and Fanny Brice.

In the late 1930s, Munn was joined on the program by soprano Jean Dickenson (1937–51), "Nightingale of the Airwaves." Another co-star with Munn during that period was Lucy Monroe, who sang The Star-Spangled Banner at every New York Yankees opening day and every Yankees World Series between 1945 and 1960.[2]

Other singers featured on the program were Margaret Daum, Elizabeth Lennox, Vivian Della Chiesa, Donald Dame, and the dozen members of the Buckingham Choir. Vocalist Evelyn MacGregor (1899-1967) was also heard on The American Melody Hour.

Walter Gustave "Gus" Haenschen, who led the orchestra, composed the opening theme song, "Dream Serenade,"[3] with lyrics by Alfred Bryan. The line-up also included violin soloist Bertram Hirsch, the piano duo of Victor Arden and Phil Ohman, and a quartet billed as “The Henchmen,” after Haenschen. The show's announcers were André Baruch, Howard Claney and Roger Krupp. The 30-minute show aired Sunday evenings at 9:00 p.m. until 1933 when it moved to 9:30 p.m.

In 1938, the Hummerts did away with the studio audience after concluding that the music sounded better with fewer people in the studio, and fewer breaks due to applause. Musical Director and Conductor Gus Haenschen, who wrote many of the program's arrangements, ensured that the orchestra played softly as the announcer introduced each selection, thereby achieving a musical continuity from the opening to the close of each broadcast.

In 1945, when Munn left the show for retirement, he was replaced by Frank Parker. In 1952, Parker was replaced by tenor Earl William, the stage name of Earl Sauvain. Baritone Michael Roberts and pianist Ernest Ulmer were also added to the cast in 1952.

After the NBC run ended on November 19, 1950, the series moved a week later (November 26) to ABC where it was still broadcast Sundays at 9:30 p.m., continuing until the June 17, 1951 final network broadcast. From then until June 20, 1954, the orchestra, chorus and soloists toured the United States, and its performances were broadcast on local stations.

Thomas Llyfnwy Thomas (23 February 1911 - 17 April 1983) was a Welsh - American baritone concert singer who achieved fame for his performances both in concert halls and on television and radio, most notably on The Voice of Firestone, where he was the most frequently featured singer.[1] His concert repertoire included lieder, opera arias, ballads, spirituals and songs from musical theatre and operetta.

[edit] BiographyThomas was born in Maesteg, Wales in 1911 and emigrated with his family to Scranton, Pennsylvania when he was 12 years old. His father, Josiah, had been a notable musician who won the Eisteddfod three times and played the flute with the London Symphony Orchestra.[2] His mother May was also a talented singer and pianist. Tutored by their father, Thomas, his elder brother David ("Elwyn"), and his younger sister Gwyneth all learned singing at an early age. Thomas graduated from the technical school in Scranton, initially intending to become an engineering draughtsman. However, his plans changed in 1932 when he placed first at an Atwater Kent singing competition and then placed second in the national finals. Shortly after that, both he and his brother David won scholarships to study singing with Oscar Seagle in New York.[3]

Thomas began making a name for himself on the concert circuit and in 1937 became the youngest singer and only Welshman to have won the Metropolitan Opera's annual radio auditions.[4] The prize was $1000 and the offer of a seven year contract with the company. He made his debut there on 15 May 1937 as Silvio in Pagliacci.[5] The Mayor of Scranton was in the audience along with 1200 of the city's residents who had travelled to New York for the occasion.[6] The performance was generally well received,[7] but Thomas decided to turn down the contract and return to a concert career instead, believing himself to be too inexperienced to commit himself to a career at the Met.[2][4] In 1941, he made one exception to his abdandonment of the opera stage, when he sang the title role in Walter Damrosch's opera Cyrano, after Ezio Pinza had withdrawn from the production less than a month before the opening night.[8] Damrosch had considerably re-written the opera since its 1913 premiere at the Met with Pasquale Amato as Cyrano. The revised version premiered in concert form at Carnegie Hall on 21 February 1941 with excellent reviews for Thomas who "revealed a fresh and voluminous voice".[9] After the performances ended, Damrosch wrote to Thomas:

With your exquisite voice which you owe to your Welsh ancestors, and with your great artistry, you had already achieved a commanding position on the concert stage - but in your portrayal of ‘Cyrano’ you have developed so fine a perception of the requirements of opera, that that career is also open to you if ever you choose to undertake it.[2]

Nevertheless, Thomas kept to his decision to pursue his career as a concert singer, and it was a phenomenally successful one. At its height, Thomas sang 60 live concerts a year in the United States and further afield in Canada, Wales, England, Germany, and Australia as well as performing on weekly radio broadcasts. For a time he was one of the highest paid concert artists in the United States.[4] In 1948 and 1949 he hosted the weekly radio show, Your Song and Mine, produced by Frank and Anne Hummert and starred on their Manhattan Merry-Go-Round in its final years.[1] He also became a fixture on the radio (and later television) program, The Voice of Firestone, where he appeared from 1942 until 1957.[10] Many of his performances on The Voice of Firestone were released on VHS video in 2001 under the title Thomas L. Thomas in Opera and Song.[11]

He kept up his connection with his native Wales throughout his life, returning there to sing in 1955, 1956, and 1958, and always including a Welsh song in his recitals.[10] He made one last trip to Wales in 1978 when he was received into the Gorsedd of Bards for his distinguished contribution to Welsh culture.[2] He also participated in the launch of the Welsh television channel, S4C in 1982, via a filmed interview in which he sang Nos Galan. He and his wife, Celia, had moved from New York to Scottsdale, Arizona in the 1960s. In the ensuing years, he cut back his concert schedule and concentrated on informal lecture-recitals as well as teaching in Arizona colleges and in his private voice studio.[10] Thomas died at his home in Scottsdale on 17 April 1983, aged 73.